Guys...the AIMers just got back from our trip to Paducah! It was a crazy, hectic, stressful, exhausting trip. I had a blast! So, this trip had several different parts, so I think the most fun way to do it would be to break it up by days...at least, the most fun way for me.
Sooo...
Day One (Thursday #1)
The first day of our trip was a really long day, driving wise. We left home at 4am, and drove for what seemed like forever. (The plus side of this day was that I hadn't slept much the night before so I basically slept straight through it.) For dinner that night (I know, crazy long jump...but like I said, I was asleep most of the time.) We went to a place called Lambert's. And it was freaking awesome. That's the only way I know how to describe it. They gave us sooooo much food. I got the catfish, and it was probably the best catfish I've ever eaten. For real. Lambert's is famous for the fact that they deliver your rolls to your table by throwing them to you. Basically what happens is that a guy walks out with a cart full of rolls, and you hold your hands up and he throws them to you. Since I don't eat bread, I didn't actually catch a roll, but it was a lot of fun to watch everyone else try and catch their rolls.
After dinner, we headed to this church, where we were going to spend the night. We get there, and we're all getting ready to take showers and such. There was only one shower for the girls and one shower for the boys. Which was cool, because we don't like to complain... ;) But anyway, I was one of the first few to call dibs on a shower, simply because I really wanted to wash the day of travel off of me. So, I go to get in the shower, I walk in the room where the shower is, turn the shower on, walk out to throw something away, and when I try to get back in, I discover that the door is locked. So I go and get one of the AIM assistants, and he literally tries to take the door off its hinges. But the door won't budge. So we end up having to call the guy who let us into the church originally to bring the key to the bathroom door. Needless to say, by the time he drove all the way back across town to bring us the key, my shower was freezing cold and so was everyone who went after me...oops.
Day Two (Friday #1)
The second day of the trip was a lot of fun. We traveled in the morning, until about lunch. Around lunch time, we got to St Louis. We pulled up and they let us out at the arch, and told us what time to be back. A group of us decided that we didn't want fast food, so we went on an adventure to find the spaghetti factory! It was so fun to eat there, I hadn't been in a long time, and it's definitely one of my favorite restaurants. A little bit of a splurge, but it was so so worth it. When we got to the restaurant and sat down, we noticed that Kris, Pat, and the other assistants who were on the trip were at a table across the restaurant. Lacy and I immediately texted Kris and Pat and said "We see you!" to which Pat replied "We couldn't escape!!!" haha. We thought about several different things we could do that would be silly, but we ended up deciding to have one piece of mud pie with two forks delivered to Kris and Pat, from their secret admirers. Obviously they knew it was us, but it was still fun to do something like that.
After lunch we got back on the bus and finished the trip to Paducah. When we got to the Lone Oak Church of Christ, we ate dinner with them, and then found out who our host families were. Ashlie and I stayed with the nicest lady. Her name was Ruby, and she's a real sweetheart. I really enjoyed talking and laughing with her every night.
Day Three (Saturday)
So, day three...Saturday. Saturday morning, we got to the church, and Kris announced that we'd be spending the morning sightseeing in Paducah, and then also going to Metropolis, IL to look around there (hello, Superman...). We went down to the waterfront, and looked at all the murals that they have painted on their floodwalls. It was so neat to see the way that people have taken pieces of their town history and documented it in such a cool way. I really enjoyed that. Then, we went to Metropolis, which was really cool. There's this big statue of Superman, and all this other cool Superman stuff, and then a store with basically anything superhero you could imagine. Luckily, I left my wallet on the bus, so I couldn't really buy anything.
When we got back to the church from Metropolis, it was time to start setting up for the community fish fry that the church would be having that night. It was fun to do service work, and serve others. That's probably my favorite thing to do. When it came time for the fish fry to start, we just started serving people food. There were soooo many people, and so much fish. I don't think I've ever seen so much fish in my life, for real. It was fun to serve others, but it was soooo nice to sit down and eat as well. :)
Day Four (Sunday)
Sunday was a really fun day...we went to church in the morning, of course. We went to the high school class, which Pat taught. I really enjoyed his class, and talking about defining ourselves by the fact that we're children of God, and not letting our worldly views define us. In the actual church part of it, we went in and sat down. I sat with three of the friendliest ladies I've ever met. (Ok, I've gotta go off on a little bit of a tangent for a second. When I came to AIM and went to Denver City for the first time, it was super hard for me to find people to sit with, and it was difficult for me to feel comfortable. But I didn't feel that way at all when I sat down with these ladies...proof that I'm growing? I'd like to think so!) Kris was the one who gave the sermon this morning. He talked about AIM and missions in general. Then he called all of us to come up on stage, had us answer some questions, and then we sang Do Not Fear. People in the audience started crying, and Megan, a girl in our class who's from Lone Oak started crying, and it really reminded me of my last Sunday at Alvaton, when they called me up front and prayed for me and all this other stuff. So then I started crying, which made me feel silly, so I tried to hide it...yeah.
Lunch was a potluck...since I came to AIM potlucks are my best friends. For real, that's the only way I ever eat anything that's good for me...so lunch was obviously good.
Sunday afternoon we all broke off into groups and spent time with our host families. It was fun to just hang out with Ruby and Ashlie. We went and walked around downtown, and then went to Coldstone and got ice cream. Yum!
