Mary C. We ended a week of hard work, frustration, joy and a sense of accomplishment. I am so impressed by every member of our First Church team. We bonded over the good and bad. At the beginning of the week I was overwhelmed, not sure how we could complete our mission, and worried about how I would be able to contribute. Fortunately, we have our visionaries, Allyson and Alison, who came up with ideas and projects, most of which I thought would be impossible and we completed them by the end of the week! Mark and Chris were the heroes, dealing with the isolated, frustrating bathroom remodeling job. Evan has suddenly turned into an adult and was project manager for the dining room/living room flooring project. Dotty, Amy, Kathy K. and Pastor John were on the flooring team, on hands and knees all day or lifting 70 pound particle boards. To quote Amy, Dotty attacked each screw with a “personal vengeance.” The landscaping and deck staining team of Allyson, Connie, Kathy R., Deb and I worked tirelessly at staining and restaining the deck, along with moving items and working on the yard. Thanks to Mark, Kathy R. and Connie for the wonderful meals. Thanks to Pastor John for our devotional time each day, helping us to reflect, have faith, and understand the true meaning of our mission. Thanks to the drivers; Allyson, Deb and Dotty. Thanks to Dotty for ordering the great t-shirts. Thanks to Alison W. for the detailed daily blog entries. Most of all, thanks to Allyson P. for organizing the week and keeping us on track. I am praying that Angi will continue to find music and joy in her life. Also praying that her daughter Stacey, who gives so much to others, will find happiness in her life. We are all so blessed to have Pastor John and our wonderful church community. ------------------------------------------- Alison W. This year we were assigned a task that was to be determined on the fly; always a little dicey. We sorely missed Greg’s experience, both with his ability to see what’s possible and his knowledge and tutoring for how to do it. As our confidence grew, we allowed the scope of our task to grow too., perhaps a little too much. Greg would have helped with finding a compromise. I am glad we got our job done and certainly, the work we did made Angie’s home better and safer, and perhaps a little more joyous with her piano uncovered. Even with all that, the things that wowed me the most were small and almost unnoticeable, times when things could have fallen apart but they didn't. Tiny acts of patience (O.K. some big acts of patience), allowing plans to change, trying something new; thousands of micro-decisions were made to keep us running as a well-oiled machine. There was a lot of love shown in setting up chairs for lunch, making do with the tools we had, laughing, quietly doing the dishes, making extra lunches, listening, laughing, chatting, praying, eating, laughing and so much more. ------------------------------------------- Amy S. What a wild, wonderful trip to West Virginia! I was so lucky to join the trip with the church community. We had fun and worked hard... But the overwhelming friendship we initiated with Angie and her family was the best part. Pastor John said several times that the trip was about connecting with people -- this seemed manifestly true on every level. Yesterday I stopped by a car show at Endicott College. I talked to the keyboard player of the live band and said I'd just been to West Virginia to help out a lady who also played piano. Would the band play "Country Roads" so I could send it to Angie? I asked. "Of course!" Was the immediate reply. Here is the link; I hope you enjoy it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yHrCsNisKXpSjdCE8 ------------------------------------------- Deb C. What an amazing Mission Trip Team! Quite an extraordinary group of hard working, creative, positive and energetic folks. Allyson is such a great team leader - making the trip fun, productive, and interesting. The first day on site is always an unusual one as we determine what needs to be accomplished and the potential goals for the week. Sometimes it seems like a miracle that a group of people from various backgrounds can blend together in such a short period of time and put together a workable game plan and then complete it! Pastor John always emphasizes the importance of relationships and with this particular mission trip, our connection to Angi and her daughter Stacy was vital. Angi seemed to enjoy and trust us more and more each day - such that her door was open, and she was ready and excited for our return on the last day. Stacy was very appreciative that we were helping which gave her a chance to sit and enjoy her mom’s company in a more relaxed manner. I loved seeing their expressions when they were given the prayer shawls from our church. They were sincerely grateful, and it made the week of hammering, lifting, painting, cutting, carrying, etc. all incredibly worthwhile. Angi gave us her email and phone number which demonstrates her wanting to connect with people. I hope Angi continues to play the piano since she obviously enjoys it, and her granddaughter can also dance/sing to her grandmother’s amazing music. ------------------------------------------- Kathy K This week went differently than we had expected. Tim had shared with us some details about the project ahead of time including that Angie has anxiety. It was helpful to know some of what to expect. We spent some time thinking about that issue and how our large group would be able to best work with her. In the end “listen to Greg” was the plan. He knows the job, he knows the client, and he knows us as a group and what work we are likely to be able to finish. Well, God had a different plan. Greg was sick and it was not clear if he'd be well enough to work with us. Tim told us of the crisis on Monday AM, we made some plans – the first one being to arrive at the site in shifts 15 minutes apart, hopefully be less stressful For Angie. My car was the third one – 2 Alisons, 2 Kathy’s. When went in to introduce ourselves, the nervousness was immediately broken. Angie said she’d never remember our names. Immediately shirts were ripped off and switched so the Kathy’s were in matching shirts at least. There was a lot of laughing and red faces as Tim, Mark and John almost walked in. It lightened the mood and eased anxiety for all of us! ----------------------------- Connie M. I really wanted to go on this mission trip to West Virginia and jumped through several hoops to be able to go. Covering my family duties etc. Family members stepped up to help as did fellow trippers to get me home to attend my nephew’s service. And it was worth it. As on my previous trip, every tripper worked to the best of their ability. I appreciate a hands-off approach (if I am capable of completing a task). It was physical work and we ain’t getting any younger but I am grateful that I am still able to put in a good day’s work. The transformation of the decks was significant and will be immediately enjoyed by Angie and her family. I was impressed by the skill level of our wood cutters and installers in both the living and dining room and the bathroom. I was impressed by the hauling in and out and in and out of those heavy 2x4’s. The new shower unit was dazzling. I enjoyed being re-directed at times by Evan – Connie, can you hold this board for me or Chris, can you vacuum the floor for me. It enabled me to see how other tasks were moving along. The trippers flowed