Some Pictures - finally!

80's Prom Party a Blast!

Can anyone say "Thriller", Journey, Katrina and the Waves? Our students danced the night away at the 80's Prom Party. There were great 80's costumes and lots of jumping up and down. Hey, we even did the electric slide! You should see Dwight jump and down - ask me about it when you get home.
Today was also a great theme day - It was REdo. The focus was that God provides redos to us continuously. He wants us to come with our messy selves and lives. It's just listening and responding and accepting his redo for our lives - day in and day out!
Dr. Sherouse was with us today as well and will be heading home in the morning.
Continue to pray for us. Tomorrow, we will focus on the topic of REthink. . .

Blessings - Michael

It's Tuesday morning

. . . and I am getting a few minutes of quiet before a very busy day will begin. Yesterday, was a good day here at camp. The theme for the day was REcreate (part of the larger REmix theme). We were all challenged to look at the stories in scripture with fresh new eyes and see that God wants to recreate us His image. The verse for the day was 2 Corinthians 5:17 (look it up!).
Monday morning began with an opening celebration full of games, singing and lots of movement - a brilliant idea to wake everyone up. Then it was off to Bible study groups (even the adults - although coffee was provied for us). After Bible study there was lunch and everyone headed off to their choices for the day. Once choices were over, there was a bit of free time before dinner. Worship challenged us to look at the story of Nicodemus from a new and fresh way - really seiing how Jesus was asking him to let go of the "boxes" that we all place God in! (it's easier to control Him that way, isn't it?)
The final time of the day was the REcParty. Guess what? There were pretty severe thunderstorms so we took it indoors! Everyone had a blast.
Dr. Sherouse came down yesterday and spent the night with us and will be with us again today. It's wonderful to see our pastor investing in the lives of our students.
So, tonight is the 80's Prom Party - can't wait to tell you about that!
Blessings - Michael

We are at PASSPORTchoices!

Yes, we did arrive. It was yesterday at around 2:30 p.m. The ride here was uneventful with lots of convesations on the buses, videos playing, iPods in ears, and a couple good games of cards - oh, yes, there was some sleeping as well!

After a bit of confusion on rooming assignments (we were shorted a room), everyone was settled, and we had dinner on campus, and then went to opening celebration. Lots of fun along with being split into Bible study groups and making choices for their tracks this week.

It was fun to see Ginny Richardson, who is a Bible study leader and also leading the "Soul Food" choice here at camp.

There was one incident of a slammed hand in a door that has resulted in 7 stitches. It was Alec McKee, who was recovering from a dislocated toe the other week - man! He is bandaged up and getting a good nights sleep.

Well, morning will come early and a fun week is in store!

I will post pictures tomorrow :-)

Blessings - Michael

Countdown to Passport!

Passport is just 6 days away! Are you ready? Don't forget that 2 original notarized medical release forms are needed (yes, chaperones, this means you too!).

5th Day at Bluefield

Today was our last day at our work sites. There was much activity as all the groups strived to finish their projects for the work. The good news? All of them were completed. It is amazing how technical some of these projects were and yet, how with God's miraculous power, teenagers guided by adults were able to complete ramps, roofs, and so much more! Of course, the real power of what was done this week was the relationship built with homeowners . We definitely left feeling a connection with them. As Paige said tonight, it's not often we get to see those we work for receive their gift - we did today!

Our Worship experience was great tonight. It concluded with each work group standing up and reading a litany of blessing for the home and the homeowner they had worked to provide so much to this week. The wonderful thing about it all was that the majority of the families joined us tonight for Worship and for dinner. What an amazing thing to be standing alongside the families lifting praises through song, laughter, and the spoken word!

There is still so much to tell - can't wait to share it all.

Peace - Michael

3rd & 4th Day at Bluefield

Sorry, I did not update the blog on Wednesday, but so much going on - all good! On Wednesday, we went to our worksites and worked up until about 12 noon and then came back to campus for lunch at 12:30 p.m. Lunch was Quizno Subs and the students were sure excited!!! Wednesday afternoon is typically a day off for all the campers from their work sites and a chance to get some much needed rest to finish out the week. The group opted to go to the Pocohontas Coal Mine tour. This is an exhibition mine and one that you can actually walk through, touch and be cold in! It was 48 degrees!!! The tour was interesting and actually led by the wife of the family of one of the homes being worked on. It's the site that Marty Cash is the Crew Chief on. They are building a ramp for her husband as what he had was inadequate. They are also building a shed to store coal in.

After the tour, we headed off to Ryan's for the buffet dinner. We had called ahead, so they put us in the back room - probably to keep the noise down. Everyone plowed into the salad bar, hot foods, and desserts (not in that order!!!), then it was off to Wal-Mart. There was shopping to be done as jeans had holes in them and they all wanted to do a bit of shopping for their secret pals. Who knew you could have so much fun at Wal-Mart on a Wednesday night. Oh, by the way, ask me about the trip "across the parking lot and down the hill" to get to Wal-Mart from Ryan's. It was quite funny.

So, today - Thursday, back to a full work day at the sites. That meant for my group that we had to finish tar papering, shingling, and flashing a new roof that was put on the back of the house Wednesdady. In addition to that there was lots of wood cutting for siding to go up and as well as supports in the roof. The team also finished touching up painting from throughout the week. There were multiple times today that it threatened to downpour at any minute, but God really kept the rain off of us, so that we could finish the task at hand. Tonight we had a very special worship service that ended with students having an opportunity to respond to God through "creative stations". They included a communion table, where they could break off bread and dip it into the cup by Pastor Heather. There was also a cross on which they could take an index card and write down something that they wanted to eliminate from their life or give to God (no writing your name on the card, howeve), then the card was tacked to the cross. There were two feet washing stations as well as paper on a long stretch of floor on which students could creatively offer up art to Christ. It was an amazing night.

During the service, the students learned about an organizationt that provides clothing, food and education to children around the world. Our group decided that for $40 a piece they could adopt 2 children for a year - you should have seen them all come back after our church group devotions so they could pick the children out themselves. This is an amazing group. You will be hearing more abou that!

Well, it's almost Day 5 and this body and brain need some sleep.

Blessings!

Michael