Made It to West Virginia

After two long days of journeying, we are finally at the Folklife Center.  It is so good to be here.  For many of us, it's a homecoming.  The Center definitely has a feel of holy ground.  The travel went well and fairly uneventful, except for some pretty heavy downpours that happened at the end of the journey.

 Before we set off on our journey

Of course, with Allyson on board, plans were made for some fun and interesting stops on the way down.  The first day, we stopped at Chocolate World, complete with a crazy tour that explained how chocolate is made (with peppy songs sung by dancing cows and choclate bars).  Of course, there was a huge gift shop with all sorts of merchandise and candy.

Then came the trolley tour of Hershey, with a guide giving us the story of Milton Hershey, the founder.  A truly amazing man.  The fact that Hershey chocolate is around at all is a miracle, considering two or three initial bankruptcies. He came from a devout Mennonite family, and when he made his fortune, much of it went into making the world a better place, including a world-class hospital, affordable housing for employees and a school for underprvileged children that gives them a world-class education for free.  A really inspiring man!

with the trolley tour guide

This morning, many of us went to the Gettysburg National Historic Site, which is about 45 minutes away from Chambersburg, where we stay over in Pennsylvania.  It was a profoundly moving experience.  We would have liked to stay more, but had to keep moving on.

We finally got to the center at 6:30.  A few of us who didn't go to Gettysburg met us, with casseroles in the oven and salad on the table.  Many thanks to Terry and Rick for shopping in Hinton to get us some additional groceries.  We enjoyed two of the many delicious casseroles we brought down.  Thanks so much to all of you who lovingly made these casseroles!  One of the great things about the day was that it was Chris' 50th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Chris!  How else would you want to spend your 50th?

We met the two new co-directors of the Center, Tim Mainland (he played for us at last year's Mission Festival) and Crystal Atwall, who takes care of day-to-day operations.  We were so impressed with improvements to the center.  The men's cabin has been totally redone, with a new bathroom with two shower stalls and two toilet stalls.  Both Tim and Crystal have done amazing things with the center since taking over.  Their time with us was very impressive.

We had the pleasure of handing the check from the proceeds of the Mission Festival to them.  Both admitted that they had to hold back tears.  This place is very special to them, and they appreciate our love and support so much.  I talked to them about how we see mission here at 1st church.  We don't just go down, do some work and  come home.  It's an ongoing relationship.  They are part of us and we are part of them.

They also let us know what we will be doing this week.  One project will be working on a 19th century home owned by an older lady in Bluefield, where the Wade Center is located.  She has very little money right now, but needs some real help with this home.  There are other projects that need to happen here at the Folklife Center.  Terry will also be taking some people to the Wade Center this week.

After, we had some free time, then to bed.  One of the things we're doing is creating a paper lace banner for Pentecost.  Kathy Konkle did an amazing design and I traced it onto a large roll of red paper last week.  Now we are getting out our exacto knives and cutting it out.  We can't wait to show it on Pentecost!

One of the things I prepare for the trip down is a sheet of questions to stimulate conversation that will be helpful for the week ahead.  Two questions were: what makes you fearful and what makes you hopeful.  Our car had a great conversation about it.  Part of why I asked these questions is that people come on a mission trip with both fears and hopes.  Fear of the unknown was one thing we all talked about, and mission trips are filled with unknowns.  But trips are also filled with a lot of hope.  Hope that what you do will make a difference in someone's life.

In days where there is a lot of fear of what is going to happen, I remain hopeful that faithful people all around the world are doing the same thing we're doing.  Hundreds of thousands of groups go out on mission trips, volunteer for peace corp or do something else out of their sense of love and generosity.  This generally goes way under the "radar."  We don't hear it on the news.  But at a grassroots level, this is taking place all over.  Ordinary people like you and me are making this place a better world.  When you combine all these small efforts, it really adds up!

We thank you for all your prayers.  We felt them this morning as we travelled down.  Keep praying for us and we will pray with you.  Remember - you are all down here with us!