We've Arrived....Quack!

Happy Sunday night! After about 6 ½ hours in the vans, and a stop in Jellico for lunch, we arrived safely at Whitewater Express in Copperhill, TN. Because of the ‘safe sanctuary’ policy that the Catholic Church has, TeamEffort Mission Camps gave our group our own cabins. They are much smaller than the ‘shared’ cabins, but the group is pretty happy about being by ourselves. The leaders are able to sleep out on the screened-in side room, while the teens take up the main cabin. We brought enough fans that each cabin has great air flow. (We will see tomorrow if the cabins are habitable in the heat when we get back from the work site.)
Unfortunately, it rained (hard) for about an hour and now the commute to the bath/shower houses are extremely muddy. Fortunately, the rain held off for us to get everything unloaded out of the vans, so our belongings stayed relatively dry. The cabins only have 4 electrical outlets, so I was really glad we brought the surge protectors/extension cords. (Have to charge all of those phones, ya know.) 
After we unloaded and waited out the little rain storm, we headed into Ducktown for dinner. Of course, we had to take a picture of the sign….it is a ‘quacking good place’. In order to get to Ducktown, you have to drive through Turtletown. (I can’t make this up.) As we drove into Turtletown, we had to stop and wait while a turtle crossed the road. Craziness!  We ate at Brother’s Copper Kettle and rushed back to make it to chapel.
The chapel service had a great big projector with the words of the songs being played by the counselor praise band. It was fun to sing along to the last couple of pieces. We made it in time to see the beginning video and hear a reflection by one of the camp directors, Rachel. She discussed the meaning of ‘foundation’ and how we each have a choice to make. We can choose to have a ‘loose’ foundation in our relationship with God and thus have difficulties going through life, or we can choose to have a strong foundation, thus when the difficulties come, we know we have someone even greater on our side.
After chapel we went back to the porch of the girl’s cabin to do our personal church group time. Chuck, John, and Christine led the discussion while Erich and I went to a leaders meeting. We made it back for the end of the group discussion and got to do Hey God’s, Yeah God’s, and Mad Props with them. Even only being here a short time, they came up with things to be prayerful about.
We aren’t sure who our camp counselor will be yet, but the teens are excited about getting started in the morning. We are working on a home in Tennessee, but aren’t sure of all the details yet. (They have a lot to fill us in on in the morning.) Speaking of the morning, our breakfast time is 7:15 so I am going to go corral the girls for lights out……which is technically 10:30 by TeamEffort standards, but we told the teens they could stay up talking quietly if they wanted….as long as they didn’t disturb anyone trying to sleep. (I bet this is the only night they stay up…..after working tomorrow in the heat, they are bound to crash early.)
Please continue to pray for us as we work for Christ in the community. Know that we pray for you nightly!