WE'RE  HERE! (West Virginia that is). The First Pres. Mission Team made there way to the grassy plains of West Virginia , whoops I mean mountains, in their matching mini-vans. We made a stop for lunch at McDonalds. (The youth has claimed this is the nicest McDonalds ever!) Anyways, the cars had a safe journey while rocking  out to Led Zeppelin, watching Bones, or just sleeping. Upon arival, we unbacked our gear, learned our way around the church, and met Tim. Tim heads the mission trips in assisting them with his skills and tools. Rachel lead a group activity to help us think profoundly about our duties this week. Shortly later, we enjoyed pizza from a local restaurant after an intense game of apples to apples. We ended the night with a bible study. some ended their night in an erie silence brought on by exceptionally good books.  Even the boys lined up in a row not speaking.(I believe this is a first.)

DAY TWO: It's our first day and the work site and all are up at 6:45 chipper and ready to go! Well, not everyone. Everyone gets ready, packs their lunches, and heads to the church step. Dick reads us all a Shell Silversten poem before we part to make our long treacherous journey through the mountain. Eventually, we reach our destination and begin work. At first it seems as though we have arrived at a zoo. There's kittens, puppies, chicks, and several others roaming the property. Baileigh falls in love with the kittens as she carries them around. We are to build a deck with a roof and stairs, a deck with stairs, and expand a walkway for a wheel chair. By lunch time, everyone is sick of digging post-holes. Especially when we dig up more rocks than mud. Lunch is refreshing and everyone is ready to go back to laborious tasks. Only, there's a problem. It begins to pour! When the rain subsides, everyone gets back to work. We all appear more sluggish as the day wears on us. FINALY, it's time to return to the church. The adults get to take showers first. Jokes on them though, the pressure hasn't been turned on until our youth takes their showers. Tomorrow is going to bring some stinky adults. Our evening continues with intense soccer four square games and a delisious italian meal made by Bloomington's own, Erin Williams. After dinner we drove in our minivan brigade (with several u-turns) to the WV Tech Football field (Go Golden Bears!).   Middle school/adults and the high schoolers engaged in the great Kickball showdown-- the highschoolers dominated... granted the middle schoolers did the added challenge of including adults. Day two ended with bible exploring various building projects from the Bible... with excellent acting skills we showed how Solomon's Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, The Ark (of Noah), and the city of God would have been tricky projects.  We continued with our time together with the classic film: Back to the Future (we're not sure who saw the end since most of crashed by then).

Day 3:  It started at 5am with a beautiful high pitch "BEEEP!"  (also known as a fire alarm battery warning).  Every 1 minute and 20 seconds the Beep continued to remind us that a battery was needed.  We were thinking a baseball bat might have also been helpful (Don't worry-- it's been fixed... with a battery).  

We keep the families we are serving in our prayers as one family member was taken to the hospital today with medical complications.  Amazing work by team Ramp as they created a temporary ramp to help her get to the ambulance.   Also congrats to Team Ramp for completing their project in record timing!   Wohoo!   Team Deck-with-a-roof continued rocking the deck construction completing half of their project leaving the roof for thursday.  Talk to this team about phenomenal posthole digging and superb stair construction. Team back-porch completed everything but railing and stairs today... and yeah it's ridiculously level.  We're back home now enjoying some ping pong and showers waiting for a great meal and excited about our White Water Adventure tomorrow!

Lots of Love,
All of us here in WV

Almost Heaven... VBS and West Virginia!

Although this blog was originally started as part of First Presbyterian's "Year of the Bible" it quickly became an easy way to let folks know what was happening on our mission trips.   I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that studying the Bible and serving go hand in hand. 

Right now we're packing up the remnants of a week of Vacation Bible School here at First Presbyterian.  Sand, bird seed and dirt have found their way into the far corners of the church-- as have a few hula hoops and a the occasional art project.  We were blessed to host 30 kids this past week as we dove deep into God's word, built community and had a pretty good time.  One of my favorite parts of VBS is watching as new and old come together.  Folks new to FPC and well established pillars of the congregation were out side by side making sure that every child was welcomed, safe and engaged-- pretty great!  It was just as much fun to watch as our youth acted as shepherds and volunteers during the week.  I can't begin to tell you how much hope for the church I feel when I watch that new generation of leaders stepping up. For a whole week, we focused on serving children and our church was filled with joy and creativity. While we were focused on those fifth grade and younger, I saw the whole church growing together.  It was a veritable hothouse of faith!

Reflecting on the energy and the growth I saw during VBS makes me think about next week.  On sunday we will make the long trek to Montgomery to serve with sisters and brothers in West Virginia.  Some of the participants have helped build habitat houses (not to mention their own homes), while others are still working to identify a hammer.  Some are mission trip alums, and others are packing for their very first trip.  We don't learn how to live out our faith in a day or even in a week, but we do over the course of a lifetime.   Who knows, some our mission trip alums may learn a thing or two from our first time participants. We learn by doing-- by actually serving others, but we also learn by watching.  When we see how others share their faith, how mentors, strangers and friends speak about God; our faith is shaped.

This past week we were blessed to walk along side 30 children as they grew in their relationship with God.  Next week, I ask that you keep us in your prayers as 21 of us stumble learning what it is to live out faith with hammers, paintbrushes, nails, saws and pipes, but also in the community brought together on this trip.  Keep an eye out for updates.