between teams as needed. (seamlessly to me) I am a very light sleeper and so moving to the annex was a blessing and then some. It was totally quiet. It becomes impossible to keep up the physical work with limited sleep. Since we were in separate rooms, we didn’t hear mattresses squeak etc; just night time wildlife which is night music to me. I enjoyed helping with the meals and cooking. I think it was a good balance of food. The amount brought from Bedford and the amount purchased in WV. All good. I am glad that we were able to help Angie. She was deserving of our help. I appreciate her military service especially during a war. She was a hard-working individual and in spite of her various infirmities, I heard few complaints. She was most appreciating of our assistance and gracious in welcoming us. We were beautifully entertained in the evenings – I could have missed the Thursday evening presentation but felt a pressure to attend. I enjoyed the few minutes we played spoons and were able to laugh at the stiff competition. The cave visits, paint can, and snowman were fun to see once again as were the "B" team stops along our return including the deli recommendation from Amy. A super final stop on the way home. I would recommend that one evening, maybe Thursday evening as it follows several days of hard work, the evening is left open. I was so appreciative of going back to see Geneva. It was like stepping back in time and to hear that she placed one of our prayer shawls in her Mom’s casket and that they had talked about driving North to visit us in Bedford. It was humbling to sit in their church once again and relate it to First Church as we sort out what the future will hold for our church. ----------------------------------- Dotty B What a week! Now that I've had a couple of good night's sleep in my own bed, I can look back on the week and see more of the positive than the negative that was surely on more minds than just mine when we started last Monday. It was a struggle the first day; getting the bad news from Tim that our foreman/project manager, Greg, was very sick and hospitalized and that he would not be able to join us at the work site for at least a couple of days. I was very concerned that we wouldn't be able to do everything we hoped to do for our client(s), Angie, & her daughter Stacy. I felt like I was just doing 'busy work' on Monday, picking up broken glass in the yard, straightening up around the shed in the fenced-in yard, then pulling long staples out of the old plywood flooring in the dining room to get ready to lay down new plywood. I think we only got one 4'x8' piece of plywood "glued & screwed" in the dining room on the first day. By Tuesday, we basically had 3 teams, the deck staining team, the bathroom flooring & shower/tub removal team & the dining/living room plywood flooring team. 20-yr-old Evan assumed the flooring foreman job and, with the help of Amy, measured and carried out plywood to be cut in the yard while I did most of the screwing since there really was only one decent electric drill with a new bit to fit the star-tip screws (that was the other drawback of not having Greg and his expertise, his truck had the better tools!). We got a few more plywood pieces down, but measuring & cutting around door thresholds and floor register vents was not easy for Evan, plus fitting the tongue & grooves on the plywood edges didn't always match up well, not to mention we didn't realize there was a top & bottom to the particle board, oops! Luckily, it didn't matter which side was up for gluing linoleum on it! Wednesday we really got a lot more done on the dining room floor, thanks to Stacy & Angie moving a lot more stuff out of the living & dining room area and Pastor John & Kathy Konkle lugging several heavy plywood sheets out into the yard so we could finish the dining room area. Stacy asked us to continue screwing down plywood into the living room since she had laid linoleum flooring before, but managing the heavy plywood sheets would be too difficult for her to do. Once we finished the dining room area, the piano and the animal crates for Angie's two dogs & cat were moved onto the new plywood floor in the dining area. Angie was playing her piano more & more & having Alison sing along with her was so uplifting to all of us working in the area. Thursday we got almost all of the plywood down, but not all screwed in place, in the living room. Lunch time was extra special as a few of us made a run to Biscuit World & the others pulled chairs & benches into a big circle in the yard to have lunch together. Angie told us stories of her days as a railroad dispatcher & what she did in the armed services. We passed around a jumbo bag kettle corn & Connie's chocolate seduction, yum! It was a wonderful respite from work. At the end of the work day, we gathered for a picture and presented Angie & Stacy with prayer shawls. It is so rewarding to see how much Angie & Stacy appreciated our help. Angie said we should pick up our entire church & move it down there! Friday was a race to the finish line with an early start. I got back on my knee pads & set about screwing in plywood. Even though there wasn't a lot more plywood to measure, cut & fit, I wasn't sure how we would do it after Evan left with the others to visit with Geneva. There was Mark & Kathy Konkle working on the bathroom & me and Amy working on the living room flooring & Kathy Register pitching in where either team needed her. Then Kathy Konkle came in & interrupted me while I was screwing the plywood down & said I had to come outside to see something. At first I was annoyed, but she insisted. When I came out front & around the corner, there was Greg! I was never so happy to see him, I almost cried! What had seemed impossible to finish that morning, suddenly became possible in just the hour Greg came with his tools, expertise, & advice. He helped Amy with his circular saw (with the laser beam, much easier for cutting straight lines!), advised me that screws set on 16" centers were more than enough to secure the plywood (I had been doing every 8", super time consuming & went through a whole bucket of screws!) & I think he gave some helpful suggestions to Mark & Kathy for the bathroom flooring, too. I believe Greg was sent by God to help us in our hour of greatest need. We finished up around 1 pm, took lots of pictures with Greg, & set out to fuel up with gas & lunch & hit the road to Chambersburg, PA. We got there in 5 hours, had a wonderful dinner on the patio at Montezuma's, right down the road from our hotel. It was nice to climb into a soft hotel bed, but I was much happier after the final leg of our trip & that the 8 hours of driving was behind me when we cruised into Bedford at 7 PM & I crawled into my own bed that night. Thank you to all who prayed for us, supported us from afar & sent treats, money, & gift cards. You help make this trip possible. ------------------------------ Pastor John Once again, I am drawn to Ezekiel’s “Valley of Dry Bones” vision. God is telling Ezekiel to preach hope to the hopeless. The Jews in exile in Babylon had no hope of returning to Israel and no hope of Jerusalem being restored. When we come to West Virginia, we proclaim hope, not only by restoring homes but by being present to those in need. Yet it cannot end there. The deeper challenge is to find the hopeless parts of our own lives and let that message of hope come to us. That way, we are in solidarity with the saints we serve. Even more, we are called to