On Friday, we added another work sight, the first Ronald McDonald House in the United States. The group baked cookies, brownies and muffins for the families to have for snack and breakfast. Although the group was limited to little interaction with the families, they did receive a thorough tour of the facility and were educated about who the Ronald McDonald House serves. It was a very unique experience and something the group was thankful to be a part of.
The Neighborhood Center group completed picnic tables to be used for "neighbors" to gather as families in a safe environment. The group also served 130 in the community kitchen and prayed over a vacant lot that had been cleared earlier in the week by our group. Several persons were sent to a nearby church for Vacation Bible School. Linnea Jurs led the singing, Camille Young helped with art and Maggie Christy danced to the music! Becky shared a quick bible story and devotion to which one of the children responded, "you sound like a cowgirl!"
Another group of about 9 were sent to Work To Ride to complete the fence that the group had been working on all week. At days end, the crew had assembled and painted the entire outdoor fence around the Paddock. What a huge accomplishment our group achieved in such a short amount of time. The people of Work To Ride were very grateful and we were pleased to work with such a wonderful agency.
The Philabundance group continued to pack food boxes to feed the masses. Unlike the other groups who worked at Philabundance this week, this crew worked from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. With the longer shift they were able to almost triple the pounds the previous groups had packed, as well as write greeting cards to go in the elderly food boxes. Hard to comprehend just how many people will be fed by the food and produce that was packed!!
Showers and supper were soon to follow after this final day of work. As always, the showers were a welcomed sight after a hard days work. The people of Sweat Fitness were so gracious to us all week. We are forever grateful to them for allowing us to take over their locker rooms and showers for over an hour each afternoon. After some rest, we all walked to a Center City mall and headed to the food court for dinner. Although there were several options, Chick-Fil-A seemed to be the overwhelming favorite. The food was delicious, but we were all rushed to finish our meal because unbeknownst to us the mall closed at 7:00 p.m.!! The girls were able to sneak in a quick shopping fix at a nearby H&M.
Upon returning to the church, it was time to pack, clean and load up the buses. As soon as the vehicles were packed, we celebrated out week together beginning with the Counselor Olympics. The graduates and rising seniors honored each of the counselors with a gold medal for their hard work and commitment to the group this week. They also were very cleaver and gave each counselor a nickname based on a Disney character which seemed to have similar attributes as the given counselor. After the medal ceremony, the graduates were presented with a gift to thank them for their dedication to this group throughout their time in the youth group. The night continued with personal reflections and group prayer. The worship time concluded with the grand finale, Anne's spectacular slide show, which captured the essence of this mission trip and the distribution of our Philly Love t-shirts.
We pulled out at midnight and drove to Richmond, VA where we were met by a team of relief drivers. Praise God for a good week and safe travels.
After a good night's sleep in our own beds, the mission team gathered for worship at FUMC on Sunday morning. We were warmly welcomed by Rev. David Christy and the entire congregation. Lunch at Tequila's concluded an awesome week of community, faith and service.
No comments:
Post a Comment