Gotta Go

Well, not much time to post today! We're headed to the train station a few hours early...guess why!

The FCC Mission Team

Our Last Day in DC

So here goes the last official blog entry of our day in our Nation’s capital. Oh yeah, this is Hannah by the way. I figured I needed to write on the blog tonight because Ben always talks about how I’m either in the shower or just TOO busy to possibly write on here, so here it goes again.

Well for today’s job for my group (Ben, Kay, Allison, Chris, Jessica, Madison and I) went to Elder Buddies. It is a program run by a woman named Karen Greene who works for the AARP office. She has volunteers come into an apartment building, housing for low-income elderly, and clean out their rooms. She told us when we first got there that the tenants of the building are subject to inspections of their apartments and, for some of them, are evicted due to two things: 1. failure to pay rent due to high medical costs, or 2. failure to pass the inspection test due to lack of cleanliness.

We were then spilt up into smaller groups to assist two women in the cleaning process. Kay, Madison, Allison and I were fortunate to work with a WONDERFUL woman by the name of Jean Campbell. Ms. Campbell is a minister, and going through her cluttered apartment, we came to find out how strong her religious beliefs truly are. Allison and I first tackled a hard job of organizing a table with a bottomless pile of papers. When one thinks of this minor task they might think, “Well, luckily, today there will be little sweating.” Well I will have you know, I have NEVER EVER IN MY WHOLE LIFE sweated as much as I did in that apartment. This woman had been living in her apartment with NO AIRCONDITIONING for who knows how long and all she had to keep her cool was a small fan that I often found myself in front of (that is whenever Madison or Allison weren’t hogging it all). I think Kay, however, worked the hardest out of us all. She was some how fortunate to have the task of cleaning Ms. Campbell’s kitchen (with Allison’s help after we cleaned off the table), somehow eventually finding her way to the bottom of all the mess. Mark today down as another good, rewarding work day…if you are keeping score.

As for the other small group (Ben, Chris, and Jessica) they helped out a woman by the name of Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones is a retired military nurse of some kind from what little I heard about her and she needed some assistance organizing clothes. This group worked to help her get everything the way she wanted it, which as most of you know can be challenging for a woman, especially with her clothes.

After making MANY improvements to these women’s apartments, we caught our Metro (which was the best walk/metro ride we have had to a work site our entire trip…but what could have been worse than the 328 block trek earlier in the week?) back to Metro Center to grab some lunch. We had about had enough peanut butter and jelly this week so we decided to give away our lunches and go somewhere fun to eat. We ended up at a great sandwich place right down the street and then proceed to head on to Barnes and Noble soon after. After hitting up Starbucks and Madison getting a new DVD, Ben, Jessica, Allison, Chris and I headed on back to the church for reflection. After reflection and meeting up with the other part of our group who had been to Food and Friends (the organization my group went to yesterday) we once again split into two groups amongst ourselves and did our nighttime activities. Ben, Erin, Madison, Chris, Jessica, Cara and I ventured out (and when I say ventured, I MEAN ventured) to Tyson’s Corner shopping center. After a long afternoon/night of wrong trains, wrong buses, long buses, rain and fun we finally made it back to pack and prepare for tomorrows train ride. Everyone has been packing for the departure tomorrow morning to Union Station to catch our friend the Amtrak to, once again, ride our 15-hour adventure. The bags are mostly packed…well except for Cara who says she is already packed even though she has more stuff in MY suitcase then I do. So Cara, if you are missing anything when you get home, its more than likely in my suitcase.

Overall, I would say that this trip was a pretty good time. Between the YSOP dinners with the homeless people of DC to Erin’s face when Madison asked her to carry his bags on the broken escalator going up, I can honestly say I had a great time. Thanks to Ben especially for getting us all here and hopefully home one way or the other, we couldn’t have survived without you even if it seemed like we couldn’t stand you at times. Also thanks to Kay, Allison, Vicki and Erin for chaperoning us all here.

