Workcamp Blog

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2010-05-20T12:08:00.001-04:00

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Location:Lower Macungie Rd,Lower Macungie,United States

2009 Workcamp Sunday Promo

2009-08-12T21:33:00.006-04:00

Start getting ready for Workcamp Sunday on October 11, 2009!

Wasp Jedi

2009-08-02T01:40:00.001-04:00

Friday, our last work day, was interrupted by lots of rain. However, many of us were still able to successfully complete our projects. We all revealed a special gift to our residents. Many of our crews gave group photos, Papa H's crew took his family grocery shopping, and Rachel's crew planted a new tree for their resident. All of the residents were super excited and grateful for these special gifts. Katie's worksite was visited by reporters from the local newspaper and we were happy to see the community's interest in our cause. Many of us, including Lynn, Katie, Chad, and Jayme, stayed late at our worksites until everything was complete. Jackie was especially excited to see her project finished because it meant her resident could use her new wheelchair ramp to attend our Friday night program. Overall, many of our residents were able to join us that evening as we thanked them for opening their homes to us. After the program, all 420 campers lined up to move the 4,950 cans that were donated by the campers churches this week. It was an awesome sight. Dan and Rachael were thrilled to find the first can of Spam! Last minute care cards were written before the removal of the rack and we were all saddened to have to say goodbye to our work crews that we grew close to this week. A cruel and unjust punishment was awarded to Rachael in the fastest game of silent football ever played. This involved petting a half eaten peep in the hallway while saying to passers-by, "Pretty Bird!"

This morning, after packing up the vans, we headed to Washington D.C. to tour the Capital building. Many of us then hiked two miles to visit Abe in the Lincoln Memorial. During this walk, just when we thought he was out of walking range, Karen reached down to find a $5 bill restoring our hopes. We were all excited to have successfully explored D.C. Papa H came to our rescue by saving us from a long wall back to the car. We arrived safely at St. Mark's Church in Maryland where we will be spending the night. After filling up on pizza from Giusseppi's, Tyler won a Peep eating contest, and we reflected on the week. Tomorrow we will be heading home, arriving sometime in the midafternoon. We look forward to seeing our family and friends and sharing our week's experiences with them. Until then, keep the Faith.

Friday

2009-08-01T01:22:00.001-04:00

Zzzzzzzzz...

=( Care Cards )=

2009-07-30T23:06:00.002-04:00

We are frantically writing care cards... Therefore, on blog tonight. Keep the Faith!

"If I Dig a Hole, Will I Find Bones?"

2009-07-30T00:17:00.001-04:00

Today we had a half day and we spent it at Greenbriar State Park. (aka Muscle Beach) We had some fun in the liquid sun as we held some relay races and other water games. Following the swimming, we header to the Civil War battlefield of Antiedum. Each day we seem to come across something that reminds us of the vast amount of history that exist in this area. We finished off our free time today by getting some ice cream at Nutters. Delicious!

Rachel had a great story from this morning. Her crew's adult leader brought his guitar to the work site so they could pray in song. When they starting singing, her resident came outside to join as she knew the words to the songs. This was the first time she had joined them during lunch time devotions and hopefuly will not be the last.

Also, today brought a few visitors to camp. We were able to share some fun times and our experiences with Andy, Grady, Flat Zach, Susan, and Platte. What a great group of visitors and we hope they are able to get a taste of the workcamp experience.

Tomorrow it is back to the sites for a full day's work and we will explore how Christ has given "Freedom to the Oppressed". We have had some great devotions and and hope you are following along at home so that we might discuss out spiritual experiences with you when we return. Until tomorrow, keep the Faith!

"We Love You Tenderly"

2009-07-29T00:01:00.001-04:00

Dear AM,

Today was a day that reminded us of the past. Justin "J-Money" Yen called this afternoon and was able to speak to quite a few of us campers. We deeply miss his presence but he has been staying connected through the blog. Jon Yen was also a part of our day. During the evening slideshow, a picture of Leigh was on the screen as she was scrapping the house. The name on the scraper, Jon Yen. It made us think of all the campers that have been able to participate in this program and the number of places that scraper has visited.

Will used a power saw for the first time today. When he returned to camp, he informed us of this and what a difference it made on the progress of the job. Then pointing to his fingers he said "Look, I still have all 10 digits!" Papa H also made the slideshow in his now infamous photo; standing proudly behind a young camper wielding a power saw he or she has learned to use during the week.

Lynn's resident came out to talk to the leaders on her site this morning and told them that the power was going to be shut off today due to a lack of payment. The crew got together to pray about the situation. A loss of power would result in the loss of using power tools and would basically stop all progress. So far, the power is still on... Hopefully that will be the situation tomorrow as well.

Both Papa H and Katie's residents have young children and today, both fathers said they had never seen their boys so happy. It's amazing what a little bit of time spent with some of these residents will do to their overall confidence and happiness.

At this evening's program, Mark and Will were a part of a skit that dealt with a football coach giving all of the tools needed to be a successfull football player to the current quarterback. When the big time in the game came to be, the quarterback froze, or was held captive, by his fear. The guys did a great job as always!

Tomorrow we will have a half day of work and some visitors from home. Hopefully the break will rejuvinate our minds, souls, and bodies. Until then, keep the Faith!

"We Don't Have a Bathroom but We Have Sheetz"

2009-07-27T23:57:00.001-04:00

Today was our first day on the work sites and we had the opportunity to meet our residents and bond with our crews. As a whole, this camp is comprised of a wonderful group of youth and adults. Other than a kid on Rachael's crew refusing to wear shoes, I don't think there was a single camper issue today on the sites. Instead, it was a day where many residents were eager to share their personal stories. Our theme for the day was "Hope for the Poor" and our focus was on the spiritually poor, however, our real world experiences saw a different kind of poor. Many of our residents are in dire need of help. Tyler's resident has been told she will have to leave her home if she doesn't make the necessary repairs. With limited physical and financial resources, she had little hope that she would be able to remain in her home. Having Group Workcamps contact her was a "God Sighting" she will never forget and it sounds like today was a day the campers will remember for quite some time.

Today also saw the introduction of Care Cards, possitive notes of affirmation that we write for those that have an influence on our week. Taking thie time to think about these possitive influences is something we sometimes fail to do in our daily lives. It's an exercise in focusing on the half of the glass that is full.

At this evening's program, Mark played the lead in a modern day adaptation of Jesus asking the rich man to give up all his possessions. As always, Mark did a great job and we were all so proud of him!

Tomorrow we will return to our sites for another full day of work. Jayme and Chad have another 8 post holes to dig before constructing their massive wheelchair ramp. Lisa will finish digging holes for their porch and will begin construction. Joey will finish scraping and begin painting the outside of his resident's home. We'll check in tomorrow and examine how God's word has worked through us. Until then, keep the Faith!

"If it Doesn't Fit, Get a Bigger Hammer"

2009-07-26T23:28:00.001-04:00

This morning started with a late wake-up call of 8:30. Don't get used to it campers! We headed to a wonderful little diner, Betty's, for breakfast, the hottest spot in town! We wore our Peep shirts all day and the amount of questions we received regarding them was astounding! What a wonderful opportunity to spread God's word to the community of Shepherdstown!

We attended the morning worship service at Shepherdstown Presbyterian. A very welcoming congregation that was thrilled we had come to their neighborhood to do the Lord's work. The church still has their original pews which have no nails and are entirely tongue and groove and dovetail joints. Awesome!

We arrived at camp at noon and checked into our rooms. The girls are pumped to have their own room at the school. They guys will have the opportunity to bond with many other campers as they are sleeping in the "great room" with 55 others... Thankfully the church is air conditioned.

We had a few God sightings today but one that stands out regards the Peeps. A few weeks ago, Leigh had the idea to use Peeps as a part of our t-shirts this year and the idea eventually evolved to "Servin' with my Peeps." The idea was shown to Platte who mentioned he had a contact at Just Born and after a few phone calls, Just Born decided to send us with enough Peeps to feed the entire camp. When we first checked in, it was mentioned to us that there would be no t-shirts to hand out to the campers until Wednesday. Typically the shirts are handed out following the 1st program and since there are no shirts, the crew has been agonizing about what to give the campers. Procratination eventually won out as no alternative plan was made. 15 minutes before the program, Rachael spoke to the camp director of our plan to hand out the Peeps and they could not believe that their unfulfilled need was been filled. What a great experience for all of the campers to hand out the Peeps and represent the Valley. Plus. it was fun to listen to all the capers give their best "peep" sound before receiving their Peeps! It's amazing how so many simple acts fit into God's larger plan!

Tonight we met our crews and and found out what our jobs will be for the week. We have many carpentry jobs. One of which is a giant wheelchair ramp being construted by a double crew cosisting of both Chad and Jayme. Andrew, Larry, and Katie are also working on porches and ramps. Sounds like many of the homes we will be working on are trailers as there is a lot of underpitting scheduled.

Tomorrow we will head to the work sites for the first time, meet our residents, and start to see the tangible signs of our service. Until then, keep the Faith!

Dirt Roads and Poison Ivy

2009-07-26T00:30:00.002-04:00

Workcamp 2009 is finally here! This morning we met at the church for a 10AM send-off service. We had a great turn out as 57 of you came to wish us well. Diane Millick led the service and Jack Decker was there yielding his trusty guitar and inspirational prayer. Knowing you are back home supporting and praying for us aides our confidence as we venture into the world to spread the Good News. Thank you!

