It was difficult to tell who received the most—our Fairmont friends or us. However, the Covenant team agreed that we received more than could have given.
Nature camp continued on Friday with its almost 30 campers. The team planned a great last day for them. Ranger Ragland talked about survival skills in the woods. He had a backpack full of all sorts of things and invited the kids to one by one come and choose something from the pack. Then the group talked about how that item could be used for survival in the woods. The kids had some really fun ideas about how to use some of the items!
The theme of the day, though, focused on a rainbow of five colors—black, red, white, green, and gold. The craft time and the group sharing time included these colors.
* Black represents the fact that we all are imperfect, separated from God by the sin
in our lives. The Bible tells us that we all are sinners. No one of us is perfect or holy.
* Red represents the blood that Christ shed on the cross. Because God is holy and cannot tolerate sin, and since we are sinful, God requires that a sacrifice be made for our sins. He began this with the Israelites and directed them to use the blood of animals as that payment. However, those sacrifices had to be made over and over. Jesus came to earth and lived a sinless life so that He could be offered as the perfect sacrifice. It was a sacrifice that was made one time and was offered for us all.
* White represents us after we ask Jesus to allow His sacrifice to cover our sins. The Bible promises that when God looks on us, what He sees is a life that is washed white as snow. We are forgiven for all time, and once we become His, we will be His forever.
* Green represents the new life we experience as we grow in our lives as His followers.
* Yellow represents the eternal life that we are promised. We will all, once we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for our own lives, enjoy life with Him in Heaven for eternity—walking streets of gold.
Each person made a leather bracelet with beads of these colors. What they won’t forget for a long time, though, was seeing Ranger Ragland wear those colors! As he shared the story of his own life and how he accepted Jesus as His Saviour, Meg Anderson (armed with pudding of each color) helped him demonstrate by “sliming” him. The kids loved it! Best of all, each counselor got to spend time with the campers in small groups to talk about what they had heard.
Nature camp ended with a cookout—hot dogs and s’mores for all. Once again, Chef Cindy pulled off a great meal for the crowd with seemingly little effort!Good-byes were said to all our new friends.
The last day of ballet camp was filled with high energy. The numbers of dancers grew each day. By the last day, considering the dancers and guests watching, the pavailion was a busy place. Mary Ann and Katy followed the same format each day—a welcome activity, stretching exercises, a performance (which was always very emotionally moving), dance instruction, snack time, Bible lesson, and craft time. As the week progressed, the girls, and guys!, made the pieces of a ballet costume—shoes out of socks and ribbon, crowns and wands (or swords), and on the last day—tutus (or armor)!
As ballet camp came to an end, there were numerous exchanges of email addresses, cell phone numbers, and autographs. (Note: the little girls from camp have called somebody on our team each day since we’ve returned!) Yesterday, one dancer called and wanted all the verses from the Bible lessons. We have the privilege of sharing those again! Join us in praying for continued interest in spiritual things by these dancers and their mothers. We were able to connect some of the children and mothers with a local church. Pray that this relationship grows.
Construction was really ramped up at Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert’s house on Friday. As the hours ticked away, it was all hands on “the deck,” literally. The siding project on one end of the house was completed, along with all the wood replacement that was necessary. Mrs. Ann’s flower garden across the front of her house was completed. And, finally, at day’s end, the deck was completed. The guys moved Mrs. Ann’s porch furniture to the deck. Lynn and Sherry added planters full of beautiful flowers to the deck. Everyone celebrated!
Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert, to show their appreciation, hosted the construction team at lunch with grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and watermelon. The team reciprocated with the presentation of one of the painted hammers and a “As for Me and My House” painting that had been created for the team fund-raising project. There were lots of tears.
Greg Hartley, the construction team leader, put it well that night when he said, “We gave nothing and Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert gave everything.” If you recall, Mr. Robert is a bivocational pastor of a small church in Fairmont. The relationship forged with him was special, but somewhat limited because he had to work each day the team was there. However, Mrs. Ann sat on the porch with the team each day, sharing stories of her life and Christian walk. She encouraged, led singing, and just flat told some of the teenagers “how it is.” They all walked away with a very special friend in Fairmont, West Virginia, and great encouragement to be faithful to their Christian walks.
Camp Dayspring hosted a celebration on Friday night for all the teams there and the families on whose houses we’d worked. We enjoyed dinner together and then a closing worship service. Mrs. Ann honored us by singing “Amazing Grace” a capella. It was a special moment.
We loaded the cars with lots of “stuff” to return home, but we did all leave bits of ourselves in Fairmont. Looking back, each of the team, I believe, would say that the group dynamics of the team couldn’t have been better. Friendships were deepened in ways that would have taken years in Birmingham. The projects couldn’t have been better. They allowed us to depend on God in ways we never do at home. Rediscovering that God’s way is better than any way we plan was, perhaps, the most valuable lesson taken home by each of us.
