Texas Team Terrific Tremendous and Tireless

               A great big thanks to Rick and Jennifer and Tracy from Texas for leading two youth groups from their churches to partner with Genesis Church in Airdrie from July 1st to July 4th.

A group of 38 adults and youth drove 2800 km, all the way from Big Spring and Stanton, Texas to Cochrane, Alberta in order to help out 3 different churches in the area, including Big Rock Baptist Church in Okotoks, Southwinds Church in Calgary and Genesis Church in Airdrie.

Their trip to Canada was an eventful one as the alternator on their bus failed. After spending 7 hours trying to get it changed a team member suggested that they swap batteries with the other vehicle they were driving whenever the battery on the bus was ran down. They had to do this every 70 miles for the last part of the trip. They arrived in Cochrane at 2am on July 1st.

CANADA DAY PARADE
The Airdrie crew consisting of Rick, Jennifer, Tracy and 8 youth were real troopers. They woke up a few hours later and made it to Airdrie where Rob had volunteered them to help man barricades at the Airdrie Canada Day Parade. Genesis Church was able to supply13 volunteers out of the 70 that helped at the parade. It was a great parade and they got a front row seat.

BOTTLE DRIVE

After a good night's rest the team came back  the next day to help Genesis collect bottles to raise money for the Ecole Airdrie Middle School sports program. They don't have deposits on bottles in Texas so this was all new to them. The people in Airdrie were very generous. We raised $795!!! Our neighbor's children and Elijah, Ethan and Joshie were the keys to our success. Who could refuse a little kid asking for bottles?

RE-SHINGLING A ROOF
I didn't want our friends to be bored so the next day we set out to my friend Tom's house to re-shingle a portion of the roof on his tractor shed, help cut the grass and paint the fence. Armed with minutes of training from YouTube and with the roofing knowledge that comes with looking at roofs we set off to help Tom. Luckily Rick and Tom had some knowledge and a lot of good sense. After a good day's work the section of the roof we were working on was done and it looked great. Thanks guys. Not bad for a worship team! That night the group was kind enough to bless my family, Bryan and the neighbors with an evening of worship music. They inspired and encouraged us with their voices,  guitars and djambe.

 SIGHTSEEING IN BANFF AND MEADOWBROOK PARK PARTY
Wednesday morning Savannah and Rebeccah joined the team as they headed to Banff for some sightseeing. The girls and the youth had a lot of fun. Then in the afternoon they headed back to Airdrie to help us put on a party in the park behind my house.



We had a huge inflatable slide that Southwinds Church lent us. We served hotdogs and popcorn and other treats. The youth played kickball and built human pyramids and played with the neighborhood kids. We had a great turn out and were able to meet some new neighbors and help them meet one another

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GOODBYES
The team left around 8pm. Leigh and the girls joined them at Timmys for some authentic Canadian culture before they returned to Cochrane. They left the next morning at 4:30am for the long drive back to Texas. Thank you guys sooo much for the help and encouragement. Your help has made a lasting impact on Airdrie, on Genesis and on my family. We love you and miss you and hope to see yall again someday.