So far in Jackson, no day was like any before it.  We’ve had quite a variety of activities, teaching, fun, history, and great experiences within our group.  So today was only different in that it was almost just like the day before.

Both crews went back to their jobs from yesterday.

This picture shows what the gardening crew was able to accomplish in just a day and a half.  Last night, we heard how a person from the neighborhood stopped by when they were working.  He said that he’s lived in Mississippi for 41 years and has never seen anyone clean that area up and he was really impressed.  It was great for all of the students to hear, first hand, who the people were that they were blessing.

Janelle, Anna, Stephanie and Hannah were on the roofing crew. This picture was taken just after we finished preparing the newly stripped roof for the coming rain storm.  These girls often showed the guys in our group what hard work was all about. (I only put that in here to make the guys feel bad - that’s what we kept saying to them all day to get them to work harder!)  Truth is, these students impressed us just as much as they did the townfolk.

For some time now, the JMPF has been trying to purchase this house that’s here in the neighborhood.  Well, they closed on the house yesterday and Grandpa Perkins told us about it this morning and how he plans to use it.  He talked about the different church leaders that live out in the Mississippi Delta (a 300 mile stretch of some of the most fertile soil in the world) and how so many of them are poor, but travel into Jackson for trainings, conferences, and other network type events.  He wants to fix this house up really nice so that when those brothers and sisters come into town, they can have a nice place to stay.  He told us that when he was a kid they often had to eat with their hands, so one of the first things he wants to get is a couple dozen sets of nice silverware for his guests.
So tomorrow is our last doing jobs with them, and our last full day here, so Dr. Perkins has asked us to go into that house with them and start prepping it to be fixed up.  Since wer’e the first to work on this project, they wanna take pictures of us at the property and use those pictures for one of the Foundations’ brochures.

Tonight is the earliest the students went to bed: 9:45p!  We had a pretty full day of work today and no one was bummed in the least that they got to go to sleep.  I was hoping to stay up later tonight and finish rewriting Day 4’s post, but it’s getting late here.  That really was the best day we’ve had so far; there were so many meaningful conversations and situations that we learned about.  I hope I’ll find some time tomorrow to do it; please check back Thursday night to see if I got to it - you’ll definitely get a better idea of why this trip may have been a very meaningful experience for these students.