Thank you to all our friends who prayed for our time in Fairmont. Your prayers encouraged and strengthened us. They made a difference.
Note: We plan to add to this blog, within the next few weeks, snippets by team members sharing how they saw God work in the day-to-day life in Fairmont. You will not want to miss those! They are amazing! And, we keep promising photos. They will be added soon. We promise!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Last Day and Good-bye to Fairmont
Friday was an emotional day for everyone. The construction project was completed and camps came to an end. We all left Fairmont on Saturday morning. We want to share all that happened on our last day, but it will be posted tomorrow. It has been a long day of traveling. Please check back. We want you to know of all that we saw God do this week!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
One Day Left
Nature camp has been a great success. Yesterday, 29 children showed up. The clouds threatened to drench us, but didn’t. In fact, the overcast sky kept the temperatures in the low 70s most of the day. Watching this team get ready (at the last minute and with a crash course in how to lead it) has been humbling. They have been resourceful, committed, and so flexible.
Camp began with lessons on gun safety (with BB guns) and archery. Denny and Sean taught these courses, which the kids LOVED—I can’t tell you how much! Along the way, though, the lesson was really about hitting and/or missing the mark. In essence, the children learned about sin and the need for a Savior.
We did end up changing our plan for where we would have nature camp. Originally, we were going to transport the children to the 240-acre Camp Dayspring. Logistics forced us to base it in a park in town. It could not have been better. At 9 a.m. yesterday morning, children started showing up from all directions. It was so fun to see them arrive and even more fun to listen to them as they left. I heard one ask another if he planned to come back. He said, “Are you kidding? This was so much fun!” And come back they did! This morning, we had 28.
Should you ever be lost but have a compass, the kids from nature camp would be who you would want to have with you. They know all the fun sayings to help you remember the details of the compass: Never Eat Soggy Waffles to teach the cardinal points, and how to put Red Fred in the Shed, how to orient your compass to magnetic north. Several members of the team rose very early this morning to lay four courses where the children could put into the practice the lesson they were taught on orienteering. The compass allowed the team to teach the principle that God’s Word is what we should use to guide us. Denny is teaching from Psalm 23 each day and Mary Ann Friday and Sean Doyle are leading the group with beautiful guitar music as they worship.
Today we had extra food to serve for lunch. As we compared notes last night, we realized that several children had not eaten breakfast before coming to nature camp. A couple of them admitted they had not had dinner the night before, either. You could not believe how excited they were over the “gourmet” PBJ and turkey/cheese sandwiches that Cindy Traylor made for them. Today was no different. Chef Cindy, who also taught a course in first aid, knew what they would like!
Meg Anderson and Kate Wheeler led the craft time yesterday and today. They have done so many cool things! Today they taught children to make ropes. I must admit I didn’t get to hear the whole lesson that went with this and haven’t had time to ask, but heard something about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You’ll just have to get them to give you more details back in B’ham!
Phyllis Hamm is such a great greeter for the children each morning. How could you not feel loved and welcomed when Phyllis sees you walking across the parking lot to the pavilion and shouting “Hey, Brianna (or any of the other 20+ names). I’m so glad to see you!”
The children on our team have been precious as they have, without prompting, blended in and taken the Fairmont kids under their wings and loved on them. My most favorite memory from this trip will be the conversation that I heard 7-year-old Thomas Anderson have with a couple of other little fellows. In their own little boy, scuffling way, they were debating where you have to be to pray. Thomas set them straight. You do not have to be in church. “You can even pray laying on your bed at night and ask Jesus into your heart.” He then proceeded to tell them why you would want to ask Jesus into your heart. It brought tears to my eyes.
Continue to pray for all on this team and for the children they will leave tomorrow. They only have four more hours together.
Construction on Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert’s house has made great progress today. A good deal of siding was completed and the deck is getting closer to being finished. We’ve realized today that our team will not be able to side one end of the house that we had planned to side and are sad about this. So much work has had to be done replacing rotten wood that the progress has been slower than anticipated. The good news is, as Todd Anderson put it, that the house is really in better shape structurally than it would have been had they just slapped up some siding. We hope that another team coming in next week will be able to complete the job.
More important that what has happened on the house is what has happened in the prayer life of the construction team and in Mrs. Ann’s life. The team has been praying for a restoration of relationship between Mrs. Ann and her estranged three children. Since those prayers began, two of her children have called and expressed a desire to see her. God is answering prayers!