We left the church and headed to the middle of nowhere. PA... Actually, our first stop was at Maize Quest in New Park, PA. Here we experienced a few team building events including a Geocaching course where we used GPS units to find buried buckets. The only downside, poison ivy was everywhere! Darlene and Donna, no worries the boys have not been engulfed by the vile weed... The team consisting of Jackie, Steph, Lauren, Jess, and Papa H found themselves walking through an 8 foot high cornfield not able to see 3 feet in front of themselves. Thank goodness for that GPS! We also enjoyed some pedal carts, slide, a variety of mazes, and a labyrinth. It was a great afternoon that started preparing them for the week that lie ahead.

After some well deserved ice cream, we departed Maize Quest around 5:30PM and headed toward our first night's accommodations in Shepherdstown, WV. The back roads along the Mason-Dixon line are extremely narrow and often unpaved but provide some amazing scenery. It's tough not to feel God's presence in such country! 2 and a half hours after our departure from Maize Quest, we arrived here at Shepherdstown Presbyterian. A church similar to Faith Presbyterian in both physical and congregational size, this congregation dates to the 1790's. Plus, they have a shower so we were able to wash the poison ivy oils off of us! We were welcomed with open arms and look forward to attending tomorrow morning's 10:15 service. It is amazing how willing our brothers and sisters in Christ are to open their homes to us.

While this year's workcamp is billed as the Martinsburg, WV camp, the location of the church, Covenant Baptist, we will call our home for a week is 10 miles east in Shepherdstown, WV. We passed the church on the way in and are very excited to have only a 2 mile drive tomorrow. We look forward to meeting our fellow campers, continuing to grow as a group, and begin our spiritual journey though Luke 4. We hope you will join us on this journey and we'll check in again tomorrow. Until then, keep the Faith!

Adult Leader Expectation Video

2009-04-03T15:19:00.004-04:00

Here is the 2009 Group Workcamps Adult Leader Expectation video. As with all of the videos on this site, use the overlay button next to the volume control to watch in fullscreen mode. Ah the thought of those wonderful cafeteria meals makes me hungry...

Workcamp 2005

2009-02-25T14:03:00.005-05:00

It only took 3 and a half years, but we finally have the video from our 2005 workcamp trip to Marshfield, MA in a digital format suitable for this site. Watching it has brought back some great memories. Enjoy!

Cookie Sale - December 21st

2008-11-14T17:46:00.017-05:00

On December 21st, the workcampers will hold their annual Christmas Cookie Sale. Click on the above image to watch a brief message from our friend Cookie. We hope to see you on the 21st and please come hungry!

Workcamp Sunday

2008-10-12T16:17:00.048-04:00

At today's service, we celebrated this summer's workcamp experience by tell our stories to the congregation. By clicking on the above image, you can watch a video that tells a small part of the story we lived in St. Louis, MI. Thank you to all who have supported this great program and to the campers as you truly "Loved out Loud" by putting God's love into action. Until we blog again, keep the Faith!

We like it, We love it, We want some more of it!

2008-07-31T23:29:00.004-04:00

We're back! A few weeks ago while at camp in St. Louis, MI, we discovered that the summer staffers would be at another Group workcamp in Darby, PA this week. We thought making the hour and a half drive to that particular camp would be a wonderful opportunity to continue Loving Out Loud and the see the summer staffers. Today we put that plan into action! A huge shout out to Smalls, Big Guns, Sugar, and Kay Kay! Thanks so much for accepting us with open arms and giving us that camper feel for one last time this summer.

We were successful in our attempt to reach Darby in time for the 8AM program and were reunited with our friend Doug Fields! Following the service we received the slightly disappointing news that our plan of physically helping a crew on a work site would not become a reality. Neverfear, the Big Guy had other plans for us today! The gymnasium, where the morning and evening programs were being held, was the only non-air-conditioned room in Penn Wood Middle School. In order to save the suffering campers, the staff members had decided to move the program set to the air-conditioned cafeteria. Fortunately, we were able to be a part of this project and were thrilled to assist the staff in make this thought a reality. This project consumed the morning and after a hearty lunch, we headed off with Sam, aka Smalls, to visit a few of the surrounding sites to bring encouragement while she snapped a few photographs. It was great to see such great progress at the sites and the crews and residents seemed almost as excited to see us as we were to see them. The Darby camp is kind of unique as all 49 crews are working within a 2.6 mile drive from the school so the impact of the workcamp is being felt by a condensed area. In addition the local community will follow this workcamp week with a local workcamp next week where even more homes will be revitalized.

We returned to the school to distribute popsicles to the tired campers as they returned from their sites and then it was off to Pat's King of Steaks for dinner. I'm salivating as I sit here thinking about that wonderful sandwich... We returned to camp early enough to squeeze in a game of silent football before the evening program. Mama H, a first time camper and silent football player, had a hard time not talking and lost within minutes... Fortunately for her, the punishment was light and embarrassment was avoided.

The evening program held in the cafeteria was different because instead of sitting in bleachers, 300 youth and adults were sitting on a cafeteria floor. The amount of participants in the ever-popular pre-program Get Down dance was incredible as the entire camp became caught up in the moment and didn't have to come out of the bleachers to participate. The music this evening was fantastic and the song choices supurb. It was very kind of the red shirts to mention us, crew #50, as a God sighting today as they were happy to have out help in moving the program set. For us, the opportunity to spend time with the staff and be a part of another camp and something so much greater than ourselves was our God sighting. A girl from one of the sites we visited today had a God sighting as well. This morning they had rented a paint sprayer but were having a hard time reaching the top of the house because they did not have a tall enough ladder. Additionally, they did not have enough ladders. As they were packing up to leave, the neighbor stopped by, who happens to be a professional painter, and he brought with him an additional ladder and scaffolding. It is continuously amazing how God presents us with solutions to seemingly impossible situations. Steve, the MC, did a phenomenal job of setting the stage for tonight's theme of forgiveness and really shed a light on what forgiveness means to God. It was inspiring to see a slightly different perspective and delivery than we saw in St. Louis, MI.

Following the program it was time to hit the road. It was certainly difficult to leave after such a short time spent in Darby and with the staff. I think the theme of Jesus multiplying what we make available to Him is one that we have seen time and time again since departing for St. Louis, MI almost 2 weeks ago. Today was no different, from the small effort this morning resulting in a much more inviting sanctuary this evening to one neighbor's donation of scaffolding giving a group hope and a path to completion to this weeks camp inspiring a second week in the same community. Staying aware of opportunities to put God's love into action is incredibly important if we truly want to Love Out Loud as they are doing, and will continue to do, in Darby, PA. We wish all the campers in Darby and across the nation a great day tomorrow and a safe journey home. What a great day! We can't wait for our next adventure but until then, keep the Faith!

This is the end...

2008-07-20T15:08:00.001-04:00

Faith Workcamps is officially under two hours from home! We plan to be arriving home between 3:30 and 4:00 and can't wait to see everyone.

Yesterday was a good travel day as the group drove around 4 1/2 hours to Cleveland, Ohio to our activity of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where we saw many costumes, artifacts, and instruments of the various legends of rock. Many of the campers especially enjoyed The Doors exhibit, along with the Beatles.

After some good jammin' fun to the history of rock, the group took off for the First United Methodist Church of Brecksville. The church we were supposed to stay at did not respond, so Diane contacted her fellow crew leader from her worksite, who just so happened to be from the Cleveland area. To further add to this story, we were the last group to leave the school on Saturday morning and found a cooler sitting outside. This cooler just so happened to belong to the Breksville adult crew leader. Little did we realize we would be hand-delivering that cooler to the Breksville Church on our way home. A coincidence? I think not.

The group arrived at the very accomodating church and settled in as the adults grabbed a couple pizzas for dinner. Afterwards, the group's last devotions were held (*tear, tear*) and the everpopular game of silent football was played once again. Tyler, aka "Captain Pronoun", was the loser for having what must be the most pronoun usage the sacred game of silent football has ever seen. His punishment gave the group quite a laugh, as at the first rest stop on the road, Tyler happily took a plunger and shouted "PLUNGE INTO THE WORLD OF CHRST" to many of the pedestrians, who seemed frightened.

Our trip to St. Louis, MI is coming to a close. Although we are all sad to have left Workcamp, we are very excited to see our loved ones and to take a

non-yellowed water shower. Its been a spiritual week and one we won't soon forget. Until next year, Keep the Faith!

Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, and Dodge

2008-07-18T23:53:00.000-04:00

Today was the last day on our worksites and it was a successful one for every FPC camper. Christy's resident was certainly moved by their crews presence during the week. She kept calling the crew members her babies and telling them she couldn't wait to get the invites to their weddings. Jackie's crew took her resident some flowers which he immediately planted. He mentioned how he felt as if they had become his family throughout the week. Rachel and Andrew's resident was clearly moved when their crews picked up some common household items he desperately needed. A tough man that was wearing his heart on his sleeve by Friday afternoon. Lauren's site finished the week with four crews on site and they were able to work harmoniously and complete their tasks. On Tuesday, when Dan was asked by Group Workcamps if his crew would finish by Friday, his response was. "yeah, next Friday..." The job started off being way too large for a single crew to complete in five days but with the help of Jeff from the Center for Aging who showed up at 5AM one morning to help shovel shingles, and Lynn's crew who brought 6 additional hard workers, they completed their seemingly impossible task today.

Tonight's evening program was quite powerfull because many of the residents were in attendence. It was exciting for us to see them one last time and I think many of them were in shock to see the sheer number of youth that have decended upon their small town.

