COUNTDOWN TO NASHVILLE: 

13 DAYS!

Mission Trip Meeting #2

Wednesday night Larry, Ann, Ruth, and I traveled to Butler for the second of two info meetings for the Beaver-Butler Presbytery Nashville mission trip for small churches. (Thought I'd mention those details again in case you had forgotten/wondered who we were!) Joyce, Ruth's friend, wasn't able to come but assures us that she is already packed and ready to go! (And we still have 2 weeks before we leave for the trip! Can you tell she's excited?? :0)


Almost all of us who were going on the trip were able to attend the meeting, which was really neat. 45 people is alot! I tried to sneak some pictures as we were meeting...


These are our fearless leaders...Joyce (L) and CF (R).

(We did a lot of laughing last night!)

One of the activities we did was, of course, a "get to know you" game where everyone was given a brown lunch bag with an object in it. Then you had to go around and find the piece that goes with it. Ruth and I lucked out because I had a lock and she had the key (feel free to pause for a moment to sing the Madonna lyrics, if you know them! :0) ...and we were sitting right next to each other! Larry on the other hand, had a green gardening glove in his bag and had to search for the mate...

...and he found Bob, who had the other green glove! Bob is a contractor who has gone on a number of mission trips already. In fact, his wife and kids are all going on the trip this year! (They also have already offered to host the reunion party after the trip is over!)

After that game, CF passed out some Scripture passages for each group to study. (In case you are wondering you can find the Scriptures here, here, and here.) We were supposed to 1) read the passage together, 2) talk about what words or phrases that struck out to us, and 3) talk about how the passage applies to the mission trip. Here's a picture of a group studying their passage:

As you can see from these pictures (like the ones above and this one from the get to know you game...)

...there are a variety of ages going on this trip. I didn't get an exact headcount, but I'd guess there are probably  a dozen teenagers going on this trip. And the Frankfort folks were very impressed by not just the enthusiastic participation of the teens, but also the quality of the contributions they made. I personally enjoyed the obviously loving interactions they had with some of the older members of the group with whom they have been on a trip previously. 


For the final part of the meeting, Joyce shared with us some pictures she had taken with her son Luke on their scouting trip down to Nashville. Among the pictures she took was this one...

In the picture, the man is standing in front of his home. He is showing them how high the flood was...it was incredible to hear the story and to see all the damage left behind after the floodwaters receded.  


The water has long since dried up, of course, but the damage still remains even after almost a year. 


And in just a couple weeks, we'll be traveling from PA to TN (and back again) to be the church for them because "...the Lord has anointed me ... to bind up the brokenhearted...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." (Is 61:1, 3) (one of the Scripture passages from the meeting!)

Pics from Nashville Mission trip meeting #2

If you'd like to see more photos from the meeting, you can click here to see the "set" I made on Flikr.