Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Apologies to all for the lack of updates from the second mission trip group. Full days and internet connectivity issues have prevented our updates from getting up, but let’s fill you in on all the fun we’ve been having!

After leaving Indianapolis, we met up with the first mission group in Beckley, WV and stayed at St. Luke's Lutheran Church. We settled in for the night, after the long day of driving, to rest up for our rafting adventures the next day.

On July 9, both mission trip groups went White Water rafting with West Virginia Adventures. We rafted on the New River, which is the second oldest river in the world after the Nile and is ranked #7 in the world  for rafting.  We picnicked for lunch and were able get out of the boats and take a dip in the river. Some of us even got to do some cliff jumping! One of the highlights of the day, however, was the great barbecue at the end of the day with good food and the good company of one another.

On Sunday, Group #1 started their journey back to Minneapolis as we started our day with worship at St. Luke’s. We then continued on to the Youth Works site in Logan, WV.  What we thought was going to be a two-hour trip, turned into 4 due to some direction fiascos, but after some detours we made it to our work site.

After being here for a day and a half, we are definitely starting to make some connections. There is another youth group here working with us from Huxley, IA and it’s been great getting to know some new friends. Half of our group is working with Kids Club, and working one-on-one with the kids of Logan. The rest of us are divided up in to different work sites building and helping with all sorts of different projects. Some of us are painting, building decks, and even a wheelchair ramp! One group that had been helping clean and set up classrooms at the elementary school was invited along to a field trip to the Logan Airport today! Hopefully we’ll have some great pictures of our adventures up for you soon.

Tonight we will be heading to an Opry house with some other youth groups to listen to some live bluegrass music and to learn how to line dance.  Everyone’s pretty excited to try it!

Some other great highlights of the trip so far have been:

• Watching The Price is Right with Urness and Desiree (they have found a place in many peoples hearts on this trip).
• Swimming at Chief Logan State Park
• The landscape is spectacular. Everyone is pretty entranced and in awe of the land and how different it is from what we know here in Minnesota. We’re starting to take notice of the contrast, but also the similarities too.
• For me, one of the greatest highlights is watching the veteran mission trippers showing incredible leadership and mentoring the younger students.

Keep us in your prayers as we continue on our trip. July 16 will be here before we know it!

 Peace,

Mandy