Dear Friends in Christ -
Each day, Rev. Eric is checking in via email, just to keep me posted on how things are going. Now that I'm home from my own trip, I'm posting what he's sent so far. Here's part of the email he sent on Monday . . .
"Our second day brought us surprises... First, we each got our work group assignments for the week. There's 'kids club' vbs for around 80 children--Mark Thunem led 5 of our youth for that. Youth Works also had a couple painting and cleaning projects for the rest of us. Jayne Bolton and I led the rest of our group at 'the marina' where we weeded and cleaned a massive concrete wall/sign that welcomes drivers to Steubenville and Ohio as they cross the river. When Carolyn told me we had just driven through West Virginia on our way in, I thought she was joking!
The second surprise is that I got sick from the lunch--I think it was the cheese. That laid me up for a few hours, so I missed the scavenger hunt, Fort Steuben tour, and pizza. After some sleep and ginger ale--thanks Luke and Jayne!--I was back in shape for worship, group prayer time, and a few games of connect four.
Group time was awesome. We heard about Peter' short walk on water and shared about our fears. Our group of 18 is definitely in mission trip mode now. The theme is 'Jesus must increase, I must decrease'. Through service projects, getting to know new people, and building stronger friendships with each other we are experiencing God's Spirit taking the place of our own usual comforts and habits. Well, there's also the wall to wall sleeping bags, the "stop singing it's 2 am!" And the constant endless supply of potato chips and candy.
But seriously, there is so much Spirit here. We actually increase too when God increases in our lives--we get stronger and grow in ways we never would have expected all by ourselves. Mission trips are the bomb!
Peace and joy, and no more sickness, please :),
Eric"
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