Northern Ireland Update: June 09

We have been simply overwhelmed by the outpouring of support we have received for the Youth Service Trip to Northern Ireland! Many, many people have contributed prayer and financial support to make the trip, once a dream, a reality now only 7 weeks away. Most thrilling has been how enthusiastically people have given. So many who gave expressed in cards, notes, emails, Facebook messages and in person how excited they were to give and make an international trip possible for 6 young people from Germantown. One generous donor expressed that she only wished she could see the look on their faces as they experience it! Well, we hope to make that possible as we prepare to video document as much as we can and send it out to all our donors when we return, so be on the lookout for that.

Now that school is over, we are beginning the "domestic internship" with the Northern Ireland team. This includes weekly meetings for Bible Study, discipleship, a few cultural lessons on N. Ireland and some drama practice for presentations we will be giving while we are there. The team will also be serving as junior counselors in our church's own summer day camp in July, so they are serving in their own neighborhood too.

We will be having one final fund-raising event on Saturday, July 11. At a location to be announced, the team will be having a car wash with the help of Ashland Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Voorhees, NJ. If you are able, please come on out and get your car washed, and meet the team! They would be greatly encouraged to know you are thinking about them as they continue to prepare.

One interesting hurdle we've been experiencing has been the passport application process. A minor applying for a passport is required to have both parents accompany them in person at the time of application. For four out of the six team members, this is not a possibility since their fathers are not in the picture. At first, it seemed easy enough... write a letter explaining why dad cannot be there, get it notarized, send it with the application. But 2 team members have already had it sent back to them several times for reprocessing, saying more detail is required, or more documentation is necessary. One mother went to family court to get some things straightened out for the application. We are confident that the passports will be here on time, but it has not been as straightforward as we thought.

We are firming up the transportation plans for our departure on August 8. We are flying out of JFK since the flights were a lot cheaper than flying out of Philly. But that means we are in need of transportation to and from Queens. If there is anyone with a 15 passenger van who might give us a lift, let us know!

We will keep you updated; thanks for your prayers.