Greetings from Appalachia!
The team from Morristown UMC arrived at the Jonesville ASP site midafternoon on Sunday. We had a chance to meet the other teams here from Covenant UMC from Springfield, PA, and First Congregational Church in Madison CT. We all ate dinner of chicken tenders and french fries outside on the large porch that this site is known for.
MUMC is working in two teams and have been given delightful names that correspond with Ben & Jerry Ice Cream! I’m on the “Red, White, and Blueberry” team with Tom Dinneny, Clive Coutts, Katlyn Houtz, and Geraldine Briscoe. We’ll be working on a wheelchair ramp for a home with two elderly folks. The other team is the “Everything But The…” team with Vince Cattano, Jimmy Lombardo, Victoria Cattano, & Kyler Coutts who are installing a new roof on a home.
Today will be a busy day of meeting our families and making plans to maximize our work over the next four days. The ASP focus scripture for this work week comes from Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, chapter 6, verse 9: So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. With this scripture in mind, please pray for our two teams, as well as for the other teams at the Jonesville site, and all the teams at the others ASP sites to not grow weary this week. May we work to build homes warmer, safer, and drier.
I’m learning a lot about ASP (Appalachian Service Project). It was founded in 1969 by a United Methodist pastor named Rev. Glenn “Tex” Evans. If you’d like to know more about the history of ASP, check out this page on there website: https://asphome.org/about/history/
More to come tomorrow! There is a group journal in which we all write, and I hope to share with you some first-hand accounts of what happens in the heart of a disciple while working with ASP families.
Blessings,
Pastor Luana
