My Trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania

I just returned from a trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The first night there, I attended a performance of In The Beginning at the Sight and Sound Millennium Theater. After that, we toured the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside. While in the Dutch village, I bought a quilt made by an Amish woman on Saturday. That night, I attended another play, this time it was Abraham and Sarah: A Journey In Love. At the In The Beginning play, they had a wrap around stage that was made to look like the Garden of Eden. They used live animals in both performances to help act out the stories. At the end of the trip, we stopped in Hershey, Pennsylvania and toured the chocolate factory. I also bought myself a huge cup of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I look forward to going on another trip like this in the future.

Democratic Presidential Election

Barak Obama made a huge impact on the Democratic party after his speech last night. After making it clear that McCain doesn't get what the younger voters want, Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President. I feel confident that Obama is the right man for the job since he brings an experienced number 2 man with him in Senator Joe Biden. Also, the fact that he promises to have our troops pulled out of Iraq sooner than the Republicans are saying is another deciding factor for me. The Democrats should unite and get behind Obama instead of either voting for McCain or not voting at all. He is the right man for the job. Yes, we can!

My Weekend at the Beach

This past weekend, I went to Virginia Beach with my youth group. During the one and a half days that we were there, we talked about noise and how it can separate us from God. On Friday night, we went for a walk along the beach until midnight and then we went swimming in the indoor pool of the beach house we were staying in. On Saturday, we ate breakfast and then had worship for two hours following breakfast. After worship we ate lunch and had free time to hang out and walk along the beach again if we wanted to. While I was walking on the beach, I found a bunch of shells that had washed up to shore and been buried in the sand. I picked up a few of them and cleaned them so I could pack them up and bring them home.

Our topic for the weekend was noise and how it can separate us from God. Our youth minister, Joe Torrence, told us that if we find a silent place to sit and focus on God, we will be able to feel his presence for as long as we linger in that place. One thing I learned from Joe’s discussions was that you can be anywhere in the world and still worship God, no matter how loud the noises around you are. Joe also told us that if we take the time to block out noises around us, we can form a closer relationship with God.

While we were walking on the beach on Friday night, I decided to walk barefoot across the beach which resulted in my feet becoming numb. It felt really weird to be walking after my feet were numb and after a while they started to hurt. Once I got back to the beach house, I dipped my feet into the warm water of the indoor pool. After soaking my feet for a few minutes, I finally got the feeling back in my feet. After dipping my feet in, I swam in the pool until 1:30 AM.

On Saturday morning, we woke up a little before 7:00 and ate breakfast. Following breakfast, we had worship for two hours. After worship, we had free time until lunch. After we ate lunch, we had more free time until dinner. During this period of free time, I walked along the beach again and collected shells that I found buried in the sand. I also swam in the pool for a couple of hours after returning from the beach.

I learned a lot of things during my weekend at the beach. I don’t think I will forget my experiences I had any time soon. I can’t wait until the next youth retreat so I can have more experiences like this one. God Bless.

My Summer As A Missionary Part 3: West Virginia

My third and final mission trip of the summer was to the town of Delbarton, West Virginia. When we first got there, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be as good as the trip to Savannah, Georgia was last year. During our first day, I made friends with some of the youth from other churches. Two guys that were in the same group as me were adult leaders from different churches. The group we worked in was Kids’ Club, which is similar to Vacation Bible School. The two guys that I got to know were Scott from Pennsylvania and Jonathan from New York. The kid that I bonded with during the week was a 9-year-old boy named D.J.

D.J. was one of the most energetic kids I have ever known. I spent most of the week chasing him around. He would always take my hat and run away with it, resulting in me going after him. I remember one day when we were giving out books, D.J. was holding his little brother’s hand and making sure he was okay.

Jonathan and Scott were two of the coolest guys I have ever met. Seeing them work with the kids all week definitely caused me to feel God’s presence. Every time I saw Scott, he had a kid climbing all over him. Jonathan always seemed to have a lot of kids surrounding him. I remember riding in the van with Jonathan one day to take the kids home and we drove past an area where a wild donkey lived.

One of the youth I made friends with was a guy named Chris from New York. I remember seeing a different kid hanging out with Chris every day during Kids’ Club. He always had something smart or funny to say and it made the day a lot easier.

