Church Camp

(1- Matt and me. 2- The Ambassador Girls and me. 3- Dad and me after the shaving cream fight. 4- The Tongue Tamer Models for the Newspaper Fashion Show. 5- DRAGON HUNTERS! Need I say more? 5- My nine-year-old boyfriend, Logan, for the week. Such a pimp. )

This was my eleventh year attending Mountaineer Christian Youth Camp. (Crazy, right?) This year was very different than any other year. First off, there were only around ten campers that were older than fourteen years of age. There were only six girls in the senior room. Kind of depressing really. But it was fun. My usual 'posse' wasn't there. The only ones in that 'posse' were Erika and Rachel. So, I made a new posse with Erika, Jessica, Abbi, Matt, London, Pat, and then Rachel when she came Wednesday. They were amazing. I was able to lead silly songs at Campfire with Erik, Matt, Abbi, and Ambassadors. It was really great. I was also a team captain with Slater. Little Slater, that I saw in diapers. It made me feel very old. We studied James this week. I had fun reading it. Ha. Class was interesting... Angel, Angel, You are an Angel.. Oh gosh, let's try to get that out of my head for the sake of all mankind. Anyway, our team names came from James. So, my team was the Tongue Tamers. Amazing, I know. We won the Banner Contest. Unfortunately, I was sleeping after spilling out my guts. But I was there in spirit. Everything else we either got first or last, and then in the newspaper fashion show, we received third. It was because of Rachel and my wits. We're good. In the end we didn't place at all. At the final ceremony I received the Senior Girl Sportsmanship Award, the something about the bible class student something or other, and was on the Senior Girl's All-Star Team. And yes, my father is the director, but no, he did not vote on these things. Haha. Anyway, that's camp.

I'll update sometime about.. well things.

The brother gets back next Friday! Yay!

Much Love

Steve Irwin, Mission Trip, Church, Grammy, Etc.

Where to even begin?

This morning, Friday, July 13, 2007, my beloved hamster Steve Irwin was found dead in his cage. It's a sad loss for the Spivy family. He was a good hamster. Anyway, I thought you all should know why I'll be sad the next few minutes.... OK, I'm good now.
Mission Trip was fun. I really enjoyed myself and was able to get to know some of the younger teens in the youth group a little better. Micah and I were in charge of Crafts. I was kind of petrified about it actually because, well, I am not a creative person whatsoever. But everything worked out well. The kids had a wonderful time. The first day we had twelve kids, the second eighteen, and Thursday we had twenty-four kids. It was really awesome. Today we had a water day. We had a slide, a slippin' slide, water balloons, and so on. I fell in love with a little girl named Ella. I helped her cut lines for the water slides and such. It was funny. I spoiled her to say the least, because I haven't been able to do that with a child since Honduras. So, some of the guys starting using a slingshot type deal for the water balloons. Well, Ella and I were watching them and all of the sudden I see one flying towards us. So at the last second I stuck my hand in front of her face, and amazingly it splashed in my hand. I got a welt, so I was very happy it was me who got hit instead of her head. It scared me! The teens also made dinner for the Prime Timers at church and then played games and such with them. They are amazing people. I love them a lot. And Garrett, Sam and I also had fun picking on Dana one evening. Good times, good times.

Our first devo Adam asked something to the extent of "If you were looking for another church, what would be the main thing you'd be looking for?" Some mentioned worship on Sunday morning, others about how important it is to be apart of a community that you can lean on. Almost everything mentioned I agreed with, but none of them fully struck a chord with me. I am looking for a church that has a community of believers that I can love and lean on. But the thing that I'm looking for now is a community of believers that aren't afraid to get out there and share God's message with the world. Is that not what we were called to do? "Why do we, the church, minister to ourselves instead of ministering to the lonely, hurting, and lost?" (Karen's blog) I read that the other day and I've thought about it a lot since then. Why is that? I want to be apart of the community that will go past the four walls of our "sacred" church building and and share The Gospel. And to live The Gospel so everyone can see it. There are few, if any, churches yet that are willing to do that. I want to see that happen in my lifetime. I think it will and I'm so looking forward to see what can happen from it. (Sam wrote something along the lines of this on her blog. It was really great, so check it out.)