return home preaching hope to our congregation, as we try to discern what to do when we are confronted by feelings of hopelessness. Our challenge in the next few years is a challenge of hope. Even though we might feel overwhelmed, looking at our “valley of dry bones”, hope draws us beyond those feelings. We start acting in faith, one step at a time, convinced that behind all of it, is a God who is challenging our faith at the deepest levels. -------------------------------- Chris M This was a challenging (but rewarding) week for the mission team. We were without our usual leader, Greg, so not only did we miss his expertise in guiding the project, we were also concerned about his health and well being. We also had some concerns going in to the project, knowing that the house could use more work than we could ultimately accomplish, that the space we would have to work in may be extremely limited, and that the client was predisposed to anxiety even before accounting for a group of strangers who would come to rearrange her living space and worldly possessions. Happily, whatever reservations and hesitancy were evident when we arrived had melted away by the first afternoon as we got to know and trust each other. Two of the passages John chose for our devotions seemed especially relevant on this trip. First, when we were asked to assess what could be done to make Angi’s bathroom safe — although I didn’t think about it at the time — I reflect back on the passage where God asks Ezekiel “can these bones live?” To be clear, the flooring in much of the bathroom was in tough shape. There were gaping holes caused by years of water damage where mice and rats would enter the house. And where there weren’t holes, you could feel the floor boards flex in ways that did not inspire confidence. But the bones of Angi’s trailer — that is, the joists and overall framing — could these bones reliably support a new subfloor? Happily, the most serious water damage was limited to the old floor boards. Yes, God, these bones can live and support the new flesh and sinews of floors and plumbing. OK, so I’m stretching the analogy a bit, but like Ezekiel, we felt a little overwhelmed when we first saw the bathroom and were tasked with its repair. Perhaps a better analogy can be made with one of the other passages John chose, the day of Pentecost. You know, where the Spirit descends and people of all tongues are suddenly able to understand one another. One cannot emphasize enough how much these trips are at least as much about relationships as they are about the physical work we accomplish. It’s too easy to think that people — locally, across the nation or the world — are so divided by politics, race, religion, or just about anything else. A cynic might just see a group of righteous people from a well-to-do blue state “coming to the rescue” of some down-on-their-luck residents of a poorer red state. Tim also talked about another project where the client wanted to know where a group was from before working on his house, as if Californians (as the group was) either wouldn’t be welcome or up to the task. (Fortunately, everyone got along well by the end of their project.) What if we could put our differences aside and make a positive impact on each other? We, as mission trippers, certainly get as much out of the trip as the people we are there to help. Even though Mark and I were often secluded in our own corner of the house, we could see the camaraderie grow, feel the barriers come down and hear music and laughter fill the air. For one week at least, we were able to speak the same language. ----------------------------------------------------- Allyson P. What a week! The thoughts that bubble up the most often to describe the 2023 WVMT are teamwork and trust. It takes teamwork to prepare the mission trip (hotel reservations, devotional preparation, food planning, tourism, t-shirt preparation) and even more teamwork to run the trip (driving, cooking meals, washing up, grocery shopping, accounting, blogging, taking photos,). This list doesn’t begin to touch the actual work! The job site is a whole other level of teamwork (project managing, small team meetings, assessing, cleaning, moving wood, cutting wood, screwing, gluing, singing, staining, cleaning up, fire wood stacking, deck prepping, vacuuming, hardware store runs, ice cream store runs, bathroom trips). Food project management (all three meals) is another category of intense teamwork. All of this requires constant collaboration, coordination and communication – family meetings, small group meetings, text after text after text, and lots of individual conversations. You can’t have authentic teamwork without trust - and trust was everywhere. Trust between trippers to do the tasks that need to be done. Trust between trippers that we were each doing our best. Huge trust (faith!) from Angie and Stacy to improve Angie’s home. Unyielding trust in God that we were where we needed to be. Loyal trust from the congregation to send us into the world as representatives of our church to spread God’s love. It’s overwhelming and humbling. Thanks, trippers! Thanks, Angie and Stacy! Thanks, church! Thanks, God! ---------------------------------------- Kathy R. This was my third Mission Trip and like the previous two, it was a journey of faith. We never really know what we’re in for, where we’ll be working, what house/facility we’ll be assigned, and exactly what our 4.5-day work week will entail. But we always trust the Appalachian South Folklife Center’s director Tim and our job foreman Greg to lead us on to a successful outcome. Sadly, this year Greg was ill, but we forged ahead with Tim in the lead. While we sorely missed Greg’s construction know-how and sage advice, Mark G and Chris M stepped up to act as job foremen and all turned out well. (And we did get to see Greg on Friday morning looking like his old self again – which was a huge relief!) We worked on the home of a woman named Angie, who was having trouble recovering from a series of personal losses and consequently dealt with anxiety. We helped move some of her personal effects around enough to put down plywood on top of her existing floors in the living room and dining room. We also cleared off and stained her front and back decks. And Mark and Chris removed an old tub in her main bathroom, installed a new working shower, and added plywood to the bathroom floor. Hopefully, Angie and her daughter Stacey can now install the vinyl flooring they had ready and waiting inside the house. As always, our group was a delight to work with. We all found jobs that fit our abilities and jumped in to help wherever help was needed. It was hard work, but also a whole lot of fun to pitch in together. And Allyson P and Alison W had planned fun fieldtrips and activities to keep us entertained on our off hours, as well as on our drive down and back. It’s never easy coming down from another state to help the proud people of West Virginia. We don’t want to be judgmental or cause any pain or shame for the folks we’re helping. I find Pastor John’s morning devotionals – which stress that we’re here to do God’s work and be true servants – very helpful in approaching each day’s work with an open heart and mind. These Mission Trips really are transformative and I strongly believe that, yes, we certainly leave the homes we work on in much better shape than we found them. But I also know that I get WAY more out of the trip than the West Virginians we serve. I can’t wait for next year!
