So today in our worship experience we spoke about "Cleaning up our act" one of the points that was shared was the responsibility of faithful people to commit to living "in tune" with the world.  

Monday AM  our group will be visiting the Cooperative of Equal Exchange in East Bridgewater MA. 

Equal Exchange works one on one with farmers and group of farmers in developing second and third world countries trying to encourage and support: 

• Fair Business
  
• Maintaining of cultural identity
  
• Access to needed Medical and health resources, Fostering Farming techniques that are environmentally sustainable
  
• Giving the ability of people to compete in the global exchange of products at livable wages.. 
  

As I go to sleep, to dream God's dream for life.. I continue to ask...

 How are our actions connected to our faith??

More answers tomorrow

Peace~ PR

We will be here soon!!

Keep watching!!

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED ON FRIDAY AUGUST 8TH

A Dose of Joy

Friday~ During lunch we went over to Andre’s house~ where the VA group was working, and said good bye to half of the group as they left in the afternoon. Parting in bittersweet as there is a connection that is made in the midst of mission trips, you experience people at a different level and bond within faith and the desire to serve others.

We finished up at Miss Sophie’s and worked till about 4pm (kinda late). Made sure to got all the tools back to Little Farms.  It is amazing how much Jake, Marci and I did this week~ we finished he punchlist that was out for us.

When we showered and cleaned up, the group that was left from VA and us, headed out for dinner in the French Quarter and ended up at Jimmy Buffett’s restaurant called Margaritaville. The cheeseburger in paradise was well cooked, but the atmosphere was amazing, and the location near bourbon street was a once in life time experience

The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “ if you do a good job, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is spiritual care”

Looking back on the last few days there has been much spiritual care within me, and within our group.  We have done a good job for Miss Sophie, for Andre and for all the people the UCC’s groups have served. In addition, from my observation~Each of us have had a dose of joy through our experience and grown in ways ~some ways we may not know.

I am sure as we head back and get back into our lives and leave the memories of paint, sweat, and daily life in NOLA~that the things we have done will become fond memories, and times we aspire to be at again. For in the joy that has been found in this time of work, lives have been changed ~Both those whom we have served and us as we worked and served in God’s name.

Peace~Rev Ryan

Just got home a few days ago and am definitely thinking about all of my old friends and new friends down in New Orleans. It has once again shown that it is a place where people truly care about each other and are so appreciative for all of the help that they get from the volunteer groups that come down. There is still so much to do there and that concerns me, but I do see that the people of New Orleans are of nothing but hope--the grass was greener and the flowers were more colorful. Hope does bloom there and it is truly a special place. It was of course awesome to see our old friends from Virgiania and to meet new ones in Ray, Ernie, Bobbie, John, Jen and Jeff--let's make that road trip and see each other before next summer! Special thanks to Pastor Ryan for all of the work in getting this together--I look forward to next year!

Dinner with new NOLA Family and Broken (Sweet) bread

Last night we went out to Dinner in the French Quarter on the invitation of a wonderful name Laura, She is a close friends of a couple at St John's. While we did not know Laura for very long, it felt like we were having dinner with a beloved long lost grandmother. As part of the dinner Laura invited two of her NOLA friends to have dinner with us as well~ Sue and Mary. Sue worked for the Presbyterian Church USA disaster relief, and Mary ( A retired University Prof) works as part time tour leader, and avid admirer of Stained glass. Needless to say the conversation around the table was amazing, full of laughter, and stories living through the struggle of the hurricanes. But isn't that what family is supposed to be about~ being around the table and sharing emotions and stories that matter.

It should be noted that Jake ended up sitting next to Laura at the table, and for some reason Laura really talked to, and asked Jake allot about his life....Jake was the center of attention for much of the table conversation...

Today at Miss Sophie's house we finished the 1/4 round on the base board, long with spackling, and painting it all. We also primed, painted, and begun the top molding in Miss Sophie's storage area. Jake also put another coat of paint on The back door to Miss Sophie's kitchen. Tomorrow I hope that we finish the storage area and are able to..

For some reason at Breakfast this morn. John ( from the VA group) freaked out over a pastry called Monkey Bread.  

so, you could say that~Most of today's activity have been around a table. 

I think often of the model of Jesus as he gathered at Table much during his earthly ministry, He welcomed everyone that would break bread, and treated everyone like family. What a model to have and share in New Orleans..

Peace~Rev Ryan

P.S. Daniel got a new dog, his name is Kingston...

Baseball and Kitchen Cabinets

Tuesday was long day for all us. We spent the day working at Miss Sophie's home. Miss Sophie is lovely woman that just celebrated her 80th birthday~ she is smart as whip and has a million stories about growing up on a farm outside the city New Orleans.  Miss Sophie's home is close to being complete, as all the walls have been put in, new tile has been laid in all the rooms.  This week we are focusing on putting some cabinets in her kitchen, and putting 1/4 round on all the baseboard molding.  

Little Farms UCC ( our host church) is in Jefferson parish, and within two miles of the church on airline road, is the training facilities for the NO Saints, and the ball diamond of the NO Zephyr's~ the Triple A baseball team for the NY Mets.  They happened to be playing on Tuesday night against the Las Vegas 51's~ the triple A team for the LA Dodgers.  As we walked up to get tickets we found out that it two-for tuesday. if you brought a non=perishable item to donate~ you would get your tickets buy one get one free. We didn't have any extra non-perishable items with us, so we proceeded to the window to buy, but before we got to the window~ many people proceeded to ask us if we needed some free tickets? What!? Sure!!  Folks handed us little cards that got half of our group free tickets to the game.  Wow to experience extravagant, even at baseball game~ does the soul good..

So recently~ The song we sang alot in VBS has going through my brain, and I find myself humming it as I work. I think to myself~ what it is that is happening or doing that makes me feel like God's spirit is in the midst of what I am doing.  I remembering learning at a young age that We are the hands of God on earth and that when we serve others we are actually serving God.  But how often do we need to remind ourself??  How often do you remind yourself??

The song I have been humming goes like this: 

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and Holy, tried and true.
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary, for You.

 (For a great youtube version of this song)~ Click here

Peace~Rev Ryan

Today has been a great day full of old friends and new stories.. The gracious folks of little farm provided dinner when we got off the plane on Monday night. We were able to have our fill of red beans, rice hearing stories from Skelly and seeing how big daniel has grown since the last time we have seen him...

Everyone is in good spirits as the Little Farm Farm worshiping community has seen growth in the last year now somewhere around 60 on Sunday morning.  The new steel roof has been well received fixing many of the problems associated from the Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

The kitchen has been completely done over, and even has a restaurant quality Stove and oven.  

I've dropped some pictures in here so you know what we are doing..

   Peace and Hope~ Rev Ryan