marvolous monday

     Being in Newark has been a completely different experience than any I've had before.  Some aspects of this trip correlate to previous experiences but as a whole this trip is unique for me.  

     I woke this morning surprisingly cool.  I had been ready for the damp-with-sweat sleeping bag as that's what I had woken up to yesterday but luckily the night air stayed at a good temperature.  After that the boys got dressed, brought our air matresses down stairs, and sat down for devotions number 1.  Following devotions we ate, chilled and then sat down for devotions number 2 led by a member of the church.  Due to the warm sanctuary air and probably not enough sleep the night before we all found it very hard to concentrate but before we knew it we were split up in groups and off to our jobs.  Since today is probably as cool as it will get this week I was very happy to be part of the outdoor landscaping group.  Our job was to re-do a hazardous stone path.  Easier said than done.  But after a few miscommunications on the job,  thousands of pounds of rock movement, lots of dry dirt up our noses and a very satisfying final result we were done.  Let's hope that our work will last and be apreciated. 

     Once we finsished our landscaping we came inside to help out a bit with the kids camp.  Chaotic for sure but God was everywhere you looked.  In the kids, in the leaders, in the relationships, in the weather.  If you were looking you would see God.  From kids camp, our work crew of 6 headed over to a local park where it started to rain.  But the rain wasn't a huge deal although it did scare off most of the kids.  No problem though we still bonded with whoever we could.  After we arived back at the church we went and bought some slushies, played a crazy game of spoons. CRAZY! Skrewed around a little with some neighborhood kids and then ate our pasta dinner.  Soon after that we grouped up for devotions number 3. And finally after that I could take my long awaited shower.  With that I have reached the present time.  I apologize for all my grammar and spelling mistakes.

    Tomorrow is a completely new day.  We will just have to see how it plays out.  Peace. -Matthew

today was monday, and it was the day that all the Newark veterans were looking forward to because hopefully we would get to see all the kids that we met and made relations with last year. unfortunately the number of kids that I recognized could have probably been numbered of with one hand, and the number of kids in general decreased by a lot which is bad for the program. but i am still looking forward to a week of meeting new kids, making new relationships and growing closer to God.

another big posative of the day was that the sun finally didnt come out and itcooled down quite a bit, which hopefully meens no more sweatty sheets. we also got slurpees from the quick check, and met our friend from last year, dilly, who took part in a very intense of spoons. so over all i would say that the the first three days of the week fulfilled all of the very high expectations. - Mike Welch