Day Six - Friday, July 31

Grace and peace...

Today was a day for the team. There was no labor. No painting or projects; only playing and worship. The day began with the usual breakfast of some tasteless things and then the team was off to white water rafting. DJ, my young friend, and I were on injured reserve and did not go, so I report what others have told me. DJ hung around camp for a while and I slept the sleep of the dead for about an hour and a half. It was raining, I was exhausted and sleeping under a tin roof with rain falling while in a warm sleeping bag was the rest state of a fetus in the womb.

White water rafting was a blast for all. It was not only raining as they rafted, but it had been raining off and on throughout the week, so the water level and speed were both elevated. Most managed to stay in the raft, but a few got to experience full immersion into the 70 degree water. On one particular rapid, the rocks sent the raft one way while inertia continued its riders forward and the team watched Christina in a weird slow-motion kind of way slide over in the raft and then right over the edge into the water. Christina has been giving Phillip (son of Felinto, our Brazilian seminarian friend) a hard time since then because, as she says, "He just watched me slide into the water and didn't reach out to grab me." Phillip has his defense and the two are enjoying verbal sparring over the episode. A few others fell in a different points, but all made it through the rapids safely.

Teamwork and unity are a requirement in white water rafting. When the guide says to paddle, all have to paddle. When the guide says to pull the oars up, all have to do it. Again, this was a good exercise for our youth. They were required to work together for a common purpose. I wish I could take the entire church out for an event like that so we could realized that we are all working for a common purpose of making Christ known and work together to make that happen. The youth came back from their white water excursion chattering away about the trip and in a way most didn't realize: closer to each other.

When we were all reunited and the rafters put on dry clothes it was time for lunch. I will tell you that the enjoyment of mission camp is the mission itself (see previous post for how I now see this mission), not the food. The food at camp keeps us alive. That's about all I can say about it. Today, it was sloppy joe's for lunch. I could only get through about a quarter of my sloppy joe before giving it a proper burial in the trash can. And that is unusual for me because I hate throwing away food. But it was that bad. The fries with the sloppy joe's were like eating pencils. We determined then and there that we wanted pizza from a recognizable source like Papa Johns or Dominos for dinner.

After lunch we went into town to do a little sightseeing. Small as the town of Copperhill is, at this time of year, there is a constant stream of tourists. The Blue Ridge Expressway train carries a new load of tourists in every hour. There are shops with mountain decor and speciality items, a nice scenic river, and a few places to eat. Near the center of town, there is a blue line painted across the main street and into some parking lots that is the official state line between Georgia and Tennessee. Several posed for pictures with a foot on both sides of the line proving that a person can, in fact, be two places at one time.

We returned to camp, had some free time then headed back to town for our closing ceremony. We were meeting Al and Jean MacKenzie at the Horseshoe Bend park again. Al and Jean picked up Pizza Hut pizza from Blue Ridge. They stayed in Ellijay, Georgia at an RV park and Blue Ridge was on their way to Copperhill. Blue Ridge also had the only chain pizza place around. Pizza Hut was a big hit. Compared to camp food, it was five star dining. Veritable manna from heaven.

Eddie, Betty and their daughter Jaclyn, owners of the house where we spent most of our week, joined us in the park. They came to bless and thank us. They also brought a bench that our team started and they completed, painted and wanted us to sign. All of us signed it and Betty was going to seal it then put it on their porch to remember us. We circled together and talked and laughed for a while. Betty shared some poetry with us on what it means to them to have met us and how we helped them. With tears in her eyes, she thanked us. Eddie too talked about what this week meant to him. It was hard for this strong man to not be able to provide for his family after a job loss and with a chronic health issue causing him great pain as he walks. It occurred to me that many in this country know Eddie's inner struggle in today's economy. With a prayer from Al MacKenzie and after lots of hugs from the team, they were off and that chapter of our mission was over. There was a feeling of loss mixed with the satisfaction of having done something useful for God and for a family in need.

The final act of the week took the next four hours. In that same circle, the team took turns sharing where we saw Christ at work in each of the team members during the week. When it was time for each person, we began with a fun award printed on a paper plate for each person. Little Charlene, for example, got overcoming her fears award for dealing with her fear of bugs, minnows that nip at your toes, "roller coaster" roads and others. I got an award for being able to change out of jeans and into a bathing suit in broad daylight with complete modesty under cover of a single towel. The bathrooms were closed and I wanted to swim, so I got into the bushes, grabbed a towel and improvised. After each person got their award, the sharing began. And so did the tears. And so did the laughter. It was a meaningful, if not exhausting (four hours!) process. No one was skipped and heart-felt thoughts were shared. Poor Amy started the tears when she began to talk about Al and how much he meant to her. Then the faucet of her eyes opened more when she got to Jean who is like a mother to her. By the time she moved on to a few others, she was a wonderful, blubbering mess.

Imagine yourself as a middle or high school student and a group of your peers and leaders share their thoughts about what an important person you are and how God is visible in your life in very specific ways. Imagine what an affirmation that is. In a youth culture that is filled with biting sacrasm and put-downs, this was the polar opposite. This was encouraging. This was seeing the good and speaking it. This was blessing in the fullest sense of the word.

Part of the reason for the lengthy ceremony is we had to leave the park when it closed. We also left the strangest duck on the planet. It was a black duck with no fear of humans and a not-all-there kind of personality. He wanted food, of course, but even when he realized he wasn't getting any, he still hung around and stared us down. Odd duck. Once we got back to camp, we also had a few episodes of teenage drama to deal with during the closing. In some ways, they were welcome relief to the tears and laughter and heart-felt sentiments being shared. It other ways, they were just plain frustrating.

Satisfied, we finished the ceremony at 1 am. Breakfast I announced, was at 5 am. Departure for home was 6 am. Like the trip here, travel would be done on little sleep, especially for Amy and me, the drivers.