Sunday evening we went and worshipped in Murray, Kentucky at the Glendale Rd Church of Christ. It was their singing night, and the song leader is a man who used to lead singing at Lone Oak. He just recently found out that he has a very aggressive form of ALS, and he's not really expected to live much longer. So, for a lot of people, this was their last time to really worship with him (until Heaven!) so it was kind of emotional for them. I know I'm getting off topic, but if you could keep him in your prayers (I feel bad, I totally forgot his name!) that would be great! For dinner we had Culvers. It was the first time I had Culvers in over two months, so I was pretty happy! :)
Day Five (Monday)
Monday wasn't a good day for me. Being in Kentucky was making me really homesick, and I was missing my mom, and it was leading me to be in a really bad mood, and be really sensitive. I basically just tried (unsuccessfully) not to cry all day. I guess I was feeling isolated, and it wasn't anyone's fault, I was just sensitive and things were hurting my feelings and stuff like that...nbd.
But anyway, Monday morning we had class. We had two different classes. One was taught by a man named Richard, and he talked to us about life, and his experiences, some that were pretty heartbreaking, and he also told us about making brooms. It was cool to hear his story, because he told us about his daughter, and how she told him she was gonna do this "mission thing" in Lubbock, TX, but that she never told him what it was called or anything like that. Well, then his daughter was killed (I think in a car crash?) and he never thought of that conversation again until he heard we were coming. The AIM world is a small place...
Then, we heard a lesson from a man named Mike who's basically a genius (if you've heard him speak before, you know what I'm talking about). He talked to us about this Bible study method that we can use with people when we study with them on the field. I think that it's gonna be really helpful information to have.
In the afternoon on Monday we all split into different groups and did different service projects. Because I have a hurt foot and really am not supposed to move around a whole lot, I did some data entries for the church. I made a database of all the people who had come to the fish fry and filled out one of the cards they gave out. It was cool to see all the little town names around the Paducah area. Word really spread.
Monday night we worked with the church's benevolence program. They prepared a dinner, and we were split into groups and assigned different jobs. Some people got to serve dinner, some got to take prayer requests and pray with people, and some of us were told to basically just hang out in the Lobby of the church and talk to people. I'm gonna go off on a bit of a tangent here (surprise, right?) and talk about this congregation and how impressed I was by them. I don't think I've ever been to a church that was more dedicated to helping people, or helping each other. This church is really a body full of servants. It was so impressive to see how they just want to serve others, and glorify God with everything they have. The AIMers went to serve, and we did serve, but I felt as if I was being served by the people there more than I was serving them, even. They're all so open and friendly, and unified. It was really just way cool.
Day Six (Tuesday)
Tuesday morning we had class with Mike again. Yay! Then, after lunch (which was BBQ nachos, by the way) everyone got ready to travel to Western Kentucky Bible Camp, but I didn't go with them, because my mommy came and got me and took me home with her! It was so nice to spend 2.5 hours with my mom just doing nothing but talking and catching up. I really had missed her.
I had planned to go home, and then go to Stakz with the Heltons. I hadn't told anyone but my mom, dad, and them that I was coming into town a day before I had originally planned, because I figured it would be nice to just spend time with them, or surprise people if I got the chance. Well, I ended up getting into town early enough to get my mom to drop me by marching band. It was so much fun to surprise Mitch. He look so excited, and it made me happy.
Then, I got to Stakz about 20 minutes early, which was cool. I was planning on just sitting and waiting...you know, spending some alone time. But, as I'm walking in, I looked up and saw Bailey standing at the counter. She turned around and saw me and screamed soooo loud, then ran across the room and gave me a hug. It cracked me up how quiet everyone got. Then, I had fro yo with Ryan and Melinda, we just caught up and stuff. :)
So I had some free time and decided that it would be fun to go surprise Abby. (In case no one could tell I really love surprising people...) And it was. She was in the middle of writing a college essay, but she took some time out of it to talk to me. It was well timed, because it gave me a chance to tell her that she should consider AIM rather than college... ;)
Day Seven (Wednesday)
Wednesday morning my mom and I got up and went shopping. We bought some clothes and shoes for me for the winter. Then we went out for Chinese food, which was awesome. So so good. I'd missed it!
Wednesday night was so much fun, because it was when all the AIMers came to Alvaton. I got to church early, and hung out with Melinda and Elsie, and all the youth group kids as they got there. So that was nice. Then, when all the AIMers got there, it was fun to watch them start building relationships with church members. I looooooved getting to see all my friends and family. It really gave me a reminder of who I am, and where I've come from... (I'm gonna write a post all about Alvaton and how much the people there mean to me really soon!)
After church the three girls who stayed with me and I went to GADS and hung out with my dad for awhile, and that was fun. Then we went back to my mom's house and played a board game, which was also fun! I'd really missed playing games with my mom, since that was always kind of one of our things. Game nights are seriously deals at the Hockman household, y'all.
Day Eight (Thursday #2)
Thursday was just another long travel day. We traveled all the way from Bowling Green to East Texas. We stayed in a barn on this familie's farm. Some of the girls slept in an RV while the rest of us slept in their attic. It was fun to sleep there and get to know that family.
Day Nine (Friday #2)
Friday wasn't really that eventful at all. We got up in the morning, got on the bus and drove all the way home. Then, we were back and I was way more happy than I would have expected to be. I think I'm starting to love Lubbock...uh oh.
Other adventures...
We started new classes, and I think I'm gonna really like this term. Also, we've been having more field presentations lately, and I think it's really awesome and I'm enjoying it. So far, my favorite has been the presentation for Sucre, Bolivia...but I'm still not sure yet. It doesn't matter, though! God is gonna send me where He wants.
Also....I LED MY VERY FIRST SMALL GROUP LAST NIGHT. It was totally nerve wracking, and I thought I was gonna die for sure. But I didn't, so that's exciting. I think it'll be much easier next time. :)
Now, I have a trip to pack for, because tomorrow we leave for OCU, we're going to the World Mission Workshop. I'm pretty excited, but I'm also sort of dreading it, since I'm so exhausted.
Alright, I gotta jet. So much to do!