My Grammy is in the hospital again. She went back almost a week ago after falling and not being able to get up, barely being able to talk, dizziness, and so on and so forth. They finally figured out she has an infection, so hopefully she'll be back home soon. Mom went down Monday to be with her, and is coming home tomorrow. It's hard for me to know my Grandma's in this condition. It really is. When I was visiting her last week, she told me she was so sorry for being sick pretty much all my life. And she was sorry that she wasn't the best grandma because she was sick. Really? What to say to that? I just told her she was the best grandmother ever, which is nothing short of the truth. I just hate the fact she thinks she's been an awful grandmother because she was sick. I don't think she could've helped she was diagnosed with cancer and has problems ever since. So, I'm just saying all of this to ask for you prayers. I want my Grammy to be home again.

Church Camp starts Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it. After that, I'll be home for a week or two, and then hopefully in Fairmont for a few days. I miss those people!

Much Love

PS-- I want comments! I haven't gotten one in a long time! What's up with that?

The Four Boys

Monday evening, four boys from Casa De Esperanza ran away. Luby, Brian, Rudy, and Fitto. Luby told the others they could make easy money in El Salvador, so they decided they'd go there. Well, the staff went looking for them and finally found them on the side of the road, and it would've taken them twenty minutes to get to that point. So, they were in trouble, of course. If you want to read about the whole adventure, go look on Sam's blog.

Well, the boys have run away again tonight. No one has found them yet, and everyone there and many here are worried as well. Please keep Luby, Brian, Rudy, and Fitto in your prayers. Pray that those looking will find the boys, or that the boys will come back on their own.

Much Love

(Work Camp pictures below)

Edit-- The boys were found. Jen went into town to look for them and came back to Casa with them. Please pray for Jen and all those working at Casa as to what to do about the boys.

Work Camp Pictures

Before
























After










Aqua "TEN" Hunger Force






Madison, Matt, Hannah, and I sporting off the newest fashion.






Brittany, Carrie, Lia, Kylee, and me

Good Ole' Kentucky

Kentucky has been great. Mom and I arrived at the hospital at one and I was there until nine. Then, my cousin Amanda, her husband Anthony, and the kids Lexi and Alan stopped by. I went with Amanda and the kids to WalMart and then to Grammy's for the evening with them. Saturday, everyone went every which way and I babysat Lexi for the day. She's the most hyper kid I've ever met. I had a lot of fun. Grammy came home that evening which was awesome. Monday, I finally got out of the house and went shopping with mom. After that, I came back and sat in the gazebo here and chatted with people I haven't gotten to talk to lately. It was really relaxing, which was very nice. In the evenings, Grammy, mom and I went out and ate. That was the first time Grammy had been out since she had gotten home. So that was good. Today, the three of us went to a town nearby and ate and shopped. Grammy asked me if I liked my name, Anna Carolyn, because her name is Carolyn. I told her of course. She told me there was no one else she'd like to carry on her name. Seriously, that made this girl's day. My Grammy is one amazing woman and there is no one else I'd like to be named after. She's one special woman.

We're leaving tomorrow to go home. I'm going to watch the fireworks with some people to celebrate the fourth. That'll be fun. Thursday, I'm going to Columbus with Melissa to pick up Sam. I'm pumped to see that girl! Pray for her safety, please.

Much Love

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:34

The Story of My Life

Work Camp was awesome. If you want the truth, I really wasn't feeling like going to it. I was still tired from Honduras and wasn't feeling well at all. But I went, and I'm very happy I did so. I met some awesome people on Crew 10! I love those people! Every year I've done Work Camp I've ended up in Belpre with first year crew leaders. I don't know how that works out. Apparently, I must just be top notch Work Camp material. Just kidding. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Tuesday, I got extremely sick and my lovely crew leader, Marcus, had to take me back to OVU. It wasn't cool. And somehow we ended up making nicknames that day, so I was dubbed "Squirtle the Mudbutt." Yes, that's right. Oh my... I also met a cool friend, who I never actually learned his real name. I called him Mathusula David Thomas Andrews the third though. He lives in Florida. He was neat. I also had fun with my hero and good friend Matthew Kestner and, of course, the youth group. They're a bunch of fun. Hannah, Kylee and Esther were in my room. I was able to get to know Esther a little better which was fun. Almost every night we'd talk for awhile and then pray and such. It was awesome, and that may have been one of my favorite parts.

Abby came and visited me on Wednesday. For some odd reason she decided to wear nice clothes. Well, we were painting and I guess I like flinged my brush and she was like "Anna Spivy, if you get paint on me you are dead." Well not two seconds later, Marcus is next to us on a ladder and his paint bucket falls and gets all over Abby. It was pretty much the funniest thing ever.

