Senior High Mission Day 3

Hello Family,

Day 3 was another hot day in W Virginia! There is not a whole lot different to report work-wise, as the groups are consistently doing the same thing each day. Every night our group meets in a private room to check in on each other, share stories, and prepare for the next day. Last night it was clear that Wednesday was the hardest day yet. The realities of altered sleep, rigorous schedule, many new experiences, and intense closeness with such a large group tends to make things tough in my experience.

Our youth are -as usual- representing God and our church very well. I believe they are learning more and more how challenging deep discipleship can be. They are seeing how having to choose between what God is calling us to and what we would REALLY like to do are often at odds. They get to see how caring for strangers is sometimes easier than caring for each other.

Please pray for us as today is our final workday, and we say goodbye to the people of WV. As you will hear on Sunday, our kids have been impacted by this community.

Peace

Dan

Senior High Mission - Pictures

Amanda having lunch

Friends!

Jam Session! Raking Rocks on the ball field.

Senior High Mission Day 2

We had quite a day on Tuesday. Kids club had a much greater turnout, with 12 kids. Our kids told great stories last night about the connections they made. They spent the morning at a nursing home, just spending time being with the elderly. It is the type of ministry that can be intimidating at first, but I think our group stretched their limits to be God's ears and mouths to these people.

The rest of us continued rehabbing a park. We raked more rocks from the ball diamonds and they are looking pretty smooth! We also painted the field house some more and cleaned it up. Tobi and I fixed some broken benches and picnic tables, cutting out the broken wood planks and replacing them with new wood. It was a sweaty day, but I hear y'all are having that too!

At the end of our work day, 2 brothers who have grown up in Mingo County sat us down and told us of the history here. It was sad to hear some of the history, and the future in their words, is "bleak". They concluded their talk thanking all of us for coming, and they were in tears at that point. As they thanked us for coming here "to work for free", it occurred to me that this is how God works. I think he smiles when we act on our faith. I think we were created to be with and help each other here on earth.

Please pray for us again today as we hit the spot where the week starts getting mentally and physically tough. Tonight we are going to worship, which should be a source of renewal.

Peace.
Dan

Senior High Mission Trip - Blue Grass Concert!

A night out at the bluegrass concert! Lots of sweat and fun!

Steven getting his blue grass groove on!

Blue Grass ! What Fun!

The BAND!

Senior High Mission Update

Greetings Geneva Family!

We arrived last night around 4:45 pm in Williamson, WV. It was a pretty easy drive- not much traffic and the GPS got us here safely. We lucked out a little when we contacted Matthew Adedeji and realized that although we were coming from drastically different directions, we were about to converge on the same road about 80 miles from our final destinaiton! So we met them at a gas station and picked Tobi up- saving Matthew at least 2 hours of driving. It was a God moment that we could never have planned better! We arrived to meet our fellow missionaries, churches from Minnesota,Pennsylvania, Ohio, and South Dakota. We had dinner, got familiar with the site, and worshipped before hitting bed @ 11:15. It was a long day and bed was welcome- it was very quiet except for a loud snorer! We had our group together last night to hear their concerns and expectations for the upcoming week- from what I heard- we are ready for the challenges! Please pray for all of us as it will be hot and challenging. Half the group will be doing kids' club on Monday and wed. , while visiting a retirement home on tues and thurs. The other half will be doing construction, painting, and some landscaping. I will keep you all posted.

May God Bless all our efforts here and at home this week!

Dan