Extend Love - Build More 

Week 5 in York

We were so excited to welcome our good friends from Collins UMC of Collins, MS, and our new friends from First UMC of Anniston, AL! The Collins crew extended Christ’s love with Sonshine Day Camp all week. We really appreciated how they brought the Child of God, Person of Worth (#COGPOW) to life through their Bible lessons, arts & crafts, songs, games, and all the time spent just being present with the kids! This was their 3rd summer in a row to serve with the Sonshine Camp, and many of the kids remembered them from last year!

The team from First UMC Anniston extended Christ’s love with four families in Sumter County. This team came ready to serve – they even brought their own tool trailer! The experience of their adult leaders combined with the willingness of their students to serve really made a huge impact as homes became warmer, safer, and drier. It was great to see how they got to know the families as they served!

Both teams and our staff were blessed by the hospitality of Livingston First Baptist Church who hosted us and our home repair families for a wonderful dinner and time of fellowship. Nicole Cronin, day camp counselor, and Heyinn Rho, construction coordinator, led the team in a #fools4christ devotion at dinner that focused on the story of Mary and Martha with Jesus. Mary’s boldness shows us how being a fool for Christ sometimes means letting go of social norms. While she was “supposed” to be helping her sister Martha as a host, she instead chose to be with Jesus as his disciple, which was also breaking the norm of male-only disciples. Many norms are good and helpful, but following Jesus like fools sometimes means we have to sacrifice the comfort and familiarity of doing what we already know to do in order to take a risk and try something new.

Thank you Collins and FUMC Anniston!

Week 5 in Tuskegee

This was a very special week in Tuskegee as we welcomed our friends from Trinity UMC Ft. Walton Beach, FL. It’s hard to believe but this was there ELEVENTH summer in a row to extend Christ’s love with us! We are so thankful for their commitment to ending substandard housing in rural AL, and so thankful for their faithfulness shown over these many years of service.

The Trinity team had 1 crew serving with the children at Sonshine Camp and 2 other crews serving with the home repair ministry. It was a very hot week and both of these home repair crews worked with families whose homes needed roof repair – one was even a metal roof! The middle picture shows a group building a wheelchair ramp with a family in the Loachapoka area.

The day camp crew did an outstanding job with the Child of God, Person of Worth theme and we’re so thankful for the way they express Christ’s love with the kids. As you can see from the top picture, they enjoyed a super fun water day on Thursday afternoon (Unfortunately the Tuskegee city pool is closed for maintenance).

On Tuesday, which was July 4, the team leaders surprised their students with a special outing to Montgomery for a Biscuits baseball game. Of course, their were fireworks after the game too! Our staff really enjoyed this fun time of fellowship with the team!

We can’t say thanks enough to our friends from Trinity UMC! You are such a blessing to our ministry in so many ways. We can’t wait to see you again next summer!