Final Day in Philly (Brodie Edgerton)

Today we finished up our work at Stenton Family Manor. Several of our team members worked with the kids for the day while others continued to paint the mural we had been working on the entire week. After saying heartfelt goodbyes to all of the kids, we all collectively finished up the murals in the front of the building. We left Stenton Family Manor and travelled through the rain to find cheesesteaks. After a delicious meal at Pats, we went to Rita's Water Ice for dessert to top off the night. We had a terrific time this week and were sad to see our time at the shelter end but we feel we did good work for the kids and and all the people at Stenton Family Manor.

Day 3 and 4 in Philadelphia (Tim Bellman)

Day 3: It was our third day in Philly and we had a great time at the Family Manor. However, our afternoon plans were ruined when a big storm hit us. The storm ended up taking down a couple of trees here and at the Manor. The storm stopped us from getting our Evensong on but nothing stops us from getting some Philly pizza.

Day 4: Today we made some progress on the mural at the Stenton Family Manor. We also had a great time playing with the kids. we had a great time buying more supplies and items that the shelter truly needed from target. After we got back the guys made some stellar tacos.

Day 1 and 2 in Philadelphia (Kathryn Allen)

Hello!

Today was out first day at the shelter, Stenton Family Manor. We began our day with a morning prayer given by our special guest Facetimer Rev. Laura. We then met all of the children at the shelter and had a wonderful day making bracelets and relationships. The children's director Mr. Mike Sanford and Elder Harrison asked us to help finish a mural in the front hallway. So, we headed out to Home Depot and picked some paint to create this new mural. Then we had a fabulous dinner made by yours truly, the ladies. We are looking forward to the rest of our great week in Philadelphia.

- Kathryn Allen

Day 7 at Dungannon 2014

Click for Day 7 Podcast
Interviewer:  Clifton H. Poole
Featuring: Laura Cochran
Recorded:  August 1, 2014
Topics:  Wakeup, Front Porch Breakfast, Worksite, Management of job site, Devil Fork Trail  and Tool Pack-up

The end of day 7 is bittersweet.  The sweetest part of the day came at the completion of the work on the Kern home.  My team built two 8’’x6’ decks, hung and trimmed an exterior door and patched a hole in a sheetrock ceiling.

(Wesley, Elliot, Brad, Paul, Katrina, Joe, Michelle, Laura and Clifton)

The teens and adults on the site R - O - C - K!!  Without a doubt, we pulled off a monumental project this week.  Many of the team members had never built a deck before and our primary sheetrock person was learning OTJ (On The Job.)  I want to thank them all for their hardwork and hope to see them all out next year during the 2015 mission trip.

We also took a hike along the Devil Fork Trail to the Devil’s Bathtub, one of Scott County’s many, outdoor attractions.  A small group of us, about 17, took a 1 hour walk to the swim in the natural rock formation called the Devil’s Bathtub. We had a great time at the swimming hole and all of the teens braved the cold, cold water.

(Katrina and Michelle on the trail)

The bitter part of the day comes with the realization that we are leaving tomorrow.  I enjoy completing the work, but I would like to spend more time with the teenagers from my crew and just hangout.

The teens are out at the bonfire, singing, talking and just having a good time.  In about 20 minutes the lights will go out and end the 2014 mission.  All that remains is the ride home to NOVA.

Please listen to the audioblog and hear Laura's recounting of our last working day in Dungannon, VA.

Day 6 at Dungannon 2014

Click for Day 6 Audio Podcast
Featuring: Clifton H. Poole
Recorded:  July 31, 2014
Topics:  Reflection

Clifton's Blog:

Day 6 of the mission trip and we continued to make solid progress on all the projects.   Three projects were completed today and the teams working out in the community will likely complete their week performing maintenance on the development center.  There is a crew arriving on next week to tear down the main storage shed on at the Phoenix center and in its place a 40 'x 50' storage shed will be constructed.

(Michelle, Laura and Carol)

After the long day, the missioners relaxed by creating tie-dye t-shirts (sock, bandanas, or other things that started white. There was even one article that was black with small white dots but I am thinking that person does not understand the effect of dying lightly colored fabrics :-).  It is a frantic time where some very creative types design and execute intrigue patterns with 8 colors of dye.  The rest of us just pour dye on our shirts and hope for the best.

Warning:  your missioner is coming home with a wet article in a plastic ziplock bag.  The shirts were not rinsed and dried at the DDC as in previous years.  Please separate and rinse in cold water before washing with other articles of clothing.

