An inter-generational group from our church has been on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic this week. Here is their final update:

Today was our culture and fun day. We headed out at 8:00am for the 70 minute bus ride to the orphanage at Monti Christi. After a brief tour, meeting the kids, and getting eaten alive (the mosquitos are much worse there than in Jaibon), we went into the town and toured the English Institute that is operated by Orphanage Outreach. We also visited some
historical sites and shopped for souvenirs before heading to a gorgeous beach for some well earned R and R. After a stop for ice cream, we headed back to Jaibon for dinner and our final night.

This is our final posting, as we head home tomorrow with an ETA of 12:30am Sunday morning at FCC. You can, and should, be proud of our kids. They really made an impact this week. Also this is not an easy place to be, but there has not been one complaint about conditions. But we will be glad to get home! Thanks to everyone whose contributions made this trip possible. We look forward to sharing much more about it at a Third Wednesday Fellowship Dinner later this year.

This week, an inter-generational team from FCC is in the Dominican Republic working at Orphanage Outreach. Here is today’s update:

Today was the final day of morning camp and we were greeted with cheers as we arrived.  The kids were so excited today that it was a challenge just to get them to sit still.  We all got lots of hugs when it was time to say goodbye and the children asked for our handwritten name tags as a keepsake.

Then this afternoon we went to a nearby batey, which is a camp for transient Haitian workers who are brought in to harvest sugar cane by the sugar companies.  This was our real eye opener for the week.  Extreme poverty, squalid conditions, and children who have absolutely nothing.

They were thrilled to be given something as simple as a piece of chalk to keep. We spent the afternoon reading to them, coloring with them, playing ball with them, blowing bubbles with them and just holding them.  They are literally starving for attention; some appear better cared for than others, but there is definitely evidence of malnourishment.  And the Haitian girls love to braid hair – as Alison, Jennifer and Hannah found out!

Tomorrow we will get to visit the orphanage at Monti Christi, which was the first one established by Orphanage Outreach and the one April has worked at in the past.  And we also get some beach time!

This week, an inter-generational team from FCC is in the Dominican Republic working at Orphanage Outreach. Here is today’s update:

Last night we watched a moving film about the DR concerning the reign of Trujillo and the Maribel sisters.  We had a couple of Tarantula sightings, April had a rat join her in the shower, and April, Jane and Jennifer’s tent leaked – other than that, fairly uneventful. Rain continued on and off through the night but the morning dawned bright and clear.  At breakfast we learned that a RN in the Arizona group had noticed an infant at the Batey on Monday that did not look well, so she and her husband along with Orphanage Outreach staff are in route there this morning to take it to a clinic.  Our group did 2 camps, adding a new church in the afternoon.

Conditions were cramped and hot, but the kids were so glad to see us and so full of enthusiasm that we left more inspired than tired.  Tonight is movie night with the boys.

This week, an inter-generational team from FCC is in the Dominican Republic working at Orphanage Outreach. Here is today’s update:

Following a breakfast of French toast and fresh fruit, we set out for the church in Jaibon for Day 2 of Bible Camp, where we acted out Daniel in the Lion’s Den, starring Sam as Daniel, Alison as King Darius, Hannah as the evil governor, and all the kids as the lions.  Marci and Rheagan taught the parts of the body in English, Holly and Annah helped with crafts and April and Jane organized games.

Teaching English

The food is really phenomenal here – we would all gain weight if we stayed for long.  It is Dominican Republic home cooking, everything fresh and seasoned with herbs chopped by hand.  Lunch was followed by heavy rain, which continued through the afternoon and washed out our planned trip to a Batey, which is a transient camp located in close proximity to farms and fields.  Instead we stayed and hung out with the boys.  Tonight we get a Dominican Republic history lesson.

You know that song, “The Grand Old Duke of York?” He had ten thousand men; he marched them up the hill and then he marched them down again. And when you’re up, you’re up, and when you’re down, you’re down, and when you’re only halfway up, you’re neither up nor down. Every time you sing “up” or “down,” you stand up, or sit down. That song never fails to leave my daughter in a breathless fit of giggles on the floor.

I feel similarly breathless after a run through chapter 10 of Luke’s gospel. Last week, the Good Samaritan story left us with a command to go and do. This week, Jesus visits Martha and Mary’s home, and chastises Martha for doing too much. So, which is it? Up or down? Are we supposed to be up and running off to serve our neighbor? Or down on the floor at Jesus’s feet, listening for the word of God?

What do you want from us, Jesus?