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Connie needed to be back to Bedford by 1:00. Deb, Amy, Mary & Connie left Chambersburg at 4:30AM. (Yikes!) They made amazing time. They ate lunch at Reins in CT and were in Bedford by 12:45; an amazing feat.
The other 2 cars left at 8:00 for a more leisurely trip. None the less, today was mostly about getting home. We had a funky stop at a really nice coffee shop right off the highway. Sadly, signage was terrible so it took us a few minutes to find it. Lunch was at Hudson Taco at the Newburg Bridge (highly recommended). Ice cream just north of Hartford and home by 7:00. It will be wonderful to sleep in our own beds again. We are grateful to everyone who made this trip possible and wonderful. Our lives have been changed. -AW We wanted to visit with Geneva in Wyco, and hour out of our way, but we still needed to wrap things up at the job site. At a family meeting last night, we figured out that the 8 people who were here in 2017 when we met Geneva could leave the work site at 10 and still get to Chambersburg for dinner(ish). The other 5 would stay behind and do the last few things to finish up.
This morning was very early. We had a light breakfast and quick packing up. Devotions started at 7:30 (We were committed to getting out on time.) This morning’s devotion was from Isiah 55, The prophet is talking about hope of good things to come. Do we believe good things are coming? Did we help Angie see that good things are coming? Tim and Maggie joined us for Communion, which was pretty special. Also positive was we had non-chewy communion bread We arrived at the work site by 9:00. The deck crew was on tap to clean up our work space in the yard. They zipped through that. The floor team continued cutting and gluing and screwing and the bathroom team was mostly all about finishing up the flooring there too. They were also moving right along. At 10:00, the Geneva visitors needed to leave. The others -now called the A(ngie)-team - all agreed things were far enough along that they could finish up and be out in good time. So we separated for different adventures. Team Geneva Chris, John, Evan, Alison, Allyson, Mary, Deb & Connie left to visit with Geneva. It seems like every year we are surprised by how winding and scenic the drive to Wyco is. Rhododendrons were still in bloom. It was sad to be there with no Margaret. We know she’s in a better place but we still miss her since she passed away this past March. Geneva is living at her mother’s house. She is hanging in there, and the loss is still fresh. She is grateful for the support and prayers from First Church. We recreated the photo from 2017 with the works on the front steps. It was a great visit. Thank you for the A-Team for being willing to start your day early and to finish up the work while we went for our visit. After our visit, it was a fairly express trip to Chambersburg. A quick stop with a short hike to the New River Gorge Bridge. It made a nice bookend to our stop at the other end of the park last Sunday. Then jumped back in the car and drove to Cooper’s Rock State Park. It’s a really short walk to an amazing view and a few hours away from our last stop; a perfect time to stretch our legs. We ate dinner at Friendsville Public House just as we crossed into Maryland. The Crabby pig sandwiches were great. It was a great stop but service was slow. We weren’t in a rush per se, but we ended up getting back to the hotel at 10:30, tired but happy. A-Team There wasn’t that much square footage of flooring to do, but it was all odd shaped areas, so we had to cut and assemble a lot of puzzle pieces. It takes time! We were down to our last sheet of plywood so no mistakes. 30 minutes after team Geneva left, Tim called people out to the yard for a happy surprise; a healthy Greg had come to the work site. Lots of hugging and visiting. Greg was sorry to miss the others with Team Geneva but he had a phone call to catch up with some of his old friends who were too far away to come back. It’s surprising how much Greg’s help expedited finishing the work. His experience and skill, some of which knowing when to hammer it in, was key. After Dotty put in the last screw, we had a few final items to clean up and put in Greg’s truck. We were out at 1:00; later than we hoped, but earlier than last year. We drove back to Princeton for a restorative lunch at Dairy Queen. Blizzards are always appreciated. Because we were pretty late, we drove straight to Chambersburg. Lots of laughs but a long drive. Turns out we were ahead of the other team. We had great dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the hotel. We were concerned it was called Montezuma’s, but everything was good with no revenge. Connie made French toast this morning. What an amazing way to start the day! Devotion this morning was James and Peter healing a lame man. The man was begging. Peter didn’t have money to give but healed him instead. So you don’t always get what you ask for but you get what you need.
