Wow! I can't believe this was the last working day for this mission trip. It really flew by. We have done soooo much and grown so much. I am super proud of our youth group. Today I took the Honey Bee crew to two different sites. We went to a massive big church with an after school and summer school programming. We cleaned their showers and Bella was the master cleaner of the showers! She really went all out in this task. We then played dodgeball and kickball with the children in the program. What a blast we had! Then we went to a place called Gabriel Project. It is a place where pregnant or new mothers can receive help for themselves and their children up to two years old. The mothers can obtain clothes, formula, baby food, cribs, pack-n-plays, ect. They had us sorting diapers, shelving baby food, cleaning the office, sanitizing toys, ect. What a blessing to help and bless others. Dave's Sugar Maples crew went to a place called Roxalanes. I may have misspelled that but they really worked hard there. They cleaned a big bus inside and out and did some yard work. After the work they played basketball and Nate scored a couple points too! Our evening activity was the community cookout. Man was it delicious! An individual came and cooked several different cobblers in iron Dutch ovens. Holy Moly! I had a blueberry portion and I was blown away! Sitting with the community was such an eye opener for our kids. They really have felt the impact of poverty this week. After dinner I sang a few hymns with a man that played piano almost deaf. Amazing! This evening's club time had a foot washing ceremony in it. All I will share about this is that it was emotional for Dave and I and especially the youth. Please pray specifically for our travel mercies, white water rafting tomorrow, our continued growth when we get home, and our Trinity UMC Church. Thanks! Mandy

These pics are from the Honey Bee crew cleaning showers at a community center and sorting shoes and diapers at a place called Gabriel Project.

These pics are of the closet that we cleaned out, setting everything in the hall and reorganizing it and the 3 youth kids dancing with VBS kids. Hello from the Wet and Wild West Virginia!!! Oh wow...it has rained everyday that we have been here. The good part of this weather pattern is that in about 30 or less minutes the sun is back out and shining again. Reminds me of home a little. Today was actually harder than the last 3 days. I have had to push the kids a little more today due to the repeated work in the same closet. It was monotonous. I will say that JP really put a positive spin on the project by telling everyone in our church group time that we are still doing a good job in the fact that we organized it a little more everyday that we were in there. I will agree with that statement! Sometimes God doesn't have us do the things that we want but the things that He wants us to open our eyes and see. Sometimes God hides in the little and monotonous things in life. These are great lessons to learn in a mission trip. We had our evening activity tonight at a Baptist church service. This was eye opening to all of our group. When you walked into the sanctuary it was not big or fancy. They didn't have a big number on their offering sign...not even $30 came in the offering plate last week but they were RICH!! We sang, heard a testimony, felt the Holy Spirit and was loved on by this tiny congregation. Joy and I sang "Come thou Fount" in front of everyone. What a blessing it was. Then back at the host church we had our club time and heard one of the YouthWorks staff give his testimony. Hearing "K" tell about his childhood hit an emotional cord with me due to the similarities in our stories. Isn't that how God works in our lives? Sometimes He puts people in our path that remind us that He is our Father, Savior, Friend, Redeemer, and I could go on and on. Tomorrow is another big day of mission work. Please pray for strength of our youth and adult leaders, YouthWorks staff for stamina in the long summer days, and the city of Charleston. Thanks everyone! Mandy