Ballet camp continues to grow. Today there were about 14 children there—including a couple of boys and two children who have special needs. One of these two even came with his walker. I haven’t had a chance to talk with the ballet folks and will have to get details tonight to share later. I know there will be lots to tell about teaching ballet to a child using a walker. How great is that!
We have one day left in Fairmont. We are getting to feel like we know our way around and are making special friendships with folks here. Please pray for our last hours with them. Pray especially for our friend "Sally." She is not a Christian and is very interested in what it’s all about. It was worth the trip to have the time we’ve had with her.
Camp began with lessons on gun safety (with BB guns) and archery. Denny and Sean taught these courses, which the kids LOVED—I can’t tell you how much! Along the way, though, the lesson was really about hitting and/or missing the mark. In essence, the children learned about sin and the need for a Savior.
We did end up changing our plan for where we would have nature camp. Originally, we were going to transport the children to the 240-acre Camp Dayspring. Logistics forced us to base it in a park in town. It could not have been better. At 9 a.m. yesterday morning, children started showing up from all directions. It was so fun to see them arrive and even more fun to listen to them as they left. I heard one ask another if he planned to come back. He said, “Are you kidding? This was so much fun!” And come back they did! This morning, we had 28.
Should you ever be lost but have a compass, the kids from nature camp would be who you would want to have with you. They know all the fun sayings to help you remember the details of the compass: Never Eat Soggy Waffles to teach the cardinal points, and how to put Red Fred in the Shed, how to orient your compass to magnetic north. Several members of the team rose very early this morning to lay four courses where the children could put into the practice the lesson they were taught on orienteering. The compass allowed the team to teach the principle that God’s Word is what we should use to guide us. Denny is teaching from Psalm 23 each day and Mary Ann Friday and Sean Doyle are leading the group with beautiful guitar music as they worship.
Today we had extra food to serve for lunch. As we compared notes last night, we realized that several children had not eaten breakfast before coming to nature camp. A couple of them admitted they had not had dinner the night before, either. You could not believe how excited they were over the “gourmet” PBJ and turkey/cheese sandwiches that Cindy Traylor made for them. Today was no different. Chef Cindy, who also taught a course in first aid, knew what they would like!
Meg Anderson and Kate Wheeler led the craft time yesterday and today. They have done so many cool things! Today they taught children to make ropes. I must admit I didn’t get to hear the whole lesson that went with this and haven’t had time to ask, but heard something about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You’ll just have to get them to give you more details back in B’ham!
Phyllis Hamm is such a great greeter for the children each morning. How could you not feel loved and welcomed when Phyllis sees you walking across the parking lot to the pavilion and shouting “Hey, Brianna (or any of the other 20+ names). I’m so glad to see you!”
The children on our team have been precious as they have, without prompting, blended in and taken the Fairmont kids under their wings and loved on them. My most favorite memory from this trip will be the conversation that I heard 7-year-old Thomas Anderson have with a couple of other little fellows. In their own little boy, scuffling way, they were debating where you have to be to pray. Thomas set them straight. You do not have to be in church. “You can even pray laying on your bed at night and ask Jesus into your heart.” He then proceeded to tell them why you would want to ask Jesus into your heart. It brought tears to my eyes.
Continue to pray for all on this team and for the children they will leave tomorrow. They only have four more hours together.
Construction on Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert’s house has made great progress today. A good deal of siding was completed and the deck is getting closer to being finished. We’ve realized today that our team will not be able to side one end of the house that we had planned to side and are sad about this. So much work has had to be done replacing rotten wood that the progress has been slower than anticipated. The good news is, as Todd Anderson put it, that the house is really in better shape structurally than it would have been had they just slapped up some siding. We hope that another team coming in next week will be able to complete the job.
More important that what has happened on the house is what has happened in the prayer life of the construction team and in Mrs. Ann’s life. The team has been praying for a restoration of relationship between Mrs. Ann and her estranged three children. Since those prayers began, two of her children have called and expressed a desire to see her. God is answering prayers!
Ballet camp continues to grow. Today there were about 14 children there—including a couple of boys and two children who have special needs. One of these two even came with his walker. I haven’t had a chance to talk with the ballet folks and will have to get details tonight to share later. I know there will be lots to tell about teaching ballet to a child using a walker. How great is that!
We have one day left in Fairmont. We are getting to feel like we know our way around and are making special friendships with folks here. Please pray for our last hours with them. Pray especially for our friend "Sally." She is not a Christian and is very interested in what it’s all about. It was worth the trip to have the time we’ve had with her.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Siding, Ballet, and Laundry
Today has been a great day in West Virginia. As has been true all week, we are so busy, posting photos has been a challenge! Know that we're busy about our work!
