The week started off a little rocky and I was definitely out of my comfort zone per say.  On arriving to the project we all realized that we were staying in a different area from what we were normally used to, but different doesn't always mean bad and through the course of the week I truly began to understand that.  Things that started out rough, such as me getting my foot stuck under a board in a game with 10 people standing on it or a fish dinner that first night.  The eat was very bad the first day but it got much better for the rest of the week.  Hearing about all of the trouble Gretchen's group went through the first day and Lisa being sick seemed like together they would make the trip which already seemed like it would be not too enjoyable even more chaotic. 

However, something or someone seemed to change in us all as the days went by.  Even if we had to wait two hours to see where our work site would be, it seemed as though any problems we could possibly encounter that week happened.  However, as we overcame these problems and worked together something or someone hit me and the week suddenly became fun and enjoyable.  I actually liked doing work, and that's not something you can hear me say usually.  I actually felt like I was making a difference in peoples lives and learned a lot from the homeowners that I got to talk to, and I was lucky enough to get to talk to three different homeowners and hopefully I helped them to have a better day just by listening and talking with them.

I learned a lot about God while I was there and I also met a lot of people who were really nice to talk to.  I got to know people my age and a lot of the counselors who were working for the Pittsburgh project.  These people were amazing and talking to them really made me put a lot of things into a good prospective.  I also saw life from other people's point of view and how a lot of things aren't fair and lots of people don't have the resources in life that allow them to follow their dream and not everyone is as lucky as I have been in my life.

In our small group we had an exercise where we were told to build the tallest tower.  In our room everyone had the same materials to build this tower, but after we were done constructing our tower the other groups started to come in.  We saw that they had been given different things to build their towers with, so we immediately thought oh well they will judge on who's is the tallest that used the same things to build their tower as we did, but that did not happen.  We felt totally let down because we had built the biggest tower with what we had, but it couldn't even compare to the towers that the other people built given their better resources.  At the time we didn't realize the point of this exercise but our group leader pointed it out to us.  She asked us how we had felt when we realized that other people had built taller towers than us, but only because what they had to use was better, and we were obviously disappointed and aggravated.  Then she asked us how we would feel if we couldn't go to college or have a nice house because in life we had not been given good resources like we had lacked in building our towers.  Thinking about this and asking, is it fair?  And why is there such a separation of the world's money?  I came up with the fact that no, it's not fair that people usually can't accomplish their dreams because they just weren't lucky they didn't get blessed with having enough money.  I also thought to myself, if we were upset about not having the largest towers just imaging how devastating it is for people to see everyday that other people have so much and they have so little.  It's not fair that some people have all the world's money and other people have nothing.  I decided that I would also try to do my best in my life to change this imbalance and to help those who need me.  I'm glad that I learned about this because it shows me also how lucky I am to be blessed with everything that I do have, instead of always complaining about what I'm lacking which isn't much.

We laughed at so many things during the week that were just enjoyable, even times when we got lost and just started cracking up.  I had a lot of fun on our night out too, and I really truly enjoyed everything about our trip.  Most of all I saw God so much during the week, and most of all I realized his true and undying love for his people, that sometimes slipped to the back of my mind during my daily routine but now stays at the front.  One of the counselors asked me if I believed in God and I told her definitely and she said well then when in doubt about the world around you always remember that God has a plan for you and you are very special to him.