Somehow we persuaded Vincent to spend nearly a week this week at Presbyterian church camp at Montreat near Black Mountain, near Asheville, NC (one of the geographic centers of the old Southern Presbyterian church and near where Billy Graham and his wife (she a lifelong Presbyterian) have lived). Mom/Grandma Martha has gone there for many summers but made her last trip a couple of years ago (and our Tallahassee pastor helped direct adult worship camp there a couple of years ago - but - in Scotland, General Assembly, and Dogwood Acres this summer - will not go there this time). The walking up and down steps just got to be too much for her. I've mentioned this was a bit of a Guatemala mission trip reunion - with now down there seven of eight kids who went to Guatemala and one set of parents who went. We'll see how Vincent is doing in this environment where he's in big worship twice a day - in the morning and early evening - and then in small groups in late morning and in the afternoon - and then helping out cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning in the cabin shared by the seven kids, the parents, and one more person from our church. One of the parents, Jerry, is also writing about the camp for the Presbyterian News Service. (See, for example: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2008/08483.htm .) The preacher for the week is Bridgett, who works at the Center and goes to our church and was the superior speaker when three of us read teleprompted remarks for the General Assembly orientation videos. When I called Sunday night, the van had arrived half an hour early and Vincent had already gone out for a walk with the two boys who rode down with him and the fourth boy from the Guatemala group. We like some of these boys even more than others - and we pray for the adults supervising and the broader camp - and the kids that they get along. We hope that Vincent is respectful and gets something out of the camp, both fellowship with kids and adults and some learning and teaching - plus a chance to practice his newfound Danish activity of walking - but up and down mountainsides that they didn't have in Roskilde or Copenhagen. Pray for Vincent and those around him at Montreat. (Click on the images above to magnify them or here for a promotional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81pBONOmwXA , and for another video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81pBONOmwXA .)
3 comments:
Ironically, our friends Kurt and Mary - who we know through Leon friend Andrew, David, and Brant's fraternity - have recently met Christy and Korey, friends of ours from Tallahassee's First Presbyterian Church (although, to be fair, Kurt's wife Mary attended First Pres periodically when she was an FSU undergrad). It's a long story, but Korey was briefly a colleague of mine at the Presbyterian Center (before that both of them served as Christian educators at our church). Christy helped get Stephanie a job teaching at a Christian school outside of Tallahassee by providing a religious reference. Anyway, now, these two sets of friends of ours have become friends. This all came up when I said Vincent was in NC and Kurt figured out he was at Montreat. Korey and Christie got Kurt and Mary interested in Dogwood Acres, the Presbytery of Florida camp that Vincent has been to once and that our Tallahassee pastor is currently (this week) the chaplain of, and so their daughters Mara and Mallory both went there earlier this summer. And Mary has gone off on an outing with Christie. We didn't see a lot of Korey while he was here, but it's nice to have friends meet friends (and of course we had nothing to do with it). It's a small world
I called and talked with Mary (in the bottom picture), one of the church's pastoral associates, helping Jerry and Eva out at the cabin (while Jerry also writes articles). She said the seven kids are getting along well, as she had expected they would, and that Vincent was fine. Vincent and she usually get along also. Apparently everything was fine. Stephanie had encouraged me to ask Vincent if we could open us his SAT scores which came Monday, but he was in the shower. Thanks to Mary, Eva, and Jerry (and Bill - who drove Sunday) for their work with the kids and all of those who work with children and youth.
Vincent went to Dogwood Acres for two years. He was there and Perry picked him up right after Grandma Beck died. Martha took him to Dogwood Acres one year when he had flown down to spend time with her.
-- Stephanie
Post a Comment