WE'RE BACK! Did you miss us???? Seven youth and two of their friends along with six adults from Lord of Life returned on Wednesday July15th from four days of learning, serving, and celebrating in Lancaster, PA. What a wonderful experience for all of us.  

  Thanks to our amazing trip coordinator, Tina Leach, we covered a lot of territory, not just geographically but emotionally, spiritually, and definitely physically, as well! To name only a few, we did everything from working at The Caring Acre at Garden Meadow Farm (http://www.gardenmeadowfarm.com/caringacre.html) where we met Julie who put us to work gleaning and cleaning out old crop rows so new ones could be planted, to moving furniture, sorting donations of diapers, personal supplies, and clothing for Patty and the women and children at Milagro house (http://www.milagrohouse.org/), to serving dinner to those in need with Lynne and the wonderful volunteers supporting the Tuesday Evening Dinner program at First Reformed Church (http://www.firstreformedlancaster.org/Pages/Tuesday_Dinner.html), to writing welcome notes to be given to the refugees sponsored by the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service office where we met Jessica and her staff (http://lirs.org/). (Look for more information on the trip on our Faith Formation Web Page - http://lordoflifetabernacle.weebly.com/)

  I can sum up how important these experiences are by simply telling you about one of our conversations during devotions after we had served dinner to around 120 men, women, and children at First Reformed. I asked everyone to share something that they remembered from their experience and one young man identified that some of the people we served didn't look or act like they needed a free meal. So we talked about perceptions and assumptions and the reality that there will always be people who try to cheat to get something they may not be entitled to. And then I asked them all a question: "Do you think that most of the people who came for dinner came because they really needed the meal we served?" The answer from everyone was a resounding "YES!" And so I asked one more question: "So even if there are people who are trying to cheat, is it still worth doing the program?" And the answer to that was also a resounding "YES!"

  While all of us were pushed out of our comfort zones in many ways during this trip, we were also reminded how important it is to share our time, talent, and treasure in order to make a difference in the world. Through this trip that was made personal for all of us because of the amazing people we met along the way, both those who serve and those who are being served. All were gracious and grateful in equal measure and without reservation. I wonder if we are always as willing?

  God even found a wonderfully humorous way to reinforce this important lesson for me when around 2:30AM on the first night of the trip I woke up to find my air mattress completely flat and that I was in fact sleeping on the floor. The next morning there was a quick detour to Walmart to solve that particular problem, and I spent the rest of the trip propped up on my nice new self inflating air mattress. And through the course of the next few days God reminded me how privileged I am to be able to do even such a simple thing for myself; how I have the financial resources, the access to transportation, and whatever else I need to take care of my creature comforts when so many others have so much less and so few choices in life.

  My sincere thanks - to Pastor Dave for making the drive to join us on Tuesday - to our young people who worked so hard and learned so much: Samantha Anderson, Anna Blum, Jack Kelly, Luke Leach, Emily Miller, Lyndsey Millere, Eric Rickershauser, Maddie Sibert, and Richard Weldon - to our committed and caring adult leaders who were such an example of faith in action: Brian Miller, Anita Rickershauser, Gail Sibert, and Mark Valesey - and last but not least to Tina Leach, who has "nailed it" for the last few years in making this trip happen. I am proud to have served with you! I look forward to our next opportunity! - Peace, PJ2