Last Day of Service in DC: A City of Contrasts

Thursday was our last full day of mission work.  One group went to help prepare food in the DC Central kitchen that feeds thousands every day.  Another group cooked up 150 hotdogs and took them to feed the homeless hanging out on the street in downtown Washington.  Imagine homeless vets and American citizens living on the streets literally in the shadow of the Capitol building.

IN the afternoon we had our final kids club and VBS time.  Our youth were sad to say goodbye to some of the children they connected with.  We heard stories of rough family life, including a ten-year old boy who was asked to hide a gun for older kids and a child who had a brother killed in street violence.

After dinner Tyrone, one of the Salvation Army staff members told us about the SA and the issues in this neighborhood.  He had been a prep-school teacher and decided he wanted a different kind of challenge, so he taught high school in Baltimore and then came to the SA here in DC.  This neighborhood is 60 % Latino, with a significant African American population.  Gentrification of downtown has pushed poverty out into these older suburbs.  One of the best things the SA does is offer after-school programs free of charge.  They have seen a one grade reading improvement for kids in the program.  This is important because sociologists have seen a link between third-grade reading levels and crime rates.

It was our last regular evening together with the Experience Mission staff so it was hard to get everyone to settle.  But now they are up for our Friday of exploring DC together.  Lindsay is already on her way to Seattle, and we will lose Isaac and the Blair boys in the morning.  So it will be a quiet ride home on Saturday, with room to stretch out in the vans.  We hope to be back to the church by about 4 or 5pm.  We'll call when we get close.

We may write again, but if not, it was a wonderful trip.  Thanks for all your support.

A tired Pastor.

DC Day Four: From Paint to Monuments

Day four was a satisfying day of work, kids club and monuments.  Our work crews pushed through to finish painting all four walls of the gym.  Pictures don't do justice at at how much better it looks now.  Before the current leadership came to this branch of the Salvation Army, the gym had fallen into disuse and disrepair.  Captain Pradeep came and had a vision to  restore it as a source of income through rentals and an after-school place for the neighborhood.  He received a grant to install 6 new air-conditioning units and is seeking funding for a new floor.  Our painting covered up water damage and many years of scrapes and peeling.  Tuesday night the rain came in a broken window so we had to rig up a cardboard fix.

Sarah led a small detail of helpers to finish weeding the planted area in front of the building.  She gave everyone lessons on how edible each weed was, so we had a wonderful salad that night (sans the weeds).  Our kids clubs teams once again made friends with a smaller, but wonderful group of children.

After a fun dinner that celebrated Marcello's acceptance into the National Jazz Band as percussionist (ice cream and Moon Pies), we headed into DC for our monument at night tour.  It was a perfect 75 degree evening.  We started at the Jefferson Memorial with the sun setting over the Tidal Basin.  We walked around to FDR and MLK, then we hopped back in the van to get to the amazing Lincoln Memorial.  They all seemed to remember Forest Gump speaking from the steps more than MLK.  What does that say about this generation?  We ended the evening by walking through the somber Viet Nam Memorial on the way back to the van.  

It was a late evening, which made for a tired morning.  We awoke to our last full day of work.  One group already left for the.    The rest of us leave a DC park to feed the homeless.  Then it's more kids club and our last evening with our Experience Mission Team.  

More Day Three

Hey all,

Day 3 has been really memorable. We started off with some nice warm pancakes and eggs with the help of Graham and Seamus. Then, Nikki, Seamus, Henry, Dale and I painted the Gym until lunch. It looks so much better now and we can't stop admiring it when we go in to play basketball. After, Nikki and I helped make some tasty sandwiches for lunch and that gave us energy to go to the kids club. Those kids just light up my day and I gave at least 20 piggy-back rides! Elisabeth led the kids with some wonderful songs and passages from Corinthians and they made some awesome hats with stickers and drawings. I then helped with the VBS from 5-7 and we had Taco Tuesday tonight. Theo showed us a nice technique for wrapping the tacos up! We just finished an awesome game of basketball and I'm gonna shower with the hot water we just received! Can't wait for the monuments tomorrow in DC!

-Marcello A. Carelli

Hello all,

I can't really put Day 3 any better than what Marcello said, but I can tell you a few stellar moments of my day. At the kids-club today, I met a little dude named Maurice who loved to wrestle. It really put a smile on my face when he tackled my older brother Graham after I told him to. What a beast. Also, the three leaders staying here at Salvation Army with us are extremely friendly -- Mina, Liberty, and Noel. They all have different talents and all strive to help make a difference in the world. Knowing that there are such amazing people out there is very reassuring and definitely has made this experience awesome. Well, that's all I really have to say. About to lie down on my half-inflated air-mattress in a room crowded with around 7 other dudes and get ready for my day tomorrow, which will hopefully be just as fun. Despite the small rooms and cold showers, this trip has really been great so far! Definitely also excited to see DC tomorrow as well.

- Seamus Blair

Mission To DC, Day Three: Surviving the Storm

It's pouring rain after an evening thunderstorm moved through the area.  We're huddled in our Salvation Army Headquarters for the evening.  I'm going to sit down and write a few thoughts to go with some photos.  The kids are too busy having some much-deserved down time.  The boys (mostly) are in the gym playing basketball, while some of the girls are getting crafts ready for tomorrow.  I overheard one of our youth say, "this is the best mission trip ever."  

Today I led a team that painted the entire wall up to about 8 feet.  They were so patient and thorough.  The wall looked great until the thunderstorm tonight and the broken window let a lot of water run down the wall and mess up our paint job.