Following the program was the finals for the dodgeball tournament. Leigh has been talking about being in the dodgeball tournament for months and when it did not appear that one once going to take place, she took it upon herself to organize one and it went off without a hitch. The tournament became the talk of the camp and tonight's final pitted the Red Shirt Staff against the camper champions. Dan was lucky enough to play with the Red Shirts who won game one of the best of three series but then proceeded to lose the next two games... The real event was taking place in the stands as the school's macot, a shark, made a guest appearance and the youth from Iowa showed up in some crazy costumes which certainly brought a smile to everyone's face.

While some of the projects may not have been completed, they will be finished by the local community. However, the work done to the homes in only part of what is being done here this week. The same sense of hope that was given to Dan's crew by Jeff on Wednesday morning is what this camp is giving to the city of St. Louis, MI. Many of the residents have express an interest in using this weeks work as a starting point for further work to be done by themselves. They seem to have a sense of self and a pride for their homes that may not have existed a mere 5 days ago and that is part of the true lasting impression we will leave with the St. Louis, MI community.

Tomorrow we will depart from camp, have a fun afternoon at a surprise location, and spend the night in the greater Cleveland area. I think we all leave with a better understanding of ourselves and with a spirit to return home and continue to Love Out Loud. We'll be sure to talk to you tomorrow so until then, Keep the Faith!

Nearing the End

2008-07-17T23:23:00.000-04:00

Greetings, fellow blog readers. Once again, there were numerous events that took place today at Workcamp. Today was the big day aka Thursday. Thursday's theme was Love Out Loud: Forgives. After hearing our favorite youth leader, other than Dan of course, Doug Fields gave us a ten minute speech on forgiveness. He told the story of how a shooting occurred at an Amish community. The boys and men were forced out of the school and the girls were shot at. Only two girls survived. However, to the entire world's surprise, the Amish people forgave the man that killed their children and also prayed for the killer's wife. How the Amish were able to forgive the killer was the main theme of the story. With a happy birthday celebration, we were off once again for our work sites. Mr. Ingram was here today for a visit. The adults especially Dan were absolutely overjoyed since he brought them their coffee. He came to all of our sites with a handy video camera. He was like a God sighting for Leigh. Her adult leader had to leave with their van in order to attend to an injury so she was unable to leave her site. She was especially worried because she was the organizer of the ever popular dodgeball tournament. However with Mr. Ingram, anything is possible. He arrived at Leigh's site to take her and three other of her crew members back to the school. Grady had a marvelous God sighting. He was worried that he would be unable to finish his work on time. However, when he arrived at his site this morning, he found that the porch was worked on further. This really helped out his crew. Lynn has been superman. She has gotten through many projects so far this week. She also went dumpster diving. We don't get it either. Lauren has a roofing job and enjoys hanging out with the crew. She is doing a great job and working hard. She has another crew with her so she has a triple crew now. Karen was skirting on a trailer and they were digging trenches but they did not have the under pitting. However, their site coach was able to help by providing panels. Jackie went up to report a God shighting. Her resident bought her crew some pizza. She was the only volunteer to get up on the ladder to help put in the gutter. Tyler, while very nervous reported a God sighting. After he returned from work, one of the site coaches appeared in a blue dune buggy and stated he was the owner of seven eleven and gave Tyler and his crew free coupons for a slurpy. It doesn't get much better than that. Mrs. Millick was overwhelmed at the fact her crew had little roofing experience. However, help came as another crew arrived and the leader was a roofer. She was very pleased to hear this. Jayme put on her big girl pants as she wanted to invite her resident to come and join the group for devotions. Her group never asked the resident and Jayme took initiative. She also asked her resident to join them in Friday's evening program. They will likely finish tomorrow. Christy is a little down with the inside of her crazy cat house and decided to finish painting outside. She will likely finish tomorrow. Kelly had three turn-a-rounds and wheelchair ramps to complete. Her leader was asked if he would like another crew to join them but he said I have never gotten a job done with more than one crew and I'm not about to start now! Mrs. Decker completed her wheelchair ramp and her resident walked on it which Lisa thought was very fun to see. Today's evening program was all about the story of the woman who was caught of adultery. While it looks like she was about to be stoned to death, Jesus said only a man who has not sinned can cast the first stone. No man could and they all left. Jesus forgave her and told her to sin no more. The Workcampers were asked to get a rock from their work site and bring it with them to the evening program. It represented our sin and we had to decide to either hold on to it or cast it into the box of sand that was on the floor near the big cross. We all took the time in silence to decide what to do with our rock. Tonight's evening program was very powerful and emotional. Mark had participated tonight with reading from the bible. Afterwards we all sat down outside the school and had our daily devotions. The group all had an amazing conversation about why forgiveness is really important to God. We came up with some great answers. In the end we all had a fantastic day today and we hope that you did too. Tomorrow is our last day of work, so we will be looking forward to another great day to 'get 'er done! Until then, Keep the Faith.

A Variety of Events

2008-07-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

Today was a half day of work. We all joined together for the morning program. Doug Fields talked about Little Ralphie (The boy that supplied the bread and fish for Jesus to feed the crowd of 5,000.) With the classic "get 'er done" from our MC Blair, we were off to our sites for another exciting day of work. Jackie's resident originally was not very religious. However, for the first time today he talked directly to God in prayer. Rachel continued to work on her roof while standing on a ladder. She continued to show her great working strength just for her first year. Christy's resident turned 66 today. They got her a cake and they sang to her. Justin a.k.a J-Money's double crew leader has a son that plays basketball for the New York Knicks. Platte also known as P got an unexpected call when he returned from our trip. He thought it would be his wife but he found that it was Papa H. He gave Platte a verbal care card which brightened his day. Mark went to Diane's sight to help work on the roof and helped clean shingles and debris. Both Mark and Diane had their picture's featured in the slide show. Lynn started and finished a new project today and has been moving efficiently in her tasks.

We returned from work at 12:30 today and after everyone was showered up, we went to a mysterious location to spend the afternoon. It turned out that the location was the Carolyn Benner's sister's house, the Fairchilds. The pool was a big hit which included aquatic silent football and resulted in a miracle, Mr. Dictactor a.k.a Dan lost along with Will and Kelly. Their punishment will be determined later. The inner tubes and noodles were very popular. P showed the Workcampers a dive called the Watermelon which became an instant classic as Grady nailed it every time. Around 5, it started to rain and dinner was served. The chicken was immensely popular especially to Jackie, Leigh, Christy, Jayme, Meghan, and Rachel who loved the chicken so much that they developed British accents... After a nice stay, we returned to the school. After, a nice snoze for Dan and Platte, the evening program started. The Variety Show was great even though Faith did not have a representative this year. Will and Mark participated in an evening skit showing how God's love can multiply. While Will's character calls Mark's a doofus, that doofus who earns a penny and has it double for a month will gain over 5 million dollars. So then around 8:30 the group was told by Blair that Jesus had fed 5,000 people not including women and children. Blair had said that he only had a half of a bagel. We were all amazed to see if every single workcamper would be fed. The truth is that Blair and the red shirts were able to feed everyone in the gym. Surprisingly there were three chuncks of bagels left. WOW! After the evening program we then sat down for devotions. We had a really great discussion about how love can multiply. Another event that happened today was that Andy Ingram came to visit us at the high school. He plans to visit some of the sites tomorrow. Also, their is a rumor that Lynn may join Dan's group. We're just as interested as you are. We will keep you updated on that. We are all loving out loud here in St. Louis, Michigan. Until then, keep the faith!

Just a little off the top...part deux

2008-07-15T23:12:00.000-04:00

Another day down and I think we're really looking forward to our half day of work tomorrow... The cafeteria solved their coffee problems and there was plenty available this morning! Meanwhile, at the sites most crews are starting to see some results. In fact, Mark's crew finished at their site today and will be reassigned to help another crew in the morning. Lynn's crew had supplies delivered today but all of the plywood was smashed. Fortunately, the male youth took it upon themselves to solve the problem and her crew did not have a wasted day. Lauren has taken a struggling youth on her crew under her wing and got her on the roof today. They're both a little bruised and battered from the shingles but otherwise in good shape! Lisa's resident is absolutely thrilled to have so many young and vibrant youth in her house and was able to express some of those emotions to the crews at her home today. Jayme's crew is building a wheelchair ramp for their resident's son who is unable to move his legs. The parents have not been at the site yet because they are both working during the day but hope to take some time off later in the week. The grandmother also lives with the family and has been very supportive of the crew. Jackie's resident, Art who likes art, is so excited to have the crew at his home that he insist of cooking lunch for them all week. Today was venison burgers which sounds pretty tasty. Art found a cross in the back yard the day the crew arrived at his home and presented it to them today. Jackie's crew is going to find a way to permanently build this cross into the portch they are constructing.

The campers received a package from Emily Cole today! She was kind enough to make bracelets and attached an accompanying scripture verse for each camper. We are all wearing them now and I'm sure a few of us will still be wearing them when we get to camp next summer. Thank you Emily for the time, energy, and love you put into each of the bracelets and we certainly miss your presence.

During tonight's evening program, Kelly read the scripture to the entire camp. Today's lesson focused on Jesus washing His disciple's feet. We had the opportunity to wash the feet of our fellow crew members and it was a fairly powerful moment. Interestingly enough, the last time we did this was in 2002 when we were just down the road in Lansing, MI. It is somewhat awkward to put yourself in the vulnerable position of being served and I'm sure many of our residents feel this week like we felt tonight.

Following tonight's evening program, Tyler could not resist the urge to turn his head shaving last year into a yearly ritual. Thank goodness he looks good in this "hair" style! His enthusiasm is contagous but we are hoping the head shaving is not...

