At four o’clock in the morning, the
quiet of Brantford’s outskirts was broken as a half dozen cars pulled into the
parking lot of Living Water Reformed Church. The fourteen members of the 2012
Mission Trip to Philadelphia had gathered together. After a few false starts
the whole team was packed with their luggage into the Excursion and Mark’s
minivan. By four thirty-five we had pulled onto the road and were on the way.
We arrived at the border crossing
in Lewiston, New York at five thirty. An hour later we had passed the scrutiny
of the security guard and answered his questions. We were official on the way
to Philadelphia. The sun had risen by that time and we began to admire the
scenery.
At eight o’clock we stopped at
Timmie’s because we are Canadian. And what better way to start our trip than to
say a fond farewell to the great Canadian coffee shop?
The roads were clear until we hit
the I-81. There we ran into construction. By then we were all ready for lunch
so after a quick stop for gas we found a subway and ordered subs to fill our
now growling stomachs. Back on the road we continued to fight traffic. At the
I-276 traffic cleared and we barreled on.
But by then we were behind by at
least an hour or more. That didn’t bother us though. It had reached thirty-five
degrees Celsius outside and the blacktop was steaming. We didn’t mind staying
in the nice air conditioned vehicles.
Although we were packed in tight,
the trip was enjoyable. We slept, listened to music, slept, played games, ate
candy, listened to more music, ate more candy and then slept again. Yes, there
was lot of sleeping for some people.
Four o’clock rolled around and we
pulled into the parking lot of Calvary Church, our sleeping quarters for the
week. There were four rooms available for us and after a quick tour we swiftly
divided ourselves into the rooms. It took a bit to fit everyone’s beds in, but
finally we managed.
Just before five we gathered in our
‘dining room’ to begin our week with some house rules and some instruction into
what we were going to do. Martin Van Noort opened with Psalm 100 and Mark
prayed, thanking God for giving us a safe trip and asking for a good time in
the city. We sang for awhile and then Pastor Snodgrass and his wife Niessa
arrived with our supper for the evening.
But before we could eat we needed
to go tour the church we would be fixing up. Grace Fellowship Church is located
in the heart of Germantown. A two storey building nestled in amongst the shops,
the church is small. The basement has a lot of mold from water damage last
fall. The stone walls are crumbling in places and huge chunks have fallen to
the floor in other places.
The fellowship hall/sanctuary is
nicely sized for the small congregation that gathers there faithfully every
Sunday. About fifteen to twenty people
attend the morning service with about ten for the evening.
The upstairs of the church will
need some painting and repair work. A leaky roof has caused more water damage
and some of the boys will be going up high to fix it later this week. The whole
church has a distinct musty smell which we hope to remove with some hard
cleaning. With the water damage the whole area suffered last fall, it is a
blessing that the church wasn’t severely damaged.
After a good night’s sleep we hope
to join Pastor Bill Snodgrass and his congregation for their worship services
tomorrow.
Quotes
of the Day:
Lisa: Are we there yet?
Mark: Yes, Lisa, we just past
Knors.
Heather: Can we just stumble in
here tomorrow and eat breakfast and then stumble back to get dressed?
Martin: I think you need to reverse
that order.
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