Our Mission Committee Chair, Dena Roper, sent this message last night about the team’s experiences learning and serving in Baltimore so far this week. Mission Committee member Donna Cook shared the photos…

Today was our second day working at the Soaring Eagles camp in Baltimore.  The first day was full of kids coming in and being shy and reserved around these new people who wanted to spend time with them.  The 1st through 6th graders at Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary school were in their space and these strangers were making it weird.  I was the lunch lady.  I see the kids as a large group twice a day.  By lunch time of the first day, they were playing and seemed comfortable and were a joy to watch.  The counselors were bonding with the kids and learning how to lead.  As I passed out veggies and dip some of the kids would ask for specific numbers of things. “Could I have 6 carrots?”  One little girl asked me shyly, and counted to make sure she got all she asked for. On Wednesday we’ll head out for an outdoor experience with science activities, games and hotdogs galore!

A faithful and willing bunch from Oak Hill Pres have headed off to Baltimore to pass off the torch of the PCUSA’s Hands and Feet Initiative to The Center and to spend a week learning and serving in their community.

In 2016, newly elected PCUSA Stated Clerk the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson shared a vision with those gathered for General Assembly 222 in Portland- that the assembly could really make an impact on the cities in which we gather every 2 years. With the GA223 meeting in St. Louis in 2018, he challenged us and invited us to dream up what this might look like. Here in Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery we felt God was already up to some good work, some good teaching, some good sharing in the work of mission ministries already happening. So we invited the PCUSA to join us in that work, here at AMEN St. Louis (a ministry of Oak Hill Presbyterian Church) and with our friends at First Pres Ferguson and their Urban Mission Work Camp. This vision, this invitation, this ministry became known as the Hands and Feet Initiative.

At the end of GA223 here in St. Louis in 2018, we passed Hands and Feet on to the ministries of the Presbytery of Baltimore (host city for GA224) and The Center, their own very-AMEN-like ministry.

So, when Oak Hill folks wanted to go on a mission trip this year, we couldn’t miss this fabulous opportunity to keep supporting Hands and Feet, to serve alongside our Presbyterian siblings in Baltimore, and to swap stories and experiences and moments and laughs.

Today, our crew left on their own Hands and Feet adventure. You can follow along on this blog and on our Facebook page for pics and updates throughout the week.

Keep our mission team in your prayers, keep our Presbyterian pals and local community leaders in Baltimore in your prayers, and especially, keep our Baltimore neighbors in your prayers this week.

Thanks be to God.