Day 4

A long day. The morning started out beautifully. With clear skies and the rising sun as a backdrop, it really brought out the beauty of St. John's. They are such magnificent hosts. We could be more blessed. Wake up crew was in full stride this morning and the sleepy eyes that looked at them were a testament to the fine work they do. One of our new missioners challenged them by saying as good as they are, they could be better. I suspect the planning is already underway.

By the time everyone woke up, the clear sky was replaced with fog, pretty heavy fog. This fog lasted until almost 9:30, but when it cleared, we were left with another wonderful day. In fact the temperatures ended up being 10 degrees cooler than expected, nobody complained. Working our way through the construction, we arrived at the Church of Jesus only a little later than planned; but it was no problem. our service team, along with a few volunteers, headed to the church to begin the next phase of their project. By the end of the day, the new sub-floor would be in, the hymn board re-hung, and half the basement walls were painted with a weather-proofing paint.

The number of kids we served today was down slightly from yesterday, but still more than day one. Kids are remembering names very well and everyone is genuinely glad to see one another. Riding from the housing area to the church, the youth kept asking how many more days of church. When we said tomorrow was our last day, deep moans could  be heard. As I have mentioned, many of the reservation youth who attend have done so several times over the years. There is a real relationship that has developed over the years as we interact with one another and get to know and understand one another too. I imagine there will once again be tears as we say our good-byes.

The work today was amazing. All the youth enjoyed a blessed day. During the after lunch skit our youth offer, telling the story we are examining that day, the reservation youth have begun to participate in the telling of the story. This is real progress when we look back to our first experience here 8 summers ago. Mother Lauren stopped by today to check on the progress we were making with our service projects. She was taken aback by how far we had come and still more surprised to learn how much of the work was directly attributable to the youth. The transformation of the basement was sheer delight and the new flooring meant she would not sink when stepping in several spots inside the altar rail.

Tomorrow we will finish up. We must reinstall the carpeting and the altar rails; mover the altar back into position and do a thorough cleaning of the place. Still have the red doors to repaint and the basement to finish up. Unless something strange happens, we should finish with plenty of time to spare. After our time on Rosebud came to a close today, we stopped back at the church, changed into swim gear and headed to Smith Falls. A short hike in, we made it to the base of the falls and the first thing our youth did was sit on a big rock under the water (the cold, very cold, water). We then took our annual picture in front of the falls and headed over to check out the river. The river was running high and fast (as anticipated) and the decision was to keep youth from jumping in and playing in the water.

Off we went to the city pool for showers and then back to the church to change and eat dinner. As crazy busy as today was, dinner gave us a chance to settle down and gather our thoughts. Even the work in the kitchen was not too bad and after dinner, our kitchen team made light work of the many dishes. Next came our usual free time, our bible study, and the handing out of mission trip T-Shirts. A little prep for tomorrows VBS and before we knew it, it was time for Compline. The building once again quickly quieted as the lights went off for the night. Tomorrow as they say, is another day; one in which Bishop Barker will be joining us for our daily activities. I think he will be pleased at how well our youth team leaders keep things moving.

In closing, we give thanks for the many blessings we came to know this day and for those that went undiscovered.