I hope that everyone got something out of this trip some how or some way, and I can say that I would do it again in a heartbeat…as long as I don’t have to sleep on those balloon animal sounds cots.

—Hannah

Photo 1: Erin and Vicki post with Chef Tim at Food & Friends.

Photo 2: Vicki and Erin's group helped pack meals for Food & Friends.

Another Day, Another PB & J

Hello readers:

You might hear a complaint or two in this blog. Don’t get us wrong—we know that we have it so much easier than all the people we’ve been helping, but here in DC it’s hotter than I don’t know what. When you walk outside, you sweat, no matter what. To make things even worse, we’ve had to wear the same unwashed T-shirts every day for three days now, and we get to wear it once again tomorrow. In fact, I can now just stand my T-shirt in the corner every afternoon—no hanging or folding required. The most difficult thing for me to deal with so far, besides the sadness and disbelief of the conditions in which so many Americans live, is the number of rats that reside in the courtyard of the church where we’re staying. I’m pretty sure that Sunday night was the first time I’ve ever seen a rat in person, but I’ve seen plenty of them now. I’ve been surprised by their size, which I’d say is about the size of an average clothes iron, and their fearlessness. I keep trying to remember that at least I don’t have to sleep with them. We’ve had so much fun and fulfillment this week, though, that little things like these don’t matter. The challenge now, as one of the people with whom we worked yesterday told us, is to keep up our work from now on—it must become a regular part of our lives.
—Ben

Now you’re going to hear from Megan about what her group did today:

Erin, Vicki, Cara, Samantha, Kristy, and I traveled to The Milestone House. At The Milestone House we were greeted by a vibrant man named Mr. Barry. We had heard stories from other groups about Mr. Barry, but were pleasantly surprised by his kindness and warm smile. He showed us the facilities and described to us how the Home was operated.

Milestone House is an apartment-style building which houses around 35 people. The people who live in Milestone House are those who were homeless or those who are getting back on their feet. To live in the House the tenants have to pay one-third of their wages up to $650. One tenant now makes enough money to get a real apartment still chooses to live at the Milestone House. He does this because on Friday or Saturday evenings Barry drug tests all of the tenants. By remaining at Milestone House, this particular tenant feels as though this requires him to stay clean and drug free.

In the Milestone House, four tenants have their own rooms, share a common area, a kitchen area, and share two bathrooms. The building was bought in 1995 from the government for $1. As a former crack house, much work needed to be done in order to make it suitable for residents. The Milestone House borrowed $1.8 million dollars from the Fannie Mae Foundation and received several government grants. They proudly will pay off their ten-year loan to the Fannie Mae Foundation next month. Also within the building are a modest library, a computer room, a computer repair room, and a state-of-the-art gym. The computer repair room also functions as a classroom, which is open to the entire community to learn more about computers and the way they function. The gym was furnished after a wealthy benefactor won unneeded gym equipment from the Price Is Right.

After the tour was complete we split up into two groups of three. The best group, Vicki, Kristy and I headed upstairs to do some much needed cleaning. A tenant had vacated the apartment and now it needed to be cleaned in order for one of the sixty something people on the waiting list to move in. The furniture needed to be cleaned, the small refrigerator needed cleaning as well as the floors to be swept and mopped. Kristy, eager to not have to mop, volunteered to clean out the refrigerator. BIG MISTAKE!!! Upon opening the refrigerator, she was surprised at the disgusting state. Inside she found trays of old, yellow water, grease, and molded remnants of someone’s lunch. Vicki tackled the floors, only having to re-sweep and mop while Kristy spilled the trays of water from within the fridge. Vicki also tackled the film that remained on the windows. I wiped down the furniture and continued to gag as she wiped out crumbs and hair from within the seemingly endless number of drawers.

