Greetings everyone! It's Monday morning about 11:15 am and I have finally found a few minutes to sit down and update you on our adventures. I do not have Internet access where we are staying, so I have to wait until we go to Pastor Lenny's house or the church to get online. OK, I'll try to be brief but thorough.Saturday ...
No problems at the airport. Everyone got through security fine, our plane was on time, and we had a nice flight. We had the opportunity to talk to a few people about what we were up to, so that is always good in terms of letting our light shine. Anthony brought along a copy of my book, and he and Mike used it the entire flight. So cool! They said that it made the flight feel like 5 minutes. Yes, that was a shameless sales pitch. Ha Ha! When we arrived at the airport we met up with Pastor Lenny & Jackie, picked up our rental, and after about an hour were on the road headed toward Toccoa. We stopped at Wendy's and everyone got dinner. I got to talk to a young man named Jeff who was inquiring about our group, and gave him one of my cards. We got to out camp around 10:30 pm and everyone was stoked to be there. John Long was waiting for us with donuts and hot chocolate! After a brief team meeting we took our luggage to our rooms, and the worship team did a bit of a rehearsal. Lights out was at midnight, but in reality everyone fell asleep around 1:30.
Sunday ...
No time to sleep in! We had to be on the vans heading to Athens, GA (about an hour away) at 6:00 am, so wake up time was at 5 am. I was awakened by the sound of boys talking, and showers and sinks running. I thought: did I oversleep? I looked at my clock and saw that it was only 4:25 am. Why in the world were all of the guys awake? Too much adrenaline. We hushed and shushed them until about 5:15 am, but it was no use, we could not fall back to sleep. At 5:45 we all grabbed bags with muffins and water bottles. We were supposed to have fruit too, but the walk-in refrigerator had frozen up during the night, so that was out. The kids wolfed down their continental breakfasts and we pulled out at 6 am. After a quick stop at the WalMart to get some supplies we drove the hour to Athens where we did the church service for over 200 men at The Potter's House - a Christian recovery center. They packed out the chapel and about 20 guys had to stand out in the foyer. It was a great service! The team did really great! Mike played guitar, James played drums, and Stan and Laura led worship vocally. The men sang with all of their might, and it was a glorious sound! Stan shared a powerful testimony that was very moving and challenging to the guys. Justin & Jeff shared their testimonies as well. We performed two of our dramas/dances and I preached, followed by the kids praying for dozens of the men at the altar and more worship. After the service we shared some refreshments with the guys, chatting with them before heading back to Toccoa.
After lunch we enjoyed some free time driving an hour to Hellen, GA. Pastor Lenny took us to a cool little mill where we saw them making different grain foods the old fashioned way - the entire thing powered by water from the river behind the mill. Really neat! After that we all played mini golf which was a lot of fun. Then we drove to see Ruby falls, but when we got there, the scenic overlook was closed for two weeks for construction. We did not have time to hike back to see it, so instead we spent a few minutes in Hellen, a very cute German-style town. We got back to camp at 7:30 pm. After dinner Brendon led devotions, we talked through some logistical stuff, had a time of prayer, and then we went to our cabins and lights were out by 10:30 pm. We had been going on 3 hours of sleep, and as much as they wouldn't admit it, everyone was exhausted and fell asleep quickly.
Monday Morning ...
This morning I got up at 6 am, and the only other guy awake was Anthony, our resident morning guy. I got up early so I could go for a great run in the mountains on this beautiful, crisp Georgia morning. I jogged about 3 miles including some good hills. When I returned, Anthony and I walked down to the lake and had a good time talking and praying together. After that everyone was getting up and around and we had John Long pancakes for breakfast. Today is Matt Moreo's 18th birthday, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and he happened to be on devotions this morning, so he challenged us with a good word and we prayed together. At 9 am we went to The Peer Center, which is a home for the mentally ill. We recognized many friends from lat year, and it was a joy to be with them. After our dramas, Bianca, Emily, Alexis, James, Gary, and Mike all gave their testimonies - all doing a fantastic job! Following our presentation all of the kids spread out and prayed for the residence. Beautiful Jesus-style ministry!
We are now at the church. The team is sorting out and packing food boxes for many people who will be arriving soon to them up. When we are done here we will be going back to camp for lunch, and this afternoon we will be going to a horse farm to help a lady who uses horses to minister to and provide therapy to mentally handicap people. We will be doing whatever is necessary, including, yes!, cleaning stalls! The dorms might smell a little gamy tonight! lol
Thanks for your continued love and support!
PK
6 comments:
Hey everyone! It's great to hear that all of you are doing so good. Hearing the news about the church you went to with 200 men was exciting and when I got that txt from PK through Twitter I shared it with everyone at church they were also excited! I am just praying for you guys and remember just to stay focused on God. Don't let this be just another trip... Just trust God and watch him do awesome things through you. Mike it was cool to see you Man up and give ur testimony... James keep rokin on the drums bro.. ur a blessing... Happy Birthday Matt!!!... haha 18 years old...ur getting old.. and the scary part is that you already look 23.(Hairy Sausage) Don't go clubbing to celebrate ;) be smart and have a good time. Kudos to my ppl out there love you guys.
woooooo I LIKE EGGS AND CHEESE & HAIRY SAUSAGE IN THE MORNIN. along with hearty runs on them high georgia hills. happy birthday to the sausage king of sailboats ARG ARG HAR HAR. good show ol chap. cheerio.
hopefully ull get some good buttered crumpets from ol john long. TELL HIM TO WATCH OUT FOR THEM RAISINS.
hopefully his nooks wont get in his crannies.
well ill be darned
gotta be on the run
harhar
have a good run tomoro.
i hear them GA morns are just absolutely crisp.
