We made it!

Hi! Virginia, here (hi mom and dad!). David Hawkins is passing the blog on to me since I usually write it with Rachel. However, Rachel is not here this year (sad!), so it is solely my responsibility now.

The second group arrived safely and soundly yesterday evening. After a long day of travelling, we got to Helena-West Helena and had a wonderful dinner at Granny Dee's in downtown Helena. The women there made a fabulous buffet for our group. After that we made the infamous Walmart run. We woke up early this morning (some earlier than others for an early morning run) to a delicious breakfast. We split up and went to New Light and New Hope as we do every year. Both services were wonderful and it was a true blessing to see Pastor Williams back at New Hope. Last year at this time he was in the hospital after suffering from a stroke. God has been so good and he is back at the church and he preached! He has been a little down because he's having a hard time walking, so please keep him in your prayers! But he was so thankful to see that "black and white people can sit together and love each other." That is what we came here to do, and the people from the communty are so pleased and thankful that we are here. After the church services we ate at the country club. That was the first time we had ever been there and it was a wonderful meal! A woman that David and Courtney had met last week brought her kids to camp for the first time and she was so happy to see them again today!

We met with our groups that we will be working with throughout this week. Kate mentioned that there she talked to a local woman who lives 5-6 miles away, in a better part of town, from where we serve. She had heard about the camp and she decided to sign up her grandkids. Kate said that she was the first white local woman to sign up her kids on her own (usually they are set up through a program)! This was very exciting news that this has spread further around town!

Leonora shared that more people are here volunteering this year than ever before. Molli and Catherine, repeat interns, have been doing a great job of running the camp and everything else while Ben and Leonora have been in Raleigh. She would also like for everyone to pray for Lucas as he is currently travelling in Prague, Czech Republic with another group.

It has been very hot today, and it looks as if it will be this way all week! Pray that we will all stay hydrated and that we will be able to reach out to the children here.

As a parting note, I just wanted to add that we had the second annual cutting of the kids camp band ceremony. I had this band on for a whole year, but it is time to move on to a new color.

Virginia