Team "If you ain't dutch, you ain't much" was back with a vengene this year with a new team member and a new name. Now called, "From the Top," and after replacing the absent Papa H with Lisa, Platte, Justin, Diane, and Dan discarded a team of young basketball studs in double overtime. After the 15 minute game, Lisa has an injured finger, Justin had a scraped knee, and Dan's back was in knots... Not bad for a team with an average age 3 times that of their foe. "From the Top" had a spectacular cheering section but will need a miracle to get past Thursdays 2nd round...

As was mentioned earlier, we have a half day of work tomorrow and we'll take advantage of the time off to recharge our batteries for the remainder of the week. We hope you are all well back in good 'ole PA and across the globe. We should have some interesting things to post tomorrow night so until then, keep the Faith!

Cat ladies and vicous dogs

2008-07-14T23:31:00.000-04:00

We had a rough morning because the cafeteria ran out of coffee before all of our adult leaders had a chance to get some ... The good news is that there were very few snags otherwise! After breakfast, we had a morning program with our buddy Doug Fields whose message tied in very well with our Indiana Jones devotion guides.

Following the service, we all got in our vans and headed off to our sites for the first time. Monday is always an interesting day as we meet our residents and assess the job site that we had read about the day before. Will's crew accidentally followed the directions to the hospital instead of to their work site. We had all been warned only minutes earlier that we should NOT do this. An hour later Will's crew arrived at their site which is only five blocks from the school...

Lauren's crew is working on repairing a roof. She was the only female in her double crew that was brave enough to even step foot on top of that roof. Christy's resident is a huge "collector" of cats. Christy was unable to guess as to how many cats are living inside because there are so many, however, she did say she was unable to go inside without wearing a mask due to the smell... Rachel and Andrew are on a double crew together and they had been warned about a vicous pitbull at their site. The pitbull exist but he is far from vicous. Unless you consider licking and high fiving to be vicous acts... Leigh has an 80 year old resident who has devoted her life to helping others in need as she has continually taken in older mentally challenged men. It sounded as though her crew was excited to put their resident on the flip side of that kindness. Jackie spent her first day on a workcamp site wielding a slege hammer and removing a concrete front porch. Not too shabby! Lisa's resident is a 74 year old woman who lives in a home that has been in the family for generations. She was fearful that she was going to be forced to move to an apartment because she could not afford to make the necessary repairs. Lisa's crew was an "answer to her prayers" and because of their involvement, she will be able to stay in the home.

In tonight's evening program there was a large FPC presence. Kelly, Mark, and Will all participated in the evening drama and Jayme played the drums during the praise songs. They all did a phenominal job and we hope to see a lot more of them as the week goes on! Today was also the beginning of care cards here at camp. Care cards are small, positive notes that you can leave to fellow campers by writing them down and placing them in an evelope designate for each camper. At the end of the week, the campers will get their care cards to read as a reminder of all the positive things that have happened through out the week.. It's a great way to keep the workcamp spirit alive long after camp has ended.

Tomorrow we will head back to our sites and continue to make progress on the homes as well as our spiritual journeys. Lynn's crew might even finish at her site by the late afternoon. Please keep us in your prayers and we'll be here keepin' the faith!

Welcome to St. Louis.....Michigan

2008-07-13T23:52:00.001-04:00

This morning we packed up and left First Presbyterian Perrysburg, spend 2.5 hours in the car and eventually arrive in St. Louis, MI. Luckily, we were one of the first groups to arrive and were able to claim some good sleeping spots in our rooms. The guys are sleeping on the first floor in a small room with a 15 person group from Minnesota. Needless to say, there we are packed in like sausages. The girls just so happened to be paired up with the group from NJ that we have visited and seen at many camps in the past.

The local community provided us with a BBQ style lunch today. Later in the day we met our crews for the first time and and found out our jobs for the week. So far, I think we are really liking the challenge camp! All of our sites involve some kind of carpentry and we have quite a few roofs. As the week progresses we'll take a look at our groups individual jobs.

During today's evening program, we realized that we will be watching some Doug Fields videos again this year. He's back but soul patchless and finally wearing a different shirt... Our emcee is the same emcee that we had in Vandalia, OH and the camp directory is Tom Shepherd who has directed camps we have attended in the past. If fact, this is his 50th camp!

Tomorrow we head out to our worksites for the first time, meet our residents, and continue our spiritual journeys. Each evening at 9 we will delve into our Indiana Jones devotion guides and hope you will do the same. Until tomorrow, keep the Faith!

Coincidence, I think not...

2008-07-12T23:13:00.002-04:00

Our version of the mid summer classic got under way today as we met at FPC this morning in order to depart on our workcamp journey to St. Louis, MI. It was great to see so many of your smiling faces at the church! After a brief send off that included the musical sounds of Jack Decker, we began our journey west. We had planned on stopping at a rest area to consume the sandwiches we had packed, but we ended up stoping by Lisa's family farm just west of Clarion, PA. It ended up being the perfect place to stop and spend some time together among the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania. What a beautiful home on 200 acres just off of route 80.

After lunch, it was on to our first nights accomodations in Perrysdburg, OH. Perrysburg is a suburb of Toledo on the Maumee River which we took a walk to today. As it ends up, Perrysburg, and specifically First Pres. Perrysburg, has some ties to FPC. When Lynn found out we were heading here, she called her father's college roommate and he just happens to live 2 houses from the church. His family was was kind enough to stop by and bring ups Klondike bars. "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" We came to Ohio! The church seemed really familiar as we approached and Justin and Dan realized the workcampers had stayed at this same church in 2002 when they went to Lansing, MI! It is constantly amazing how each year we are greeted all across the country with open arms by fellow christians who know little about us except our name and where we are from.

All in all it was a great first day and the car ride didn't seem nearly as long as it probably was. The newest campers, Meghan, Lauren, Rachel, Jackie, Grady, Karen, and Lisa took little time in becoming very active members of the group. We can all be proud of how inclusive our youth are with eachother and others they come in contact with.

Justin, aka J-Money, was once again successful in losing the first silent football game of the year. We'll hand down a punishment tomorrow and try to get this blog posted a little bit earlier. Until then, keep the Faith!

Better late than... nevermind

2007-08-06T17:58:00.000-04:00

As always, the the end of the workcamp week is accompanied by exhaustion... I've noticed a trend that the Thursday and Friday blogs just do not happen. Although a week and a half late, hopefully one last blog can tie up all the loose ends...hopefully.

Thursday's evening program at workcamp is the pinnacle of the spiritual week. This year, we watched a video asking us to think about how difficult it is to sacrifice a life for the sake of others. Jesus did this without hesitation. The program gives everyone an opportunity to focus on Christ's love and to look inward to changes that we can all make in our own lives. This week was about renovation, and Thursday evening certainly aided us all in this way...

As Friday arrived, we were finishing up on our projects and started thinking about returning home and leaving all those we had come in contact with. For the first time, every Faith workcamper finished their job. This can be attributed to their hard work and the city of Vandalia's preparation prior to camp. Emily, Tyler, Mark, Jim, Diane, Andrew, Platte, Leigh, and Justin finished up painting their houses. Keeping Lynn's crew motivated proved to be challenging, but by late Friday afternoon, they had finished up their home. Christy's crew seemed to be hard workers as they were reassigned and finished their second house as well. Larry's double crew finished up their extensive list of projects. Will's crew was sent to a new home to do some additional painting and shrub removal. Dan's crew ultimately worked on 4 homes and their last assignment was to work with Steph's crew. Her resident was a real gem and his one liners had both crews laughing hysterically! Jayme and Kelly finished up their week just as it had began, in the cherry picker.

At the Friday evening program, many of the residents of the homes we worked on came to the evening program. The night was a great culmination of a weeks work and I think we all left Vandalia having been renovated in one way or another. Friday also saw the dodge-ball finale which pitted the tournament champs against the staff. The emcee twisted an ankle early on and ultimately the young guns could not be stopped. Shortly thereafter, the Care Card rack disappeared which left Lynn without much option but to finish her care cards and stuff them into envelopes on Saturday morning. Next year, get an earlier start Lynn!

On Saturday morning we left camp and our week long sleeping accommodations, the Butler/ Vandalia High School. We spend the late morning and afternoon at King's Island amusement park and everyone had a blast. The map of the park had a legend that included an intensity guide. The highest intensity level rides received a rating of 5, and a group of Faith workcampers refused to ride anything less than a level 5 ride... We were so proud! By the end of the afternoon everyone had their fill of roller coasters (the Beast rocks!!!) and were headed for Zanesville, OH. We stayed at the Central Presbyterian church right off of route 70 and it was a beautiful old church. In recent years, the church's congregation has shrunk considerably and the town itself is a little rough around the edges. Ironically, next summer, Group Workcamps will be having a camp in Zanesville. Our thanks goes out to Central Presbyterian for their hospitality.

Sunday morning we pilled back into the car and finished off the last leg of our journey home to Emmaus! We were greeted by family members around 3:45 and our workcamp week officially had come to a close.

On our way home from Vandalia, we discussed possible ways to keep the workcamp enthusiasm alive. One idea was to visit other churches who had attended workcamp to expand our workcamp relationship. Yesterday, Browns Mills UMC in Browns Mills, NJ was having their workcamp Sunday so a group of us invaded their town. It was fun to see some familiar faces and to tell our own stories and we hope to keep in touch and feed off of each others enthusiasm. Our paths have crossed at multiple workcamps in the past, and who knows, they may cross again in the future.

The workcampers will united once again at the Moring household on August 11th at 5:30 for a picnic! All workcampers and their families are invited and encouraged to attend. It will be a night of reflection, looking at pictures, food, and fun! Plus we will decide where we want to go next summer! Workcamp '07 will culminate with Workcamp Sunday on September 23rd where we will share our stories and hopefully give a workcamp experience to the congregation of Faith Pres. We thank you for all of you support and look forward to seeing you on the 23rd! Until then, keep the Faith!

