The Blind Side

This weekend I finally went to see the movie The Blind Side. If you haven't had a chance to see it, I highly recommend it!

This blog is all about what you can do for someone else, and this movie is a great example of that. It is based on an incredible true story.

This is a summery from www.imdb.com

"The Blind Side" depicts the story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Tuohys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Tuohys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/plotsummary

Mrs. Tuohy does something for someone else and realizes how much it has changed her life.

If you want to get more information and watch the official trailer on The Blind Side check out its official web site.
http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/

Think about what Mrs. Tuohy did and ask yourself...

What can you do for others?

My first mission trip

When I was a sophomore in high school I went on my first big mission trip to the Appalachian Mountains. There were 14 of us going, spilt into two work crews. We went to a town in Kentucky where we spent a week helping a family with projects they needed done to their home.

I thought I had seen families living in poverty but nothing would prepare me for what I witnessed in Appalachia.

The mission program we went through is called the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) They take applications from families living in the Appalachian Mountains who need work done on their homes but don't have the money to do it themselves. The ASP crew then looks over the applications and decide who needs the most help, during the summer crews just like us come into the towns and go to those peoples homes to help them. Each work crew will spend one week at the home doing whatever work they can and living in either a local community center or sleeping in the gym of a school. Over the course of the summer there will be a work crew at each house until the project gets done.

My work crew went to the home of an elderly couple who had never had an indoor bathroom. That is correct, in there home there has never been a shower or toilet. They did have an outhouse however, the husband who was very frail after breaking his back was unable to walk outside to the toilet. They literally live on a side of a mountain where it is straight up right behind the house and straight down right in front. There is a small flat path but if your not quick on your feet then you would surely slip and fall.

Over the summer ASP work crews built the elderly couple a bathroom. It was very hard work, but being able to talk with them and hearing all their stories really made it worthwhile. The bathroom turned out absolutely beautiful and they were so thankful. They were also using a washer that appeared to be older than they were, so we went into town and purchased the wife a new one. You can't even begin to explain the look on her face when we showed up with it. She is so proud of that washer and has taken such good care of it.

You go on a mission trip expecting to just help people, but you leave realizing that they helped you in so many other ways than you could ever expect. I will never forget about that elderly couple I was able to become so close to, and although this past May the husband passed away from cancer, I know he truly appreciated that bathroom for a good three plus years.

The Appalachia Mountain range is home to some of the worst poverty in America, can you even begin to imagine having to go outside every time you need to use the restroom? ASP is a great mission program, I have gone back two more times since that first trip and every time is as

equally rewarding as the last.

I have included the website for ASP if you would like to check out more information about it.

If you have any questions about the organization, please don't hesitate to ask!

http://www.asphome.org/

*What Can You Do For Others?*

Help for Haiti

As I'm sure you all know by now, last week the small country of Haiti was hit with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. It was the strongest earthquake Haiti has experienced in some 200 years, hundreds of thousands are feared dead and right now 3 million people are in need of emergency aid.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and right now they are in need of every ones help. The best thing we can do is to send money, but with a major catastrophe there will be a lot of scams out there saying they are collecting money for Haiti when really they are just pocketing it for themselves.

The best thing to do is find a government website and make sure it is a legit one before you just send your money anywhere or you can also take your money to a local church and tell them you would like it to go to the Haiti Relief and they will know where to send it.

Another good thing to realize is that any amount of money will help, you don't have to donate 50 dollars or even 20 dollars. Anything you can give will go a long way and if that means five dollars then go for it, because that will be five more dollars than they had yesterday.

Here is a youtube video slide show showing devastation that the people of Haiti are going through right now. I should warn you, some of the pictures are disturbing and can be very hard to look at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4VI-4tgL0

I found this website that if you are wanting to donate to the Haiti Relief right now you can. It is a legit website and your money will go to help the people of Haiti. Remember anything will help.

http://clintonbushhaitifund.org/

*What can you do for others?

My earliest experiences with mission work.

I have always loved helping others. Growing up in a church that was very involved with helping the community, I had many opportunities for mission work. One Friday a month various families in the church would put together a hot meal for those who were homeless. After the meal was made, we would deliver it to the local worker house and then serve it to whoever came in. Seeing not only adults but also children who were my age come in to eat really opened my eyes. I couldn't even imagine being a child and having to wonder if I was going to be able to eat on a day to day basis.

You don't have to be involved with a church to participate in mission work. During Christmas time my elementary school would put out a list of items that they were collecting for local anonymous families who had children at the school. They would put a huge box in the office that we could drop off the items we got for them. Knowing that some of our classmates were in need of such essential items like towels, blankets and socks really made the school come together and collect more that anyone could have imagined.

Throughout this blog i will be talking about my experiences with mission work, other peoples experiences, and mission organizations that you can get involved in.

Right now there is someone close to you that is in need of you help so i will leave you with this question?

*What can you do for others?