Meanwhile, Erin, Samantha and Cara cleaned the conference room. The conference had been damaged last week by a fire within the building on the third floor. A mop was left in the water heater closet to dry. One of the tenants forgot to take it out of the closet throughout the night. After several hours it fell and the mop end landed right near the pilot light of the hot water heater. That immediately set off the sprinkler system. Gallons upon gallons of water spilled out into the floor which traveled all the way down to the basement workout room from the third floor. The conference room had been painted and by a group preceding ours. Erin, Sam, and Cara now cleaned off the furniture, windows, floors, and an adjoining bathroom. The conference room houses a small kitchenette. The day before we arrived, Barry informed us, the garbage disposal had broken. He asked of us only one thing, PLEASE DON’T USE THAT SINK. So naturally what does Miss Cara Boyd do? Well, everyone was advised to bring a water bottle. Cara brought probably the biggest cup I’ve ever seen. We were about to depart the Milestone House, Cara decided she no longer needed her water because our work there was complete. So she turns before any of us can stop her and dumps out her cup. From below the sink, we all hear the water spilling out onto the freshly mopped floor. We quickly ran to the broom closet and got the mop back out and cleaned up the floor before Barry returned. We now closely monitor Cara and keep her on a leash. We then said our good-byes to Barry and had our picture taken with him outside of the Milestone House. Tomorrow our group will head to Food ‘N Friends to serve food for those with HIV/AIDS and other terminal illnesses.
—Megan

This is Ben again, to tell you what my group did today. By the way, I’ve tried to get everyone to write this blog, but there are not many takers. I think it’s nice to see other people’s point of view, because they notice and experience things that I do not, so maybe, before the trip is over (one more day, really) you’ll get to hear from almost everyone. Until then, though, you’ll have to get your information from me.

Hannah, Chris, Madison, Jessica, Kay, Allison and I went to Food and Friends, an organization that feeds people with HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging, terminal illnesses. This organization does not rely on donated food, as many of the homeless shelters do, because all their clients are immuno-compromised due to their illnesses. Food and Friends is a beautiful facility that seems to do everything to perfection. They have an extremely nice kitchen, where Hannah, Chris, Jessica and Kay helped prepare meals. Allison, Madison and I did some administrative work. When it was time for lunch, the three of us took a break and went to get our peanut butter sandwiches that we pack every day for our lunch. One of the employees there saw what we were about to eat and insisted that he bring us something from upstairs. So we had no choice but to eat lasagna, vegetables and apple cobbler from the kitchen. Our group members who had been working so hard in the kitchen got a cookie from the head chef, and were sent downstairs for their PB and J sandwiches, just as we were finishing up. Needless to say, they were a little angry, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles (no pun intended).

If you would like more information on Food and Friends, you can visit their web page at http://www.foodandfriends.org/.

After we finished our work for today, we were able to do some sightseeing. We began at the Holocaust Museum. If you ever have the chance to visit this museum, please do so. I cannot say that visiting this museum is a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination, but it is something everyone should see. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that so many people could be coerced into believing that it is acceptable to kill people, not just because of their religion, but for their race, their mental and physical disabilities, their sexuality, or any other reason for that matter. The museum is truly an overwhelming experience, and I could never, ever describe it adequately.

Afterwards, we had a “Monuments by Moonlight” tour of the nation’s capital. It was great fun riding in a trolley and seeing the city. We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial (which is incredible), the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, the White House, and many other important sites.

Tomorrow is our last full day in DC. Be sure to check out our latest adventures soon!

The FCC Mission Team

Photo 1: The kids in front of the Washington Monument.

Photo 2: Chris and Madison having fun at Food & Friends.

Photo 3: Ben's group finished with a day's work at Food & Friends.

