It’s hard to believe it has been a whole year since we were in Somerville, Tennessee… This summer’s workcampers are headed to Vandalia, Ohio. Vandalia is a small suburb of Dayton which once was a thriving town that survived on travelers who stopped there for the night. When Eisenhower setup the interstate system, Vandalia, and other small towns like it, were no longer popular stops along the way, but instead were just additional exits. When you watch the movie Cars, think Vandalia, Ohio.

We departed from Faith Presbyterian this morning around 9 A.M. This was a welcomed change from the usual 7 A.M. departure and probably necessary as most of the youth spent last night waiting in line for the new Harry Potter book. Our resident book worm, Kelly Trop, finished the last Harry Potter book by 8:30 this morning… She has done a great job of not discussing the book, probably because she fears for her life is she let’s one of the secrets slip. I’ve never before seen youth so enthused by a book!

We thank all of you who were able to make it to this morning’s send-off service. Having the support of our Faith family is what makes this trip possible.

As always, the car rides go by much faster that you would think. Some games were played and after a few hours, the newest campers, Tyler and Leigh, seemed liked grizzled veterans. We had plans to meet up with Joanna Yen for lunch south of Pittsburgh but our schedules ended up conflicting. Hopefully we will be able to see her on our way home…

We arrived in Columbus, Ohio at 6 P.M. and went to the Columbus Jazz and Ribs festival. This is considered to be one of the premier festivals on the summer U.S. calendar but was somewhat disappointing. Unlike Musikfest, there were really only two performers at a time and the festival took place on both sides of the river making the bridges very congested. Nonetheless, it was a great opportunity to spend a few hours with each other and 100,000 others…

Our final destination for today was Bethel Presbyterian Church is Columbus, Ohio. We arrived here around 9 P.M. and were greeted with open arms. This church sent approximately 50 youth to a conference in Florida just this afternoon. After getting settled in, we played the first game of silent football. Amazingly, Justin, Will, and Leigh all ended up on the losing end. As punishment for losing, Will and Justin will be helping other churches unload their vans tomorrow at camp. This will be a great opportunity for them to meet fellow campers and will hopefully enhance their camp experience. Leigh will be serving us all breakfast in the morning!

Tomorrow morning we will have only an hour and a half of driving before we reach Vandalia! There we will meet new people, find out our individual work descriptions, and hopefully open ourselves to a week of renovation. We’ll keep you informed of all of the day’s happenings as there will be many. Until then, keep the Faith!