The internet it our house still isn't working-- thus the reason I never posted yesterday. Sorry!Today we got done with everything super early, so I'm in the office right now trying to get caught up!
I'll start with yesterday. We kicked off the day with the bumpy drive to Mendenhall and a tour of the facilities there. Mendenhall is where Grandpa Perkins and his wife Vera Mae began their ministry in 1960 (here's a link to a brief history of their ministries if you are curious http://www.jmpf.org/content/about/history/ ). The ministry is still alive and kicking,doing great things for the people of Mendenhall. They have many programs including (but not limited to) a clinic, elementary school for preschool through 4th graders, adult education programs, church,youth programs, and a farm. The school has had as many as 200 students at once, but now only has between 60 and 80. If I heard the principal right, she also serves as the lunch lady and teacher. She said there is one other certified teacher at the school and a preschool teacher, but that that's all of the staff they have. I asked if anyone else taught as a volunteer , and she said no--- maybe she didn't hear me. Or maybe three people really do run the place. Prayers for that lady and the other two teachers! She sure works hard for her community. (Sami, if you don't find a job, they'd love to have you!!!)
The Mendenhall Ministries also have a gymnasium, which Wayne (Grandpa's son and our tour guide for the day)said was the only one in about a 100 mile radius when it was built. He said that the gym enabled many Mendenhall students to go to college, because it provided the necessary facility to practice and train to be good enough for athletic scholarships. Wayne said that he knows of two college coaches that were raised in Mendenhall, practicing in that gym.
Our tour of Mendenhall helped me to understand more clearly the need down here, presently , and in the past. I'm in an even greater awe of God and what he's done through the Perkins family and all the people they have discipled. Crazy good stuff!
Next we headed to lunch, where for the second day in the row, we had some great southern cookin'. Mmmmm. They sure like their fried foods down here. None of the food at this place could top the fried okra from Monday, though. It was delicious!
After lunch, we went to the COFO visitor center. COFO stands for the Council of Federated Organizations and was formed in 1962 to coordinate and unite voter registration and other civil rights activities in the state. It was also responsible for overseeing the distribution of funds from the Voter Education Project.COFO member organizations included the NAACP, CORE, SCLC and the SNCC.It was interesting to hear how so many people united for a right we take for granted today--voting.
We then went to the library to watch a CBS broadcast from June 12, 1963--the day Medgar Evers was shot. Medgar was the field secretary of the NAACP. Hearing his story hurt--it's uncomfortable to hear about hate running so deep for innocent people ,and for any people for that matter.It took 30 years to convict the man who killed him.After watching the video, we went to Medgar's house, where we heard more of his story and took the tour. The guide told us that the kids as well as Mr. and Mrs. Evers slept with their beds on the floor, so that if someone tried to shoot, they would be safe below the windows. I'm lucky to have never had to live in constant fear like that. Medgar knew someone would probably kill him, but he tried so hard to keep his family safe. The house they lived in had no front door, and they always went in the side door. The kids would always get in and out using the passenger side door of the car because it was closer to the house.
After all of our touring, I took two of my roomies, Kate and Kellie, to the grocery store. Today is Kate's birthday and we needed to pick up some stuff to celebrate! I got the fixens to makes chocolate covered strawberries. They were a HUGE flop because I burnt the chocolate... twice. This can be blamed on the boys though. They called us because their cable wasn't working and they wanted to watch the finals (NBA). This distracted us for a while , because though we couldn't get ours to work either, they came over and we realized we couldn't let them in because we were locked in our own house!!!! We still aren't sure how that happened, but we had to pass them a key through a window, which involved to taking out the screen. They were able to open it from the outside and finally got in. By this time, the chocolate was burnt,but I hadn't completely lost hope! I stuck it in the fridge while we all went to JSU to watch the game in the student center. When we got back, I tried to reheat it, and turned on the stove and walked upstairs for just a couple minutes. When I walked back down, Kellie was running through the living room with the smoking pot and smoke was everywhere!!! Oops.
It was a crazy night... but it still wasn't over. Joe came over to have a blonde streak dyed in his hair (Kellie, you did a great job by the way!!!), but that resulted in Kate and I getting matching blonde streaks. It only kind of worked. Ha!
Today we spent the morning going over summer expectations and preparing ourselves to deal with children next week! Tonight we are having a partayyyyy for Kate, so it should be pretty kickin'. I need to get back to the house now and start cleaning.
Much love,
LH
ps- sorry if there a bunch of typing/gram errors- no time to re read right now
