We Made It!

Welcome, readers, to the blog for the 2014 Gloversville Mission Trip! Your bloggers for the week are myself (Hunter Ross) and Paige Duffy. We are in the group picture wearing the white and red NC State sweatshirt and directly in front of that in the light blue shirt. Today was a big day of many hours on the road, leaving Matthews UMC in North Carolina at 5am and arriving in Johnstown, NY around 7:30pm with many pit stops and three meals in between. This is a new trip for some of us, some of us have come before, and some of us have turned this trip into a whole-family activity. We are proud to see that what was started as a small group of 12 young guys going to visit their former youth leader 3 years ago has turned into a 30-person group (we are not all in the group photo as some went to Philadelphia beforehand) and a wonderful continued friendship with the whole town. 

 The Truax family has welcomed us warmly and it is great to see that, while some of us have never been here before, we are all familiar faces and welcome in this place. They have made it clear that this past year has been the roughest year yet since they came to Gloversville but that they can also feel that something great is on the verge of happening all over this town. Our team is very excited for what God has in store for us as well as the community of Gloversville!

After arriving and claiming beds to sleep on the entire group sat down to talk and discuss what is going to happen on Sunday. Tomorrow morning we will attend a church service at Donn and Cyndie's local Methodist church. Some of us will be leading the worship during service, while others will be leading Sunday School for children who attend the church. With a group of this size we will all be able to contribute a variety of unique gifts that God has given us. This week we will be holding a VBS in one of the local methodist churches for children of all ages to attend. We have other activities planned for the whole community throughout the week as well.

There are a lot of unknowns about this week as we continue to absorb the shifting environment of Gloversville, but we are wide open and looking forward to what is in store! Please continue to pray for the community of Gloversville, as well as our team and the Truax family. We hope that you will enjoy these daily blog posts, and we thank you for those who have been praying for preparation for the trip.

Please pray that this week will bring great community building, renewed friendships, special new encounters, and progress within the town. Pray also for the strength of us as we try to sustain a high energy level and for Donn and Cyndie as they work to sustain all progress and rejuvenation. We can't thank you enough for what your prayers and support have meant to us already and we can't wait to share what happens this week!

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

-1 John 4:11