Day 4 at the work site was chaotic and productive, but we still need to go back and finish off our projects. The deck staining is done. We completed two coats on the front deck and side ramp. We got the furniture and toys back on the back deck. It looks amazing but it wasn’t dry enough to put the stuff back on the front. Tomorrow there should be short work get her canopy, benches and chair back where she can enjoy them. There is also some remaining yard clean up. It should be pretty quick The floor team got A LOT done, but not all. In large part because the scope of the project changed when Stacy asked us to not put down the linoleum but to finish putting the sub floor in the entire dining/living room. Initially it was just the dining room half. There was much cutting and even more screwing. We hope to have a few hours to finish up tomorrow. We have made a mess outside where we’re cutting. We’ll need to rake under the saw horses so the grandkids and pets don’t get splinters playing in the yard. The bathroom team also plowed through the bulk of the project. The new shower is in! The caulking needs to dry so it can’t be used tonight, but tomorrow, it’s good to go. (Reminder, her old shower was on a really weak floor and had a large hole next to it. It was unsafe, now it’s beautiful. There has also been scope creep here. Initially it was to replace the shower and fix the hole in the floor but there was a previous fix near the toilet. It would not have been quite right and would not be even with the new subfloor we are adding so… We have taken out the toilet and added more subflooring. For this project also we should have a few hours to wrap it up. Car one returned to first to start a wonderful stir fry dinner made up from our leftovers. Fewer leftover will be quicker packing tomorrow. Car2 & 3 left a little later trying to wrap up more work. After dinner, a few people went to a lecture/discussion in Princeton organized by our friend, Lori. Once It got dark, we giggle over sparklers and a few people went out to enjoy the stars. Tomorrow will be a complicated day so it’s an earlier bed time. ------------------------------------------------------ (Connie M) We had to leave the job site earlier than I would have liked yesterday as a heavy rain came down. Although it was for a short time, it was wet the decks and there was a mad scramble to protect equipment and supplies. We have all our projects to hopefully finish today and without any additional surprises that set back our time schedule, we may just make it. One thing that I have noticed over the past few days at our site was our teammate young Evan. On my last mission trip adventure, Evan, Douglas and Nicholas were boys. They worked right beside us but their tasks were directed by adults. This year Evan is holding the fort for the mission trio as Douglas and Nicholas were not able to join us this year. Like turning a page to a new chapter, Evan is now directing us. His skills and work ethic are impressive. He works quietly and efficiently. An impressive young man in my eyes. Thank you Evan. I had an opportunity to sit with Angie while she was playing her piano yesterday and she honored me by played my favorite hymn. It was a lovely time to share with her and then back to the deck and my paintbrush. --------------------------------------------------- (Mary C) Today was a busy, somewhat hectic day, trying to finish as much as we could for each project. The “deck” team (Connie, Deb, Kathy R. and Mary) cleaned and stained the side walkway/ramp, along with the front deck and stairs. We were able to put on two to three coats in places that needed it. It looks fantastic! It’s nice to be able to see the result of work we have done. For lunch we sat in a circle in the front yard and talked with Angie and Stacey. Angie has many interesting stories and told us about her career in the air force and working as dispatcher for the railroads in West Virginia. She was one of the first women in her position in the Air Force and also one of the first women railroad dispatchers. I’m sure Angie was able to hold her own with the men. She was a dynamo and is sad now that she can no longer do all the things she would like. Near the end of the day, we took our “official” group photo with Angie, Stacey and Caleb (Stacey’s boyfriend.) I feel we have gotten to know them well and really like them all. Angie, Stacey and Caleb were painting, drilling, and placing the plywood for the living room, along with our team. John presented the prayer shawls. Angie is incredibly happy with all that we have accomplished and that we have spent the week with her. After lunch I drove with Tim to the Princeton Dump. Quite an experience! We have all worked hard but feel we have made a difference in Angie’s life. She has been able to get to her piano this week (before there was too much clutter for her to get to it) and she began playing for us. She comes alive when she plays. ------------------------------------------------- (Amy S) A highlight of the trip was when Angie cleaned off her piano and played for us... And played, and sang, and told stories, and sang again. Every time Angie plays a song, she remembers another... One song leads to another... One story leads to another... We cut wood, use hammers and drills, and Angie plays. Although the sandwiches from Biscuit World were delicious, they really don't hold a candle to the music. One song Angie played is called, "Search the Book Again." Here are the lyrics: PLEASE SEARCH THE BOOK AGAIN (Jerry Goff) (1975) I dreamed that I had died and gone to heaven, I stood just outside the eastern gate; The Man from within said, "Have you been born again, And is your name written in the Book of Life?" CHORUS: Please search the book again; I thought my name was there! I went to church on Sunday, tho' I never knelt in prayer; Please search the book again; it's too late now, I know, Please search the book again before you make me go! I told Him all the deeds that I had done, I told Him all the trophies I had won; But the Man said to me, "Have you been set free, And is your name written in the Book of Life?" CHORUS And then He turned and left me standing there, I knew it was too late now for prayer. Oh, my sinner friend, if you want to make it in, Your name must be in the Book of Life. CHORUS --------------------------------------------- (Deb C) When Angi started playing the piano again, her entire demeanor was elevated. She told us stories about accompanying her grandfather in church. She played the piano as a 9 year-old while he preached. A funny story about false teeth flying into the pews but nothing stopped the sermon. Angi is the center point of her family – her daughter Stacy lives up the hill and her granddaughter is a regular visitor each week. I would love to see Angi’s granddaughter’s face when she hears Angi play the piano – maybe for the first time ever. Rediscovering her love for music will bring more joy into Angi’s house and I think we all feel happy to have helped make that happen. ----------------------------- (Chris M) We made some good progress on the bathroom projects today. Water connections were made to the shower controls, we managed to