When It Rains, It Pours

We made it to the Folklife Center!  Thanks be to God!  Thanks for all your travel mercy prayers - they worked.  Our trip down was a great time to get to know one another better and enjoy some sights.  

Our trip was punctuated by downpours.  The worse was in Pennsylvania yesterday, when torrential rains slowed highway traffic to 20 mph.  Today, our trip along I-64 from Virginia to West Virginia had several downpours included.  Once I got to the Folklife Center, I started getting food into the fridge and all the sudden a huge downpour drenched me.  Someone once told me that if it rains on you while you travel, you are being blessed.  Nice thought, but I wish I weren't quite so blessed!

Shopping cart full of food for the week

This year, I decided to drive ahead to get groceries and spend some time at the Center.  After lunch at Biscuit World (naturally!) I filled a shopping cart to overflowing and made it to the Center by 3 p.m.  That gave me the opportunity to set things up, get settled and have time to talk to Tim Mainland, the program director.  Many will remember Tim and Maggie when they played for us at the Mission Festival.  Tim told me that the Center had a hard winter.  After doing some major repairs to get the Center up to fire code, they were faced with major plumbing problems.  Leaks were everywhere and the only solution was an overhaul that would basically drain the Center's savings.  Thankfully, a grant from the Gates Foundation came through to help things along and keep the Center running.  It was a great joy, then, to present Tim a check for $4,200 to the Folklife Center from the proceeds of the Mission Festival.  Tim was so grateful.  There rarely have been groups that support the Center in this way.

The rest of the team visited the bunker at the Greenbriar Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV.  This was a secret fallout bunker for Congress to use in case of a nuclear disaster.  It was kept secret from 1962 to 1993.  The team had a great time learning about the bunker and then taking in some scenery.

Dinner was absolutely delicious.  Thanks to Susan Wingfield for a wonderful lasagna!  We also enjoyed many cookies, brownies and other bars for dessert.  

After dinner, Tim let us know about our project for the week.  A couple of groups before us have been renovating a trailer for a man who was basically homeless.  He did have some land that he inherited and found the trailer, and managed to get it level on the property.  But the trailer needed a lot of work: a new floor, new walls and so much more.  We are coming to finish the job that the other groups started.  We are also looking forward to meeting him - Tim describes him as a clever, resourceful man and quite a character.  I have a strong feeling that those Lowe's cards will be put to very good use!

Tomorrow night, we go to Princeton WV to visit other mission partners: the Riff Raff Center and Stages music school.  We'll be eating at a new restaurant that just came into downtown Princeton and we'll be going to open mike night after that.  We have a surprise for that evening.  We'll let you know about it tomorrow.

When I think of the torrents of rain yesterday and today, it reminded me of the passage from Ezekiel 34 - "I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing."  You have definitely showered blessings upon this area.  The Folklife Center has been drenched with blessings from First Church.  We will pour out more blessings tomorrow upon a man who finally gets a place to live and upon those good souls doing a great job of reviving downtown Princeton.  You all have blessed the Mission Team with so many good things to eat this week.  

We are so grateful!  Keep praying for us and we'll check in tomorrow to let you know how the first day went.

For now, it's time for bed (at least for some of us).