Laura completed the lessons on the Great Thanksgiving and called us to live the holy sacrament by taking, blessing, breaking, and giving.  During the lesson when breaking was the topic the team members shared how they have been “tested” over the last 5 days.   More than 30 stories were shared of the challenges and struggles experienced after being ‘broken open”.

During the last part of the lesson, we were asked to recite a word or phase that exemplified the joy we received after “giving” our gifts to the community.  Some of the responses were: knowing when a blessing is inbound, talking with the homeowner, hugs from one another, getting to know the homeowner, supporting other missioner, seeing your job completed, meeting new people and being supported by one another.

Day 5 at Dungannon 2014

Click for Day 5 Audio Podcast
Interviewer:  Clifton H. Poole
Featuring: Arthur Payne
Recorded:  July 30, 2014
Topics:  Pizza Hut, Warpath Bowling, jobsites, feelings, Walmart, power shopping.

It's day 5 of the mission trip and the 3rd day on the worksites.

Clifton's blog:

Two of the six projects were completed Wednesday afternoon.   Those crews will be reassigned to a new job starting Thursday morning.

(David, Stanley, Tanner, Amanda, Ms McDavid, Chris, Arthur, Kristina at the McDavid worksite)

The missioners had a shortened work day.  Why?  It’s hump day, the middle of the work week (only two work days remaining-yikes!) and the day we take a trip to Kingsport, TN.  At 4 pm, we all loaded into cars and drove the 30 miles to the Kingsport and visited the Wal-mart to ‘power shop’.  Power shopping is characterized by a 15-20 minutes mad dash to get selected personal items or goodies for the buddy bags.

(David, Arthur and Stanley with bowling shoes) 

After Wal-mart, we headed over to Warpath Bowling.  We invaded the local lanes for two fast games of bowling.  The Warpath has a wild color scheme and after the first couple of frames, the blue lights were turned on and we began to ’cosmic bowl’.

(Jack and a shy Haley at the Pizza Hut)

Pizza Hut was the next stop for our 54 hunger hungry missioners .  As we walked in the door, the staff was setting up our pizza bar.   Our party occupied 2/3 of the setting area and the din of hungry young voices soon began to drown out all other sounds in the restaurant.  We consumed 27 pizzas in the restaurant and for the first time, we did not bring any pizza home.  There will be a few disappointed tummies in the morning when there is no pizza available for breakfast.

Tomorrow morning is our annual pancake breakfast.  The adults wake up early to prepare apple sauce pancakes.

On a personal note, my tire did have a nail that caused the flat.  I purchased a kit and will repair it on the work site Thursday morning.

Day 4 at Dungannon 2014

Click for Day 4 Audio Podcast
Interviewer:  Clifton H. Poole
Featuring:  Michelle Searcy
Topics:  The Eucharist, worksite, freetime, feelings, wakeup, sleepytime,

Clifton's Blog:

Today was a very productive day at the Travis Kern worksite.  Our team (led by Michelle, Laura and me) is working a project with two decks and we making great progress (listen to the audio blog featuring Michelle Searcy to hear more about the worksite).  We are ready to install the flooring material on one deck and secure the floor joist on the other deck.

(Brianna, Michelle, Katrina and Laura)

We took a much needed break and spent part of the afternoon relaxing in the park.  We ate lunch and enjoyed friendly conversation before heading off to the store.  At the local lumber yard we purchased 12 - 8'x2"x4" boards and several varieties of decking screws.

We had a very late workday and did not arrive back to the Phoenix Center until 5 PM.  The team took a trip to Gates City to run a few errands.  Laura needed bread for the Eucharist and we had to visit several locations before we could purchase freshly baked bread.

After dinner, Laura led Eucharist in a local park near the center of town.  It is a great location because the worshipers can see the mountains and enjoy the beautiful scenery while in worship.  Also, we can be seen by our Dungannon neighbors as we worship.  During the lesson, many missioners shared examples of blessings they have seen witnessed while in Dungannon.  We were called to continue to look for blessing that reflects the teachings we've received and purpose God has for us.

I am experiencing many blessings on this trip.  Most of them occur when I am doing something that is a 'distraction' from the next planned task. The trip to Gate City today gave me a chance to talk with the other missioners without being concerned about the next step in our project or the amount of productive project time remaining.  We were in the moment and just enjoyed being in community with one another.

After the Eucharist, instead of returning to the center (free time, organize pictures or write this very blog), a few of us visited a local cemetery to say farwell to Mrs Gillenwater.  We worked on her home during the 2013 trip and recently learned she had passed away.  Our group shared a tender moment saying goodbye and remembering her as a warm and loving friend to the community.  Collectively, the missioners and she were blessed meeting her during that week in 2013.

