Day 16 - Williamsburg UMC

Everyone arrived back at the church ready to take part in our first in-state mission opportunity.  Before we could take off, though, the luggage crew loaded up the bus, others packed up the display and instruments and then we gathered in the choir room for our devotional.  Jenn talked about the Good Samaritan story and about how we need to look outside of ourselves in order to be true servants.  She played the song “My Own Little World” by Matthew West and asked us to reflect on the words.  We discussed how we might be better servants and then prayed before getting on the bus.  Neal awarded Jenn with the FFP button for her medical gifts to everyone during the trip.

As we travel, you never know what might happen on bus rides from one location to another...

Our mission opportunity for the day was singing at the Hermitage, a United Methodist assisted living facility.  We had a personal connection because Jim’s wife is one of the chaplains there.  The group went up to the chapel and prepared for a 10:30 performance for the residents.  We learned about the history of the home and the different level of residents that the Hermitage serves.

After many of the residents had taken their seats, we put on a mini-concert for them and had Chad briefly explain the mission portion of our trip.  At the end of the performance, we had the opportunity to go out and talk to the residents individually about the impact the Dominican Republic had on each of us.  One of the residents who said she loved music mentioned that she had never seen God’s light come through a performance as much as she had through our group.  It was truly a blessing to sing for this audience as they were extremely appreciative of the message and music we had to share with them.

The next part of the Heritage visit was to sing to some of the residents in the medical wing.  Since these individuals might not have been able to come to the earlier performance, we decided to bring the concert to them.  Some other residents who were on their way to lunch stopped by to listen as well.

 

Encouraged by our visit at the Hermitage, it was time to get on the bus and head for our next performance.  We stopped for lunch along the way and also received a brief tour of downtown Williamsburg, the home town of our bus driver.

We were greeted by the pastor and other staff as we made our way to the awesome youth area to drop off our luggage and then preceded on to rehearsal in the sanctuary.

After rehearsal, the youth and adults had the opportunity to go back to the youth area and enjoy the ping-pong table, foosball table, and air hockey table among other things.  Note:  Don't leave your computer with teenagers unattended for any period of time...

We had dinner together in the fellowship hall and then changed into our concert attire, sneaking in a game or two of ping-pong.  Then it was off to the chapel for our pre-concert devotion led by Devon’s family group.  Before our devotion time began, we had a special introduction…Neal’s girlfriend had come to say hello.  We made sure to introduce her to every member of the group and reassured her that if she forgot a name, she could always just look at our nametags. 

Once we re-focused, Devon’s group talked about the lyrics to “At the Table of Our God” and how we need to remember that when we try to carry out God’s will for this world, everyone should be equal.  All will be fed and all will be taken care of, according to their needs.

We said a prayer and then headed into the sanctuary for our meet and greet time.  After several days on the tour, we experienced a few hiccups in the service but were able to recover quickly.  Neal and Preston shared moving testimonies about the relationships they created in the Dominican Republic.  Earlier in the day we found out that they recently installed a new organ at the church and Drew decided to incorporate that into our performance on Thursday night with the Handel piece and a postlude.

Jenn paired everyone with their host families and then we were off to get some rest before heading to Virginia Beach the next morning.