Today was the NC team's day-off from their normally scheduled work projects. It was an opportunity to rejuvenate for the final two days of digging and painting that will close out the week tomorrow and Friday. After breakfast the NC team went to a local nursing home in Weaverville, NC called the Brian Rehabilitation Center. It houses residents with needs ranging from physical therapy to Alzheimers. The NC team split up into smaller groups in order to tackle multiple projects at once. One team of guys weeded a garden that had been completely overgrown. Another team picked up trash. These two teams eventually finished their clean-up projects and joined everyone else inside who were visiting with residents at the Brian Center. It was amazing to watch groups of 12-14 year olds be willing to break through the intitial awkwardness of interacting with these residents and show them compassion. Some played board games, some visited in bedrooms, and some sang songs to Alzheimer patients. The entire building was abuzz with new energy that not only brought love to the patients, but also encouraged the staff. The activities director was so grateful for our help that she surprised the team with a cookout. She provided hot dogs, chips, homemade lemonade and tea. The whole team was thankful to have something other than PB&J or turkey sandwiches for lunch.
After leaving the Brian Center, the NC team headed up to a natural water slide called Sliding Rock. It is located in the Pisgah National Forest and has become a tourist favorite in North Carolina. It is a rock that has rushing water over it and so as you sit down the water propels you down into a open pool of water at the bottom. It was great to enjoy one of God's natural wonders in the world even if the water was freezing cold. Since it was a cooler day today and there was a light drizzle at times, the team didn't spend the whole afternoon at Sliding Rock. Instead we got to have some relaxation time by going to watch Rio 2 as a team at a really cool discount theater in Asheville. The team enjoyed the opportunity to just sit and relax for a couple hours.
To close out the day the team headed to a super sweet porch time location: Megan May's family barn. Megan's family owns a barn where that is open on the bottom floor and perfect for a large group to gather. However, the team's favorite sight at the barn were the six pigs that the May family raises outside of their barn. There were many pictures taken with the pigs and lots of food fed to the pigs, which ended up being a unique and fun experience. After the team had their fill of time with the pigs they headed inside the barn for a pizza dinner, worship songs, and a talk by Megan May. Megan shared some stories about the distractions she faced on mission trips that she had been on when she was younger and talked about the shame that some of these distractions led to in her life. Megan ended by reading Matthew 11:28-30 and told the team that theses verses have been a huge comfort to her and has helped her face many of the distractions in her life that can often pull her away from God. It was a very important message for the NC team as their are so many things that can distract them from God's presence on a daily basis.
The team finished porch time, said goodbye to the Mays and their pigs, and headed back to ReCreation Experience's headquarters for bedtime. It was a wonderful day-off and definitely helped the team rejuvenate so that we can finish strong on our final two days at our work site! Stay tuned tomorrow for the details of our return to the work site.