Lastly, I always experienced some some type of car trouble and this trip is no different.  I had a flat tire to change before heading out to the jobsite in the morning.  Oh! the fun of mission work.

Day 3 at Dungannon 2014

Click to Play Day 3 Audio Podcast
Interviewer:  Clifton
Featuring:  Hannah Watts
Topics:  lesson, reflection, compline, early morning, late nights, recruiting, free time

This blog includes an excerpt from the reflection lesson on blessings; one of the four parts of the holy sacrament of The Great Thanksgiving.   Laura led an uplifting and inspirational session.  She asked the group to name one talent, gift of personality, or ability that they see in each one of their group members.  This attribute is the person’s blessing to the rest of the world.

Each missioner stood and the audience recommended the best word that described the person’s blessings.  The following are of the blessings our 54 missioners bestow upon the rest of the world:

teacher, guiding, nurturer, leader, approachable, intelligent, energetic, experienced, huggable, sweet, creative, accepting, knowledgable, kind, insightful, kind, happiness, personable, exuberant, talkative, calming, humorous, dedicated, dependable, open-minded, carefree, artistic, relaxed, peaceful, outgoing, outspoken, stoic, encouraging, warm, empathetic, committed, wise, healing, worldly, respectful, compassionate, understanding, patient, crafty, strong, humble, caring, mentoring, friendly, eager willing, welcoming, flexible, charismatic and inspirational.

(Ismeal, Evan, Maude, Haley, Nathan, Meg, Emily, Paul, Beau, Katrina, Elliot and Jack)

Today, we also recognized the 12 new missioners attending Dungannon for the first time.  Fun fact:  the total Dugannon experience represented by all the missioners on this trip is 134 years.  Our new participates will add their experience to that rich pool of talent.

We worked on six homes today.  The work ranged from painting and small repairs, building porches, replacing a bathroom floor, demolishing a small building, building a roof on an existing porch and replacing the entire lower decking and framing on a 30’ porch.  Oh, and that was just the first day.  We anticipate one of those crews will complete their first job on Tuesday and will be assigned to a new job site Wednesday morning.

In the evening, we celebrated Nathan’s birthday 15th with an icing covered pan of brownies.  He was surprised and only took 8 attempts to blow out the candles.

During a short ceremony we recognized 3 St Annes missioners on their 5th trip to Dungannon.  They were each given a tool bucket for their participation.

Day 2 at Dungannon 2014

Click to Play Day 2 Audio Podcast

Interviewer:  Clifton Poole

Featuring: Joe Flynn

Topics:  early morning, church services, hike and swim, reflection and reaction

Clifton Poole writes:

It's day 2 of the trip and the 54 missioners were awakened at 8:00am!

We ventured into the local community to attend services at the St. Patrick Catholic Church, the Dungannon United Methodist Church, the Freewill Baptist Church of Dungannon  and the First Baptist Church of Dungannon.  I attended the Catholic service and was invited by Father Jonathan to say a few words about our mission.  There were 15 in attendance from group and we were invited to share light refreshments with the congregation.

The missioners hiked the Little Stoney trail in the afternoon. Near the trail head, we enjoyed a swim in the frigid waters coming over the 3-story, Little Stoney Creek Falls.  More than 35 swimmer suited up and took the plunge.  The water was very cold this year and overcast skies did nothing to warm those sitting along the banks of the creek.
 

Laura started our reflection activities, teaching the importance of sacraments in the liturgy.  This week, we are focusing on the Great Thanksgiving, the act of taking, breaking, blessing and giving.  There was a lively hands-on activity that included “Play Doh” and the results was both interesting and revealing.

Everyone was assigned a secret buddy.  Small gifts, written notes or remembrances are placed in decorated buddy bags during the week.  Most of the youth took advantage of their first period of free time, to run to the Dollar General and purchase items for the buddy bags.  Job sites and work assignments were divided among the adult chaperones.

Adults from St. Anne's are leading 3 of the 5 jobs starting on Monday.  Three St. Anne's youth were assigned as assistant chaperones and will play an active role in the work performed during the week.

Day 1 at Dungannon 2014

Click to Play Day 1 Audio Podcast
Interviewer:  Clifton Poole
Featuring: Katrina Libera
Topics:  Commissioning, travel to Dungannon, Phoenix Center living, Carter Family Fold, mission trip trifecta, impressions and feelings.