Zzzzzzzz......

2007-07-26T22:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry, no blog tonight.

Orville yes, Redenbacher no!

2007-07-25T23:36:00.000-04:00

Today was a half day of work for all of the workcampers and Faith Pres. celebrated by having museum day! Our first stop was the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop in downtown Dayton. In this shop, Orville and Wilbur Wright began explored the idea of flight. Our second stop was the Nation Museum of the United States Air Force. This 3 hangar museum had an incredible collection of airplanes. The 200+ planes included an SR-71, a Stealth Bomber, a Stealth fighter, a Japanese Zero, and countless other aircraft from the past 100 years. Apparently there is a photo of Andy Ingram's grandfather in the museum but we were unable to find it. Had we not been limited to and hour and a half at the museum, we certainly would have fulfilled this goal.

We returned to the school in time for the Workcamp Variety Show. I should say, the Faith Variety Show! Of the 21 auditions, 7 acts were chosen and 3 of those acts were performed by Faith workcampers. Justin was first up from Faith and he played an original piano composition. As always, he did a fantastic job and had the crowd on their feet. Andrew followed with a heart felt rendition of "Taps" on his trumpet. As a first time participant in the Variety Show, it was great to see how confident he was in his abilities and he certainly nailed the performance! Jayme, Mark, Christy, Kelly, Will, and Leigh performed a skit called Harry Potter Puppet Pals. There is a YouTube video that this skit was based on. The skit was quite comical and most of the other youth campers seemed to recognize the skit. I'm sure they can be talked into performing again in Emmaus! Faith Pres. was certainly well represented and we are so proud of the youth for their active participation and for having the confidence to step outside of the box!

Tomorrow, we return to our work sites for a complete day. We're past the half way point already and there is still a lot of work to be done both spiritually and on the sites. Please follow those devotion guides and keep us in your prayers. Keep the Faith!

Just a little off the top...

2007-07-24T23:44:00.001-04:00

Today we continued working on our sites. Justin's crew continued staining a pre-existing deck but is not sure they will finish by the end of the week. I'm sure Group Workcamps will assign another crew to help them out if need be. Dan's crew finished their porch and wheelchair ramp today and will be reassigned to a brand new site tomorrow. Jim's crew continued their painting and things seem to be moving along smoothly.

There are quite a few people at this year's camp that we have seen at camps before. One of these people is Chuck from New Jersey. We think he was on Eric's crew at the Rumford, ME workcamp in 2000. We certainly wish Eric would have been here to fill in the gaps in Chuck's stories... A crew member of Dan's from last year is here and her husband is working with Lynn, and her daughter is working with Larry. It's great to see so many familiar faces and so many new ones as well.

Today were the try-outs for the variety show. Faith had 9 different people try out in a variety of forms: Justin played a composition of his own on the piano, Will, Christy, Leigh, Jayme, Mark, and Kelly performed a secret Harry Potter skit, Emily sang a song, and Andrew played the trumpet. Tomorrow we will find out who is playing in the talent show. Whether they are chosen to perform is not important, their willingness to be involved was certainly motivational. We saw a lot of Faith involvement at tonight's evening program as well. Kelly read the opening scripture while Mark and Will performed in a skit. All 3 of them seemed very comfortable on stage and made us all proud!

Team "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much" hit a road block today in the form of 3 younger, and more talented, basketball players. However, they did not go down with out a fight. Trailing 7-1, the Dutch came screaming back to make it an 8-6 game before finally losing 11-7. A fine effort by all involved and they certainly had a great time on the hardwood. We'll break out the ice bags and hopefully all 5 will still be walking tomorrow...

Tyler certainly looks different tonight than he did this morning. He had a hard days worth of work that included a lot of painting. When he arrived back at the school, he was covered from head to tow in antique white latex paint. After a long shower and a few minutes in the bathroom, he looked like a new man... literally. He is having a great time and has really bonded with the youth in our group. He has even started to open up in our nightly devotions and we're so glad he came into camp with an open mind and a willingness to serve.

Tomorrow is only a half day of work. Faith Workcamps will spend the afternoon at the Air Force Museum in Dayton. Andy flew to Oshkosh today to check out an experimental air show and we hope he will be back tomorrow morning to help out at some sites and to visit the museum. We'll be enjoying our afternoon off and hope you will take a few minutes to be jealous... Until tomorrow, keep the Faith!

If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much

2007-07-23T23:34:00.000-04:00

Today we began working on our sites. Most of us are painting while a few are building wheelchair ramps, decks, and repairing fascia boards. Kelly and Jayme are working at the same site and spent the day in a cherry picker painting the eaves of their house. They were very excited about this opportunity to work together! Jim's resident is a single woman with 14 kids, 8 biological and 6 adopted. His crew is painting a house that has not been painted for 50+ years! Typically the first day is not very productive because we get a late start due to a morning service, and we spend a lot of time developing a plan of attack. Today, however, seemed to be a very productive day for most crews. Christy's crew is repairing some molding, painting a few rooms, and painting the garage floor. She estimates that her crew will finish at their site tomorrow. We'll see what some of the other campers are doing as the week progresses.

Yesterday, there was a sign-up sheet for a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. We tried to get the youth to put a team together and when they did not, the adults enter a squad of their own. Team "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much" consist of Larry, Lynn, Platte, Diane, and Dan. Our first game was this afternoon. The game started off very close, but in the end, the adults whooped a considerably younger team by a final of 11-5. Tomorrow's competition will be much tougher but don't count these fogies out...yet.

We were all pleasantly surprised when Andy Ingram showed up following tonight's evening program. Andy has come to camp in the past for a few days at a time and it is always great to have him around. We're not sure how long he'll be staying but we are trying to convince him to stay through Wednesday afternoon when we will visit the Air Force museum. It's great to have Andy back after a two year hiatus! Tomorrow, we will continue to make progress both spiritually and at our sites. We have had some great evening devotions and hope you are following along with your guides. Keep the Faith!

Go big or go home...

2007-07-22T23:54:00.000-04:00

As we prepare for our first night's sleep at the Butler/Vandalia High School, home of the Aviators, the guy's room has a problem. One of the overhead flourescent lights is on a different circuit and we are not able to turn it off. If we all were not so exhausted, sleeping would be nearly impossible. Platte already seems un-phased by the light... Good news, the janitor is on his way to remove the bulbs and eliminate this problem.

The room the guys are staying in is rather small. When we first arrived, we were told that 8 others would be staying with us and it would have been very difficult to fit everyone in the room. Fortunately, that group was moved to a different room and the guys have been able to spread out. The girls have their own room as well which is quite large and carpeted! We will be holding all of our evening devotions in their room this week. We hope you will all be joining us in using the daily devotion guide that can be found at the link on the left side of this page.

There were a lot of workcamp happenings today. We left the gracious Bethel Presbyterian church this morning around 9 A.M. and traveled for an hour and a half to Vandalia. After grabbing lunch and stopping by Target to pick up all the items we forgot to pack, we checked into the school. The community has been very involved in setting up this camp, more so than any prior year. They have set up movie nights, slip and slides, ice cream parties, etc. This evening's dinner was provided by the local Rotary club and we had a cookout with a DJ and all! Earlier this week, the Rotary also arranged to have all the houses power washed to eliminate heavy scraping before painting. This should save the campers a lot of time and should greatly increase efficiency.

Each year, all churches are asked to complete a project and bring it to camp. This year's project was to build a cross out of "old stuff" that represents our home communities. The cross could be no taller than 4 feet. Local businesses in the Lehigh Valley donated I-beams and sheet metal to help us create an I-beam cross. Fear not, we will post pictures when we return from camp. At today's first program, each church presented their cross to the camp. Will was to be our representative, go up on stage, and stand behind our cross. All 12 church crosses were on the stage and unfortunately, Will stood behind the wrong cross. However, he did not stand in front of another church's cross, he stood in front of the 8 foot tall cross that is on the Group Workcamp stage year after year. In Will's defense, he knew that we don't mess around when it comes to these projects and he chose to stand by the cross that dwarfed all others! Eventually, the situation was rectified and Will found the Faith cross.

The second evening service was started by Kelly and Emily. They put together a skit about renovation and saluted the workcamp volunteers. It was very cleverly done! Mark then read today's scripture verse and the rest of the youth helped lead one of the workcamp songs. Everyone did a fantastic job and it was great to see so many of our youth taking leadership roles early in the week. Speaking and standing in front of 400 people can certainly be intimidating and they all handed themselves very well. Later in the program, we all met our crews for the week.

Last fall Justin turned 21 years of age. That makes him a first time adult leader. He attended his first adult meeting today and it was great to take a step back and think about how he has grown from these workcamp experiences. Our thanks go out to Justin for his continuing service.

Tyler seems to be having a really great experience so far. We have been very impressed with his willingness to jump into pretty much every situation. Chocolate milk chugging contest have been a workcamp staple for years and this year there was no chocolate milk in the cafeteria. Luckily, a vending machine containing chocolate milk was found. Tyler jumped right, grabbed a milk, spilled half of it on his shirt, and won the contest. What determination! Hopefully there will be more milk tomorrow and someone can dethrone the champ!

A highlight today was receiving a text message from Stephanie Lillegard who is serving with the Peace Corp in the Ukraine. This is the first year since 1998 that Stephanie has not attended workcamp. Her behind the scenes work for this program and her presence at camp have been crucial to its success for years. She is greatly missed and in her text message, she wanted to let us know that our silent football punishments were not harsh enough... We will rectify this situation tomorrow! Until then, Keep the Faith!

