Hi Everyone! 

It's hard to believe that the first half of the travel year is over. Last week we were in Upper Sandusky,Ohio where I didn't really have a constant wifi connection so I wasn't able to blog about the week before in Indiana. So, today's blog will be covering Logansport, IN, Upper Sandusky, OH and Orrville, OH. Right now we are sitting in the gym of the church in Orrville waiting on one of the trucks to start. We had some trouble last week with the same truck's starter so it wasn't necessarily a surprise when it acted up again. Now, back to the travel weeks. First, Indiana. The church we were at was about half a mile from Walmart and Buffalo Wild Wings and some other places...meaning we had places to go during free time. I had the pleasure of staying with a family that Alaina stayed with both of her years on the team and they had no idea we were related until they met me! They were so much fun and we got to call them Papaw, Nana, and Mamaw. They were a husband and wife as well as the wife's mom. Tiffany Stow (our den mom from summer camp) was able  to come to every service to see us and most of the time her parents (Gramma and Pop-Pop) came along as well! Our divided session with Jean consisted of us sharing Christmas memories and traditions and later in the week we drew names and decorated each others stockings for our Christmas party. Christmas was definitely in the air with all of us listening and singing along with a Michael Buble Christmas station on Pandora. One night of the week a group of us went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and had to run back to the church afterwards...I may have come close to losing my dinner. :/ On Friday night a bunch of host families and team members went to this wonderful little ice cream shop and probably ruined all of the employees night. It was a blast though and I'm sure they thanked us later for all of the business. :)

Alright, next is Upper Sandusky, Ohio. This church was one we had never been to before and the reason they knew of the ministry is from a man who used to go to Sarah Stenson's (team member) church and had seen the team previously and encouraged the church to have us come. I got to stay with Sarah's family along with 3 other team girls as well as the 3 girls that were staying with Sarah's Grandma who lives across the yard. We had tons of fun and we actually saw a lot of Encounter alumni at this church! I think one night there were 8 alumni all together at the service. One day we went to a coffee shop owned by two alumni and we sang "Carol of the Bells" for them...which was the first time we had ever sung it outside of rehearsal. It went pretty well considering although we started lower than normal so the bass had a tough time trying to sing along. :) On Wednesday we went to a homeschool program and sang for them and played games and prayed with them, as well. There was a little girl named Selah who I got to meet and pray with and she was such a ray of sunshine. She reminded me of my little sister, Leta. Friday afternoon we went to a nursing home where we sang and talked with the residents and ended with prayer. I talked to sweetest woman who had broken both of her hips so she was only there until she recuperated. 

Now, Orrville. Well, I'm currently still sitting on the gym floor watching a game of knockout basketball while waiting for Ardy's truck to get back from the shop (something is wrong with the compressor). This church we were only at from Saturday to Tuesday. Sunday we had three services: Sunday morning, Sunday School, and the PM service. On Monday we had a "fun day" which consisted of going to the Smucker's store, a giant Amish store that had EVERYTHING you could imagine, and a big wood carving store. We had lunch at the Pastor's house and played a game with everyone. (note: we got to help make the lunch...it's been too long since I was in a kitchen) Yesterday we had the strangest weather...the day started out sunny (but windy) and then there was blue sky but gray clouds (still windy), then it started pouring huge, hard raindrops (still windy), then eventually the rain stopped and it was..still windy.  The wind was so strong that while we were at the pastor's house his aluminum roofing blew off onto the ground. So, now we're still waiting...and tonight if we get back to PA early enough then our North Carolina carpool will head out for Thanksgiving break. If we get back to the camp too late then we will head out in the morning tomorrow. I'm spending Thanksgiving with Kaylin McCrea and her family and then heading back to the camp with her on Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Make sure you spend some time being thankful before going Black Friday shopping!! :) See you all soon!