PEACE OUT NUKKA
heyo GA team sounds like your having tons of fun and fellowship. Keep up the good work and Nick your mom says she loves you lol peace out cant wait to here more of your "adventures" as PK put it.
-Chenzy
Alrighty...
Pastor Kevin, I've learned that the best sign that I'm in for a lengthy read is when the author starts out with the phrase "I'll try to keep this brief". Good read though. (side note: if you aren't already, write your blogs in Pages as you go, then just upload it when you get to Pastor Lenny's. It's much easier to do it that way so that you can use downtime instead of having to create your own) Glad to hear that everything is going well. I've never been on a missions trip where there wasn't some sort of craziness at the airport, so I'm glad to hear that the trip down was uneventful. Beware the return trip though. I hope you're enjoying your Mac. Bob and I have a copy of Windows waiting for it when you return MUAHAHAHAHA=).
Justin Plank, I *know* that you have caused no ruckus, wreaked no havoc, and have been a model student to whom your peers can look up to as a role model on how to behave on missions trips...right?
James: Keep it real, and remember the discussion we had while we were packing the trailer.
John Long: call me. I need a recipe for creamed spinach that rocks. Emeril ain't got the Holy Ghost Cookbook. Carmen and Mama Muller say hi. Why is it that you keep making ribs the times when I'm not there?!? oh well, I'm making them thursday for the LaGreca's. They won't be quite as good as yours, but I've had vegetarians go back for round 2 on them so I must have learned to do something right.
Brendan: I haven't gotten any panic calls yet, so I have no doublt that you're doing fantastic. Don't get discouraged. Tech can get rough, and it's often a thankless job. That's okay. If no one says anything, realize that that is the ultimate compliment, because it means that people didn't hear sound or see video. They saw and heard God through you, which is really why everyone should be there in the first place.
GARYYYYYYY! You're genuine, and you make it very obvious that this is the case. Don't be discouraged by the people who you think aren't paying attention - they are - it just takes a little while for them to be like "wait...Gary said something...and it applies to me...". They will though.
Stanley! You look like you fell asleep against the wall. You and I are alike in that we have our "zones". You tear up the dance floor (and teach the students how to do likewise), and it's where you know that God has called you to serve Him with the talens that come so naturally to you. Don't lose sight of the fact that God calls us to serve him independently of there as well. It's easy to serve God when dancing (for you anyway...me + dance floor = sprained ligaments and broken bones), but don't let those non-dancing opportunities pass you by. I don't remember most of the tech that I did last year, but I do remember sitting and listening to a lady at the rehab center who was so appreciative that someone simply took the time to listen. Things like that are places where growth happens.
To everyone else: You're important. You're special. You matter. You're there for a reason. You've got dozens of people praying for you. You are not alone.
Okay, It's pushing 2 in the morning, hopefully something made sense. Stay safe, don't get arrested, don't get your fellow students arrested, don't get your leaders arrested, and don't ask why I'm worried about anyone getting arrested. It's 2 in the morning. I said that. I'm repeating myself. I'm done.
Keep serving God!
Joey Famiglietti
Good afternoon, __(insert name here)__! I hope you are having an awesome time, doing some cool things for God, and building lasting friendships.
A *few* personal (I'll insert your name lol) statements:
Alexis- Represent our cabin from last year!
Emily- Represent the fam, sis!
Chelsea- You are out of state yet all the filing is done,don't know how ya managed that but you are a REALLY good student aide!
Justin B-We missed ya in life development...we had a birthday party AND FREE food
Stan and Brendon- The office is very lonely without your frequent visits
Tommy- I am hoping to survive youth group with no one on the roof, but then again some of the guys that regularly have bathroom emergencies at the same time as their friends are with you in GA. Ya'll kno who u are.
On that note, PK- I haven't quit yet this week and neither has David, but Thursday is another day...jk
James- remember last year when we broke silverware by making music on the tables haha. don't do that again lol
John- can you teach me how to cook french toast with cereal on it?
Anthony-you are awesome
Jeff- you are the best
Mike- you are cool
Gary- you rock
Ren- you are fun
Travis- you are super
Laura- you are creative
Matt- you are older then when I last saw you. And another year smarter.
Nick- you are a great helper
Justin P- you are funny
Ariel- you are nice
Amanda- you are fantastic
Alexa- you are kind
Bianca- you are smart
Okay, okay, I should buy a thesaurus to help me find better words. Just tryna say you are all special and I love ya :)
~Kerry
Hey Everyone! Glad to hear everything is going so well down there! Church was very quiet without all of you! Emily, i hope you are keeping your room neater down there than you do up here! We all miss you very much. We went to Hershey PA for the night, and guess who we ran into at the Hotel: Pastor Dave! What a small world! Believe it or not, I graduated High School with Lori Burd, so the world is even smaller now...God Bless and take care...looking forward to more entries!
Peace Out,
The Mee Family
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