Category: 2023, 78 Cleveland

Hey everybody! My name is Sam Wolowski and I’m the intern for Calvary’s 7th-8th ministry this summer. I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to serve and walk alongside these wonderful students this week. It’s been a week of hard work, sweat, perseverance, and dependence on the Lord. We’ve seen God working through our students and through the many challenging and exciting experiences the Lord has presented to us this week. This morning we spent time reflecting on this week and the commitments we made and prayed over last night to the Lord (to pray and read the Bible, spend time in God’s presence, witness to a friend, etc). God showed up big this week and we are all so grateful! To celebrate how the Lord worked this week through our team, we took a trip to Sandusky, Ohio to ride some rollercoasters at Cedar Point! I truly believe that we…

Today we wrapped our work week and job sites and said goodbye to the home-owners and those we have grown attached to over the past few days. Thank you Jesus for holding the rain off for all the work we wanted to accomplish today!   Ceiling Crew The ceiling crew put in an extra long day making sure to leave things well for the group that will come in next week and finish up. They finished hanging the drywall on the ceiling and about a foot down from the ceiling around the perimeter of the room that needed replacement from some rotting. The group got a card for the homeowners and it was a heart-felt goodbye. Mr. Robin and Miss Judy were such great hosts, feeding them each day and showing much gratitude for all the crew was able to accomplish. Big shoutout to Frank who was our adult leader…

This is getting later and later each night and for that I am sorry. We are having a blast and the kids are doing awesome. I am so proud of our group for the way they are leaders among their peers (I’ll speak into this a bit more late in this post) the way they love and support each other and the ways that they are serving the Lord here in Cleveland.   Ceiling Project Today was full of ups and downs. One up was when we arrived at the house the owners lovingly greeted us and offered their garage for our services. One down was when Connor was trying to help someone else on the team and he accidentally dinged his hand (Don’t worry, he is totally fine!). However we bounced back from this minor inconvenience and finished the drywall ceiling and spackled it. Another up was when Evan…

We are having a wonderful time in Cleveland. The staff here at Next Step has been great. There are five college students who all have their own job here and they have been awesome! Corrine leads worship and has an amazing voice and is also leading one of the work crews (porch project). Djiraj is studying engineering and is leading a work crew (ceiling and flooring job) while also helping to run games. Kassioni has been preparing our food (which has been pretty good!) and also running a work crew (community garden). Dylon helps to lead worship and run games as well as lead a work crew (roofing). While Elizabeth is the site lead and the construction lead overseeing all projects and supplying them their needs throughout the day. Community Garden: Today the group at the community orchard weeded flower beds, spread gravel and painted pickets. We also learned about…

We got a good night sleep and boy did we need it. We were up before 7 with breakfast being at 7:15am followed by AM chores, breakfast devotions, group stretching and then off to the worksite by 8:45am. Jodi’s Team had a great day at the Community Garden, here is what she had to say… “Today we had the blessing to work with a wonderful lady named Ms. Mitty. She is working to rejuvenate her neighborhood by developing a community orchard where the hopes are to use the fruits of the orchard to produce jam and sell while she teaches the trades to the neighborhood. Today we helped by cleaning out the beds around the fruit trees and weeding some other areas.” Frank’s group hit the ground running on their ceiling and flooring project, here is what he had to say about that… “We got to the house and met…

Night 1 – Arrived safe and sound Thanks to everyone who came and helped to pray us off to Cleveland! We had a super safe and easy ride of just over 4 hours with the only hiccup being that with Chick-Fil-A closed on Sundays we had to settle for Culver’s. Upon arrival we had a little time to settle in and even meet some of the other students and leaders from the two other churches that are here (one from Philadelphia, PA and one from Charlotte, NC). We had Pizza for dinner and then met in the sanctuary for worship and some rules for the week and were then split into our working teams. Jodi will be taking Allie, Ellie, Eva and Julie to the community Garden where they will help to care for it and do a bunch of gardening. Frank will be taking the boys (Connor, James, Isaiah…

Preparations have begun! On July 9, our team of 12 students and 4 adult leaders will head to Cleveland, Ohio where we will be partnering with Next Step Ministries, and The Nehemiah Mission of Cleveland, in doing different service projects for people and organizations in the Cleveland community. Our students are excited and have had two meetings now to begin preparing for however God wants to use them on this trip. Support letters have gone out, and our students took time this past week to learn more about Next Step Ministries and The Nehemiah Mission. Each of the students has a “prayer buddy” on the team to offer support and prayer throughout this journey. Please join us in praying over each of these students; that God prepares their hearts, provides the finances needed for this trip, and uses each of them in unique ways to bless others in July.