Finding our purpose

Hello again, faithful readers! Today you’re going to here from several people on the trip—not just me, so enjoy! Samantha, Cara, Megan, Kristy, Vicki and Erin worked at a women’s shelter called N Street Village, and Hannah, Chris, Jessica, Madison, Allison, Kay and Ben worked at a men’s shelter called Central Union Mission.
—Ben


Today has been a very good day. Yesterday was ok, but I didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment that today brought. From the moment we entered the shelter until we left, the people made us feel very welcome. James was in charge of the kitchen. He was helpful, appreciative, and praised every task that was completed. After we finished prep for the noon meal he said we should sit down and take a break. He had gained the respect of our youth by his attitude in the kitchen. He began talking about his life. He had been one of the fortunate ones in terms of family and examples that had been set but he began to tell about the choices he had made that led to his being homeless. We went to the shelter thinking we would be helping them but we were on the receiving end.
He gave more to our youth and us in that short time than we gave the people at the shelter.
—Kay


Hey, everybody it is Allison. Today has been a very enlightgening day. I have been reminded how very BLESSED you and I are in this world. When I have my “poor pitiful me” days, I will be reminded of the individuals I have met here in our National Capital.
Today we worked in a soup kitchen. We each had several different jobs. One of the jobs I had was to make bacon bits for the salad. I was like Paula Dean and making BIG BITES and James the guy in charged told me we had to make the bacon last so I had to finely chopped the bacon. Hopefully I will become less wastefully in the future. I do pray that the youth will take some of the information the homeless are trying to pass on to them about choices.
—Allison


So far this mission trip has been a very humbling experience for me. Today, my group went to N Street Village, which is a homeless shelter for women only. The volunteer coordinator gave us a tour of the facility and explained all the programs and services they offered. They provide dental, chiropractic, massage, and basic healthcare for their clients. It was a very nice and clean facility. After the tour of the building, the volunteer coordinator gave us our project for the day. We (almost) put together two armoires. Vicki, Megan and Kristy completely finished one of the armoires. My group seemed to have a little more difficulty with the instructions. Cara, Samantha, and I worked very hard on the project; we just didn’t catch on as quickly as the other group. We walked to and from the facility. It was very hot and I feel like I have sweat since we got here.
I have to go to bed now. Hope everything is going well in P-Town. I love you: mom, dad, and Evan (you too, Bethany).
—Erin


When asked to come on this mission trip I was really excited about the good times with all of the people going. The really, really, REALLY long train ride was miserable and the conditions of the church we are staying in are kind of (and by kind of I mean REALLY REALLY) old and disgusting. So for the first two days (Sunday and Monday) everyone seemed to complain A LOT , myself included. But, today was the first day I felt a sense on completion and accomplishment not only for myself but towards others. We were sent on a half marathon trek (F street to R street with a few random name streets in between) to an all-men’s shelter, where we were given the opportunity to prepare lunch and dinner for the men staying the shelter. I was given the task of chopping up the onions, celery and green peppers for this odd concoction that appeared to be spaghetti sauce. If you have ever been with me in a kitchen or if you were in my group today you know that I am not exactly the cleanest cook, and poor Jessica had to sweep up my mess 3 different times…thanks again Jessica. So after we helped make the food and heard about the mission of the shelter we trekked on back to the church (but stopping somewhere between here and there for our gourmet lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple sauce) to get ready to cook for the meal we were to prepare for tonight.

So if you have read everyone else’s post on the blog thus far, you can see what we did tonight and how amazing it was…I wont bore you with the same story again. But I will say this, all the complaining that we all did during our trip up to today, I regret because I have seen the other side now. I have a newfound sense of compassion for what I have and don’t want to take advantage of it. So although the showers are still gross and I am still deathly afraid the track running around the circumference of our room may cave in on my head at any moment, I can appreciate the reason I am on this trip. Too bad you all aren’t here to sweat it out with us.

Mom, sorry I haven’t called but I know you are reading this cause you live for this blog and you now know every detail of this trip (love you!) and dad, well the same I guess, if you even know how to get to this on a computer. I hope everything is going well in P-town.
—Hannah


Hey everyone! This is Jessica, Kay’s Granddaughter. This mission trip has been an experience. Today we helped out in the kitchen and did a few cleaning things like sweeping and washing off tables and counter tops but I think my favorite part of the day was when we finished, James or D-Bone sat down with us and just shared a little bit of his story. He told us how he gave into peer pressure when he was younger and was at the wrong place at the wrong time and how slowly but surely bad things just crept into his life. And I think a lot of teens can relate to that because there is so much peer pressure in today’s society. You really have to be focused on what you want to accomplish and go for it.