Short updates:
* The construction crew should have completed siding by this evening. They got the posts set for the deck and the framing done. Sherry and Lynn have given Mrs. Ann the gift of a beautiful flower garden at her front door--something she will enjoy since her back problems prohibit her from gardening now.
* Ballet camp was great. We had eight little ballerinas. They are enjoying it more than you can imagine. And along the way, they are being loved on by our teen-age girls and hearing God's Word each day. The crafts have been a BIG hit. We'll try to share a picture of these later.
* The 14s (girls who are 14) served the team this morning by doing laundry. Laundry for 32 takes up 6 commercial-sized washing machines and 10 dryers. It fills the back end of an SUV! We'll all smell better tomorrow!
* The nature camp crew finished all their prep work today. Thanks for praying for their efforts to come together. Please continue!
Prayer requests:
* Pray for lots of children to show up for nature camp 9-1 EST. Pray for Denny to be fun as Ranger Ragland, but find a way to still be authoritative. We are a little worried about some of the kids who have said they'll come. They are rough--not as well-mannered as we're used to at Covenant. Pray for the whole camp team to develop relationships quickly and feel a comfort in what they're doing. Pray for Denny as he teaches Psalm 23. Tomorrow the kids will learn gun safety and archery, but also about what sin is, in terms of missing the mark. Please pray for safety for everyone as they use BB guns and bow and arrows!!!
* Pray for the youngest members of our team. The adults are all tired. Imagine the young ones. We all need endurance.
* Tomorrow the construction team will put down joists on the deck, then start the decking. Pray for safety as they work at a height of one floor. More people will be working on this project tomorrow. Pray for efficiency in team work.
* Neat things are going on among the construction team in the time they spend praying each day. At each project site, one person sits in a chair for 15-minute increments to pray. This has been especially special among this team. God is working and revealing Himself in neat ways with the group and Mrs. Ann. Pray that this continues.
* Ballet gets an off day, but pray that the girls who have been coming will come to nature camp.
Short updates:
* The construction crew should have completed siding by this evening. They got the posts set for the deck and the framing done. Sherry and Lynn have given Mrs. Ann the gift of a beautiful flower garden at her front door--something she will enjoy since her back problems prohibit her from gardening now.
* Ballet camp was great. We had eight little ballerinas. They are enjoying it more than you can imagine. And along the way, they are being loved on by our teen-age girls and hearing God's Word each day. The crafts have been a BIG hit. We'll try to share a picture of these later.
* The 14s (girls who are 14) served the team this morning by doing laundry. Laundry for 32 takes up 6 commercial-sized washing machines and 10 dryers. It fills the back end of an SUV! We'll all smell better tomorrow!
* The nature camp crew finished all their prep work today. Thanks for praying for their efforts to come together. Please continue!
Prayer requests:
* Pray for lots of children to show up for nature camp 9-1 EST. Pray for Denny to be fun as Ranger Ragland, but find a way to still be authoritative. We are a little worried about some of the kids who have said they'll come. They are rough--not as well-mannered as we're used to at Covenant. Pray for the whole camp team to develop relationships quickly and feel a comfort in what they're doing. Pray for Denny as he teaches Psalm 23. Tomorrow the kids will learn gun safety and archery, but also about what sin is, in terms of missing the mark. Please pray for safety for everyone as they use BB guns and bow and arrows!!!
* Pray for the youngest members of our team. The adults are all tired. Imagine the young ones. We all need endurance.
* Tomorrow the construction team will put down joists on the deck, then start the decking. Pray for safety as they work at a height of one floor. More people will be working on this project tomorrow. Pray for efficiency in team work.
* Neat things are going on among the construction team in the time they spend praying each day. At each project site, one person sits in a chair for 15-minute increments to pray. This has been especially special among this team. God is working and revealing Himself in neat ways with the group and Mrs. Ann. Pray that this continues.
* Ballet gets an off day, but pray that the girls who have been coming will come to nature camp.
Monday, July 7, 2008
And Finally, the Work
(Once again we are so rushed that we can't post pictures.We promise to get them here soon!!!)
As I noted, Camp Dayspring is run with military precision. There’s a reason for that! Doug Mallow is the MTW staff member who oversees the Fairmont project and the camp. Doug is a retired Marine chaplain. We’re learning that there are ways to do things and then there is a way that will, literally, pass muster!
While here for the week, each team receives assignments for kitchen cleanup and bathroom cleanup. We were on duty last night for both. By the time we left dinner at the community center, there was precious little that hadn’t been scrubbed down and sanitized. Some of us even learned that though we thought we knew how to mop, there is a right way to mop. (Kate Wheeler’s house probably will never look the same! She is now a trained and certified mop queen extraordinaire!)