Here we go again...

2007-07-21T23:58:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe it has been a whole year since we were in Somerville, Tennessee… This summer's workcampers are headed to Vandalia, Ohio. Vandalia is a small suburb of Dayton which once was a thriving town that survived on travelers who stopped there for the night. When Eisenhower setup the interstate system, Vandalia, and other small towns like it, were no longer popular stops along the way, but instead were just additional exits. When you watch the movie Cars, think Vandalia, Ohio.

We departed from Faith Presbyterian this morning around 9 A.M. This was a welcomed change from the usual 7 A.M. departure and probably necessary as most of the youth spent last night waiting in line for the new Harry Potter book. Our resident book worm, Kelly Trop, finished the last Harry Potter book by 8:30 this morning… She has done a great job of not discussing the book, probably because she fears for her life is she let's one of the secrets slip. I've never before seen youth so enthused by a book!

We thank all of you who were able to make it to this morning's send-off service. Having the support of our Faith family is what makes this trip possible.

As always, the car rides go by much faster that you would think. Some games were played and after a few hours, the newest campers, Tyler and Leigh, seemed liked grizzled veterans. We had plans to meet up with Joanna Yen for lunch south of Pittsburgh but our schedules ended up conflicting. Hopefully we will be able to see her on our way home…

We arrived in Columbus, Ohio at 6 P.M. and went to the Columbus Jazz and Ribs festival. This is considered to be one of the premier festivals on the summer U.S. calendar but was somewhat disappointing. Unlike Musikfest, there were really only two performers at a time and the festival took place on both sides of the river making the bridges very congested. Nonetheless, it was a great opportunity to spend a few hours with each other and 100,000 others…

Our final destination for today was Bethel Presbyterian Church is Columbus, Ohio. We arrived here around 9 P.M. and were greeted with open arms. This church sent approximately 50 youth to a conference in Florida just this afternoon. After getting settled in, we played the first game of silent football. Amazingly, Justin, Will, and Leigh all ended up on the losing end. As punishment for losing, Will and Justin will be helping other churches unload their vans tomorrow at camp. This will be a great opportunity for them to meet fellow campers and will hopefully enhance their camp experience. Leigh will be serving us all breakfast in the morning!

Tomorrow morning we will have only an hour and a half of driving before we reach Vandalia! There we will meet new people, find out our individual work descriptions, and hopefully open ourselves to a week of renovation. We'll keep you informed of all of the day's happenings as there will be many. Until then, keep the Faith!

Homeward bound!

2006-07-30T21:03:00.000-04:00

We’re in the car on the ride back to PA from our hard week of service. Van #1 just finished six energy drinks and we’re partying harder, longer, and faster. OH YEAAAH. This brings us to the home stretch...

All the Faith Workcampers finished up their sites and some finished early, giving them the chance to work on multiple sites. Christy was able to complete two entire sites with her crew. Andy, Melanie, Lynn, Mark, and Kelly built wheelchair ramps giving their residents better access to the community around them. Platte, Stephanie L., Justin, Dan, Eric, and Diane had carpentry jobs ranging from porches to trim work. Others including Jayme, Will, Stephanie H., Greg, Larry, and Emily brought tired homes to life with a fresh coat of paint on the interiors and exteriors. Big Jim was the first Faith Presbyterian member to serve as Workcamp Staff. He chose to serve other Workcampers as a site coach, who is responsible for troubleshooting at a number of project sites. Overall the White Gold Workcampers volunteered nearly 11,000 hours of their time to the community of Somerville, TN and worked on 56 different homes.

Saturday morning we packed up our bags, swept the classrooms we had been sleeping in, and loaded back into the vans for our 16 hour trek home. Our first stop along the way was Nashville, TN to check out Platte’s old stomping grounds of Vanderbilt University; an exact replica of Greece’s Parthenon; and enjoyed Nashville’s famous “hand-made” burgers at Rotier’s. After lunch, we headed further east to visit The Hermitage- the residence of our seventh president, Andrew Jackson. We finished our long day in Marion, VA, where we stayed in First United Methodist’s youth house. Everyone was extremely impressed with the facilities, which not only provides a home for their youth program, but also shelter for the Crossroads Program. We woke up well rested because of their gracious hospitality... and because many of us we able to sleep in beds for the first time in over a week. This morning we loaded in the vans yet again and embarked on the last leg of our journey home to Emmaus, PA.

Our goal following this Workcamp is to maintain the “Jesus attitudes” of humility, sacrifice, servanthood, obedience, and love as we return to our daily lives. This week has brought us closer together as a group and expanded our Faith Workcamp family with eight new members. We know this has been a memorable experience for each and every one of us and we thank all of you for the support you have provided us, which ultimately changes hundreds of lives.

Before anyone did anything, Elvis did everything.

2006-07-26T23:14:00.000-04:00

It’s Wednesday afternoon and we’re writing to from the road on our way back to the school. We spent the afternoon in Memphis, TN were we visited Graceland and dined in the Blues capitol of the world, Beale Street. It was good to have an afternoon off after the working hard the first half of the week. We reached Elvis Presley Boulevard around 2:30PM to check out “the King’s” house. We were incredibly excited to see the gold lame and Jungle Room, but particularly pumped to see a piece of Americana. Soon after, we headed over to Beale Street to see the birth place of Blues. However, surprisingly, the most impressive sight on Beale Street was the vast amount of ketchup Will can eat- at least a full bottle in one sitting.

Currently, we’re en route back to the school for the evening program. Jayme will be rocking the drums and Greg will be playing the bass in the program. Hopefully this will spawn the birth of an FPC band. Following the program, we’ll have the opportunity to see the many “talents” of the workcampers in the variety show.

Between the work done yesterday and today on our sites, many of our crews are nearing completion. Not to worry though, there are still plenty of sites that still need lots of work and the crews that finish will be reassigned to those sites. Christy must be an expert painter because she has already completed the work to be done on her resident's home. However, others like Lynn have hit a few bumps in the road and are just beginning their work. Relationships with our residents are continuing to grow as more and more residents are opening up to the campers. Stephanie H. is experiencing joys of servanthood this week through a little girl on her work site. After applying a fresh coat of paint to the little girl's room, the little girl was overjoyed with the work that Stephanie's crew had done that she insisted on taking pictures with them in her new digs.

As a youth group, we're continuing to grow closer and closer. In the words of Emily, this is like having one big family of Faith. Tomorrow, we're back to a full day at the work site. Until the God bless and keep the Faith!

W.A.S.P. encountering wasp...

2006-07-24T23:20:00.000-04:00

Today we finally made it to our work sites and introduced ourselves to our residents. Interaction with residents is always varied and this year is no exception. Greg’s resident immediately joined in to help his crew with home repairs while Eric’s resident spent the day at her mother’s house across the street.

Larry, Mark, and Platte were all on the losing end of wasp encounters today. Platte was the worst off after being stung 3 times while repairing a few boards outside the house. Steph L. avoided the wasp and had a very productive work day. Her crew painted almost and entire house and should complete their site by Wednesday. Lynn crew wis installing over 200 pavers and a wheelchair ramp so their resident can go outside. Their day did not go as smoothly as Steph’s but they certainly worked hard in the heat. Justin’s crew is getting along fabulously and their porch is well on it’’s way to completion.

Tonight’s evening devotions focused on how we are here to serve and not to judge. Often, it is the healing of a residents soul that really matters and not necessarily the physical work that is completed. While this evenings devotions were long, they were certainly productive and everyone took an active role. Simply being surrounded by 400 active Christian youth has been a powerful experience for us all, especially the new workcampers. Hearing their stories and seeing them interact and be changed by this experience is much more visible than you might think. Many of us have spent time together in church but have never sat down and talked about our faith. Yesterday, while devotions were good, it was mainly the old timers leading the discussion. Today, the youth really got involved and brought forth ideas and perceptions that are incredible refreshing.

Tomorrow we will continue to work hard at our sites to accomplish the task set before us, whatever they might be. Until then, God bless and keep the Faith!

And so it begins...

2006-07-23T23:49:00.000-04:00

Connecting to the internet has proved to be incredibly difficult here in Somerville, TN. The absence of a wired or wireless connection and lack of cell phone service has made uploading all but impossible. Hopefully, we’ll be able to update the website soon and if you are reading this, we have been successful!

We departed Cookeville, TN early this morning and arrived in Somerville, TN around noon. We were the first group to arrive and therefore the first to hit the showers. I’m sure they will be more crowded tomorrow... The Faith ladies are sharing their sleeping quarters with a group from Kenosha, WI and the guys are with a group from East Lansing, MI. Strangely enough, Faith has attended workcamps in both of these towns! At the arrival program this afternoon, Mark and Andy presented our Pink Cadillac to the camp. There are quite a few tires decorated in interesting fashions but we can certain be proud of our creation and how it stacks up against the rest. Mark and Will then led off camp by giving the daily announcements in a most amusing fashion. Will followed that performance by reading the days scripture verses (Philippians 2:1-2). Melanie, Emily, and Kelly helped lead the camp in song during the evening service. Christy fits into the group as though she has been attending for years. On Wednesday, Greg will be playing the bass and Jayme the drums during the evening program. Seeing the first time campers take an active role at such an early stage was certainly the highlight of the day. Their enthusiasm is inspiring to us all and we look forward to seeing how each of them grow throughout the week. One does not know what to expect heading into their first workcamp. It is a humbling experience to put aside all of life’s creature comforts and sleep on a classroom floor, eat cafeteria food for 20 consecutive meals, and spend time with 375 strangers. But soon you start to realize that you are not dependent on as many items as you thought you were and and you start to take the time to realize what is really important and why we are here. The focus of a Group workcamp is spiritual growth and I think this week is going to be especially powerful for all of us as we take notice of the importance Christ plays in our lives.

