What we did on our Summer Vacation

Middle School Service Trip to Washington DC

June 11-14^th, 2009

Ten UPC middle school youth and three adults traveled to Washington DC in June to aid in service projects related to homelessness and poverty. Our youth spent nights in the basement of the Church of the Pilgrim and days working at various organizations in the city. We sorted food and toiletries at the Food Bank where I heard our youth say, “Hey, I use that! My mom buys that for my lunch!” With each box that was packed the gap between their lives and the lives of people living in poverty closed. We cleaned up the basement of a community center serving the two largest housing projects in DC. This hot and dirty job was rewarded when a neighbor brought over homemade peach cobbler and showed us that there is grace in sharing dessert with strangers. We chopped vegetables, deboned chicken, and diced meat at the DC Central Kitchen where the story of loaves and fishes was made very real as this kitchen makes 4,000 meals every day of the year for hungry people in DC. We were made keenly aware of just how much food we waste and how much good can be done when a community comes together to work for good. Our youth talked with people who are currently or formerly homeless, learned their story, and had their eyes opened to the fact that most everyone is only one bad decision from being homeless. The youth talked openly about homelessness in this country and how we are all connected to the issue of poverty. “I was hungry and you gave me food” came to life for our middle schoolers as they learned to see Jesus on the streets of DC.

Montreat Music and Worship Conference

June 21-27, 2009

Twenty-four high schoolers and five middle schoolers spent the week together in Montreat learning about music and one another. Full days and late nights gave our youth many hours to devote to one another and to worship. Our youth are able to put down the walls while in Montreat and they show such love to one another that each adult leaves inspired. Each night, our high schoolers had in depth discussions about worship that morning. While they were disappointed in the preaching this year, they were led into meaningful conversation about the point of each sermon. These late night discussions were priceless and will stay with our youth for many years. Montreat is often described as a “thin place” where God is close. This worship and music conference was filled with the Holy Spirit and became a thin place for our youth. On our last night together, a white butterfly floated into the gathering space and danced during our conversations: a visual reminder of the Spirit’s presence among us.

Appalachia Service Project

July 12-18, 2009 – Lee County, VA

The mission of ASP is to make homes warmer, safer, and drier for the families of Appalachia. Seventy-six youth and adults from UPC and Cane Creek Baptist Church spent the week working to further that mission for 10 families in Lee County, VA. Running on little sleep and fueled by nightly ice cream from the Happy Mart, our team accomplished more than the ASP staff thought possible in a week. We replaced roofs, built decks, added and replaced bathrooms, sheet rocked walls, insulated homes, put in floors and forged relationships with the families with whom we worked. Our youth and adults found remarkable similarities between the families of Appalachia and themselves even though at times it seems we live worlds apart. Our youth explored why it is easier to offer help to those whom you don’t know than people in your own community and why it is easier in help with friends rather than alone. While our youth most certainly learned from the adults on this trip, the adults also learned a thing or two from our youth in how they care for one another. After an exhausting week of hard work, everyone returned home with new perspective and knowledge about poverty in the US. This remarkable trip has a way of wedging itself into the minds and hearts of our participants and continues to remind us of our blessings and what it means to share them.

Montreat Youth Conference

July 25-Aug 1, 2009

This year’s MYC theme of World On Fire proved to be hard-hitting for our youth. This conference was not sugar coated and created more discussion than any youth conference in recent memory. Our youth were confronted with all of the “fires” in our world: poverty, racism, greed, the environment…the list went on. Feeling a little overwhelmed, our youth were given space to focus on these issues in the context of their faith as they met and discussed with their small groups. Rev. John Fife, a past moderator of the PC(USA) presented riveting sermons that challenged our youth to DO something about these “fires” not only lament that they are burning. By week’s end, this conference had each youth “fired up!” to change the world. Our youth left feeling empowered and encouraged to be the change in the world that must happen. It was an incredible week of fellowship, worship, and study with 1100 other Presbyterian teenagers. Watch for what this generation will do to get other fired up to put out fires in the world.