After our evening orientation—covering details such as how to handle wasp nests, what to do with construction trash, and much, much, much more, everyone was ready for a little down time. At this point, we had about 45 minutes before we all had to be in our cabins readying for bed. Our brains were on overload. It was time to chill. Our outlet came in the form of 15 punch balls. We had thought the children would enjoy them. As it turns out, the adults took over many of them and had more fun that the kids!
The males on our team gave the females a true gift. They volunteered to handle the evening bathroom-cleaning duties for our group. If any of them weren’t before, they are now well trained in how to properly clean a bathroom. And poor men, clean they had to do. The 45-minutes of chill time resulted in more mud being carried into the bathhouse by the whole camps’ last-minute bathroom trips than it has probably ever seen!
The bathroom cleaning would have been uneventful (unless you think Todd Anderson and Denny Ragland with mops is an event), but Michael Megginson took care of that. In a freak accident with some toilet bowl cleaner, enough got into his eye to yield a trip to the Fairmont Hospital ER for eye irrigation. All is well now. There should be no damage, and he says it doesn’t even hurt. Pray that his eye doesn’t become irritated this week.
Bedtime came—finally!
After breakfast and a team devotional where we were reminded of all Paul says to the Philippians about attitudes, it was off to work.
The nature camp group went to the park to scout out how they will set up camp there on Wednesday. Sean and I visited the Fairmont Police Department to get the final approval we needed to include gun safety and archery courses in the camp. For those of you who have prayed for this, thank you. God has answered this prayer just as we asked him to. More or less by default, we have permission even though they usually don’t allow either in the park. Pray that we will wisely choose how to position these ranges. The nature team then spent the day promoting the camp. Looks like Tuesday will be the big prep day for them. Whew! Where are Dan and Leslie when we need them?
By late morning, girls on the construction team had scraped, primed, and started painting some doors for Mrs. Ann and Mrs. Robert. Some of the guys had prepped the area, set up saws, and starting laying out plans for the deck. Others have become siding experts.
All the construction teams here this week will be breaking for lunch soon. Pray that lunchtime each day will provide opportunities for them to talk with others—especially neighbors who are watching—about God.
Of concern at this moment is ballet camp that begins at 2 p.m. EST. We were led by the MTW staff to consider Windmill Park for this camp. In the past it has been a prime ministry spot for Dayspring teams. We keep hearing that it is not the safest place in town. It certainly doesn’t resemble the area of town we all know at home. Pray for safety for today and wisdom to know if we should move it to another park. All of our promotion around town directs girls to Windmill. We need to understand if this is God’s leading to another spot or the enemy’s distraction.
Our cool days have warmed somewhat today. Pray for heat endurance for all members of the team.
Continue to pray that God will lead to nature and ballet camps those children He has for us to reach. The word is out about both. The children now just have to respond!
Pray for our worship time this evening. Our camp pastor, in addition to teaching from Philippians, will be teaching from Samuel about making decisions. All 32 of us can use God’s guidance here—as is obvious from the comments above!
As always, we thank you for your prayers. They are of great encouragement to the whole team.
And Six Came (Monday afternoon)
We went to Windmill Park nervous about what we would find. All our worries were for naught. We were the only ones there. A few cars drove through, perhaps looking for trouble, but no one stopped or bothered us.
More importantly, six precious little girls showed up. They LOVED ballet camp. We are pretty sure we will see at least five of them tomorrow, plus they were excited to hear that they can bring friends. Katy Beckett and Mary Ann Friday did a wonderful job of teaching ballet and then a basic lesson about why Jesus came to die for our sins. Two mothers and one grandfather stayed to watch. The adults supervising got to sit and talk with them. Pray for more opportunities like these, and for the relationships begun today will just deepen as the week continues.
After camp ended, we talked about how it went. Mary Ann admitted she had asked God to bring one girl, and six came. Lynn Beckett admitted she had not had the faith to believe any would show up, and six came.
The girls we are calling our 14s (because they are!) did a great job of being camp “participants” and buddying with the girls. Please pray for Catherine, Sarah, Claire, Emily, and Bailey to know how to best reach out to the girls the rest of the week. We can’t wait to share the end of this story!
As I noted, Camp Dayspring is run with military precision. There’s a reason for that! Doug Mallow is the MTW staff member who oversees the Fairmont project and the camp. Doug is a retired Marine chaplain. We’re learning that there are ways to do things and then there is a way that will, literally, pass muster!
While here for the week, each team receives assignments for kitchen cleanup and bathroom cleanup. We were on duty last night for both. By the time we left dinner at the community center, there was precious little that hadn’t been scrubbed down and sanitized. Some of us even learned that though we thought we knew how to mop, there is a right way to mop. (Kate Wheeler’s house probably will never look the same! She is now a trained and certified mop queen extraordinaire!)
