the second one about montreat: peach cobbler

Good Morning! we’ve had a great second day at montreat, including good fun, good food, and good devo discussion. the morning keynote is about to start, but i wanted to post what the GOOTH blogged about yesterday. thanks for tuning in!

Erica Chatham (10th grader)

This year’s Montreat was probably better than last year. Sure I ended up in the emergency room on my first day because of rock hopping but I was still able to laugh. Today’s keynote was the best I have seen so far. There was a skit about Abel and Cain where they even danced to the music that was played. One of the songs they danced to was the song “Apologize” by Timberland. The small groups this year are amazing, too. I enjoy talking and laughing with new people. Monday night was so much fun. We played games and Julia drew all the Gooth that went to Montreat as stick figures on a blank door that was being used like a painting canvas. I am really having fun in Montreat and I am always waiting for the next day to come.

Reva Catherine Manikas (12th grader)

“Montreat… the best place in the world.” That is the truth! This is my fourth year at Montreat, and I look forward to it every single summer. This is the second day of Montreat and I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. My small groups haven’t been that great in the past year or two but I still enjoy the Montreat experience. This year has been different in that my small group is interactive with each other and we are just very involved with the lessons. Keynote, Worship and free time are wonderful too. Despite the HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT weather, I still think Montreat is the best place for meeting new friends and getting the chance to have new experiences. It is extremely disappointing to think that I only have one more year left, but I have had a blast the past three years and I am looking forward to this week.

Colleen (12th), Joey (12th), and Julia (11th)

Dear Congregation,
The disciples were teenagers…YAYUH. Davey L told us himself (David Lamotte); we’re personal friends, so it’s okay for us to call him that. He had a concert here tonight and he was phenomenal as always, as some of you might remember from when he came to our church not long ago. The theme for the day was all about “broken doors” in our lives and problems present in the world, also God’s presence in those situations. We make pancakes EVERY MORNING as a family, you know, the special kinds like booberry and choco-choco chip… even BANANARAMA! OOOOooOOooooHHhhh and some kickin’ peach cobbler. Everything is part of God’s plan, that’s what we learned today, especially cobbler. The worship messages each night so far are eye-opening and thought provoking, providing interesting conversations for our devo time as a family. Oh, and some of our group went hiking up Lookout Mountain, which is always a good idea. Others made us tasty dinner or caught up on some needed sleep. So now we’re all gathered at about 1 in the morning to bring you this update, as a family.
Love,
Colleen, Joey, and Julia

the fifth one about nyc: the spirit

greetings from the end of a looooooong evening. tonight was indescribable, but i’m sure some thing will be said in a future post. tonight’s devotion was spirit-filled and illustrated the movement of the spirit that paul describes when he says in romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

the following two posts were written before the spirit-filled events of the evening devotion, and no one had the chance to blog anything tonight. hopefully tomorrow will include some reflection upon tonight’s devotion.

Erica Chatham (10th grade)

Thursday was fun, but it was also very difficult. The Staten Island team split into different groups; some went to a Moravian church to sort clothes and to put them in boxes and others went to the soup kitchen. I, on the other hand, went somewhere totally different. Stephen, the Stovalls, and I went across from the church that we are staying at and went to the Hospitality House. It had stories of apartments for the clients staying there. We were given a big job. We were told to dust the whole lobby. Sure that sounds easy, but when we got there, everything was covered with dust, dirt and what seemed like mold. So instead of dusting, we ended up washing everything. We grabbed a ladder, buckets of water, and wash rags to get started. I am extremely short so it was difficult to reach high places like the pipes and the exit signs. We were so determined to get the job done that we hardly took any breaks. When we finally finished it was after twelve and the four of us were the first ones back to the church. We had our lunch and took showers early, because we were covered in dust and dirt. It might have been a hard and serious job, but there were plenty of jokes for us to laugh at and that is what was enjoyable. When we left it was cleaner and a little bit brighter. The color of the lobby was a dirt white color and I hope that they paint it a dark blue, because it would match some of the weird lights in the lobby.

Tyler Hinshaw (9th grade)

Today, my group of Sara, Patrick, Ian, Niki, the Tellers, and I went to the Bronx. We worked at the Food Bank of New York. To get there we had to ride the ferry, the subway, and a bus. We had a short orientation to Food Bank using videos. Our job was to sort water, vinegar, bleach, and other similar liquids into boxes and only have a certain weight of the product in each box. Then we taped the boxes shut, labeled them, and put them in stacks. Four people (Patrick, Sara, Niki, and Ian/me) put the products into the boxes, taped them, and sorted them. The other three people got the products out of the original boxes they were in and put them on a long counter for the others. In the end, we sorted 4,183 lbs of liquids, which equaled about 3,217 meals. We finished at 12:30, so we got to leave earlier than we thought. Since we had extra time, we went to Chinatown and Little Italy. All of us teens got I <3 NY shirts for $3! After walking around for a while, we went back to YSOP for our final meeting, where we filled out evaluations and talked about our week. For dinner, we had pasta. A group from Michigan and the leaders from PH joined us. Now we are cleaning up, and soon we will begin our shareholder letters. Tomorrow is our free day. Can’t wait!