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You say you never have been on a mission trip before, well I had not either, until June 2003. You talk about hard work, you got it. You talk about fun, you got it. You talk about making new friends, you got it. You talk about seeing New York City, you got that too. Who would have thought my husband Terry and I would ever go on a mission trip? I had it in my mind, far off, maybe when I'm older and retired, I could go to some foreign country and help some 3rd world people who needed everything. Never even thought of a mission trip in our own United States. Besides, this is the wrong time, we are moving, trying to sell our house, trying to fix up the new old house, and there is so much to do. (Is there ever a good time? Would there ever be a better time?) I just don't see how we can do this now.

Arriving by plane and by car (Terry and I drove with the essentials; candy, pillows, blankets and tools for the crew in our trunk) on Saturday, June 7, we settled in to the basement Sunday School rooms to sleep on air mattresses provided for us by the church.

Bruce and Lori Hawley missionaries in charge of this mission did the introductions to the congregation on Sunday during church services and the men and women provided a potluck on Sunday. What a wonderful group of individuals and how grateful they are to us!! Gee, the service was wonderful and the singing of Gospel Music was awesome, how lucky I am to be here!! Sonia was in her element singing with the choir. Wish I had a tambourine, and I want to dance for some reason. A small congregation to me, but oh the possibilities here, right in the heart of Queen's Village. Won't it be great to see this church grow and blossom!! This gymnasium project could really bring in the children and then their families. What a good idea!! Just maybe we can help.

An experience to remember for sure, ten of us from Christ's Family Church including Pastor Brian Akker had the privilege to help out in a way that we could. Queen's Village Reformed Church, Queens Village New York is quite a beautiful old church in need of much building renovation. Working in the old dungeon, whoops, I mean old gym was a challenge! A few of the guys, including my husband, did such a fine job replacing the entire drop ceiling with new ceiling board and trim. Boy, it really looks nice! Walls were scraped, scraped, and scraped again, to remove dark royal blue paint from many years ago. After that they were washed down by hand by many of us with "Simple Green" solution and a rinse, and then a final rinse. Imagine buckets of water being hauled up the stairs and outside to the city sewer drain in the street. Thanks Calvin! Sure glad Pastor Brian found a hose, prior to that we had to carry the clean water down the stairs too! Many buckets and rubber gloves were required. Everyone is working so hard. Jessie sure can climb high on that ladder. Will she every come down? Ethel you have been up there a long time also, can you get down? Carol, your sawing with a jig saw, you never did that before, did you? I did not think so. Using a jig saw, drills, and skill saw is not just for men, says Carol and I. Plan to make some picture frames when I get back home, should have done it years ago! Sure glad when 5 o'clock comes around. Cooking and eating together is really fun, and everyone taking turns with the meal and nightly devotions is really meaningful and very enjoyable. And by the way, sharing the one shower isn't so bad, if we all just take a 5 minute shower, times 12, should only be a total of 60 minutes or exactly one hour. Happy to have a cold shower, thank you. Wow, Dr. Bruce is giving away free massages. There seems to be a lot of sore people around.

Having a day off on Thursday, a beautiful sunny day to see the city. The subway and the bus system can take you anywhere you want to go. What fun it is to be here, traveling with all these people on a subway just like in the movies. $7.00 transportation pass for the whole day is quite reasonable. Who would have thought we would see, downtown New York City, 5th Avenue, Macy's, Madison Square Gardens, Ground Zero. Central Park Riding in a horse drawn buggy with Franki from New York. Battery Park, Stanton Island Ferry and seeing the Statue of Liberty, China Town and cheap ties, and purses all over the place. Chicken hanging from the windows, fruit stands with fruit I never heard of before and people and languages from all over the world! Eating outside on sidewalk tables in Little Italy and much more, I am sure, I can't recall.

Well Lord, this was another surprise you have gifted me, and I believe all of us have been surprised about how great it feels to do something for someone else, even if we don't have the time. Because Lord what it boils down to is that our time is all up to You. Thank you God for a wonderful week and all the many blessings that came with it.

And Lord, if possible, may I go on another mission trip? Hawaii might be nice.