After our evening orientation—covering details such as how to handle wasp nests, what to do with construction trash, and much, much, much more, everyone was ready for a little down time. At this point, we had about 45 minutes before we all had to be in our cabins readying for bed. Our brains were on overload. It was time to chill. Our outlet came in the form of 15 punch balls. We had thought the children would enjoy them. As it turns out, the adults took over many of them and had more fun that the kids!
The males on our team gave the females a true gift. They volunteered to handle the evening bathroom-cleaning duties for our group. If any of them weren’t before, they are now well trained in how to properly clean a bathroom. And poor men, clean they had to do. The 45-minutes of chill time resulted in more mud being carried into the bathhouse by the whole camps’ last-minute bathroom trips than it has probably ever seen!
The bathroom cleaning would have been uneventful (unless you think Todd Anderson and Denny Ragland with mops is an event), but Michael Megginson took care of that. In a freak accident with some toilet bowl cleaner, enough got into his eye to yield a trip to the Fairmont Hospital ER for eye irrigation. All is well now. There should be no damage, and he says it doesn’t even hurt. Pray that his eye doesn’t become irritated this week.
Bedtime came—finally!
After breakfast and a team devotional where we were reminded of all Paul says to the Philippians about attitudes, it was off to work.
The nature camp group went to the park to scout out how they will set up camp there on Wednesday. Sean and I visited the Fairmont Police Department to get the final approval we needed to include gun safety and archery courses in the camp. For those of you who have prayed for this, thank you. God has answered this prayer just as we asked him to. More or less by default, we have permission even though they usually don’t allow either in the park. Pray that we will wisely choose how to position these ranges. The nature team then spent the day promoting the camp. Looks like Tuesday will be the big prep day for them. Whew! Where are Dan and Leslie when we need them?
By late morning, girls on the construction team had scraped, primed, and started painting some doors for Mrs. Ann and Mrs. Robert. Some of the guys had prepped the area, set up saws, and starting laying out plans for the deck. Others have become siding experts.
All the construction teams here this week will be breaking for lunch soon. Pray that lunchtime each day will provide opportunities for them to talk with others—especially neighbors who are watching—about God.
Of concern at this moment is ballet camp that begins at 2 p.m. EST. We were led by the MTW staff to consider Windmill Park for this camp. In the past it has been a prime ministry spot for Dayspring teams. We keep hearing that it is not the safest place in town. It certainly doesn’t resemble the area of town we all know at home. Pray for safety for today and wisdom to know if we should move it to another park. All of our promotion around town directs girls to Windmill. We need to understand if this is God’s leading to another spot or the enemy’s distraction.
Our cool days have warmed somewhat today. Pray for heat endurance for all members of the team.
Continue to pray that God will lead to nature and ballet camps those children He has for us to reach. The word is out about both. The children now just have to respond!
Pray for our worship time this evening. Our camp pastor, in addition to teaching from Philippians, will be teaching from Samuel about making decisions. All 32 of us can use God’s guidance here—as is obvious from the comments above!
As always, we thank you for your prayers. They are of great encouragement to the whole team.
And Six Came (Monday afternoon)
We went to Windmill Park nervous about what we would find. All our worries were for naught. We were the only ones there. A few cars drove through, perhaps looking for trouble, but no one stopped or bothered us.
More importantly, six precious little girls showed up. They LOVED ballet camp. We are pretty sure we will see at least five of them tomorrow, plus they were excited to hear that they can bring friends. Katy Beckett and Mary Ann Friday did a wonderful job of teaching ballet and then a basic lesson about why Jesus came to die for our sins. Two mothers and one grandfather stayed to watch. The adults supervising got to sit and talk with them. Pray for more opportunities like these, and for the relationships begun today will just deepen as the week continues.
After camp ended, we talked about how it went. Mary Ann admitted she had asked God to bring one girl, and six came. Lynn Beckett admitted she had not had the faith to believe any would show up, and six came.
The girls we are calling our 14s (because they are!) did a great job of being camp “participants” and buddying with the girls. Please pray for Catherine, Sarah, Claire, Emily, and Bailey to know how to best reach out to the girls the rest of the week. We can’t wait to share the end of this story!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Lord's Day
(Photos will come later--we've got to run to dinner)
Camp Dayspring wakes to clean, crisp mornings, and so did we. Believe it or not, many in the "girls'" cabin complained of being too "cold" during the night. Those of you back in Alabama will find this hard to believe, I know, but it was a nice, welcome change!
The Dayspring staff fed us well, even offering hot grits up in this somewhat "Yankee" land.
