The PEACE! Youth group headed out on their mission trip Saturday July 25. We drove 8 hours to Maumee, Ohio, where we spent the night at an indoor water park hotel. Sunday morning we continued on our trip, stopping in Pittsburgh to ride the Duquesne Incline. It is a cable car ride up the side of Mount Washington overlooking the three rivers and Heinz Field. Late Sunday afternoon we checked in with TEAMeffort at the Blue Knob All Seasons Resort, near Claysburg, Pennsylvania. The ski lodge (where our meals and nightly worship was held) is located at the top of the mountain, and our cabins were located about a mile down the mountain. We enjoyed our first night of Chapel with about 125 other campers, and we received our work assignments for the week. Monday morning, after we ate breakfast and packed our lunches, we headed into Altoona, PA to get to work. Our project for the week was to build a porch roof and storage shed for Tracy and her two kids, Luke, age 9, who suffers from Glaucoma and Cali, age 3. We began digging holes for the footings for the supports for the porch roof and leveled off an area for construction of the storage shed. As the day went on, the construction project started to come together. The kids all participated throughout the week measuring, digging, sawing, cutting, hammering, painting, roofing, tarring and anything else that was asked of them. They used tools they’ve never touched before, but eagerly volunteered to give it a try. Evenings were spent eating dinner, participating in worship, and ending with our small group time, which included sharing our Prayer Partner messages and gifts. Tuesday and Wednesday continued with the same routine as construction progressed. By noon Thursday we had completed the porch roof and storage shed, new flowers planted, and the yard fence repaired. After a quick lunch & change of clothes, we drove 1-1/2 hours to Latrobe, PA to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers afternoon training camp practice. Running behind schedule after a hot afternoon, a few celebrity waves, autographs, and pictures, we made it back to camp just in time for worship – and as the boys reminded us, we missed dinner as well. After a very emotional Chapel and small group time, we decided to find the nearest McDonalds open at midnight. Friday morning we said our good-byes and headed to the Flight 93 Memorial and then on to do some white water rafting on the lower Yough. There are too many stories to share about that adventure, so be sure to ask any of our participants about that trip! We drove another three hours into Ohio for the night, then finished our travels back home on Saturday. We would like to thank everyone that had a part in making this mission trip possible for these high school youth. We could not have done it without your generous donations, prayers and support. The PEACE! Youth Group will be sharing their Mission Experience on Sunday August 23rd at Peace Church at 9:30am. The senior youth will host this casual, contemporary worship service. Those on the mission trip were: Cole Goos, Spencer Goos, Deagan Haack, Callie Hulst, Sasha Nagle, Deb Osborn, Jim Osborn, Tammi Pierce, Tyler Pierce, Zach Pierce, Eric Stoakes, Kathy Vavroch, Kendra Vavroch and Scott Vavroch.