David Robinson's Blog (10)

Joan Stewart, Executive Director September 18, 2008 To: Supporters and partners of WV Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps Re: Summer Update Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ! How can we begin to share with you all of the excitement, hard work, spiritual growth and transformation that has taken place here in West Virginia this summer? Thanks in part to your prayers, your support, and in many cases your hands, there are families in West Virginia who have seen what God's grace look… Continue

Tylar, Mia and I spent a second day working on a bathroom for a young family that has had much more than its share of misfortune - I don't know if I'll be able to share their story, but it is heartbreaking. They have two beagles, and they spent all 8 hours we were at the house Monday barking at us. Mia and Tylar took it upon themselves to try to win over the dogs, who were having none of it. Even filling their water bowl didn't do anything to lessen the hostility. But gradually over the course… Continue

Carl and I were just planning on doing a little scouting after dinner to find out when the grocery store in Oceana opens. He had heard it was really easy to get to - something about "... left ... [indecipherable] ... around the bend ... [indecipherable] ... don't take the hill ... [indecipherable] ... You can't miss it!" It turns out the the big grocery store in town is on the west side of Oceana, and when the main road bends to the right and starts heading uphill, you need to peel off by conti… Continue

The evening devotionals will be short videos from the Nooma series by Rob Bell. Last night's video was called "Rich" and it was a very fitting way to start as we prepare to go out into Kopperston to help some people with their houses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAV9IYPVZSQ Continue

We all slept in after the long day of driving, and were glad that church didn't start until 11:00. Carl had tracked down some supplies for breakfast in Oceana a few miles down the road, and people more or less fended for themselves. Church was a nice service with a few members and a lot of visitors. Brian was called into duty to help collect the offering. The regular pianist/organist is out sick, fighting cancer, and so the singing was a capella. The church doesn't have a full-time mini… Continue

"You're here now? I thought you weren't arriving until tomorrow. I'll see if I can get someone to unlock the building for you." "Are those burnt brake pads I smell?" "Yes, we have food for breakfast, and someone will go grocery shopping after church." "I've got the top bunk." "What! You threw that bug into my sleeping bag?!" "Go ahead and play cards - just know that we're all going to be at church in the morning." Continue

The final stretch of the trip lasted a bit longer than the daylight did. It turns out that whenever a group of almost 30 people stops for a break, it's at least a half an hour before we can even hope to get started going again. We ran through just about every time-killing car-ride game we could think of, and managed to stay patient through all of the "are we there yet"s and "how much longer"s. We pulled into the parking lot of Kopperston Presbyterian Church just before 10 p.m., about 14 hours… Continue

After an uneventful leg of the journey from the Lincoln Oasis to Indianapolis, we pulled into John Knox Presbyterian Church to a warm greeting from the other members of the trip and their families. They had lunch ready and waiting for us, and even opened the vending machine for drinks for us. Next stop - Cincinnati, but it's looking like this hour and a half section of the trip will end up taking quite a bit longer as we have run into some construction-related traffic on I-465 on the south sid… Continue

We decided to make our first stop the Lincoln Oasis, just before crossing into Indiana. As it turned out, all 4 cars were able to stay together driving around Chicago, but regrouping at a predetermined location made things less stressful. We had our first "casualty" early on, with a bit of car-sickness, so stopping turned out to be a good idea. After a little break and a seating reassignment, everyone was feeling better before too long. Continue

The 22 participants on the mission trip and several family members dragged themselves to the church at 6 a.m. Saturday morning to start the road trip to Indianapolis and then on to Kopperston. After some last minute shuffling of luggage, snacks, and people among the four vehicles, we were just about ready to head out when we realized that the directions to John Knox Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis were missing. After pulling up and printing he e-mailed directions and getting all of the drive… Continue