Brian Beckett has written daily devotionals for our team. This morning's devotion was especially poignant. We are reading through Philippians as a team. This morning I found our group mission statement in Philippians 2:19-30. Paul sent Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippians telling them to "take a genuine interest in the welfare" of the people they were to serve. That's why we are here--to take a genuine interest in the welfare of the people of Fairmont. When you think of us this week, pray that above all, we will do this.
Church was a little different from our services at Covenant. We wore shorts and Tshirts and sat under the large white tent. But we sang the same songs, heard the same Word, and worshiped the same glorious God. Those of you in Birmingham just couldn't hear the birds singing along, too!
Imagine the grins on our faces when the minister for the week announced that he would be teaching from Philippians! Does God have a sense of humor or what!
After a quick lunch, it was off to the East Marion Park Complex. We planned a fun afternoon of promotion for nature and ballet camp for any of the children coming to the local pool. We had asked many of you to pray for beautiful weather so that this effort would be successful. We had rented a moonwalk and snow cone machine. We had a ballet presentation ready. There were crafts to entice kids to nature camp. Good weather was key--we thought. God's ways are higher and better. We experienced this in a real way. Clouds loomed in the distance and thunder began to rumble. We, in our human nature began to worry. Guess what! God had a better plan. The approaching bad weather caused folks to have to leave the pool and water. They came out and joined our "shindig." Cindy Traylor is an expert at the snow cone machine, now! We think we probably got to invite 40-50 children!
The construction team visited Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert for the first time. It was obvious that they are all going to be best friends. They were so gracious and excited. She even announced to the construction team leaders that on Friday when they finish, they are inviting all their friends and will give the group a BBQ. How sweet is that?
Mary Ann Friday and Katy Beckett got to scout the location for ballet camp. To give you a clue about the area, when we drove away, Sean commented that the group of guys sitting in the pavilion we will be renting were smoking marijuana and probably just up to no good. Pray for safety here and for lots of girls to show up tomorrow afternoon.
Prayer requests for Monday:
* Continue to pray that we'll discover lots of children to invite to both camps
* Pray for safety for all team members
* Pray that the construction team will know how to best begin their project tomorrow
* Pray that in everything we do, God will be glorified.
Camp Dayspring wakes to clean, crisp mornings, and so did we. Believe it or not, many in the "girls'" cabin complained of being too "cold" during the night. Those of you back in Alabama will find this hard to believe, I know, but it was a nice, welcome change!
The Dayspring staff fed us well, even offering hot grits up in this somewhat "Yankee" land.
Brian Beckett has written daily devotionals for our team. This morning's devotion was especially poignant. We are reading through Philippians as a team. This morning I found our group mission statement in Philippians 2:19-30. Paul sent Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippians telling them to "take a genuine interest in the welfare" of the people they were to serve. That's why we are here--to take a genuine interest in the welfare of the people of Fairmont. When you think of us this week, pray that above all, we will do this.
Church was a little different from our services at Covenant. We wore shorts and Tshirts and sat under the large white tent. But we sang the same songs, heard the same Word, and worshiped the same glorious God. Those of you in Birmingham just couldn't hear the birds singing along, too!
Imagine the grins on our faces when the minister for the week announced that he would be teaching from Philippians! Does God have a sense of humor or what!
After a quick lunch, it was off to the East Marion Park Complex. We planned a fun afternoon of promotion for nature and ballet camp for any of the children coming to the local pool. We had asked many of you to pray for beautiful weather so that this effort would be successful. We had rented a moonwalk and snow cone machine. We had a ballet presentation ready. There were crafts to entice kids to nature camp. Good weather was key--we thought. God's ways are higher and better. We experienced this in a real way. Clouds loomed in the distance and thunder began to rumble. We, in our human nature began to worry. Guess what! God had a better plan. The approaching bad weather caused folks to have to leave the pool and water. They came out and joined our "shindig." Cindy Traylor is an expert at the snow cone machine, now! We think we probably got to invite 40-50 children!
The construction team visited Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert for the first time. It was obvious that they are all going to be best friends. They were so gracious and excited. She even announced to the construction team leaders that on Friday when they finish, they are inviting all their friends and will give the group a BBQ. How sweet is that?
Mary Ann Friday and Katy Beckett got to scout the location for ballet camp. To give you a clue about the area, when we drove away, Sean commented that the group of guys sitting in the pavilion we will be renting were smoking marijuana and probably just up to no good. Pray for safety here and for lots of girls to show up tomorrow afternoon.
Prayer requests for Monday:
* Continue to pray that we'll discover lots of children to invite to both camps
* Pray for safety for all team members
* Pray that the construction team will know how to best begin their project tomorrow
* Pray that in everything we do, God will be glorified.
