Last night Carl (CAMT team leader) talked with Joyce by phone about what had happened so far in WV, and she wrote the narrative.
Today, Carl reports.
It’s Wednesday, and we are tired. We only have to handle breakfast today, and then we have the rest of the day free. The teams are on their own for dinner tonight. All of the work groups will put in a half day on Wednesdays and then play in the afternoon. On the list of activities are bridge jumping, white water rafting and many other activities that it is better that their mothers don’t know about.
Our group (Mary, Carl and Quintin) are going whitewater rafting for a half day trip leaving at 2:00. Pat and Millie are on their own. We will all get together for a dinner out tonight.
It does take some time to get used to the schedule. I am in the kitchen at 5:30 am to set out the food items we are preparing. First we prepare the sandwiches for lunches the kids will carry as they head out to their work projects. The others are in by 6:00 with each assigned part of the meal: 90 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, 50 ham & cheese, 30 turkey. Then comes breakfast that we start serving at 6:30. Pat and Millie handle the set-up of the cereal buffet table including mixed fruit, OJ, milk and some baked items. Today we also had home fries, scrambled eggs, eggs over easy, and sausage.
Normally we return to prepare dinner at 3:30. But today is a day of rest. If you call whitewater rafting resting.
The student groups stay and sleep at the Midland Trail High school just six miles north of our motel. At our age, and with our schedule, we find it better to stay at a local motel. Of course, that’s what caused Mary to fall into a speed trap at 5:30 yesterday morning which led to a ticket.
We have been joined by Harmon who has worked with us now for the third year. We also have Janet from a Mennonite Church who has been handling some of our baking. Harmon handles the drinks, and 140 kids go thru at lot of drinks. He also assists with the griddle work at breakfast. Janet has been baking cinnamon buns, cookies for the lunches, and cakes. Yesterday was Janet’s birthday. We didn’t make her bake her own birthday cake. We bought one at a Dairy Queen just for her.
We welcome your prayers as we serve and begin to interact with the youth workers and their leaders.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
CAMT Has Landed--in Fayetteville, WV
Carl, team leader for Covenant’s Adult Mission Team, called tonight with an update on what’s been happening since they arrived. But first, you need to know there is no handy way for Carl to e-mail daily news from where they are this year, so he will phone in reports as time permits during the two weeks he’s there.
Carl and Pat and their grandson Quintin arrived first on Sunday so they could check out the food supplies Carl ordered, and Mary and Millie arrived a little later. You may remember that CAMT’s work is to prepare three meals a day (breakfast, bag lunch, and dinner) for youth mission team workers (140 this year) who come to do flood relief work. After checking out the food he had ordered, Carl set up the ice cream machine.
That’s right, folks—an ice cream machine. The high school cafeteria used in previous years was near a Dairy Queen, so getting an ice cream treat was no problem. This year, new school, no DQ. Carl asked a fellow Rotarian if he could borrow his ice cream machine and asked another friend if could use his trailer to take the small refrigerator-sized machine to WV. The only problem was that while pulling a trailer/ice cream machine up and down the hills of WV, Carl only got 5 miles to the gallon. It took 3 tanks of gas to get there.
On Sunday night, the five team members, as they had done in previous years, had supper at Dirty Ernie’s and made plans for the week. The team has to work extra hard this year because PACE (PA Christian Endeavor) could not afford to pay the extra kitchen helpers they hire for as many hours as in other years. However, while Monday morning was a bit “rough,” the team was in high gear for dinner, and all has gone well ever since.
To back up just a bit, Sunday evening, when the youth teams had arrived and had enjoyed a praise service, Carl was asked to talk to the young people about the meals for the week and got a huge round of applause because many were returning from previous years and remembered how great Covenant’s CAMT food is. (Quintin said it was the loudest applause all evening!)
Carl made a point of telling them that because Covenant Church (via CAMT) had donated $200 to allow for a bigger food budget, they could consider the ice cream a gift in honor of Dori Gillstrom who was the one who accepted the first invitation for CAMT to serve in WV and who led the teams the first two years. Dori, who died June 15, set the pace for great meals and loved to serve food to, and interact with, the youth.
The youth really enjoy the praise services they have after dinner each evening and they participate enthusiastically. A videographer takes pictures of them working during the day and introducing themselves on camera. He edits the film and shows the video to the youth in the evening. They love seeing themselves working and hoot and holler when they see their friends on camera.
Have you ever had a lousy Monday morning? The main road leading into Fayetteville has a speed limit of 65 mph, but everyone goes 75. At the town border, the limit suddenly drops to 50. While driving to the school at 5:30 AM Monday morning, Mary only slowed down to about 55. Would you believe she was stopped and fined $150??!! Hey, at that time in the morning business is slow…
Carl met a man from Fayetteville last year. They have become friends, and during the afternoons when the team has free time, the two often ride bikes down a four-mile hill. (You go four miles and never have to pedal!) He also knows Harman, a Bible Baptist from central PA who loves to come help CAMT in the kitchen. He's also willing to drive down the four-mile hill and bring Carl and his biking friend back to the top.
Check in again in a day or two for more news.