Later, we fixed dinner for the homeless people and my group was assigned to fix the bread. This entailed cutting it, buttering it, and adding salt and cheese. Well let’s just say we kind of had a hard time with the cooking instructions and it ended up taking twice as long as it should have, as a matter of fact I think we were the last people done. Meeting all the homeless people was very humbling, they are all so happy and to tell you the truth if I was in their position I don’t know if I would be that happy. They were so grateful; every time I asked someone if they would like some more tea or something to eat they would say, “Yes Ma’am” or “No thank you, I’m fine” and then tell me happy they were to be here. It made me really think about some of the things I take for granted and how it could all be gone tomorrow. Overall I was very impressed with everyone and everything. I’m having a pretty good time and all of the kids and adults are awesome, I’m glad I came.
—Jessica


When I was helping prepare lunch at Central Union Mission, I couldn’t believe the quality of the food we had to use. I had to go through a box of rotten, slimy lettuce (I’m not exaggerating) to find edible leaves for BLT sandwiches. This was lettuce that we would never even consider using in our own homes, but toward the center of each lettuce head, I did find a few decent-looking leaves that I washed and dried. We also made a salad that started out with a huge bowl of fresh-looking lettuce, but then we added the chicken and parmesan cheese from about 30 pre-packaged Caesar salads in which the lettuce had gone bad, along with the individually packaged cheese, peppers, black beans and corn that were meant for southwestern omelets. In addition, I grated six pounds of cheese that expired last October, but at least it was Velveeta. My point to all this is that, to me, it seems unfair that if you hardly ever get a decent meal, it should at least be fresh, and not a meal that might make you sick. It also makes me feel bad a bout the times I’ve had a fully stocked fridge and cupboard, but went to Kroger to buy something else, just because I wasn’t in the mood for what I already had at home.
—Ben

Photo 1: Kay was the resident dishwasher at Central Union Mission today.

Photo 2: Chris and Allison prepare the bacon for BLT's at Central Union.

Photo 3: Sam and Cara put together an armoire at the N Street Village.

Photo 4: Rachael Ray's got nothing on Hannah!

Photo 5: Madison helps clean up the kitchen at Central Union.

Photo 6: Sam and Cara play Uno with a man who ate at the dinner we prepared.

A much better day!

Hello everyone!

This is Ben again, since Erin and Hannah are still in the shower.

Today we met in the commons room at the church at around 7 a.m. We had to make our lunches, which consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, applesauce, a fruit punch Capri Sun and granola bar choice. We will be enjoying this meal every day while we’re here, by the way. We also helped make lunches for another group who didn’t get to the church until around 8 a.m. This group is from the First Church of Lombard, Illinois. They are a UCC church and brought about 60 kids with them, and that’s not even all of their youth group. If all their youth group members have really strong personalities like the members of our group, their sponsors are in for a challenge! There is not enough room for them to stay here with us, so they are staying at a nearby youth hostel. We are enjoying having the whole gym to ourselves.

So this morning after making lunch we had breakfast here at the church—bagels and cream cheese from Au Bon Pain, which is a little bakery right next door to the church. After breakfast we had an orientation meeting with the other groups, where we were told exactly what we would be doing today.

Everyone here this week has been divided into smaller groups, and our group has been divided into two separate groups. The red group is Ben, Kay, Allison, Madison, Jessica, Hannah and Chris, and the blue group is Erin, Vicki, Samantha, Cara, Megan and Kristy. Each day we will be going to separate destinations, but today, both our groups went together to the Capital Area Food Bank.

