Day 1 here in Nashville is coming to a close as the last couple of students are brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed while most others, exhausted from the long day of traveling, are already fast asleep.
As we left the Chapel this morning, we mixed up small groups into different vehicles so students would get to interact and get to know students who would be in other serving groups throughout the week. Van groups sang, played road trip games in the car and students began to get to know and bond with their leaders.
We drove a little over 12 hours today with a couple of gas, food and bathroom breaks built in. Halfway to Nashville we stopped at the Parkin’s Alpacca farm house in Rural Retreat VA where we got to stretch our legs, take in the the beautiful mountain view and load up on food before hitting the road.
One of our vans had to leave the pack and double back to the farm house to retrieve a retainer that was left behin which set that group back about 15 mins from the rest of the vans but ultimately we all made it to Nashville at roughly the same time. We are staying at CSM headquarters at the Eastland Baptist Church. It’s a big building with several floors of meeting space, sleeping areas and communal space perfect for hosting groups on mission trips. There are two other church groups here with us. One group is actually also known at “the chapel” from a church called Armstrong Chapel in Michigan. Both groups are a bit smaller than our but extremely kind and welcoming.
Once everyone brought their things to their rooms, we split up into our serving groups for the week and met the CSM hosts that will accompany each group to their different serving sites and headed out to dinner. Groups went to different ethnic restaurants around town including a Thai market restaurant where students got to learn a little bit about Thai culture and choose from various food options to try.
After dinner, all groups gathered in the sanctuary for a CSM official welcome and orientation of the week. We went over rules and expectations and well as had some time to reflect individually and in groups about why we are actually here, how we hope to grow this week and what we want to learn from the Lord.
Groups then had some free time to unpack, get settled and get ready for bed. We are so excited to be here and eager to start serving tomorrow.
