Sorting and Departing

Sunday morning in Seward, NE (Nebraska), I received a text from one of the TWU basketball players at 547am (347am west coast time) letting me know that they were home and heading for bed. Two very long journey's home and one unreal week. The days were long and full; the people we were able to interact with and help kept us wanting to keep coming back and help as much as we could. Our last day we sorted over 1,200 lbs of mardi gras beads in just under two hours. This was another site were both teams were able to work side by side with each other. It was rewarding to see how comfortable the two teams had become interacting with each other while working, sharing stories and laughs. Thank you all for following us on our adventure of faith and fun. Take care, Whitie

Safe and sound back in Seward 1241pm

1058am, nebraska

St louis, 317 am

1215am, crossed into Missouri

1048pm, just entered Tennessee

737pm, Jackson MS... Bulldog dinner break

4:23 pm bulldogs depart New Orleans.

Hi everyone, CJP back on the mike here. On our final day of work we are getting ready to help a community group of people with disabilities who reclaim beads and recycles them. Not a big problem in any other city, but here in Mardi Gras land the landfills are overflowing with them. Yesterday, to catch you up, we broke off into a few smaller groups and had a chance to revisit some of the earlier sites from this week. Back to the community gardens to weed and tie up tomatoes, back to the food and clothing bank to sort out bags and bags full of clothing, and then a group of leaders from both teams went to the Berean Centre, a government supported nursery school for 4 and 5 year olds. Wow, were they ever cute! Sad to think of 4 and 5 year olds all trying to tell us of how many members in their family have been shot but then we redirect their attention to work on vocabulary where they are learning words like copious, ameliorated and baffled - crazy combination of hope and despair. We also helped the teachers get ready for the school prom and graduation - I think I'm still picking glitter out of my hair!
In the evening, we separated into our 2 groups and returned to where we had the soccer clinic and basketball drop-in with the boys. The soccer kids were fantastic and as Whitie said, when you say you're going to come back and you actually do, you automatically earn their respect. The basketball games were against amusing to watch and this night the soccer girls joined us as we had pizza with the APEX group.
The Bulldogs will be driving back home today and the TWU girls have one more night here and then a half day of work around Camp Restore but overall we had an amazing experience. Last night our team session was all about choices - we were here to grow but also to maintain what has already been established....in life, in faith and in relationships. God has been good in revealing so many life lessons - gratitude for what we have, a sense of blessing for what we haven't had to experience, seeing joy and learning joy from people who don't have anything but yet can't stop thanking us for being here. Our desire as coaches was to provide an opportunity for our athletes to spend one week in the shoes of others. There were so many folks out here who had 15 minutes to grab a bag of clothes and found themselves being housed in classrooms in makeshift beds for weeks, months and even years.
Thanks for your support and prayers, please continue to think of us as we travel home but especially that we can return with changed hearts and open minds to serving others not just on special trips or occasions but in every day we have here. Blessings! CJP

Good morning dear followers! it's about 615am and our breakfast crew is just starting to roll out of bed and help prepare breakfast for the camp. yesterday was another incredible day of sights and experiences. as a whole group, TWU and CUNE we spent our day at a horse recovery ranch. Miss Laurie started and heads up the ranch; her stories of rescuing the horses were jaw dropping. Some of the horses she had on her ranch had been survived by swimming through 30ft walls of water and tossed around canals. we helped clean stalls, wash horses, and spent some time connecting with the animals. Miss Laurie's heart for these animals was/is incredible. The ranch also doubles as a homework incentive club and often has workers from recovering drug addicts. She told success story after success story, often using her own personal story as a platform to challenge and love on whoever found them self in her company. After that, we had a couple hours of exploring down town new orleans and dinner for 27! Gator Bites and craw fish all around. Today will be yet another full day; amazing that with such long days, the week is still flying by. take care, Coach White

Hey y'all, this is Cheryl JP, head coach for the TWU WBB coming at you. We've had an amazing day spent all over New Orleans from playing dominoes with seniors, bagging cornmeal at a food bank, chopping down 6ft tall grass at a seniors' centre, chatting with Brother Wayne about a life changed by God, playing hoops against some high schooled aged boys who, when they heard that there was a bunch of girls at the community drop-in that were going to "challenge their manhood" on the basketball court came running, to meeting some of the toughest 7 year olds you can imagine...I'm tired just thinking of the day. We split into 4 mixed groups between the 2 teams and had a great time getting to know each other and learning about the lives of those we are encountering every day here. The people who seem to amaze us most are the volunteers who have dedicated their lives to rebuilding their community and loving those that have been forgotten by many. 7 years after the hurricane there is still so much need by those who couldn't escape to other states but yet, as we are also humbled to learn, they have so much to teach us about compassion, patience and most of all, faith. It has truly been a privilege to serve others and to walk a few days in the shoes of those that have been living each day, moment by moment because it would take too much to think any further ahead. But yet we still see so many smiles and hear alot of laughter. After all, God is good all the time! CJP

day 1

Day 1: day one is winding down very nicely...it was a full day of activity. after breakfast we left as a group to go work at a community garden that provides some of the food for camp restore and a couple other local food kitchens. our group is now 27 members in size as the TWU women's bball team arrived here safely last night. there were some tired faces this morning, yet it was incredible to see how much we were able to accomplish at the garden. still not sure what tomorrow tomorrow will hold for us specifically but we'll be in touch! enjoy the pics! ~coach white

Arrived!

8:52pm, the evening is upon us and how delightful that is. it has been a long but great day so far, hard to believe all that we fit into a day....countless number of jokes due to lack of sleep, a stop over at Graceland to visit Elvis's home, an hour nap by an amazing lake and beach nearly all to our selves...and our arrival here at camp restore....immediately followed by 13 showers! we are starting to shut down, but i have a feeling actual sleep will elude us as we are all sleeping in the same room! At about 1045pm tonight, myself and another player will head to new orleans airport to pick up the 2nd half of our group, the TWU women's basketball team from british columbia. tomorrow will be an exciting day! ~coach white

Arrived safely to camp restore!

3:23 PM Louisiana!

9am, Mississippi

Just north of Memphis .... 531am, waffle house for breakfast!

As a side note of interest, here is a little more info on the TWU Spartans that will be joining us http://www.twu.ca/athletics/womens-basketball/news-release/2012-2013/2012-04-14-new-orleans.html

~Coach White

What up Bulldog followers and welcome any Spartan followers!! The Bulldogs will depart on our journey to New Orleans saturday evening and driving caravan style down to New Orleans. Our arrival there will be some time before 6pm hopefully so we are in time for dinner! That evening our new friends the Trinity Western University Spartans Women's Basketball team will join us some time after midnight. We are excited at what will come from two differnet teams serving along side each other: two teams, two sports, two countries and one God. A few of the Dawgs have asked if we could trade summer work outs for a day with our new Spartan friends, which according to Bulldog calculations would result in the Dawgs practicing dunking all day and the Spartans running all day! ha! we look forward to having you follow us in our journey....thank you all for the support you have given to each team and player! take care, whitie

I hope this finds each of you well this fine May day! it is that time of year when the Dawgs of fall head off on a Spring journey. This year we are heading down to new orleans to work with Camp Restore. We will leave on may 19th and return on may 26th. please use this page for following us on our adventure and as a source of information about daily activities. We look forward to having you follow us on this journey. Take care, Coach White

Greetings Bulldog friends and families!