North Carolina #3 - 7.6.16

Today was our day off here in Weaverville, but it started the same as the others with an early breakfast and worship at ReCreation. After a brief message from the head of ReCreation continuing the teaching of their summer theme, "Into the Fire", Our team then headed out for our first activity, Sliding Rock! We had a blast sliding down the natural water slide and building even more memories together.  After a few hours at Sliding Rock, we ventured down the road a little ways to a picnic area where we enjoyed lunch with a beautiful view.  Then we went to "Looking Glass Falls" which is a waterfall with a swimming at it's base and we reveled in the beauty of God's creation as we enjoyed some more quality time together swimming and taking in the scenery.  We left the falls and headed into Asheville where we had a chance for some more small group bonding time while also getting the opportunity to learn about some of the conditions of the region and the poverty it faces. With an average monthly household income of $2,000 for a family of four. After necessary bills, they are left with a budget of roughly $100 dollars per month for food. Things that we don't often think about being a problem in America, like making decisions between food or medicine, are very present and much closer to us than we would like to admit.  We then headed to May Farms, home of Meagan May who was a summer intern and program assistant in Student Ministry a few years ago. We had dinner and also did our nightly porch time in their barn.  Brody Scott spoke tonight about competition verses compassion and how so often in our lives we allow our competitiveness to effect how we treat people and and situations that we face.  He compared competition to the example of compassion in John 8 where Jesus said, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone." So often are we quick to call out sin in those around us, and yet are blind to our own.  Would we want to be called out or would we want to be shown compassion as the woman was in John 8?  After porch time, we drove back to ReCreation and began to mentally prepare to get back to work tomorrow. It was a peaceful and restful day, but we are excited to continue and finish our work project in the next two days!