connect the drain with a few last-minute redesigns and another trip to Lowe’s, and thankfully the shower stall itself went together quickly. The bathroom floor is also under control with Kathy K helping Mark to measure, cut and install the OSB (i.e., subfloor plywood). There was a slight change in plans, as we weren’t originally going to replace the flooring under the toilet, but Angie and Stacey repeatedly assured us they would rather have the flooring completed than not, even if that meant we didn’t have time to reinstall the commode. There is a small amount of flooring to complete tomorrow morning. And while we’d strongly prefer not to leave without reseating the toilet, Stacey has previously done it herself and is willing to do it again. We will see how things go tomorrow. Thankfully, we have made some real improvements to the house and connected on a meaningful level with new friends who are so appreciative of what we’ve been able to do for them. This morning started with the usual breakfast, stretching and devotions. Today we talked about the Pentecost story in Acts. The holy spirit descends and suddenly people are doing the impossible of understanding each other. People are shocked and amazed – ‘cuz, yah’ know, communication is hard. Again, God does an amazing thing through unsuspecting people. We got to the work site and split into three basic teams, with a little shuffling around as the projects ebbed and flowed. There were so many variables when we started at this worksite. The first two days felt a little rocky, but we really hit our stride today. General updates: The bathroom is partially done. Turns out, the hardest part was finding a shower that was worthy, the right size, and in stock. Such a shower was found and happily, the drain is in the same place. That will help a lot. Building on the work of yesterday (literally), the holes in the floor where the tub are partially filled in. The old shower is out and some of the plumbing for the new one is in. It’s encouraging. The deck team was amazing and worked together like a well-oiled machine. We finished staining the back deck and prepped/cleaned the front and side decks (Big props to Connie for really scrubbing the desks). The railing for the front deck is painted. We were starting on the front deck, but the heavens opened and outdoor painting/staining was impossible. Angie has a big stack of fire wood behind her back deck. It needed to be moved so the back of the railing could be stained. The wood was restacked with a little more support and organization so it no longer leans on the railing and is a little more accessible. Later in the day, James, Angie’s grandson, stopped by to help. Without prompting, he just starting helping with the fire wood. His fresh muscles were appreciated. Considering we started this project yesterday; this project is pretty far along. Reflooring the dining room made huge progress today. Last night, Stacy and Angie moved a lot of her stuff out of the living room. It was a huge start for the day. And, thanks to the thankless task the staple-pullers did yesterday, big sections or floor are being laid. Pastor John and Kathy K did yeomen’s work getting all the plywood out of the work space, over 1000lbs of plywood taken out one sheet at a time. Evan and Amy have developed a good system for measuring and cutting. Dotty is the drill master getting the new pieces screwed and glued into the old floor. We are mostly done with the dining room area and will continue into the living room. Angie and Stacy have asked that we do as much of the front two rooms as we can, even if we can’t finish. We’ll see how far we get tomorrow. With all the tasks, there has been some yard work and re-organization. Angie has a really nice fenced in yard but sometimes she has been ambitious with what she has in it. We’ve done some sorting of playthings in one area and garden tools in another etc. Some has been heavy work (moving bricks) and some light (moving chairs) but it all helps make her living spaces less claustrophobic. As with yesterday, there were several trips to Lowes and to the other stores; partly ‘cuz we keep discovering things we need and partly because when there’s work being done on the bathroom, people need to “go” elsewhere. It makes a nice break to the day. It gives more visit time with workers from other teams. It’s funny how something simple like lunch becomes a milestone in the day. Lunch has been a great time for the teams to catch up with each other and for people to swap around as needed. We’ve been packing extra lunches for Tim and Angie and Stacy. It’s a good time to check in with them too. And it’s another time we are grateful for our Bedford supporters who sent along backed goods. It’s a tangible touchstone that we are here representing First Church. Thank you. We did not see Greg today. Sadly, he is feeling worse. We miss him and his skill as project foreman. Tim has been stepping up and filling in and doing a fine job but we’ve been spoiled the last few years to work with both of them so Greg is much missed. We did have some visit time with Angie today although not as much as other days. However, we were treated to another concert. She hadn’t played her piano for a long time, years even. She says her fingers are rusty, but it sounds great to us. It’s wonderful to hear her play and even better to see how much fun she’s having. We left the work site around 5:00. One of the cars took a detour to Brush Creek Falls. The mission team hasn’t visited here since 2016. With all the flooding this year, the water is running pretty fast and pretty high. Here’s a link to our first visit. There’s a HUGE difference. After dinner a group went to the Pipestem Park Lookout Tower. Back at the Folklife center, we had another impromptu concert with Tim and Maggie and their new portative organ. This is a totally fun gizmo. The end of anther full day. -AW ------------------------------------ (Chris M) Another day of hits and misses for Mario and Luigi. We successfully removed the old shower stall but had to take the Saws-all to it in order to get it out of the house. Sadly, the flooring beneath the shower was in pretty bad shape, so that was another little detour to remove the punk wood and shore up the framing. At least it was pretty straightforward to feed our new water supply lines under the floor and up the wall to where the new shower controls will be. Tim helped us to get the hardware we will need to make the shower and drain connections (which we had hoped to start today but will have to wait until tomorrow). At least we have moved on from demolition to construction. ----------------------------------------- (Pastor John) On our first day, I chose the famous “Valley of the Dry Bones” passage in Ezekiel. Perhaps you remember this in Vacation Bible School (them bones, them bones, them dry bones, now hear the Word of the Lord!). Ezekiel, one of the big Old Testament prophets is taken in spirit to a valley filled with dry bones and God asks his “mortal, can these bones live?” Ezekiel gives the only answer that makes sense, “only you know, God.” What a question! Seeing this huge valley of skulls, baking in the sun - what do you say? No