The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest, public nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in Washington DC metropolitan area. Each year the CAFB distributes 20 million pounds of food, including six million pounds of fresh produce through over 700 member agencies. They sponsor classes for lower income people to teach them how to make nutritious meals and snacks on a budget. They also have a Kids’ Café, in which they teach kids to make their own food.

We took the Metro to the food bank, where we were assigned two different jobs. One group packed more than 400 bags of food for students who probably do not have much to eat on the weekends. The bags consisted of cans of luncheon meat and chicken breast, a box of macaroni and cheese, sunflower seeds and a juice box. The other group stuffed, stamped and sealed more than 700 envelopes that were sent to the food bank’s member agencies. As a side note, Hannah and Cara were called down for being too loud while stuffing envelopes in one of the offices at the food bank.

One of the main areas of DC that the food bank services, called ward 8, has only two supermarkets for more than 100,000 people. By contrast, most other areas have a major supermarket for every 15,000 people. So, if a person living in ward 8 does not have a car, or money for transportation, or is disabled, they have a very difficult time obtaining healthy food. One of the purposes of the food bank is to fill this gap by distributing food to people in this area.

After leaving the food bank, we went to the CVS near the church to buy some breakfast foods, soft drinks and other miscellaneous supplies. When we returned to the church, we had a snack (Club crackers, whipped cream cheese spread and water) and reflection time about everyone’s experiences for the day.

After the reflection, we were headed to the National Museum of Natural History. On the way out of the church, however, we struck up a conversation with Francine, who works for a newspaper called “Street Sense” written for homeless people to sell. She began telling us all about the paper and invited us to come visit the paper’s office (which is in the same church where we’re staying) where we met other people who work for the paper. We heard some interesting stories and ended up buying 13 copies of their paper and five copies of their book “Street Verses” which contains poems written by homeless people. Francine was excited that her recipe for scalloped potatoes, along with her picture, was in the current edition of the paper.

After visiting with Francine and company, we headed to the museum where we saw an Imax movie about lions in 3-D. We learned that elephants do not enjoy lions whatsoever, and tend to take charge of the situation whenever they’re around. The female lions do all the hunting, but as soon as they’ve killed a gazelle, the male lion comes and takes it away to eat. The females then have to go kill another gazelle. You’d think those gazelles would get a clue after seeing so many of their loved ones being attacked and eaten. I guess they just think, “That won’t happen to me.”

After the touring the museum, we headed to Chinatown, where we ate at everyone’s favorite Chinatown destination—Ruby Tuesday, where some of us got excellent service and others (namely Chris) got really poor service. While eating, Hannah was convinced that she knew a man sitting at an adjacent table, but did not want to confront him about it. Cara decided to ask him his name when she ran into him at the salad bar and she told Hannah that his name was Dan. The name didn’t ring a bell, but as he was leaving, Hannah told him she was sure he knew him. She asked him where he was from, and he’s from Fort Worth, Texas, and she met him just a couple of weeks ago at Frog Camp at TCU. It’s a small world after all!

Right outside Ruby Tuesday, a homeless man asked for bus fare. Chris and Kay gave him some money, and we learned that he was from Lexington, Kentucky. He was familiar with YSOP and he was trying to get to a shelter before curfew. He had just gotten a job today pouring cement, so hopefully he will be back on his feet soon. It was really interesting talking to him and finding out his point of view on different issues. We also had the chance to buy dinner for another homeless person.

After Hannah’s sighting of the man she knew from Texas, Jessica thought she saw a WNBA player for Mystics at the Subway station. When she was too scared to ask her about it, our brave little Cara confronted the woman, only to find out that Jessica was mistaken. This led to a string of mistaken celebrity sightings at the subway station, including Danny DeVito and Reba McEntire.

We headed back to the church after that for showers and bed. It takes a long time to take a shower here because there are only two for males and two for females, and they have the water pressure of slow-leaking faucet. The temperature of the water changes from freezing cold to boiling hot with each drop. Another interesting note about the showers is that we share them with homeless people, although not simultaneously. They use the showers while we’re doing work during the day.