The answer, I think, is: both. Sometimes we have to get up and act – especially when there’s something happening right in front of us that we can do something about. Sometimes we have to sit down and rest – especially if our work has us so distracted that we’ve lost sight of the Christ sitting in our own living room. It means paying attention, every day, to see if God is calling us to go and do, or come and sit. This is a think-on-your-feet kind of faith we practice, one that demands a different response to whatever situation we’re in, one that requires agility and patience and grace. It’s enough to leave you breathless at the wonder of it all.

As a community, we’re grieving this week, after losing two long-time members of our congregation. One lost a courageous fight with cancer at an age far too young, when all she really wanted was to play with her young grandchildren. The other had lived a long life of service, but suffered from a debilitating illness that rendered her bedridden and kept her from being a part of the church she loved.

As hard as these times are in the life of our church, it is also at these times when I feel most hopeful and blessed. I have watched the ways our congregation has cared for these families, and as always, I am inspired by incredible acts of generosity and care: people who have visited and prayed, cooked and cried.

Two weeks ago, when one of the women went into the hospital for the last time, a friend of the family stopped by the church. He wanted to make sure we had heard the news, but I also think he wanted to be somewhere where we understood his sadness. He wanted to know that we all felt as helpless as he did in the face of death. He wanted to find a home for his grief.

So we’ll grieve together in the next few days, as we celebrate these lives and the blessings they were to us. And then we’ll gather again on Sunday morning, to give thanks to our God, who promises the hope of everlasting life.

On Sunday, April 18, several members of our congregation share their memories of the past and their visions for the future of our church. Here are some of their reflections:

From Neil Stewart:

We have been here for just three years next month, but it really feels as if we have been here much, much longer….in a good way!    Over that time, so many of you have welcomed us, made us part of your lives, and made our daughter feel special.  We are thankful that when we relocated to Greensboro from Cincinnati, we were fortunate enough to find the church’s website and brave enough to come visit that first time. Read more »

We are in the mist of a capital campaign to raise funds for several building projects that will enable us to better do ministry in our building. Below you will find more information about how we got to this point. Click here for an overview of the campaign.

This Lenten devotional was written by Alison Simon, an FCC member who is currently a student at Texas Christian University.

For spring break, I went on a mission trip to Taos, New Mexico.  We were staying on the floor of a local church and were supposed to spend four days working on a house for Habitat for Humanity.  I say “supposed to” because on day two, I fell ill and had to spend the next day and a half lying on the church floor groggy with medication.  Luckily, the church had a beautiful wood carving of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper hanging on the wall of the Fellowship Hall.  Staring at this carving became my entertainment while I was sick.  Have you ever looked – I mean really looked – at that painting?  I found myself wondering at what point in the supper they actually were.  There was terror on some faces, sadness on others.  But there was peace in Jesus’ face.  I decided that the painting was from Mark 14:19.  The disciples have just been told that one of their own will betray Jesus.  But is that really what Jesus wanted them to take from that meal?  The knowledge of a future betrayal?  I don’t think so.  The real question is: what new thing is Jesus giving the disciples to taste?  I think they all felt betrayed by the one disciple who would betray Jesus, even though they did not know who it was.  But Jesus did not want to leave them with the taste of betrayal in their mouths.  He followed his confession by breaking bread and pouring wine.  Jesus replaced the taste of betrayal with the taste of hope.

What new thing is God giving me to taste?  On my mission trip, I tasted the disappointment of having to sit in the church and not participate in the work.  But that bitter taste was followed by the hope that I saw in the faces of the single mother and her five daughters who would receive the home.  Sometimes what God gives us in life is not easy to swallow.  There is betrayal and disappointment.  But, look for the hope that always follows.  And think, what new thing is God giving me to taste?

This is the first spring we’ve lived in our house, and lately we make a new discovery every time we walk outside. There’s a flower bed just outside our side door, where daffodils have been peeking up for a week. Finally, yesterday, one exploded into yellow. There are purple crocuses there, too, and I’m pretty sure those curly green leaves are going to turn out to be tulips. Everywhere we look, it seems, something is growing that I didn’t know was there.

One of the things I love about living in an older house is this inheritance of all the past owners.  I set out recently to hang up a clothesline between two trees in the backyard, only to discover a metal hook in one of the trees, and a big knot in the other; someone had had the same idea before. And it’s fun to imagine someone lovingly planting those daffodils years ago, watching them bloom every spring, then moving on to whatever new adventure awaited them, leaving the bulbs buried deep down in the ground for us.

Church is that way, too, I think. Very few of us were here when this building was built, or when the steeple was perched up on top. Most of us are the inheritors of seeds that were planted long ago, by people who loved this church and were committed to its ministry. It makes me wonder what kind of seeds we are planting that might someday sprout and grow and explode into colorful new life.