Country Roads, Take Me Home to the Place Where I Belong--West Virginia
(written on Sunday)
On Saturday we got to do what we sang about on Friday night at the Edwards' cookout. We took the roads to West Virginia. Some were country, most were four-lane interstate. All were beautiful. And we know that this is where we belong for this week. Beyond the beautiful scenery between Abingdon and Fairmont, we enjoyed a visit to the New River Gorge National Park. We drove over its famous arch span bridge. It is a steel-arch bridge, in Fayetteville, West Virginia. With a length of 3030 feet (924 m), it was for many years the longest in the world of that type. Its arch extends 1700 feet. The New River Gorge Bridge carries U.S. Highway 19 over the New River and the CSX railroad at a height of 876 feet, making it the highest vehicular bridge in the Americas, and the second-highest in the world.
A good part of the drive was done in rain. There was lots of deep rumbling thunder, but the sky cleared for us to enjoy the bridge and park. Some of us even ventured on a hike down into the gorge--go Megginsons, Jake Edwards, and Raglands!
Afterwards, it was on to Camp Dayspring, still enjoying our road game along the way! Everyone arrived, found a bunk to call home for the week, and set up "house." Since the kitchen at Dayspring isn't yet completed, MTW has rented the use of a community center a couple of miles down the road. We enjoyed dinner and a beginning orientation to our ministry projects there with a team from Briarwood in Birmingham and Aimwell Pres. from South Carolina. It didn't take long for the kids in our three teams to become one large bunch!
We had our first team meeting on the porch of Cabin 1. We've designated it as the Covenant "porch of meeting," with a nod to what they call here at Dayspring the "Tent of Meeting" (a large white tent where all large meetings and church occur since the dining hall isn't constructed yet, either). We read from Job 37 verses describing the thunder of God's voice and the rumbling from his mouth and references to spreading the sky as hard as a "cast-metal mirror." We couldn't help but think of our day--the weather and the massive bridge which was an unbelievable engineering feat. And how gracious God had been to allow us to see it all--even the golden closure of the day.
This may be a good time to tell you about Daysprings' motto: Semper Gumby. They've reminded us many times that mission projects are all about being flexible. We're trying!
Bedtime finally came at 10:30. With military precision each night, the bathhouse is closed for thirty minutes for cleaning (which our team gets to do on Tuesday and Friday nights!). Lights out last night was not a minute too early at 11.
On Saturday we got to do what we sang about on Friday night at the Edwards' cookout. We took the roads to West Virginia. Some were country, most were four-lane interstate. All were beautiful. And we know that this is where we belong for this week. Beyond the beautiful scenery between Abingdon and Fairmont, we enjoyed a visit to the New River Gorge National Park. We drove over its famous arch span bridge. It is a steel-arch bridge, in Fayetteville, West Virginia. With a length of 3030 feet (924 m), it was for many years the longest in the world of that type. Its arch extends 1700 feet. The New River Gorge Bridge carries U.S. Highway 19 over the New River and the CSX railroad at a height of 876 feet, making it the highest vehicular bridge in the Americas, and the second-highest in the world.
A good part of the drive was done in rain. There was lots of deep rumbling thunder, but the sky cleared for us to enjoy the bridge and park. Some of us even ventured on a hike down into the gorge--go Megginsons, Jake Edwards, and Raglands!
Afterwards, it was on to Camp Dayspring, still enjoying our road game along the way! Everyone arrived, found a bunk to call home for the week, and set up "house." Since the kitchen at Dayspring isn't yet completed, MTW has rented the use of a community center a couple of miles down the road. We enjoyed dinner and a beginning orientation to our ministry projects there with a team from Briarwood in Birmingham and Aimwell Pres. from South Carolina. It didn't take long for the kids in our three teams to become one large bunch!
We had our first team meeting on the porch of Cabin 1. We've designated it as the Covenant "porch of meeting," with a nod to what they call here at Dayspring the "Tent of Meeting" (a large white tent where all large meetings and church occur since the dining hall isn't constructed yet, either). We read from Job 37 verses describing the thunder of God's voice and the rumbling from his mouth and references to spreading the sky as hard as a "cast-metal mirror." We couldn't help but think of our day--the weather and the massive bridge which was an unbelievable engineering feat. And how gracious God had been to allow us to see it all--even the golden closure of the day.
This may be a good time to tell you about Daysprings' motto: Semper Gumby. They've reminded us many times that mission projects are all about being flexible. We're trying!
Bedtime finally came at 10:30. With military precision each night, the bathhouse is closed for thirty minutes for cleaning (which our team gets to do on Tuesday and Friday nights!). Lights out last night was not a minute too early at 11.
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