Our Summer Missions Trip

Aug 02 |15:55

 This past week 12 of us traveled to Spruce Pine, NC to help build, paint, and clean for needy families in the Appalachian Mountains. We discovered this opportunity through FOCUS North America, a national pan-Orthodox organization specializing in domestic missions and charity work. FOCUS recruits groups to serve with Neil Brown, a retired contractor who volunteers with the Mitchel County branch of Operation Inasmuch. Neil receives applications from people who are not able to afford basic home repairs or yard maintenance and he coordinates missions teams to meet these needs. We worked on several projects including yard work, landscaping, painting, and building a roof. Everyone worked really hard and we accomplished a lot throughout the week. We thank God for this opportunity to show love to our neighbor.

 
We began and ended each day with prayer. We read the day's Epistle and Gospel in the morning and discussed them in the evening. The experience of praying together and studying the Scriptures drew us closer to God and to each other. We talked about the importance of developing a daily routine of personal prayer and Bible reading. On Thursday we went to Quiet Reflections Retreat Center and said our morning prayer in the chapel along with the Akathist "Glory to God for All Things." You can see the awesome view we had from the prayer chapel here. We look forward to sharing stories and pictures with you and making a presentation at coffee hour when the majority of our group comes back from Summer vacations.