Let’s see…what else did we learn today? We learned to stand on the right-hand side of the escalator in order to avoid death looks from commuters.

Tomorrow, we are all getting up at 5 a.m. to jog around the block a few times before breakfast. (Just making sure you’re still reading!)

We are having a really good time here in DC, and hopefully we are making our congregation and city proud.

The FCC Mission Team

Photo 1: Jessica and Chris make lunches while Madison enjoys a cup of water.

Photo 2: Cara and Vicki show a little love on the Metro on the way to the Capital Area Food Bank.

Photo 3: The team prepares bags of food for underprivileged children and their families.

Photo 4: The team takes advantage of a photo op in front of a Pakistani painted bus.

Photo 5: Madison in front of the Smithsonian.

Photo 6: ???

One of these days, we'll look back and laugh...

Hello,

This is Ben writing the blog today. It’s rather long, because a lot has happened already!

Our trip to Washington DC got off to an interesting start to say the least. It began rather normally, with no problems during the drive to Cincinnati. We arrived in Cincinnati at around 8 p.m. and checked into our hotel, which was only about a mile from the train station where we were to catch our train at 3:14 a.m.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to go out for dinner. We walked around Fountain Square, which was full of people watching a movie on a giant outdoor screen. We found the Rock Bottom Brewery and enjoyed a good meal there, then we headed back to the hotel.

We had decided we would leave the hotel at around 2 a.m. to make sure we had plenty of time to board the train. In the meantime, I decided to call Amtrak just to make sure the train was running on time. The information line said that the train was running 28 minutes late and wouldn’t be leaving until 3:42 a.m. So, we decided to leave around 2:30 so we wouldn’t have to wait around in the train station.

Using our Mapquest (use at your own risk, by the way) directions, we made a few turns and looked for exit 1H, the one we were supposed to take for the train station. We saw exits 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G, then exit 2. So exit 1H doesn’t exist. “No big deal,” we thought, since we still had more than an hour before the train was to depart Cincinnati. Kay, Vicki and Allison were following us in Kay’s car, so I called Vicki and told her what we were doing. We took exit 2, and decided we would head back in the right direction. There happened to be a 24-hour McDonald’s at that exit, so I decided to stop for a cup of coffee, since we still had at least an hour before the train departed. As I was paying for my cup of coffee, my phone rang. I noticed Cincinnati’s 513 area code in the caller ID, and couldn’t imagine who it could be.

I answered, and the man on the line asked to speak to Erin, so I handed the phone to her. I heard her explaining to the man how the train was delayed according to Amtrak’s 800 number. She hung up and said the train was leaving in 15 minutes. She tried to explain to them what their information line told us, and he rudely told her not to argue with him.

We were between the drive-thru windows, and I had paid for my coffee, but not picked it up yet. Needless to say, I peeled out of the line, and headed to the train station. It was like a chase scene from the Dukes of Hazzard: Church-van Style, with the only near-casualty being a man filling a newspaper vending machine on a corner we cut a little too close. We found the exit for the train station and took it. Kay, Vicki and Allison, however, did not—we saw them go right past it.

And so began the most stressful chain of events that I’ve experienced so far in my life.

We were unloading luggage like crazy people, and I was trying to manage my luggage as well as two telephone conversations at once. We were trying to stay in contact with Vicki, as well as get all the kids to the boarding gate. No one in the missing party was sure where they were or where they were going, and I knew that another train wouldn’t be heading to DC until Tuesday. We were all praying that everyone would make it on time, but it was also difficult to manage our anger (or my anger) at the Amtrak employees who could not seem to fathom why we were late.

When we told them what their information line said, they told us that the information was unreliable. “No $#*%,” I thought, or might have even said. They told us repeatedly that the train would not wait for anyone.