doubt, Ezekiel was overwhelmed at the sight. He was more overwhelmed when God told him to preach to the bones to come to life. Then even more overwhelmed when he actually saw muscles and tendons forming on the bones, then skin covering the bones. And even more overwhelmed when he preached and breathe came into them. Sounds like one of those apocalyptic zombie movies! God has always chosen to work through us human beings, with limited hearts and minds. God calls Ezekiel “Mortal,” and that’s how we often feel when we are in the presence of God and called by God’s Spirit to do God’s will. The tasks are overwhelming simply because we are caught up in a plan that is greater and more mysterious than we can imagine. When confronted with this sense of being overwhelmed, we are constantly reminded that we walk by faith. We are not called to solve the problems before us or within us, but to trust the Spirit to lead us. And when we allow this to happen, amazing things happen. Instead of being overwhelmed, we are in awe of what God does through us. That seems to be how the week is going, and all I can do in response is to be filled with holy awe and deep gratitude for the joy of being an instrument of God’s grace. ------------------------------ (Kathy K) This morning's prayer was focused on patience. As always seems to happen with our morning prayer, there is one that gets it perfectly right. Setting off on our day with this mindset was key. At the end of the day, Angie's grandson thanked us for helping his Grandma and commented "I'm amazed at how y'all work together". I guess the prayer worked! ------------------Today started with breakfast, stretching and devotions. This morning we talked about the passage in Luke where Jesus sends our 70 apostles and tells them, take no money, no extra clothing, no pre-planning. Go and knock on some doors and if they let you in stay with them for a while and talk to that community about God, otherwise move on. Later they all returned having been successful. While they never defined what “success” was, the general message is just go and something good will happen.
That fit well with today. Greg is still sick and not with us. We miss his leadership a lot. Yesterday was a lot of assessment and clearing but it’s still not certain what we’ll get done. As is often the case, day two is still deconstruction and prep work. It is not exciting pulling staples out of the floor, it is not exciting taping the edges for painting. While it is noticeable pulling up the bathtub and connecting some temporary plumbing, it’s still doesn’t feel like forward progress. However, success for tomorrow and Thursday depends on doing this prep work well today. It’s frustrating with only invisible progress. Even so, we got the back deck stained. As per usual, the railing took FOREVER, the balustrades have so much surface area: top sides, undersides, left sides, right sides and insides. It has to be done by hand and many hands spent a lot of time painting the railing. The deck surface went pretty quickly, get some rollers set up and suddenly it looks like a new deck. As hinted at before, the bathroom reno team got the plumbing off and capped on some connection so they could take out the old tub. There is significant water damage in that area. A lot of the floor is unsafe. We had a hard time finding a suitable shower, not that she has a special size, just that there are still supply shortages and showers no longer grow on trees. There were many trips to the hardware store and to the plumbing supply as more of the project was revealed and the needs were discovered. An important part of our day is visiting with Angie. Her anxiety kicked in this morning and we were a little concerned we would have to stop. Let’s face it, 13 people descending on your house to do stuff is overwhelming and definitely feels out of control. However, she’s very grateful we’re helping and she’s making herself stay calm so we can get the work done. She’s a strong woman to overcome her fears. We had a great bonus after lunch when she played piano and we had a short sing-along. It was nice to connect on that level. After dinner we had music from The Appassionato String Quartet who came to play for us at the Folklife Center. They were good and had a nice variety of songs from Mozart and Vivaldi to the Beatles and John Denver. We knew they were students, but after the concert we discovered they were middle school age! There is still room for growth, but their musicality was impressive. -AW ----------------------------------------------------- (Mark G) We have deepened our appreciation for Greg as site leader with multiple projects on the site. And we also miss Nick and Doug and the energy and muscle power that young workers bring for us. ------------------------------------------- (Allyson P) When I take the time to reflect the mission trip, trust is a word that comes to mind. It’s a huge leap of trust for Angie to welcome us into her home. The trust that bonds the mission trippers together as a team is one that has developed over the years and that we are still nurturing. There is also the trust that you (the congregation) have in us to act as emissaries of our church. And - trusting that God has guided us to Angie is quite amazing. -------------------------------------------------- (Chris M) It was a day of ups and downs for the bathroom renovation team, Mario (Chris) and Luigi (Mark). After researching options for shower stall replacements last night, Luigi’s first task today was to assess the state of the bathroom flooring while Mario spent much of the morning shopping with Tim, the director of the Folklife Center and our substitute foreman. Unfortunately, the best option we found for shower stalls would not actually be available until next week. (Argh!) However, Tim made a quick call to another store in Bluefield (about 20 minutes away), found a less expensive option and drove down to get it. (Yay!) But once we unpacked it, we saw why it was so much cheaper and realized it would not be adequate. (Boo hoo!) So it was off to Lowe’s in the afternoon to find a pricier but sturdier model. (Yay again!) While it is not the top-of-the-line, it is significantly more expensive than the other options we found, but it was available and we felt it was the best we could do for Angie. While we were happy with the decisions, we didn’t make quite as much progress on the renovations given the amount of time we had to spend comparison shopping. On the plus side, we were able to remove the bathtub and start patching the floor, which had some significant water damage. And the connections we made with our new PEX tubing went without a hitch. (It’s always nice when you don’t flood the client’s house.) Today we were looking forward to our first work day. This year we’re doing serve-yourself breakfast. It worked well, followed by stretching (thank you Allyson) and our first morning of common devotions. Today we talked about the prophet Ezekial and his dry bones. God asked Ezekial if it’s possible to bring life into these dry bones. Ezekial replied “if you say so”. Working through the prophet, God made it happen. What dry bones will we bringing back to life?
