As the cleanup progressed and work on the second wall began,
the day’s heat index began to climb. It was a hot one, but at least it wasn’t
as hot as Sunday (which hit 100). As the neighborhood kids arrived we gathered
together for lunch and began to get to know one another. This year it was a
little easier as we had fewer kids than normal, but that just meant we got to
spend some one-on-one time with them. With lunch complete it was across the
street to the Church of Jesus, a skit by our team leaders, and some good old
fashioned sing along with some not so old fashioned songs. Everyone got into
the spirit and we were off and running.
Back across to the Aaron Clarke Center, service teams were
hard at work and the VBS team had the crafts all ready to go. Our main craft
today was a planter. Kids decorated a clay pot using crayons along with sticky
back foam letters and shapes; they then filled it with potting soil and were
supposed to receive three seeds for their pot. The only problem was that Fr.Tom
left the seeds back at St. John’s; oops! But the kids still had fun and made
some great looking pots. We had a few other crafts for the kids to do. However,
everything came to a screeching halt when a man at the house across the street
came out on the lawn with a White Red Tail Hawk. He wasn’t albino but he sure
looked different. We all headed across the street to get a closer look and the
man was nice enough to talk to us for about 15 minutes telling us all about
hawks especially their keen flying skills and tremendous eyesight. Back inside
we worked on our crafts for a while and when it looked like everyone needed a
break, we headed to a nearby field for a game of kick ball. While folks were
having fun, the heat got to everyone pretty quickly; so it was back inside for
a cool drink and some story time.
Abby Culp did a really nice job leading the story and it
gave everyone a chance to take a seat and relax. Except that is for the service
project team who was working hard to finish the prep work so that the next team
could begin painting tomorrow. Before we knew it, it was snack time and then
time to pack up and head back to Valentine. Once back at St. John’s the thought
on everyone’s mind was pool, pool, pool. So off went the youth for a well
deserved plunge. Next on the schedule was dinner and like clockwork Sharon,
with the help of Joan, had things ready right on time. Funny thing happened as everyone
was lining up; a few youth asked if they could go to Subway for a sandwich. We
said sure, during the evening free-time, but as that would be a while yet they
might want to eat something now. They did, but later in the evening there was
one young man who just had to put a sub in the fridge for tomorrow.
We could tell that as our youth came back in from their
evening jaunt to Subway, the Tasty Freeze, and the Dollar General, a few of
them were showing signs of fatigue (no wonder, they worked hard). But their bed
would not get to know them until a little while later. Gathering by team, we
did our evening bible study, focusing on the theme for tomorrow’s VBS (Sacred
Symbols) and our nightly download of the day’s events. Overall it was a really
good day. I was proud of our youth team leaders and the work everyone got
accomplished. Did we do everything right; not really, but we learned from our
mistakes and vowed to try to do better tomorrow. As is our custom, we closed
the evening with Compline (led by our youth teams) and then off to bed. When
the lights went off it became eerily quiet. Whether or not this is a sign of a
successful day tomorrow, we will just have to wait and see.
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