One team went a visited a local nursing home.  They made conversation and tried to play some simple games with some of the residents.  In the afternoon there was a kids club off-site and then a similar vacation Bible School here at the Salvation Army.

Tomorrow we are going to feed the homeless in DC, paint the gym some more, and run kids club.  In the evening we plan to tour the monuments at night.  

Believe it or not we are half way through the work week.

Love your kids!

Pastor Dale

DC Mission Trip Day Two: Lots of Kids

Hey, it's Theo.  So last night everybody crawled to their own corner of the building we are staying in to watch the Game of Thrones season 6 finale.  It was crazy, but today I put my phone on airplane mode for the rest of the week and got ready to work.  We woke up today and ate breakfast with the group.  Graham, Alexa, Nikki and I were assigned painting duty.  We painted part of the Salvation Army gymnasium and will do more tomorrow.  Next, we spent some time in a park and met a little girl named Sarah.  Later in the day, Graham and I performed a quick skit for some kids to teach them about God's love.  We killed it.  Now, I'm very hungry and I'm wondering what's for dinner.  The trip is off to a good start. :)

Today, I started off the day with Isaac shredding checks and other various papers before heading off to try and start a kids club. We met a really nice girl named Sarah and she was really sweet. When we got back to the Salvation Army, we helped with the VBS and I was in charge of the crafts. I prepped a foam aquarium with neon paints and waited for the kids to come. After most of the kids started painting, I heard a little boy named Jairo asking his brother in Spanish about whether he could get a wet napkin for his hands. I got him the napkin and he was so happy that someone heard him, while his brother was happy to have someone else to talk with him. We talked and he painted his little animals and got me all dirty from the paint while his hands got sticky from the glue. He was adorable and his brother Bautista was excited to have him distracted and have another friend that could speak Spanish and English so he wouldn't be bothered. I can't wait to see him tomorrow for VBS since he lives down the street.  I'm excited for what the rest of the trip has in store :) 

~ Lindsay 

More Day One

This is Graham. The ride down was fun; I slept a lot. As soon as we got here, we started playing soccer and basketball and it is very fun. We ate spaghetti for dinner and we are having a great time so far. Nina, Noelle and Liberty, our leaders, are very nice, and I can't wait to start work tomorrow. Peace.

So far so good! The Salvation Army facility is very large and spacious, although we are packed tight into our rooms. We were welcomed with open arms by Liberty, Nina, and Noelle, who served us a delicious spaghetti dinner. There is a full sized gym down the hall, where we played long games of basketball and soccer. Let's see what tomorrow brings!

-Isaac Bauer 

Hello all! The ride down was very pleasant with a little traffic. We stopped twice, but we got to Salvation Army at around 4 pm. We were greeted with wonderful home made goody bags with the Capital building drawn beautifully on them. The three young leaders at Experience Mission made us a nice Italian dinner and then Marcus, Henry and I volunteered to clean up the kitchen and washed the dishes. The youth leaders then gave us a nice introduction with some songs and rules and then we went over some of the kids songs with Elisabeth. We just played two hours of nonstop basketball and I'm definitely sleeping well tonight! It's only the beginning and I'm excited for what will happen tomorrow!

-Marcello Carelli

DC Mission Trip, Day One

We have arrived at our base camp for the week.  I use the military terminology because we are the guests of the Salvation Army in Prince George County, Maryland.  The drive was uneventful, with just the usual Sunday afternoon traffic.  We stopped for lunch at Moe's just after crossing the big Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Once we arrived here we met our three energetic young women who work for Experience Mission.  Their names are Liberty, Noelle and Mina (from Idaho, Tennessee and Texas).  They are very helpful and even cooked a great spaghetti dinner for our first meal.

Most of the kids are in the gym playing basketball for some free time after dinner.  Earlier we had our first meeting and began preparing for Kids club.  Our other activities/projects will be to do some repairs/painting of this facility, walk the neighborhood to invite children to come to Kids Club, visit a nursing home and a park used by homeless citizens.  So, we are ready.  Thanks for all your support to get us here.  We are so proud of your kids and you would be too!

Pastor Dale

A Picture is Worth...

For two Sundays in January PCMK hosted the amazing posters of the "Humanize not Militarize" project.  They were on loan from the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago where our daughter Debbie works.  The posters were grouped under the themes of the important justice issues of our time, such as war, policing, borders and prisons.  They were made by artists around the country and they could be beautiful or quite upsetting, but they always made you think, and that is obviously the goal.

The posters were part of our MLK weekend focus at PCMK which included the preaching of Rick Ufford-Chase in worship.  Rick challenged us to reflect on our position of privilege and how that has gotten in the way of our message of God's justice.  After the posters were up for two weekends at PCMK, we took them to Stony Point Conference Center and the meeting of the Hudson River Presbytery.  There I led a "community conversation" based on the posters and the issues they speak to.  Currently the posters are on display at the new Art Center at Stony Point as part of a Lenten exhibit.

I have my favorites from the collection, but it was fascinating to watch other people react to the various posters.  Everyone I talked to thought they were amazing and provocative.  I'm sure not everyone agreed with the perspective being shared, but no one objected to being exposed to such thought-provoking art.

If you are interested, you can check out the "Humanize not Militarize" project at AFSC by using the following link: http://allofus.afsc.org/posters.

Thank you to all the artists and the people of AFSC who work so hard to make us live up to our ideals of liberty and justice for all.

See you in church (or at the Art Center),

Pastor Dale