My mom called me last night and reminded me I told her I'd go to Kentucky with her today, which totally slipped my mind. So, that's where I am. My grandma is in the hospital, but hopefully she'll be getting out tomorrow. She thinks she had a mini-stroke, but the doctors still aren't sure. So keep her in your prayers.

I'm going home July fourth, then Kings Island and Mission Trip from the sixth until the twelfth. Oh, and then the fifteenth starts church camp. So, this is the story of my life. I'm a very busy girl. It's insane, but I love it.

Much Love

PS-- I'll put pictures up from Work Camp when I get home.

Honduras - The Best Week of My Life

God never ceases to amaze me. Especially when it comes to mission trips. I've become passionate about mission trips and that kind of thing.

God didn't stop amazing me on this trip to Honduras. God had a specific reason for each of the thirty-something people who went on this trip. My eyes were opened to poverty and the needs of that part of the world. In America, there's the lower, middle and upper class. In Honduras there is no middle class. You see one ginormous house next to this shack. It was crazy. Sam pointed out the U.S Ambassador (or something of the sort. I don't remember the exact title)'s house. Actually I don't think I can even call it that. Their land took up three or four blocks. It disgusted me. It really did.

Before I talk about what our group actually did, I'll talk about the group in general. I knew most of the people's faces but I didn't know them. You know what I mean? People from Morgantown, Delaware and Texas joined us as well. If you hadn't known we didn't know them before this trip you would've thought we were friends for years. Seriously, this team was awesome. We got along wonderfully. They were Jesus this week on so many occasions. I was happy to be a witness of it. God definitely worked through our weaknesses as He tends to do. People I would never see being the kind to love on kids were the ones loving the most. Those who I'd never in my life picture on top of the roof of a house that we just built hammering it down were doing that. They were awesome. I can't tell you how much I just loved standing back and watching them, soaking it all in. And you know what I loved most? No matter what we were doing, bagging food for the distribution, riding in the bus, whatever, we always sang. Incredible.

(If you want to see our daily itinerary, go to www.gcchonduras.blogspot.com. Sam and I did the last post. Ha, very fun.)

I love kids passionately. I want to be a teacher and I can't wait to have children of my own. This being the case, my favorite part of the trip was definitely going to the children's homes.

On Sunday we went to a church at Los Pinos and worshipped with them. Their congregation would sing a song in Spanish, and then our group would sing a song in English. It was awesome. The first song they sang was "Shout to the Lord". Seriously, it was one of the coolest things I've ever heard.

I met this little girl at the church. Beautiful, right?
I sat by her during church. We didn't talk much seeing I was a bit rusty on the Spanish. But she was the sweetest little thing.
We then were planning on going to a children's home called Good Shepherd next, but we were extremely early, so we stopped at an all boy's home Jovenes in Camino. That was extremely fun.

This little boy came up to me straight away and hugged me. We started playing hot hands and then threw a ball and such. He was just one cool fella.
Here are some more pictures from there.




We then went to Good Shephard. Straight away two sisters grabbed my hands and we walked around together. They laughed at my Spanish a lot. Especially Ruth. What a booger. We colored and that's when my collection of coloring pages began. I wasn't expecting everyone to give me their pictures back. I told them so many times they could have it, but they persisted. When all was said and done, I now have a collection of seventy pages. I charish every one though.
Leaving that place was tough. I knew I'd be emotional this week, but I didn't expect to be as emotional as I was.
I cried and cried and kept on hugging my girls over and over again. I had to tell them 'un mas, un mas' over and over. I didn't want to leave. I told them I loved them in Spanish and English and then I finally had to get on the bus. I didn't want to cry anymore. (Hannah and I decided we were "Dana's" for the week. )

Ruth (in the front) and her sister




With My Girls

The next day was building. Well.. I and Evan got sick. So, we went back to the mission house. I actually never got to build a house. It was sad. That night we went to the Jesus statue which was awesome.


Wednesday the girls and guys split up. The guys went to build and the girls went to Mi Esperanza. Mi Esperanza teaches women in Honduras trades they can use to start their own business or whatever. So, some girls in our group got pedicures and manicures and others shopped. I got this yellow gypsy bag. It's pretty awesome.

