The Good Works team returned on Saturday from an amazing week in Athens, Ohio. We showed you some of their “survival” skills on Tuesday. Now, it’s time to see some of their projects.

The group of 28 adults and children who were part of the Good Works team will be giving us more details of their trip during our regular worship service on Aug. 8. Until then, here are a few photos of some of the highlights of their trip.

They cooked and set up each day for a free community lunch.

They replaced a porch roof and mowed the yard for a single mom.

They painted walls and worked on home repair projects.

The replaced drywall and insulation at Hope Center, a large meeting center on the Good Works property.

They helped with Discovery Club for Kids, a weekday summer program for kids ages 5-12.

They hosted Friday Night Life, which is an open invitation dinner for the community. They prepared a meal for 120 people.

They’re back! You might have heard about their adventure. But now it’s time to meet the cast of:

Survivor: Athens

28 people. 6 nights. 1 bathroom.

Who survived?

Meet the brave volunteers from the Good Works Missions Trip. During their week together, they repaired a roof, painted walls, installed drywall, insulated homes, weeded yards and made a meal for 120 people. They faced team challenges that involved fighting off bees “as big as your thumb”, diving for a spot on the bottom of the 3-level bunks beds and racing for first place in the shower line. Each day, top players earned immunity from taking the food scraps to the smelly compost bin.

Their only resources? A refrigerator that would only cool to 55 degrees, tons of Gatorade and the dream of escaping to WalMart for some air-conditioning.

The Sanctuary Survivors found their reputation had preceded them at the local Ponderosa where locals had tried to imitate the world-famous cast in photos on the wall. Meet The Sanctuary crew and find out who were the winners of the “individual challenges”. (The Sanctuary can’t be held responsible for the accuracy of the cast “bios”. All descriptions are completely fabricated and should not be taken seriously. All rights reserved.)

Meet the Survivors

Cathy:

She’s a pharmacist from Nebraska, and a world-class poker player. She spent her summers in college leading a canoe expedition through the Amazon jungle.

Individual challenge: She outlasted her fellow survivors in preparing crafts and games for a kids’ club, all while chasing a sleep-deprived 2-year-old.

Carrie D.

This language arts teacher from Oklahoma is also the five-time winner of the Kentucky Derby and the winner of the rhubarb pie baking contest at the Indiana State Fair. She uses her umbrella to fight off spiders, hawks and flying insects.

Individual challenge: Carrie defeated all of the male members of the team in the weed-pulling and uphill mowing competition with a push mower.

Tim

This PE teacher from South Carolina is also an accomplished disco dance instructor. He has a black belt in Kung Fu and won a bronze medal in the 200-yard dash at the 2000 Olympic Games.

Individual challenge: Tim outplayed his fellow survivors by fighting off a swarm of carpenter bees with a badminton racquet.

Carrie K.

Carrie is a famous country western singer from Texas. She also is an accomplished mountain climber and was the first 12-year-old to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Individual challenge: Carrie outlasted the other survivors in the sunburn challenge, and also set a new world record in the Benadryl-dispensing speed challenge.

Mark

Mark is best known for his role as a lead singer of a famous boy band in the 80′s. He later became a boxing sensation in Mexico and once defeated World Heavyweight Mike Tyson.

Individual challenge: Mark outran his fellow survivors, escaping a deer on a 5 a.m. run, as well fighting off ticks while building a porch.

Whitney

Whitney is the Wisconsin State Spelling Bee champion and a world-class water skiier.

Individual challenge: Whitney outpainted her fellow survivors, even after an illness threatened to knock her out of the competition.

Randy

This high school government teacher from Arkansas was asked to return to Survivor because of his amazing negotiation skills in past years. Randy is a skate-boarding fanatic and can yodel in three languages.

Individual challenge: Randy outlasted the other survivors in the sleeping challenge. He endured a mattress on the floor piled with gear to win the challenge.

Sierra

Sierra is the Jr. Miss Apple Pie girl for the state of Michigan two years in a row. She is a well-known bungee jumper, and once jumped 300 feet off the Statue of Liberty.

