Thursday

Our last day of work…We started the day hopeful that we could continue serving the community of Washington DC, but also sad that it was our last day. We have had such an amazing time here. We saw God every day. Our youth are an amazing group of individuals. They showed leadership skills, servant's attitudes and a desire to do their best all week. I am always so proud and pleased with the group of young people that I bring here. 

Today, we were at the same sites as yesterday - Debbie’s group cleaned the inside of two seniors' homes today. Not a very fun job to say the least, some of the rooms were kinda bad… However, they actually met a descendant of John Wilkes Booth! Dan’s group helped to make the Parks for People building beautiful as he finished up some landscaping (it was hot today!) Nancy’s group worked with the Alzheimer’s patients at Clusters, playing games, watching travelogues and doing art therapy with them.

This evening we had a cookout and relaxed in the park before club. Jessica and Caitlin have a wonderful story to share with you on Sunday about something that happened this evening at the cookout. Don't miss it!

A Thursday night Youthworks’ tradition is a foot washing ritual. As usual. this is one of the highlights of the trip. It gets quite emotional when we wash each other’s feet and pray for each other. A Geneva tradition is for the youth to wash the Youthworks’ staff’s feet.  There is so much love in the room during this ritual, it’s too much to try to explain. You really need to experience it yourself (talk to one of us about joining the youth on next year’s mission trip!)

We look forward to taking showers and seeing you all Sunday! I ask for prayers for safe travel as we head home after making a visit to one of the Smithsonian Museums before we hit the road.

Thank you again for your prayers and support,

Nancy, Dan and Debbie

Wednesday

New work sights today! Debbie’s group worked with an organization called Age-in-Place.  This organization helps seniors who need assistance with various things around their home. They worked in a garden, scraped and repainted a patio, then helped create care packages at the center itself. Dan’s group worked at the building where Nancy’s group was earlier this week. They continued to help renovate the building, working both outside and inside. Nancy’s group spent the day at a place called Clusters, an adult day care center. Many of the people had some form of dementia but we were able to interact with them playing games and just talking. One man was 100 years old! (see picture)

Tonight we attended a mid-week urban youth service. While this type of service was very different from what we’re used to the kids really seemed to get a lot out of the message. Ask them about it when you see them!

The Youthworks staff has been great this week. Christina, the site director is so flu of joy- she's always smiling! Shawn, our program coordinator has wonderful rapport with the kids, and delivers  great messages each night at club. (we've also enjoyed having him 'lead the way' in our car each night when we go out for our evening activities.) Akelia is a terrific service coordinator and also shows us the love of Jesus with her exuberance! Sarah, the other service coordinator arrived just days before we did. She's been a terrific inspiration to all of us with her empathy and caring.

Only one more day of work…. It’s really hard to believe we’ve done so much in so little time, but we still feel like we could do so much more…

We can’t wait to share our stories with you on Sunday.

Thank you again for praying for us. We definitely feel it here. 

Debbie, Dan and Nancy

Tuesday!

We had our second day at the same places we worked on Monday. Dan’s group (Madelyn, Steven and William) spent their morning at the women’s shelter hanging out with the women there and cleaning the building and the afternoon at the men’s homeless shelter. Debbie’s group (Caitlin  and Jessica) spent their morning with the day care center working with the kids and their afternoon spending time with adults with cerebral palsy. Nancy’s group (Beth and Amanda) continued renovations at the Parks for People office. Tomorrow we all go to new work sites for the last two days.

 

This evening, after dinner, we went to the Capitol building. We spent some time outside praying and then had the chance to go inside and watch from the gallery and watch some members of the House of Representatives in session. From what we could gather they were deliberating an amendment to something. We all thought it was pretty cool. We have a really amazing story to tell that happened tonight, but you’ll have to wait to hear it on Sunday.

I’m always so impressed by our youth when I’m with them on mission trips. They are always so insightful during our church group discussion times, jump right in when work needs to be done, and make a point of talking with youth from other churches. I always look forward to seeing God’s love pouring out of these students. I have not been disappointed this week. I especially enjoy seeing the spiritual growth that is taking place here. It’s really been a wonderful experience so far.

It seems that, although we are all very tired , this week is going by super fast. We spend so much time preparing for this trip, months of fundraising, and thinking about coming and now it’s almost half over!

Your prayers continue to bless our journey!

Your brother and sisters in Christ, 

Dan, Debbie and Nancy 

Monday

Our first day of “work”! Dan’s group, which included Madelyn, Steven and William spent the morning at Rachael’s House, a day center for homeless women and the afternoon at CCNV (Creative Center for Non-Violence) the second largest homeless shelter for men in the nation. Debbie’s group, which included Catilin and Jessica spent the morning at Martha’s Table, a day care center and the afternoon at a Cerebral Palsy center for adults. Nancy’s group, which included Beth and Amanda spent the day working at the Parks for People headquarters working on renovations (Amanda and Beth) and organizing  a storage room and doing dishes from an event (Nancy.) Interestingly, the building had been built in 1927 for the vice president though he never lived there, and has in the past been used as several embassies. 

This evening, after dinner we travelled as a whole group to the memorial area of Washington DC. We saw the Lincoln Memorial (that’s what our giant group picture is in front of), the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. We didn’t have too much time at any of the memorials, but they were definitely moving.

Todays’ devotions and club talk were about worship, and what worship is. We defined worship as “an act designed to pursue, adore, and give honor to another.” We have been talking about and exploring how many actions we do can be acts of worship. We are working on worshipping this week as we serve this community.

Thank you for your prayers, your support is appreciated and needed.

Dan, Nancy, and Debbie

Sunday!

After worshipping at Glade Run, we headed southeast toward Washington. It was a beautiful drive to the DC area. We stopped for lunch and arrived here at Lincoln Park Methodist Church around 4:00. This church is very old, with lots of hallways and little rooms.  Some of us have been getting a little lost! The church property also includes a row house, which hold the sleeping rooms for the girls. It’s a very tight squeeze in there. The boys have to sleep in the eating area/club room, so each morning they are going to have to pack up their belongings and pile them on the side of the room. So yes, our sleeping arrangements are a bit rough. We are all toughing it out though, and we’re looking forward to beginning work in the morning.

There are a total of 63 people here with 3 other churches -  group of 33 people from Minneapolis/St Paul; a group of about 15 from Connecticut; a  small group of 5 (all girls) from Maryland and our group of 10.

This evening we found out how our group will be split. We thought maybe they’d just divide our small group in half, but we are split three ways.  Dan will be working with Steven, William and Madelyn, Debbie will be working with Jessica and Caitlin and Nancy will be working with Beth and Amanda.

We were so busy we forgot to take pictures today! We’ll bring you more news and pictures tomorrow.

Thank you for praying for us,

Nancy, Dan and