We then headed to one of the poorest neighborhoods. We gave the kids toys and colored. I colored with a ton of kids. And once again, they insisted on giving me the pictures. It was sweet.





We then went to Hospital Escuela. I think I was so shocked by everything I was just numb of emotion. You know what I mean? We met a girl in the malnourishment part of the hospital who was fourteen. She looked like she was nine or ten, and was alone. Both of her parents had died. She didn't talk much, so Jen went and told her she was a princess and the daughter of the King and to lift her head high. I saw Jesus in that moment. It was incredible.

My mom, Leah and I met a girl named Diana and her grandma. She was getting chemotherapy while we were talking to her. She was a sweet girl.


The next day the whole group went to a neighborhood for the food distribution. An older guy had his eye on me. Seriously, Honduras men liked me a lot on this trip. Most of the kids I hung out with were boys.. it was interesting. Haha, but I got a husband. Mr. Dan Kulp. He's fun. Anyway.. then we went to the poor neighborhood the girls had gone to the day before. A few others and I helped feed the kids, others went and built a house for a family that only had one bed and included a mom with seven children. Crazy. Sam and I then did VBS which actually went better than expected. We played the biggest game of duck duck goose (or pato pato ganso) ever. Totally fun. Those kids were fast. A few kids found me I had hung out with the day before which was fun. I also went around with a sister and two brothers. The sister was eight, then a six year old brother, then a three year old brother. They were cuties.
Before we left, atleast four kids asked me if we were coming back the next day. What to say to that? I just told them I didn't know because really, who knew. I knew at those moments that we were where we were supposed to be. We were blessing them although I feel they were blessing us even more.









This one right above here is my good friend Melki. He was the sweetest boy I think I've ever met. He was twelve and was with me both days I was there. He held my hand and talked very little. He was just one of those kids that is stuck in your mind forever. He's one of those people who's going to do great things. I just know it.

Thursday we met Pastor Salvador and Jimmy Hughes at his rehab center and visited his orphanage as well. It was interesting. haha. Then we went to Didasko. At Didasko, they had been running low on money. Donna gave Jorje, the man who runs the orphanage, $3000 from our group. It was awesome.
We went to Valley of the Angels for shopping, then went to eat, and then headed to the oldest cathedral that's still standing in the Western Hemisphere. Pretty awesome if you ask me.


Friday we went to Casa De Esperanza. We were supposed to build three houses, but only ended up building one that day. I got to stay at Casa and play with the kids.

Dan and Francisco

Cindy and Me

Sam and Yavoni

My Mario and Me
I love that boy like none other. He and Yavoni decided to give me kisses all night. So, yes, I've had my first kisses now.
Saturday we went to the state run orphanage which just wasn't good. We gave them pizza and they enjoyed that immensely. We played with the kids for awhile.



This precious boy blew bubbles with me the entire time we were there. It was adorable. I seriously wanted to pack him in my suitcase.

We then went back to Hospital Escuela. We went to the malnourished area again and visited the fourteen year old girl. After talking to the lady who was in charge for awhile, we were finally able to go to the cancer ward.


I met this boy there. He was thirteen and had lost his leg. I really didn't know what to say seeing I'm not the best in Spanish. Ha. I met his dad though. That was fun. I gave him a bracelet and such.

I cried. I wasn't in shock like I was the last time. It wasn't good.

Then Sunday came. Boy, was I dreading yesterday. I've fallen in love with Honduras. But we had to go.


The Boys with our amazing driver Guiermo and our faithful bus, Elroy

The Girls with Guiermo and Elroy

We went to the Jesus Statue for our last devo. Many tears were shed. Tears with happiness and sadness. Our group is able to sponsor ten children for the next year at Nuevo Orienta,l which was the poor neighborhood I had mentioned before. We bought Jen 35 mattresses for Casa, a washing machine and gave her $1500. It was amazing. My family was also upset because we were leaving JT again. It was an emotional devo, for sure.


Cool Aunt Summer, Grande Momma Donna, Sister Sam and Me

Jeff being Jeff

My husband Dan

Rhonda, Summer and Me

The Sister

We went to the airport and I was surprised to see Marvin, Yavoni, and Mario! (Francisco had stayed with us that night) It was very fun. Then we left and had troubles getting home, but now I'm home.

This trip was eye opening and life changing most definitely. I've already planned to go for two weeks next year. I can't wait to see what's in store!

Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.
2 Corinthians 5:14

Much Love