One thing that I took out of the week in Delbarton was that poverty isn’t just about money. There can be poverty of love as well. Most of the kids I met proved that fact to me. I didn’t realize just how real poverty was before I went to Delbarton.

I look forward to going on more trips with the youth group next summer. This trip really changed my life and I strongly encourage all of the youth to go on as many trips as they can. They will not regret it and I am sure it will change their lives the same way it changed mine.

My Summer As A Missionary Part 2- Impact Richmond

My next mission trip wasn't too far from where I live. In fact, I didn't even have to leave Richmond. Impact Richmond was started several years ago with the mission to help under-privileged area residents.

The first day of the trip, our youth group and youth from several area churches met and were divided up into work groups for the week.

We slept on the floor of one of the churches and had breakfast at the church each morning. After worship, we went to our work sites. This was our daily routine throughout the week.Teams of seven or eight youth were assigned to work sites throughout the area. This was a great opportunity to meet teenagers from other churches because the work groups included teenagers from different churches. This year, there were around one hundred and thirty teenagers serving their community during the week I attended. This year, Impact Richmond included a second overnight week and a week of short-term tasks that didn't involve staying overnight in addition to the week I was there.

The site I worked at was the home of a 91-year-old woman named Mrs. Johnson. Her house started out being nothing but a storehouse for junk but once we were done with it, it looked like a completely different house. It needed a new paint job and the roof needed to be replaced, both of which were completed as the week progressed.

Mrs. Johnson's son, [Dave], told us a story about his mother from a few years ago. A man broke into her house and attempted to steal some things. When [Dave] found out, he went over to call the police but his mother said "Wait a minute. Before you do that, I want to give him something to eat because he might be hungry." I'm guessing that since she used to be a pastor, Mrs. Johnson was more concerned for the man's well-being than she was about any harm being done to the house, which most people would think was crazy.

After seeing Mrs. Johnson walk out onto her porch during our last day, I could tell that we had made a difference in her life just by putting on a fresh coat of paint and patching up the roof. She told us how much she appreciated what we did and how blessed she was to have us working on her house.

I'm glad that I was able to make a difference as an individual. This week made me feel that what I learned at Lake Junaluska is true: one person can make a difference.A description of the program from the Impact Richmond website: a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization striving to be the hands of Christ in our community by preserving and revitalizing houses and communities, providing adequate shelter to homeowners via home remodeling, and providing hope by sharing our faith. Our program enriches the lives of the youth participants, adult counselors, and neighborhood residents it serves.

My Summer As A Missionary Part 1- Lake Junaluska

My summer started off with a mission trip to Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Our guest speaker this year was a man by the name of Shane Claiborne. Shane lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and works for an organization called the Simple Way. He lives in an abandoned warehouse with several homeless kids and their families. Shane told us several stories about things he has done in his life. The first story he told us was about when he met Mother Teresa, which was a blessing because very few people can say they’ve had that honor.

Shane told us that Mother Teresa told him, “You don’t have to come out here to Calcutta to help people. You can stay in America and find your own personal Calcutta to help people.” That pretty much means that you can help people who are having a hard time in your own backyard and not have to leave your hometown or home country. As the week went on, Shane told us about a time when he had a “Jesus party” in a park with some homeless people. They served communion and sang Christian songs for most of the night until they were arrested. Shane said he walked into the courtroom the next morning wearing a t-shirt that said “Jesus was homeless.” The judge called Shane over and said “I never knew Jesus was homeless.” Shane replied “Of course he was. He never stayed in one place when he taught his disciples and healed people.” Hearing Shane’s response, the judge dropped all of the charges and let Shane and the others walk away.

That story was truly amazing and I definitely sensed God’s presence during the entire week that Shane spoke. The last two days, we had another speaker come and talk to us. His name was Will Boyd from Invisible Children, an organization that raises awareness of the war in Uganda, Africa and informs people that children are being abducted and forced to kill people that they love. After viewing the DVD that Will brought with him, I felt a calling to do something to help. I’m still not sure what it is that God wants me to do but I’m sure he’ll tell me when he thinks I’m ready for it. Like my youth minister, Joe Torrence, said “The revolution begins with us.” I believe that statement and I think we can all make a difference and help the Invisible Children of Uganda. God Bless.

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I'll be in West Virginia on a mission trip next week but some new articles will be posted while I'm gone.