We met our work crews this evening and were assigned our jobs for the week. For the most part, everyone will be doing both carpentry work as well as painting. As the week progresses we’ll fill you in on individual workcaper’s experiences.

Our devotions this evening were fantastic! We spend a lot of time discussing love and it’s role in pop culture society and how that is both similar and different to authentic love. Once again, having 8 new campers and 8 new perspectives adds a new dimension and has stimulated some excellent conversation.

Tomorrow we head to our work sites for the first time. Big Jim is the first Faith Pres. member to attend camp as staff and he will be driving to 7 different sites to help crews with their projects. I think we are all ready to get out in the community and spread God’s love. Until tomorrow, God Bless and keep the Faith!

Travel...

2006-07-22T22:57:00.000-04:00

We’re off! Workcamp 2006 is finally here and we have arrived at our first nights accommodations in Cookeville, TN. It’s seems like only yesterday we were sending these nightly updates from Marshfield, MA... At 7AM this morning, we gathered at Faith Pres. for our send off service. In the 15 years Faith has had a workcamp program, this send off service was far and away the best attended. Thanks to all of you who took the time early on a Saturday morning to wish us well on our journey. Knowing that we have the support of our Faith family certainly adds to this experience and begins to get us in the workcamp frame of mind.

Today’s theme...driving. The car rides were full of trivia games, movies, sleeping, and getting to know each other. It’s amazing how much you can learn about everyone when confined to a mini-van for 13 hours... Stops were few and far between as we have already traveled over 700 miles. Upon our arrival at First Presbyterian church in Cookeville, TN, we played our first game of silent football. Having eight new workcampers made tonight’s game very enjoyable but it was a veteran (Lynn) who ended up losing. She’ll spend tomorrow morning feeding us all breakfast in bed as punishment for losing tonight’s game.

Tomorrow morning we have a four hour drive to Somerville, TN for the start of camp. It will be a fun filled day of travel, check-in, acclimation, and meeting new people, including our work crews. Until then, God bless, and keep the Faith!

Day 6

2005-07-28T23:55:00.000-04:00

Today was a very productive day for almost every work crew. This morning I was concerned that the day was not going to be very productive but as the day unfolded that certainly was not the case. In fact, we finished at our site today and will hopefully be reassigned tomorrow. Eric's crew finally came together as a cohesive unit and they accomplished more that they had expected to. Big Jim is making great progress on his house and they have thoroughly impressed their resident with the quality of the work. Justin's crew has a rather large construction project in building a large wheelchair ramp but he is optimistic that they will complete the work tomorrow. Ali's crew is nearing completion and had some time today to hit up the beach for a few minutes. Bret had a run in with the local gardening club as they thought he was washing off the paint brushes too close to their prized flowers.

Esther is having a great time and keeps thanking us for taking her on this trip. She has a wonderful personality and is able to convey her sense of humor to us quite easily as she speaks english incredibly well. During tonight's evening devotion, Esther closed in prayer in her native language of Italian as we all held hands. This was an absolutely magical moment as our ears had no idea what Esther was saying but in our hearts we knew what was being said.

A new rule this year is that you must be 18 to use a power saw. This rule is ridiculous because under the proper supervision these youth can learn a skill that will be useful and it is something that they all want to do. Well, one of our adults (we'll call him William) also thinks the youth should be able to work with power tools. So all week and under proper guidance they have been working with power tools. Unfortunately, the paper showed up at William's site today and took pictures of the kids cutting boards. The caption to the photo in the paper read, "Mark Harstad, 17, of Rochester, NY..." Busted!!! If only they had not mentioned Marks age... So far nobody seems to have noticed but this was quite an amusing for all of us! While the picture is different that it was in the paper, the article can be found here.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring weather as nice as today. A Marshfield resident told me today that the saying in New England is, "if you don't like the weather, wait a day." Today we realized what she meant because yesterday was in the upper 90's and today was in the lower 70's.

The second round of the dodgeball tournament took place today. On Tuesday, the two Faith Pres. teams we unfortunately paired up against eachother. The team of Larry, Stephanie H., Jayme, Eric, and Dan moved on and played their second round game today. With 30 seconds to go we were down 5 people to 1 when Eric made a fantastic catch to get a player back in the game. The comeback was completed and after an overtime session the Alaskan Assassins were victorious and will be moving on to the final day of competition. Following the game a few of us ventured a few miles down the road to Daniel Webster's house and grave. Our time was limited but it was great to catch a glimpse of the incredible amount of American history that exist here in the Boston area.

Tonight's evening program was a powerful one. It was similar to last years program and to last years workcamp Sunday in the fact that they had stations to go to set up around the room. This year's evening programs are held in a auditorium which is not conducive to the moving around of 400 people. However, the content was good and I think we could all feel the presence of Christ.

An important part of the workcamp experience is writing care cards. Throughout the week campers write encouraging messages to eachother and place these notes into an envelope that corresponds to each campers name. On Saturday as we leave, those envelopes are given to each camper to read on the way home. It is always a great recap of the week and a very positive finish to camp. I better wrap up this post so I can get to writing some of those care cards!

Another fantastic day and with only Friday ahead we can all feel the end of camp approaching. Many of our residents will be at the evening service tomorrow and apparently the First Congregational Church of Marshfield (the oldest church in America) has a special surprise for tomorrow's program. We'll be sure to fill you in on all the details! Keep the Faith...

Day 5

2005-07-27T22:54:00.000-04:00

Faith Workcampers love Wednesdays! Today was absolutely perfect! By this time in the week we are normally exhausted and that was certainly no exception this year. All campers had a productive morning at their work sites and it appears that everyone is on pace to finish their projects by Friday but the weather could certainly alter those plans. This afternoon we had free time to spend with our youth groups. Fortunately for us, John and Hallie Stewart have a summer home only 4 miles from the school we are staying at. Their home has been a part of John's family for 3 generations and after spending one afternoon there, we are sure it will be a part of the Stewart family for quite some time. Their home is located right on the ocean. Unfortunately, the water was incredibly cold but that did not stop most of the workcampers. The Stewarts also have a boat they were kind enough to take us out on. What a great experience. I've never seen Larry shy away from the water but even he would not swim out to the boat because it was so cold. The afternoon was amazing and I hope the pictures can describe the great time we had today better that I can. The Stewarts were also kind enough to have a cook out so eating outside the cafeteria was quite a treat!

We returned to the school around 7 P.M. for the evening program and Variety Show. Once again, Justin brought the house down as he played his own composition on the piano. The audience was going wild at his conclusion and he really did steal the show.

Although 5 days ago an air mattress on a classroom floor did not sound all that appealing, right now there is no place I rather be. Tomorrow's evening program is typically a very emotional experience so it will be interesting to see what the day brings. Keep the faith...

Day 4

2005-07-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

As Big Jim has stated, "The theme for today is hot, hot, and hotter." The temperatures soared and the vans said it was over 100 degrees. I think we all tried to do as much work in the shade today as humanly possible. By the second day of workcamp, our crews begin to turn from strangers to friends, we pick up momentum on the work site, and the layers of our "spiritual onion" start to peel away, leading each camper on a new journey to places they never thought they could go.

An enormous part of our week at the work site is building relationships with our resident and crew. Many of us have begun to see God's love through our residents and their stories. During a discussion of today's highs and lows during our evening devotions, Jim recounted the story of today's lunch. In gracious appreciation for the work his crew was doing, the resident, a widower in his 60s, made hot dogs and hamburgers and shared a story of how he came to know God. His wife had succumbed to cancer, and shortly thereafter he became afflicted with lymphoma, which led to a month-long coma. His survival was unlikely but while in the hospital, he believes God visited him. His faith grew as he beat the disease, and today, though hooked up to oxygen, he serves two churches in their mission work.

Today, atop a 36-foot ladder, Eric realized why his resident, a jolly single retired schoolteacher and railroad conductor, needed this visit from workcampers. He lived in what appeared to be a nice neighborhood, with beautiful homes selling on the same street for quite large sums. The resident's home itself did not look like it was in serious disrepair, nor did it seem like the resident was living under any extreme hardship, yet God brought us to this home for a reason. As the crew finished up lunch, the resident said in a choked, solemn tone: "In 35 years of living in this house, I have never had any visitors for more than five minutes. Thank you for being here." The resident had opened his heart and his home to six strangers for a week and experienced love and friendship greater than anything he had experienced for the latter half of his life. Eric's crew realized that the friendship we can bring is far more valuable than the repairs to a home.

Kelly entered the week with qualms about her double crew. Double crews are present at sights where the work needed exceeds the capability of one crew of six campers. In years past, campers have had mixed experiences with double crews. Some report difficulty in having 12 people all work and play well together while others seem to love the opportunity to get so close with 6 new friends. Kelly returned from her work site today with glowing reviews of her double crew experience and is extremely excited to see what surprises the rest of the week will entail.

In a camp rife with painting jobs, two of our campers got what most of us like to think of as dream projects. Justin's crew is building a wheelchair ramp. Excitement was high as they approached the project, but Justin's quick words upon returning to the school summed up his day perfectly: "This is gonna be a little more challenging than we thought..." We all know Justin's determination and capability on the worksite, so there is little doubt that, come Friday, Marshfield will have one of he best wheelchair ramps this world has ever seen.

