Y.G.O.T.P.C.O.B.M.T.T.D.M.

23:23 EDT

We woke up at 7am for a beautiful day of worship. We started with the 8:30am lakeside service and, afterward, enjoyed a catered brunch with some members of the congregation. We then attended the 10:00 service in the ornate, Gothic sanctuary with a beautiful pipe organ. During the 10 o'clock service, Bill N. was on his way to pick up Nick B. from the airport but had to come back when Nick's flight was delayed in Milwaukee, then Chicago, then Flint before finally arriving in Detroit four hours past his scheduled arrival time.

After eating lunch which was provided by our hosts, in grand Presbyterian style we had meetings most of the rest of the afternoon. We learned about the areas we would be working in and about the city of Detroit. While the adults were in other meetings, the youth played Four-square in the church's Fellowship Hall/gymnasium.

We were treated to a spaghetti dinner, with homemade sauce courtesy of Alice B. After dinner, we had our first devotion and prepared ourselves spiritually for the week, by introducing the book of James.

We are looking forward to the week ahead of us and to seeing God in our own team and the people we will be serving. 

Brunch was awesome, with Belgian waffles, sausages, pastries, and fresh fruit

Y.G.O.T.P.C.O.B.M.T.T.D.M.

23:54 EDT

Five and a half hours and 327.9 miles later we pulled into Grosse Pointe Michigan. We left our familiar home town of Barrington about 11:30 and our first stop on the road was to pick up Jayme from the ACT exams. Our church decided to lighten the whole “test mode” so we decided to Chinese Fire drill Jayme's car. It was quite the sight. After a few hours on the road we pulled into Mr. Nelson's home town to eat lunch at a restaurant called Schoops. Hamburgers the size of our head were served to us before another three hours on the road.

The car ride was nothing but slumber, and the walkie-talkie pranks went unnoticed. Chairs without arm rests and non reclining seats made for an uncomfortable ride, but we managed. Coming into Detroit we noticed a big difference between the place where we would be staying and the place where we would be working. There was a definite line between Grosse Pointe and Detroit.

When we arrived at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church we were greeted with happy faces and pizza. Pastor Peter and Peg were delighted to see our four vans pull into the parking lot. The night was finished with a quick meeting and a game of four square where Jimmy and Hailey dominated.