Mission Possible - Day 1 and 2

Mission Possible - our week-long local mission camp - kicked off yesterday with a day of teambuilding activities and an exploration of what it means to serve others in our local community.
For Tuesday's morning mission, our group of 15 missioners, 3 junior leaders, and several adult chaperones journeyed to the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC to learn more about the organization that supplies our own St. Anne's food pantry with some goods and fresh produce. In addition to learning the ins and outs of the facility, we took part in a hunger simulation program, Face Hunger™, which raises awareness and understanding of hunger and its many causes. Each of our participants received a profile packet with information about the identity, income, and available resources of a person at risk of hunger. Through the simulation, participants walked in the shoes of a person in need of food and experienced real situations common to those at risk of hunger.

In the afternoon, we returned to St. Anne's to sort and bag the donated items in our own food pantry to prepare for Thursday's distribution. The group assembled more than 100 (!) bags with cereal, tomato sauce, pasta, canned vegetables and fruit, peanut butter, jelly, beans, rice, canned tuna, and some personal hygiene products.

Today's missions were two of three missions we will experience this week that will allow us to experience most of the process of our own food pantry: from food bank to St. Anne's to distribution to the customer.

Tomorrow's missions include tackling some invasive plant species in Reston's green spaces and leading summer activities at one of Reston's community centers. Check back tomorrow for more information!

DR Mission Trip - Day 3 Video and Podcast

Click here for Day 3 Video (Internet speed requires that the video quality be less wonderful than usual.)

Click here for Day 3 Podcast with Tim Barwick and Kristina Alff

Daily from the DR - Podcast plus photos for Day 1 and 2.

Click here to listen to our Day 1 and Day 2 Podcast with Tim Barwick and Martha Furniss

We've also got some great photos to share with you today.

A classroom wall at the Albergue (the youth shelter, more about that in the Podcast above.)

Little girls at the service

Worship with Father Hipolito, Father Jim and Jatna

Watching the World Cup

More photos from the Albergue

Daily from the DR - Sunday, July 13

This is just a quick update to let folks know that we arrived here last night at about 11pm.  Very smooth flight, greeted by Father Hipolito at the airport.  Today its church and World Cup!

Photos below are a night shot of Santiago from the roof of our hotel and some street shots from this morning.

We're Here, We're There

Last Sunday we had the joy of welcoming the Philly team home from their week at the Stenton Family Manor where they worked and played with the families and staff of the homeless shelter. Our coffee hour was full of "Welcome home!" and  "It was great!" and "I can't wait to go next year!" The St. Anne's family loves to be together.

As much as we love to be together, we also love to travel! The week of July 13th there will be two mission teams working and playing:
the Dominican Republic Mission and Mission Possible, our outreach day camp.

In preparation for the DR mission, members of the congregation were invited to decorate goodie bags. These bags will be given to the kids on the last day of Vacation Bible School at Cristo Salvador.

Blog posts will be written by both the Mission Possible team and the DR team this week as St. Anne's is both "here" and "there" being the hands and feet of the body of Christ.

Please keep both teams in your prayers and stay tuned!

Mission Trip to Philadelphia - Day Five - Katrina, Izzy, Tim and Gavin

Today some of us started the day by redecorating an amazing bulletin board for the activities coordinator, Ms. Stephanie, while others helped organize the Manor's computer lab. By the time we got outside to see the kids, another group, nicknamed the Georgians, had set up a carnival like display for all the kids and their families to enjoy. The 93 Georgians were loud and proud about both their faith and sharing their joy. The kids' were in complete awe when they saw the grandeur of the display that had been set up for their enjoyment.  It was wonderful to see the relationships deepen between the St. Anne's youth and the children at the shelter. Later that day we headed downtown to the LOVE sculpture in Philly. Then we went to Pat's Steaks to get a good old fashioned cheesesteak. We ended the day with a group conversation that furthered our faith and understanding of God. - Tim Bellman and Gavin Casey and Katrina Libera and Izzy Edgerton

Mission Trip to Philadelphia - Day Four - Gavin

Today, our group returned to the Stenton Family Manor and played water games with the kids. These include games with water launchers, bubbles and a small pool. We worked with the Canadian group to ensure the kids had a fantastic time. Once our group had finished activities with kids for the day, and we had had our lunch, we returned to the manor and commenced our hour-long "remove the staples from the wall" extravaganza. It was so exhilarating that one of our members fell asleep. Then, after suffering a terrible loss in the World Cup the group headed over to the Evensong service at the Old Swedes Church. It included songs, prayer, and silence. We concluded the night with an original Philly cuisine: pizza. - Gavin Casey

Mission Trip to Philadelphia - Day Three - Trey and James

Greeting from Trey and James,

We started today off right with some scrambled eggs, bacon and some French toast. This was prepared by Christophe, Jack, and Tim. Good work boys.

Today was the first day at the shelter. This morning we had the chance to meet all the kids that would be attending our summer camp. It was great to see all the familiar faces; Mamma Hall and Miss Stephanie (the head counselor) and all the progress the shelter had made in our absence. Right off the bat, the balls came out and we had a pick up game of football in efforts to get acquainted with all the children. Within the first five minutes, we knew we had a great group of kids and the start to a fantastic week here in Philadelphia! Throughout the day, there was more football, a lot of frisbee, but surprisingly not as many piggy-back rides as expected. We broke for lunch and had a terrific time at a nearby park!

We then headed back to assist with some housekeeping items. This included cleaning out the closet full of toys, games, balls, etc. from this year and years past. We also organized all of the donations we had received from our St. Anne's family! After this, we all headed to Target to pick up some supplies we needed for our upcoming days at the shelter!

For dinner, prepared by Ms. Kathryn, Ms. Isabelle, and Ms. Margaret, we had some chicken, fruit salad, and some chocolate covered fruit for dessert! Good work ladies. Later, we wrapped up the evening with compline and some announcements to conclude our day and send us off to bed! A few more days and a few more blog entries to come! GET EXCITED.

#makingmemories #tomorrowiswaterday

Mission Trip to Philadelpha - Day Two - Christophe and Jack

Christophe and Jack here to tell you all about Sunday on the Philly mission trip. Today we went to the Episcopal Cathedral of Philadelpha and it was a unique set up as chairs were around the communion altar. We circled around to get our baptismal covenant renewal from water drawn from a fountain and although the service felt short; the lasting impact of the prayer for the people celebrating June birthdays and Dean of the church showing us around will always stick with us.

Later we went to a Phillies game where we saw Marlon Byrd go hard twice but the Phillies still lost.

However we wrapped up the day with a hardy dinner chock-full of burgers, watermelon salad, and tons of other goodies. All in all it was a very great day heading into our first day at Stenton Family Manor.

Best Wishes,

Christophe and Jack

Mission Trip to Philadelphia - Day One - Kathryn, Izzy and Margaret

At 12pm today our Philadelphia mission team set off on their journey. In a lovely three car caravan our group of 14 made a 4 1/2 hour journey to PA to work at Stenton Family Manor.  Our first stop was Reading Terminal Market where we had an early dinner and explored the various stores and restaurants.  We then headed to our home for the week at the Chamounix Youth Hostel. Hauling in the luggage, we next made a trip to the local grocery store and stocked the fridge. We unpacked and ended the day with compline. The whole group is extremely excited for the week to come!
-Kathryn, Izzy, and Margaret