Workcamp-The First Couple days!

Hello all!

Things are going VERY well at Workcamp 2011 in Hurricane, WV.  First thing’s first…. as you read “Hurricane” throughout the next few days… whatever you do, DO NOT read it as “HurricAne”.  That is NOT how you pronounce the city in which we serve!  The correct pronunciation is actually more like Hurri-“KIN” (kin – as in you might have to sacrifice your first of KIN if you don’t pronounce it correctly.)

 

Anyway, we’ve been having a great time down here in Hurricane… and on our trip down.  Saturday night we stayed at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Oakmont, PA.  Pastor Naumann and his wife were very gracious hosts, along with a friend Jenn.  They hosted us for a grill-out dinner at their home (which had it’s own picnic shelter in the back yard.)  We broke out the KanJam as well as some other games and just had a great night.  They guys actually stayed at the Naumann home and girls went back to the church 2 blocks away.  I’m not sure about the guys, but there were some awesome conversations taking place that evening around the church!  What a great way to kick off the trip.

 

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early.  The guys joined us for breakfast before 7 so we could get on the road.  Once we started using a GPS that had correct highway numbers, all three vans made it out of Pittsburg and headed… to HURRICANE!

 

We were greeted by out enthusiastic “Red Shirt Staff” and got a lot of comments on our awesome First Trinity Workcamp T-shirts designed by our very own Randy Edgington! 

 

We settled in a little and then went to our first program of the week.  After program there was dinner.  Crew assignments went up at this time also.  Crews this week are:

 

Crew 15: Anna, Morgan, Kayla, Becca, Claire, Charlie, and Jon

Crew 16: Jane, Deb, Sarah, Annie, Christian, Zack, and Jordan

Crew 49: Jen, Stacy, Hope, Josh T., Josh C., Tim, and Bekah

Crew 61: Abby, Abbie, Jennie, Mark, Randy, Kelsey, and Laura

 

What a great group of crews!

 

Many of FTs group is getting involved in Workcamp Programming this week.  Stacy joined the Drama team for our evening worship each night and Christian and Sarah joined the Worship Team that leads the whole group of 400 in song at that same evening program time.  It is quite an amazing sight to see Sarah on her crutches, flying across the gym with her guitar on her back! 

 

We closed off Sunday night with our youth group devotions.  Rachel Bissell (a parent) made us a candle to leave our host churches that has a picture of First Trinity on it.  Since we only have one host church this trip, we’ve decided to use it at our youth group devotions at night.  It’s a nice CONNECTtion with our church family back home.

 

Today (Monday) we had an early “Wakey-Wakey Workcampers” wake up call at 6:45.  After getting ready, our “Breakmakers”  (one of the crew jobs for each crew) got our lunches ready for the day.  We all ate breakfast and headed to morning program with our crews.  Then… we headed out to our sites!!!

 

It sounds like all 4 crews have some awesome residents that really need our help.  I’m not sure how many times the resident from Crew 49 told us how thankful she was we were there and that we were a miracle for them.  Hopefully, over the next few days I’ll get a participant from each crew to write a little about the family they are serving. 

 

For now, here are a few God-sightings that have been shared:

– Zack helping Sarah navigate through Walmart on her crutches, pushing the cart for her and carrying her stuff out to the van.

– Laura and the rest of Crew 61 were working on their resident’s home. Laura happened to be doing some painting and had gotten some on her legs because of the way she was sitting down.  She wasn’t to concerned, but Carolyn, their resident, came over with a wet towel and started washing the paint off of her legs.  Laura said this reminded her of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.

– Jen and Bekah had got a chance to have a long conversation with their family and heard their story.  The short version is that both the husband and wife are very sick.  It was cool to hear them talking about how they don’t worry about the fact that they’ll both die soon because they believe in Jesus and know that they’ll get new bodies when they do.

 

 

God-sightings and fun abound.  Today was a great day to meet our residents and get down to work. 

 

During the evening program (and all through the day) we focused on the very first part of John 15:5 which says “I am the Vine.”  As we looked at this theme, participants had chances all day to think about how they would answer Jesus if He posted this question on their Facebook, “Who am I to you today?  As part of Worship, all 400 participants wrote their favorite name for Jesus on a giant sheet of paper.  First Trinity members also shared theirs at devotions tonight. Here are a few ways they answered:

– Provider

– King of Kings

– LIFE!

– Holder of my Heart

– Prince of Peace

– Light of the World

– Lord of Lords

 

Today we learned that it all starts with Jesus, our Vine and without him, we’re just a bunch of dead sticks.  As we wrap up the day we want to ask… Who is Jesus to YOU?!?!