SATURDAY!!! JULY 4th!!!

I will try to divide this up into two parts.

First, Team 1. The One Weekers had to take up an awesome, yet big task. Because Team 2 left so early, the campers would only be able to love on/say good bye to Team 1. At this point, I will assume they had a lot of goodbyes.

With Mike and Stuart in a van with all the girls, they headed home. The trip included singing If I Were a Butterfly, and sending Team 2 an audio text of it, plus doing devos. They arrived home @ 4:30PM, and all apparently are safe at home.

Now, about Team 2.

Boston was only a 5 hour drive. After saying Hi, and Bye to Deanna Parker, and those from Team 1 who had got up early, we headed off. One stop for gas and Dunkin' Donuts and another for a bathroom break (good bus discipline!) got us to Boston by 12:20p.

Our first stop was Matapan, MA. It was a very tough neighborhood, that a couple starting to work with Bill Edmondson (Our missionary for the week, and former prof of Pastor Dave) lives in. I will not be able to give all the wonderful info, it would take WAY too long, but I will take a shot at giving a good overview.

This is church planting at ground zero. Adam and Heather are the first and only white couple to move in to this neighborhood in a long time. It had caused quite a stir. (they even had their tires slashed on an almost daily basis for the first three weeks) They had invited all they had met in the neighborhood to a 4th of July BBQ in their backyard. Their home has been being slowly redone by Adan, the Edmondson's, and friends.

According to Doc Bill (our name for our missionary) All the people who arrived were new contacts accept for a number of people from his church. The local Community rep came, Mabel Graham. The state representative for the area came, and probably 9 or ten families/couples as well. Many races, many kids, two missionary couples, two interns from FBBC, and our team in the backyard fellow shipping hardcore and having a great 4th BBQ! Most visitors were unsaved, and Dana and I ministered to a special needs young man that came, Stevie (we determined God was getting us ready the week before, because he was very hard to understand, but once he knew we were getting most of it, he came out of his shell and really talked our ears off)

We also met Steve, from Doc's church. He is Harvard grad with a masters in Archeology. He helped us through Boston for the remainder of the day.

We left Aaron, Jared, and Derek with Doc's intern from FBBC, Andy to help clean up. The rest of us jumped into the bus (whose tires WEREN'T slashed!) with Doc, his wife, and Steve for a tour ride through the streets (lined with 4th celebrators) of Boston. I was nervous, the streets were tight, but we had NO incidents! (please tell Pastor Quick)

We all ended up at the Edmondson home. After I parallel parked the bus in an alley (WHOO HOO!) we all brought the luggage in the house. It filled their living room!

We all crashed and waited for the guys to return. (they were coming by subway) Supper was hoagies, and then we were prepped for the evening.

We were going to go downtown by rail/subway, walk through the streets downtown, tour a bit, then end up on the Charles River Bridge for Boston's 4th of July fireworks!

Doc lives two blocks from the rail, so we all got our week-long rail passes, and headed off!

What an exciting evening. Too many stories! After taking a coffee/ice cream break, we tried to find a spot to get too. It was shoulder to shoulder people! We had to make a train to get through the crowds. We went over fences, then back over fences, and finally got to the middle the bridge (or close to it) for the 10:30pm fireworks.

They were AWESOME! And we had a great time. Little did we realize the MASS of humanity we would have to weave through (in a train of 19 people) to get back to the station! The kids sang songs all the way back at the top of their lungs! (obviously fatigue was setting in) We sang, and laughed and some people in Boston probably were thinking that there were some really nutty Christians downtown!

A crammed train ride home, a walk up the street, and we were all (19!) back home. Floors had bodies everywhere, and finally we were all down.

Doc - Bill Edmondson is an incredible man. He has such a passion for this city, and has a dream of starting a church planting movement from here in Boston. He is a Baptist Mid-Missions missionary, who a reaching into a truly cross-cultural center. He has Bible studies @ Harvard, MIT, Harvard Medical, and multiple other schools. Just sitting and walking with him and letting us tell what God is doing is incredible. The guys were impressed that he had a study going with some of the New England Patriots and their strength coach. One of the new believers in his church is a former Top Gun instructor who is getting a Masters @ Harvard. After weeks of meeting in Doc's home, and after blasting Doc for believing in creation for weeks (Doc starts in Genesis with his Bible studies!) this man finally came to know the Lord. This is one of many stories. This ministry is reaching poor neighborhoods, and side-by-side are some extremely smart, talented, heavy thinking Harvard students.

It is the exposure to the wonders of ministry I was hoping for. I pray the Lord would take this ministry and encourage our teens to be all about reaching the world. Doc needs more team members to work here in Boston, and to reach out.

These teens are equipped to be eternity impactors! (is that a word?) As they see it happening before their eyes, may God call them to be ready to do whatever He wants, because there is no place more exciting than to be where God is working!!!

We are thinking about staying longer!! - But we will follow the Lord.

OH YEAH! Here are the pics for those of you who are scrolling down!


SATURDAY, July 4th


Pastor Dave