Wednesday Word: Traveling

It's the final countdown – Europe

In five days the J2A group will be leaving for their trip to Oregon. This trip has been in the works since early 2019 (if I'm remembering correctly) when the kids were brainstorming what they wanted to do to close out the program. Following God's commandment to care for the earth, they decided they wanted to do some beach clean up and, for a variety of reasons, the Oregon coast was chosen.

If you've been reading Soundings and the J2A updates, you'll know that beach clean up and working with the artist from the Washed Ashore art gallery are a big part of this trip. You will also recall that this trip was scheduled for the summer of 2020, but then delayed thanks to the COVID pandemic.

But now the time has finally arrived and we are on the final countdown to leaving Hagerstown, the east coast, and pretty much everything these kids have ever known and head off to a different time zone, different coast, different weather, different everything.

For those of you who have supported this program over the years, thank you. For those of you who have contributed financially through the Flamingo Flocking and other random donations, thank you.

Today isn't so much a Wednesday Word as it is a Wednesday Request.

Joelene, Christina, Rachel, Brent, Nate, and myself will be leaving for BWI this coming Monday earlier than I want to think about to catch a 7:15 flight. We will spend time exploring, working, and learning. We will arrive back home early Sunday morning, July 4. And on July 11, they will make a presentation to the congregation at the 9:30 service.

All next week I ask your prayers primarily for safe travel, but also that they may be touched by God in a way that stays with them for the rest of their lives. I also ask that you pray for Haley who was unable to go on the trip but is still a vital part of the group.

We are all looking forward to this upcoming adventure and hope you will join us either in person or online on Sunday, July 11, to hear all about it.

Blessings,

Todd+