Travel Update and First Workday

Greetings from Birmingham, AL. Travel to the worksite has been very easy. The first night we stayed in a very historic Galloway UMC in Jackson, MS. It was across the street from the state capitol and had a huge gym for us to sleep in. The next day we rose early and went to church at Galloway. The sermon focused on seed planting. It is our job as Christians to plant good seeds in our lives and in the lives of others. However, God is the one who makes the seeds grow. This seems to be our theme for the trip this year because it has popped up everywhere we go.

Sunday afternoon we traveled to Alabama. First we had a stop at Rickwoods Caverns. It was awesome and I highly recommend it. Then we moved on to Birmingham. Getting settled at Youthworks was easy and we had a great first night.

This morning we sent 3 youth (Andy, Shelby, and Riley) along with Robert and a youth group from Pennsylvania to work on city beautification and home repairs.

The other seven youth and 3 adults went to Christ Episopal Church to work at the Kids Club. Imagine Vacation Bible School and you'll have a pretty good picture of our work. Crafts, reading, games, and other activities were all involved. What is remarkable is the number of tragic stories we heard along the way. One young boy who came spent the day with Casey. He was very high energy and required supervision on a one-on-one basis. What we didn't find out until later was that this boy had lost his older brother to a shooting a few months previous. This boy and his three sisters are still dealing with the trauma from the incident. Along with them, three other attendees or counselors who live in the area all lost loved ones to gang-related crime in the neighborhood. Another young man named Roger from the neighborhood helped us during the day. He was an extremely nice person and was interested in attending mechanics school. Last year, Roger also lost a cousin in a shooting. The problem is very serious but Christ Church is very involved in turning the community around. We are all learning a lot about how many people in our nation are forced to live their lives. The stories we've heard and the lives we are connecting with have caused an awakening in the hearts of our youth and in my own heart as well.

So far we've had no serious problems and all the youth are healthy, happy, and excited about the experience. Please continue to pray for us. We are praying for you and will continue to do so. Blessings to you all.