greetings from the end of the world

well, i may not be at the end of the world...but you can see it from here! so said one of the first people we met in Hyde County. mind you, that quip was made as my team & I ended our roadtrip from Birmingham, AL. We had spent the last few hours watching civilization slip away as the countryside grew more & more untouched. we were officially welcomed to our home for the summer by a roadsign that read "Hyde County--The Road Less Traveled." That, apparently, is their motto. But here at the edge of nowhere we have been welcomed by some of the biggest hearts in God's kingdom. We've been well-fed, showered, quartered, and informed by a cast of small town characters that we'll never forget.

First there was David & Anita, whose home we stayed at for our first two nights here. Anita fed us until we were fit to burst, then offered us more. David took us on a ride down the dirt road on the wildlife refuge & pointed out every single living creature. When we returned, he showed us his garden & we ate asparagus & broccoli & mulberries straight out of nature. David throws out more one-liners that we can write down to remember.

Next we met JH, the pastor here at Soule UMC where we've been staying & will stay until the youth participants arrive next weekend. He may be simultaneously the nicest & craziest man I've ever met. He & his wife have opened their home to us every single night to let us shower. They've also cooked us a delicious dinner & took us out to the only restaurant in town another night for dinner. This morning we heard JH preach at one of the most laid-back services I've ever attended--and yet we sang hymns and the men wore ties. JH is leaving in another 2 weeks, because Soule can no longer support a full-time pastor. We're going to miss him so much...and we've only just met him.

The community here is surreal. The may actually have Acts 2 figured out. No one's door is shut, no one's table is full, no one's shower is too personal to let a herd of sweaty kids pass through. And they love us instantly. I can walk into the grocery store or the post office and as soon as someone spots my YouthWorks t-shirt, they start talking about how excited they are that we're back & can't wait to send their children over to our Kid's Club. Or they know someone who needs help with their home. Or they can get us a connection with free produce or eggs for feeding our youth groups. The lady at the post office remembered which box the YW staff used last year, and rented the same one to me. The man stocking shelves at the grocery store stopped me because he had never seen me around before & wondered whether I was new in town. God has totally side-swiped me with this wealth of community, which I would not have experienced so fully had I been in a more urban area, as I had hoped, this summer. We are isolated, that's for sure, but we're also surrounded by people who loved us before they met us.

There is one person whose welcome was not so warm. The principal of the school we'll be staying at this summer has it out for us. YouthWorks has been in this community for 6 years, but he's only been principal for two. So basically the task of housing YW participants & collaborating with the staff was dumped on him--and he was ready to not let us come back, but the community wouldn't have it. And did he ever let us know it---that we're an extreme inconvenience for him. He was rude & sharp & ready to watch us fail. He set up hoops for us to jump through and is prepared to kick us if we fall down. After we met with him, I cried. But now that I've had some time to process along with my team, we've come to the conclusion that God has given us the task of loving this man. Loving him despite his disdain, loving him despite his lack of love for us and our mission. That's going to be a huge challenge for me. Would you pray for me as we fight to overcome evil with good? Meeting with him was the only downside of an otherwise AMAZING week. I don't want my weekly check-in with him to be the same way. I want to be so filled with the Spirit, vision, and purpose of Jesus Christ that nothing he says will affect me negatively. I believe we can love him so much that he'll have to stop and ask why. And hopefully we can speak some truth into his heart that is so clearly hurting.

We have exactly one week until our first bunch of youth show up. Some sites are starting their programming today. Though I'm ready for prep week to be over & for the kids to be here, it would've been near impossible to get everything together in just one week! Granted, we've spent a lot of time shooting the breeze with community members, and we aren't yet in our official housing site for the summer (and won't be until the night before the youth arrive, thank you again Mr. Principal)--but there is still much to be done. I look forward to sitting on the other side of this week & diving into our youth ministry. We're in for quite a ride :)