Individual challenge: Sierra was able to quiet dozens of children with her peacemaking skills and used her talents in the kitchen to win the meal prep competition.

Dan and Lesa

This couple from Seattle are world-famous ballroom dance competitors. Dan creates top-secret weaponry for undercover police agents while Lesa solves crime as an investigator for a high-powered corporate attorney.

Individual challenge: Dan was the winner of the shaky-roof-building challenge, while Lesa outlasted the others in the children entertainment challenge.

Andy, Olivia and Emily

This family from Baltimore became the first father-daughter acrobatic trio to perform in the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil. They also have impressed millions with their musical skills on the harmonica, bass drum and cow bell.

Individual challenge: Andy outsnapped the other survivors in the photo-taking challenge.

Other Survivors who were not photographed during the Ponderosa expedition include: Linda, Marisa, Ty, Jake, Sam, Ben, Lily, Ally, Ryan, Steve, Joe, Julie, Karyn, Michelle and Ashley.

Want to learn more about their adventures? Tune in this week and you might find out why:

This man had to tame a butterfly…

This girl had a playing card stuck to her forehead…

This boy was hiding behind a tree…

Find out more about their real adventures when you check out the blog later this week.

In less than two weeks, 10 families from The Sanctuary will be packing up their cars, loading up the kids and heading out together on a summer road trip.

It will be a bonding experience, for sure. But they aren’t vacationing at the beach or planning hikes in the mountains.

Instead, they could find themselves painting walls, repairing floors and cooking meals for the homeless as part of the Good Works mission trip to Athens, Ohio. Twenty-eight people from The Sanctuary will be making the nine-hour drive to the impoverished area near the Appalachian Mountains.

And while they will spend a week using their hands as part of work teams, the group prefers to think of themselves as part of “worship teams.”

“It’s keeping the right perspective of who God is and how we are to live our lives worshiping him,” said Linda Smith, one of the leaders of The Sanctuary’s Missions Team, which is organizing the trip for the fourth time.

At the heart of the ministry, Good Works, Inc. asks volunteers to not only focus on meeting the physical needs of those they are serving, but also to build relationships.

“They’re really focused on relationships first and sharing God’s love and God’s provision,” Linda explained. Last year, for example, after cleaning a woman’s house and helping her change her curtains and bedding, Linda and her daughters played Yahtzee with the home owner while several men repaired her floor.

“That’s one of the things the kids do so well because who doesn’t love kids?” she said. “The kids really break down barriers.”

Nearly 40 people from The Sanctuary went on the trip last year, including three generations from one family. Their projects included building bunk beds for a homeless shelter, revamping a kitchen and replacing a roof. Many of the people served by the Good Works ministry live in rural areas and need help with lawn care and home maintenance projects.

This year, participants from The Sanctuary range in age from 18 months to those in their 40′s. They include whole families, individuals and one parent traveling with children. The majority of people participating this year will be experiencing the Good Works trip for the first time.

“What we love about it is that families can serve together,” Linda said. “It’s a great time of being able to get to know people in our own body.”

And they do get to know each other. The group will stay in dorm-style rooms in bunks that are three beds high. They share one bathroom by flipping a sign outside to read either “men” or “women”. They will help with chores and cooking responsibilities to prepare daily meals for 40 people, including interns on the Good Works staff who stay at the site all summer.

Each evening they share “God moments” they encountered throughout the day. And on the last night of the trip, they will prepare a meal for about 175 people, including many from a local homeless shelter.

One aspect of the project that Linda said she likes best is how those who are receiving help also contribute to the project to earn items they need, like appliances, bikes or lawn equipment. The group believes that everyone can contribute in some way.

“Everybody has something to offer,” she said. “It really gives us a good perspective on who we are.”

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If you would like to be part of the Good Works trip, but you can’t travel to Ohio, you can still contribute by offering a donation. Click here for the suggested donation list.

Have you gone on the Good Works trip in the past? What part of the experience had the greatest impact on your life? Leave us a comment!