While everyone was getting ready to board the train, I was out in the parking lot trying to get the others to the train station. When Vicki said, “I see it!” referring to the giant clock (the irony!) on the front of the train station you can imagine the sense of relief I felt knowing that I would not have to single-handedly strap myself to the tracks in front of the train to keep it from leaving, like people do to prevent their favorite tree from being cut down or save an old building from the wrecking ball.

As everyone made their way to the platform, Kay, Vicki and I noticed some of our party’s luggage that was still in the waiting area with no one there to carry it. I still don't know how the three of us got all that luggage to the platform, up and down all those stairs and ramps. Seriously, we were so loaded down that we stopped just short of being like that African tribe that balances their every possession on top of their heads.

When we finally got on the train and sat down, and the conductor started checking our tickets, I had tears in my eyes—I guess from both stress, and the relief that we were all on board together and safe. The fact that I had been awake for nearly 24 hours probably also played a part. Anyway, the conductor told me not to worry, that everything was going to be ok.

Once everything was calm and the train was moving, I thought about how I had acted during those stressful minutes, and I didn’t like what I was remembering. Instead of keeping my cool, I snapped at Erin, who had done nothing but help me. I also barked orders to a few of the kids. I even got in the face of a woman I didn’t know about the extra luggage I had been carrying. “Whose bag is this?!?” I was shouting. She just looked at me, and, not lowering my voice I said, “I don’t even know you!” As you might imagine, running into her on the train later was more than a little awkward.

So, I’ve decided that I will try my hardest to handle such situations more diplomatically and more Christian-like in the future.

After a long, long time on the train, we finally made it to DC, where the stress met us once again. It was difficult getting everyone and everything off the train, and on to the subway, but we did it. Everyone handled things a little better this time, even when at the very moment we all boarded an escalator, it ceased to move.

We found the Church of the Epiphany, where we’re staying, very quickly, and Ali L. greeted us at the door. She is an intern for Youth Opportunities Service Project, with whom we’re working on this trip. She oriented us to the building and the area around us, and told us some of the exciting things we’ll be doing this week.

We’re staying in the upstairs gymnasium of the church, which is really old. There is an elevated track that runs the circumference of the gym, but we were told to stay off of it, as it is not sound.

We ate at a McDonald’s about a block away from the church, then went back to the church to take showers and go to bed.

Stay tuned for more adventures, and keep us in your prayers!

The FCC Mission Team

Photos 1 and 2: The group enjoying a nice meal at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Cincinnati before the train debacle.

Photo 3: Hannah, Megan, Cara and Sam wait for breakfast to be served on the Cardinal.

Photo 4: Vicki and Kay try to catch some Z's on the train.

Photo 5: Ben and Erin take a moment from their Railroad French Toast to pose for a photo.

Youth Are On Their Way! Washington D.C. Here We Come!!!

The F.C.C. Youth and their Adult Sponsers pulled out of the church parking lot at 12:26 P.M. today. They are headed to Cincinnati to catch the train that will take them to Washington D.C. where they will be doing their mission work at a local shelter and soup kitchen.

Please keep this group in your prayers this week.

We Are On The Road Again!

F.C.C. will be hitting the road again with two upcoming mission trips.

On Saturday June 23, 2007 our youth and adult leaders will be headed to Washington D.C. for a mission trip. While there they will be working with the homeless. They will return June 29th. Those that will be going are: Chris Wadlington, Samantha Jones, Madison Berry, Hannah James, Cara Boyd, Jessica Wyatt, Kristy Graziano, Megan Dewey, Ben Morehead, Erin Lyles, Vicki Jones, Allision Clark, and Kay Henry.

On Sunday July 8,2007 an adult mission team will be headed to Slidell, LA. While there the mission team will be rebuilding/repairing homes that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Those that will be headed to Slidell are Ben Morehead, Dudley Wagner, Mary Boaz, Hannah James, Drew Martin, and Mariann Lankton.

Please keep all of these folks in your prayers. More updates will be posted in the upcoming days.