We have all enjoyed our free time together each evening. This year the game of Silent Football has made a triumphant return. This game has been a workcamp staple for years, with Faith carrying the Silent Football tradition far and wide. This year's crop of campers has taken to the game with renewed vigor, so we expect to see plenty of embarrassing punishments throughout the week by those who fail to adhere to the rules.

Faith was well-represented in a dodgeball tournament this afternoon. By the luck of the draw, our two teams played eachother, so one team will advance to the semifinals this Thursday. Oddly enough, it was the team with the old guys who won.

Tomorrow we work a half day, then venture out to enjoy the local attractions. The half day will leave everyone scrambling to make the most of our time at the worksite, but the R&R will be welcomed by all.

God bless and good night.

Day 3

2005-07-25T23:22:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that today I met my 12th resident. Each and every one have been unique in what they have needed us to provide so it is always something to look forward to. This year, my resident is a recently widowed mother of two boys. Her eldest son is 32 years-old and is autistic. He is able to communicate verbally but is unfortunately in a severe state of depression. He has been eagerly awaiting our arrival for the past year but was told he probably would not be able to help us do any of the work or spend a significant amount of time with us. Soon after we arrived today, Louise Galas introduced us to her son John and explained his condition. At first John was a little shy but when I approached him to see if he wanted to help us he was very enthusiastic. As the day progressed, he became a part of the team and we are all looking forward to working with him throughout the week. I think it is amazing when we catch even the smallest glimpse of God's plan. Having John as an able body will not only allow him to grow and be challenged, but he will be a major contributor to our crew's progress both spiritually and physically. Emily, a 16 year-old youth from Maryland , broke her ankle on Saturday night while staying at a church on her way to workcamp. Her spirit is fabulous and when asked if she had considered going home she said that thought had not crossed her mind and there was still much work for her to complete from a spiritual point of view. She was right because while John is filling in for her admirable in a physical sense, she spent much of the day simply listening to Louise share her thoughts. At a workcamp I was once told that anyone can put a new coat of paint on a house, but it takes special individuals to really change the lives and brighten the spirits of those who live inside the house. While we are trying to accomplish both of these tasks, it was great to see our crew realize why they are here. At one point today I was simply looking around at the entire crew and I just knew that they were all here for a reason which was an incredible powerful moment. I look forward to what lies ahead.

Without exception the Faith workcampers were very excited about their residents and all of them seem to be very excited that we are here. Last year, Stephanie H. and the rest of her crew were unable to develop a real bond with their resident. In contrast, today her residents were excited that the crew was their and roots are already starting to grow. Jayme's crew busted their humps today and painted an entire house. I'll be watching what she eats at breakfast tomorrow morning and having the same exact thing! Big Jim has the daunting task of painting a shingle sided house which means each shingle must be painted individually with a brush. No thanks... Larry and Kelly are both on double crews and they said everyone is working well together which is sometimes challenging when you have 12 people in confined spaces.

It has been enjoyable and a good experience having Esther along for the trip. Her English is amazing! Along with Bret, they seamlessly fit into the group as everyone does and they have been contributors at the evening devotions which were lead by Stephanie H. this evening. The evening programs are much improved over last year and we hope that continues to be the case throughout the week. Today, Kelly joined the music team to help lead songs during the evening program and Jayme is helping out in the percussion section.

Each summer, every church is required to complete a project and bring the item to camp and it is displayed on stage. This year's project was to bring a fruit basket. Our basket is made up of paper mache masks of each campers face which was then painted to look like a specific fruit. Tiffany and Stephanie L. spearheaded the project and spent quite a bit of time on it in an effort to make the best possible basket. Well they succeeded and you can see a video clip here of Tiffany putting our fruit basket on stage at the first service on Sunday afternoon. Here is a video of the baskets brought by other churches. After all that hard work, the girls certainly deserved some time to just hang out which can be seen here.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 95 degrees which should be enjoyable... We will continue the progress we have already begun on our homes and develop a fairly good idea of whether we will finish our homes by Friday. We are all thinking about each of you and look forward to sharing all the of the experiences that have taken place up to this point and the stories that are yet to happen. New pictures have been posted and please keep those emails coming. Thanks for all of your support! Keep the Faith...

Day 2

2005-07-24T23:51:00.000-04:00

What a great trip this morning! This is the 2nd closest workcamp in our church's 14 year workcamp history and it was a welcomed relief. We were able to get a full nights sleep last night because we did not have to leave until around 10 A.M. Last year we had a long trip from Indianapolis, IN to Kenosha, WI and a stop at Purdue (where Bret attends college) to pick up Tiffany. today, we arrived early in Marshfield! The sleeping conditions are absolutely fabulous. The school is air conditioned and both the guys and gals do not have to share a room with another church group. Over the year's, our guys have consistently lucked out with good sleeping conditions (with the exception of the whole sleeping-on-risers incident in Lansing, MI) while the gals have had their share of bad luck... From a technical standpoint, this room could not be any better because I have my own desk with a high speed internet connection which will make completing these updates far less cumbersome.

For the second consecutive year, the evening programs are being held in the auditorium instead of the gymnasium. This is nice because of the air conditioning, but it is also a negative because the group is spread out by being in individual chairs and not sitting in a cluster on the bleachers. As a whole, this camp has a large number of experienced workcampers as most have attend a Group camp in the past.

Today we finally met our crews and found out our job descriptions. We have a van in the parking lot filled with toys like miter saws, cordless drills, post hole diggers, circular saws, and pretty much every other fun power tool you can think of. However, most of us have been charged with the unfortunate task of painting. The only exceptions are Larry and Justin who will be building separate wheel chair ramps. Although the jobs might not be exactly what some of us were hoping for, most of us are very optimistic about our crews. My crew seems like a fabulous group of young adults. One of the youth seems fairly stand offish and lazy so it may be challenging to get him to open up a truly enjoy this opportunity. I am very interested is observing his growth throughout the week.

We had our first evening devotions this evening and I hope many of you did as well. If you do not have a devotion guide, you can download one here and please join us in devotions each evening as you have to opportunity to see exactly what we are discussing in Marshfield, MA. Much of what we discussed was living your life "inside out". In other words, having a strong christian faith and expressing it to others. As a group we have challenged ourselves to be cognizant of our surroundings and to take advantage of opportunities that can help strengthen our own relationships with Christ. Discussing this and talking about this before camp may make us notice things that are happening around us that would might otherwise miss (i.e. Galatians 5: 22-23 being written on the door at the Taiwanese Christian Church is Framingham, MA). Hopefully we can all improve on keeping in touch with our surrounding not only this week but in the future as well.

John and Hallie Stewart, members at Faith Pres., spend their summers in Marshfield, MA. Not knowing that the workcampers were currently in Marshfield, Ali received a phone call from Hallie inviting her to the beach because she knew Ali had recently moved to the Boston area. When Ali retrieved the message today, she called Hallie and explained the situation and the fact that we were currently in their town. The Stewarts were kind enough to invite all 14 of us to their home during our half day, Wednesday, to spend time on the beach and in their boat. The crew is incredible excited and grateful and is looking forward to Wednesday afternoon. It will be great to see some familiar faces so far from home.

I'm sure there are a ton of things I have failed to mention here, but it is late and I must get some sleep as the "wakey, wakey workcampers" music is only 6 hours away. Tomorrow we will head to the work sites and start repairing homes and spirits. There are no pictures to update the sit with today as Ali has the camera and I'm sure is fast asleep. The good news is that we will have twice as many photos to post tomorrow! Joel, we are all wearing our dog tags and hope you are too. We can't wait until you have workcamp stories and experiences of you own to share. Good night to all and keep the Faith...

Day 1

2005-07-23T22:47:00.000-04:00

Yo Faith! Today we began our journey to Marshfield, MA. We all met at the church bright and early for a morning send off service. We were excited to see the likes of Doug Boyd, the Gills, Melanie Kramer and her B/F, and the workcampers' families. It was great to have the supporters there to wish us well!

We finally got on the road around 8:30 and began our journey north. Our fist stop was Dorchester, MA to pick up Ali McCracken. We were strapped for time as our first sup rise stop was closing moments after arriving in Dorchester. We then ventured further north to Boston, MA to take a tour of historic Fenway Park, home of the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. What a fabulous park and a great experience. Because it was not a game day, we were fortunate enough to go onto the field. The Green Monster looks just as intimidating in person as it does on TV, even though it is the smallest ballpark in the major leagues.

When our tour was over, we headed for our next stop, Salem, MA. We went to the Salem Witch Museum which was informative, but somewhat disappointing. We were hoping to hear more details on witches, and burning at the stake, but instead received a fairly extensive history lesson of what transpired in during the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century. Following the tour, Stephanie Lillegard concocted a potion that made Tiffany disappear. Luckily we found her in the back of the cargo van and were able to head to our final destination for the day; Framingham, MA. Unfortunately, Tiffany is now a newt. This could making hammering difficult...

Framingham is where Justin Yen's aunt and uncle live and they were gracious enough let us stay at their church. We are staying at a Taiwanese Christian Church which has been very similar to any other church we have stayed in the past. Unfortunately, we will not be able to stick around for the service tomorrow as we must get on the road for Marshfield because the service is entirely in Taiwanese. This year's workcamp theme for workcamp relates to Galatians 5: 22-23 (fruit if the spirit) and painted on the wall in the youth group room are these exact versus. It's amazing the signs we are constantly surrounded by, and even more amazing when we take the time to notice them.

Day one has come and gone and we're down to 13 campers and a newt. Tomorrow we'll leave bright and early to arrive at camp and hopefully claim a great spot on a classroom floor. It will be an event packed day as we will get to meet our work crews for the first time and find out what jobs we will be performing. As always, I hope I'm not painting... Keep the Faith...