Carl and Pat and their grandson Quintin arrived first on Sunday so they could check out the food supplies Carl ordered, and Mary and Millie arrived a little later. You may remember that CAMT’s work is to prepare three meals a day (breakfast, bag lunch, and dinner) for youth mission team workers (140 this year) who come to do flood relief work. After checking out the food he had ordered, Carl set up the ice cream machine.
That’s right, folks—an ice cream machine. The high school cafeteria used in previous years was near a Dairy Queen, so getting an ice cream treat was no problem. This year, new school, no DQ. Carl asked a fellow Rotarian if he could borrow his ice cream machine and asked another friend if could use his trailer to take the small refrigerator-sized machine to WV. The only problem was that while pulling a trailer/ice cream machine up and down the hills of WV, Carl only got 5 miles to the gallon. It took 3 tanks of gas to get there.
On Sunday night, the five team members, as they had done in previous years, had supper at Dirty Ernie’s and made plans for the week. The team has to work extra hard this year because PACE (PA Christian Endeavor) could not afford to pay the extra kitchen helpers they hire for as many hours as in other years. However, while Monday morning was a bit “rough,” the team was in high gear for dinner, and all has gone well ever since.
To back up just a bit, Sunday evening, when the youth teams had arrived and had enjoyed a praise service, Carl was asked to talk to the young people about the meals for the week and got a huge round of applause because many were returning from previous years and remembered how great Covenant’s CAMT food is. (Quintin said it was the loudest applause all evening!)
Carl made a point of telling them that because Covenant Church (via CAMT) had donated $200 to allow for a bigger food budget, they could consider the ice cream a gift in honor of Dori Gillstrom who was the one who accepted the first invitation for CAMT to serve in WV and who led the teams the first two years. Dori, who died June 15, set the pace for great meals and loved to serve food to, and interact with, the youth.
The youth really enjoy the praise services they have after dinner each evening and they participate enthusiastically. A videographer takes pictures of them working during the day and introducing themselves on camera. He edits the film and shows the video to the youth in the evening. They love seeing themselves working and hoot and holler when they see their friends on camera.
Have you ever had a lousy Monday morning? The main road leading into Fayetteville has a speed limit of 65 mph, but everyone goes 75. At the town border, the limit suddenly drops to 50. While driving to the school at 5:30 AM Monday morning, Mary only slowed down to about 55. Would you believe she was stopped and fined $150??!! Hey, at that time in the morning business is slow…
Carl met a man from Fayetteville last year. They have become friends, and during the afternoons when the team has free time, the two often ride bikes down a four-mile hill. (You go four miles and never have to pedal!) He also knows Harman, a Bible Baptist from central PA who loves to come help CAMT in the kitchen. He's also willing to drive down the four-mile hill and bring Carl and his biking friend back to the top.
Check in again in a day or two for more news.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
West Virginia, Here We Come!
Covenant's Adult Mission Team (CAMT) is gearing up for its next mission trip. Two groups will travel to WV to prepare meals for youth mission teams who come to the Fayetteville area to do flood relief work. PA Christian Endeavor plans for the work done by mission teams during summers in WV.
One Covenant group will work the week of June 26, and the other, the week of July 2. Working in a high school cafeteria, CAMT prepares a full breakfast and packs bag lunches for the youth teams who return at the end of the day for dinner and a praise service.
CAMT's planning group met recently to review travel and motel arrangements for the trip, to discuss costs (about $300 per person), and to answer questions. Carl, who will be kitchen manager again, and his wife, Pat, will be there for both weeks. Mary and Millie plan to go the first week, and Chick and Dolly will be there the second week. Tracy and Molly haven't yet been able to finalize their plans.
The meeting closed with a birthday party for Frank who, you may remember, had daily "birthdays" while on the Mexico mission trip in January. During that trip he "aged" from 35 to 40 as the days went by during the week. Since this meeting was on his real birthday, he got cards as well as cake. He claimed he was now 41, and no one had the heart to tell him he was off by about three decades.
Carl will send daily reports from WV which will be posted to the blog. You should be able to read the first one Monday, June 27--and if the system works as predicted, there should be a picture or two each day. Put the CAMT blog on your Favorites list so you can get to it quickly.
One Covenant group will work the week of June 26, and the other, the week of July 2. Working in a high school cafeteria, CAMT prepares a full breakfast and packs bag lunches for the youth teams who return at the end of the day for dinner and a praise service.
CAMT's planning group met recently to review travel and motel arrangements for the trip, to discuss costs (about $300 per person), and to answer questions. Carl, who will be kitchen manager again, and his wife, Pat, will be there for both weeks. Mary and Millie plan to go the first week, and Chick and Dolly will be there the second week. Tracy and Molly haven't yet been able to finalize their plans.
The meeting closed with a birthday party for Frank who, you may remember, had daily "birthdays" while on the Mexico mission trip in January. During that trip he "aged" from 35 to 40 as the days went by during the week. Since this meeting was on his real birthday, he got cards as well as cake. He claimed he was now 41, and no one had the heart to tell him he was off by about three decades.
Carl will send daily reports from WV which will be posted to the blog. You should be able to read the first one Monday, June 27--and if the system works as predicted, there should be a picture or two each day. Put the CAMT blog on your Favorites list so you can get to it quickly.
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