We decided to do a slow introduction for Angie so each of the three cars left 20 minutes apart. By the time second and third cars arrived, Pastor John had introduced “us” so she was very ready to meet each individual. Today was mostly evaluating what we can do and prepping for tomorrow. Angie’s daughter Stacy is a huge help and guided us as we consolidated somethings in the house so we have access to the dining area that we will be able to refloor. Mark and Chris and Tim spent the day assessing the bathroom, figuring out how much of the floor needs to be replaced, if the studs are good and if we’ll be able to get the tub out of the bathroom to replace it with a non-leaky shower, a key feature her current shower does not have. As an added bonus, we did some work outside to organize some of her outdoor things to make her yard more usable and safer for her grand kids and dogs. We found some extra garden hose that we used as an impromptu jump rope. Happily, we remembered how to jump rope with the added benefit of arm work out with the heavy "rope". All day, there was someone visiting with Angie and just getting to know her and letting her get to know us. We accomplished more than we had hoped on every level. By the end of the day, we had established a healthy level trust on all sides. Back to the Folklife Center for a yummy dinner cooked and designed by Connie and her team. Yum. Then off to Open Mic Night at the Room Upstairs. The performers did not disappoint. The set opened with Laurie and Rob, who are always wonderful, and moved through other performers. Almost anyone who shows up is welcome to perform. Some of the performers will never make their living with their music and some will. All are people with some music to share who are working on their craft to make it better and who are willing to give their best. Late night but worth it. We were out the door by 8:00 and heading to the Shenandoah Caverns. We lucked out and got a group discount to tour the caves. Our tour guide, Cadence, was fun and informative. The general motto was “watch you your feet, watch you head and if not, watch your language”. These caves were shorter (less high) than the other caverns we visited, so the motto was apt. The pictures are good but it’s great in real life. The most striking feature were the “bacon” sheets. They are funky rock formations that look like strips of bacon hanging from the ceiling. Sometimes when features like these are named, it is reminiscent of such and such, but these look like bacon. Once we were above ground, we took a photo with the Cootie statue and headed off to lunch.
At Mrs Rowe’s restaurant, lunch was really amazing pie preceded by yummy sandwiches. The place was jumping with the after-church lunch traffic. During the wait, we visited with other people in line. We met a nice woodworker and his wife, a coin dealer a biker and Mrs. Rowe. Next door was a Virginia themed gift shop reputed to have amazing peanuts. We haven’t tried them yet so this has not been confirmed. As we entered West Virginia, we had a conference call, sing along with John Denver, a tradition for Amy’s family that we have adopted. Of course, we had a photo op at the snow man. Someone (CM) brought a Big Flat Jesus with Snow Man arms to enhance our picture. Then off to a stop at Grandview, part of the New River Gorge National Park. This is the highest elevation of the NRGNP and has stunning views of the river. From here, one car left early to drive directly to the Folk Life Center. The other two cars did a little hike at the park, then went grocery shopping and followed. Thanks to the kitchen team (MG & KR) for having and executing a dinner plan. We had pulled pork (provided by Pastor John and transported and reheated by the kitchen team. And of course, followed by an array of baked treats supplied by our first church supporters. Thank you. After dinner we sat with Tim to learn about our project. Big news is that Greg was in the hospital with dehydration so he won’t be joining us tomorrow and perhaps not Tuesday either. Then Tim describe our project working with Angie. Within the last few years, she had lost a lot of important people in her life and has dealt with anxiety. Nothing over the top yet, but enough to make her skittish about strangers dealing with her stuff and enough stuff to make it difficult to get into her house to do repairs. The immediate problem is, her water heater broke a while back the floor in her bathroom is now unsafe. We were encouraged to start slow and spend most of the day getting to know her and judging how much we can do without upsetting her comfort level. Off to settle in to the dorms and rest up for tomorrow. -AW Bedford to Chambersburg
So far we’re right on schedule heading towards lunch. We fit all our food and belonging (and us) in three cars. We picked up Pastor John in Hartford and reconnected with his sister and her dog Maddie. There is much excitement and storytelling. We’ll keep you posted. …… Tour/lunch stop at Grey Towers in Milford PA. It’s modeled after “the Grange”, Lafayette’s house in France. It’s a “summer cottage” built/owned by James Pinchot designed by one of the architects who did a lot of the mansions in Newport. His son, Gifford inherited it and Gifford’s wife developed the grounds to the show place it is today. When the cottage was built, the area was pretty much clear-cut and deforested. Ironically, or perhaps because of seeing this, James encouraged Gifford to study forestry, which he did. Then Gifford went on found the US Forest Service, among other life accomplishments. The most outstanding feature was an outdoor dining table which was made out of stone. The edges of the table are 18-ish” wide. The center of the table is a pool of water. Food was served in wooden bowls that were floated on the water and pushed/sailed across upon request. WE were not allowed to eat our lunch at the fancy table, but there were some really nice picnic tables for our lunch. Overall, a good stop. Back to the cars and on to the ice cream stop. ….. After a quick stop at the paint can, we arrived in Chambersburg still on schedule and checked into the Hampton Inn. We had a tremendous surprise! The Oscar Myer Weiner mobile was parked outside the hotel. Two photo ops in 1 hour. The fates are smiling on us. Dinner was at a wonderful Peruvian restaurant, Inka Kitchen. The portions were enormous and very tasty. And because it was there, most of the group went to the reenactment of the burning of Chambersburg. Where else do you see a town celebrating the day it was burned to the ground? |