Mission trips are funny sometimes

You may think that on a mission trip we are focused on serving and learning, and you would be right.  But that doesn't mean that hilarious things don't happen.

Know the address
911, what is your emergency?
Hi, we are stuck in an elevator.
What is your address?
Ummm.  It's First Baptist Church at 16th and O NW.
And what is that address?
(Does anyone remember the address?)  16th St NW, we can't remember the number.
It would help us dispatching someone to you if you could provide the address.
We just arrived in town here, so we don't really know...
Is there an information card in the elevator with the address on it?
(Why didn't we think of that?)  No, we're pretty familiar with the interior of the elevator by now.
Well we can try to look up the address for you if you like, but it will take a couple of minutes.
That's OK, we're not going anywhere.

Check the valve
Setting up our ground beds in the church basement I realized that my brand new air mattress was missing the valve insert and could not be inflated.  Fail!  But Tim had purchased or borrowed a king's ransom in equipment (portable cot, self-inflating mattress, high-tech collapsible ground pad) and so had an extra air mattress for me to borrow.  Golden!  I slept like a baby...that is until 5:00am when the air mattress deflated enough that I was awakened by the Fellowship Hall floor, ouch.  Strangely, this condition healed itself.  Wednesday morning was the last time I hit bottom,  As for Tim, he reported daily that his sleeping arrangement was the equivalent of a bed of nails.

The running of the bulls
First Baptist DC was a terrific host, but their facility is not really designed for large groups of overnight guests.  One shower for men and one for women was available.  The Passport staff assigned shower times to each church, and within those constraints each person was entitled to a daily shower of about seven minutes.  The girls came up with assigned times for themselves, but the boys arrived at a different solution.  Around 8:58 each night, you could see them eyeing the clock, tensing up.  And at the stroke of 9:00...They're off!  A blur of teenage boys with towels fluttering behind, and the less vigilant dashing to catch up with the pack.  It sort of reminded me of the running of the bulls through the streets of Pamplona.  I wonder where they're going?  Oh, look at the time.  My solution?  I was awakened by my air mattress each day at 5:00am, so I had the shower all to myself.

Volunteers exhibiting insect-like behavior
Working at the Capital Area Food Bank was gratifying.  They need the volunteer help, and it was eye-opening to see the amount of food donated and the infrastructure in place to process it.  But there is no lack for humor.  With two dozen volunteers in the warehouse getting to the bottom of the last donation boxes, you end up with diminishing returns.  Is this can too dented to be accepted?  Is this partially open cereal acceptable?  Can we use these individual toilet paper rolls?  In the midst of these questions the forklift arrives with a fresh donation box.  Hey!  The response of the volunteers is immediate and reminds me of the reaction of nearby ants when ice cream is dropped on the sidewalk.

Noise Pollution
The prayer walk on Day 1 with Fritz of Jubilee Housing was terrific, but it was not without challenges.  We visited half-a-dozen sites in the Adams Morgan neighborhood that provide housing, health care, job training, business loans, and a host of other services to the most vulnerable.  Fritz provided a scripture reading, then told us the function of this site and how it started.  But my goodness Washington DC is loud!  Garbage trucks, construction vehicles, and heavy equipment seem to constantly be in use or in transit.
So this is the location of... (ENGINE ROAR) which is signific...(ROAR) when you consider all that... (RATTLE RATTLE) and of course... (BANG BANG BANG).
This is The Potter's House, one of our missions.  They are known for... (YADAYADAYADAYADA) and if the customer can't afford to pay they will... (YADA) and it has been very success...(YADAYADA)

Food Bank Fail, or Canned Food Comedy

We found ourselves at the Capital Area Food Bank again this morning.  We were the pros this time, offering sorting advice to the first-timer volunteers from some federal office.  Or so I thought.  I put cereal in the Dry Goods bin (Whoops!  There's a Cereal bin over there), and I put cooking oil in the Glass and Plastic bin (Whoops!  There's a Cooking Oil bin over there).  Worst of all was water.  I put Perrier in the Water bin and was told NO.  Perrier is a Small Serving Drink.  Later on I observed folks removing piles of cans from the Small Serving Drink bin.  Why?  It was seltzer.  All seltzer, flavored or not, is considered Water.  Whoops!  I found my Perrier, now buried in Small Serving Drinks, and unilaterally reclassified it as Water.  Must not have been too terrible because Volunteer Coordinator David, who looked like he could bench 400 pounds, told us at the end that we did a great job.

Girls getting ready to pre-sort

What's in the box?  Lots of cans

The food bank warehouse looks like Costco

Later we visited Bread for the World, a lobbying and advocacy group whose goal is to promote food availability and affordability policies both domestically and internationally.  The biggest takeaway was that we shouldn't be shy about calling and writing our representatives on issues that concern us.  Calling is good, writing is better.  Getting elected, I suppose, would be even better. 

 

The view from the offices of Bread for the World

Tomorrow we head home.  It has been a terrific week.  The youth have been wonderful, and it has been a pleasure spending this time with them.  One of the questions on the Passport camp evaluations is Why did you choose to chaperone?  Part of my answer is it's one of the best weeks I spend all year. 

 

Thanks for reading!

The DC tourist thing at Passport

Last things first.  Half of the Passport time today was church free time.  We ended our day with Twilight Tattoo at Fort Meyer, VA.  Twilight Tattoo is a history and celebration of the Army told in pageantry, band music and lots of cannon fire.  Army units in uniform from the Revolution to present day were on hand.  The event closed with The US Army Drill Team, sharp!  Toss those rifles!

Before that we enjoyed a delicious Ethiopian dinner at Enjera Restaurant.  Enjera is a bread that on first glance looks and tastes like an Ace bandage.  But you use it as a vehicle to eat lentils and marinated steak from shared platters, yum.  The youth said yum, too.

Dinner at Enjera

Before that we visited the Marine Corps War Memorial, an amazing moment captured in bronze.  Immediately before, we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I felt compelled to sit and watch the honor guard through his shift, and was impressed and delighted that our youth felt the same way.  It felt like an honor to be there.  Did you know there are twenty burials at Arlington daily?  We started this tourist jaunt with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and the nearby Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Looking away from the Lincoln Memorial

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We actually did some work for the community today!  Our service was at Food and Friends, an organization that provides specialty meals to needy residents in the DMV.  Like if you are immobilized from an injury and have a heart condition, these folks could help.  So grab a white plastic bag, put in a packaged dinner and a soup, tie the bag and put it on this tray.  Eight meals per tray, twelve trays per rack, we packaged well over 500 meals this morning.  Out of the million meals per year provided by Food and Friends.

Racks of meals tagged and ready for freezing and distribution

Waiting for instructions

Grab a meal, grab a soup and bag it!

A red dot means what again?

Last night, guest speaker James, an alumnus of Christ House came for a chat.  Christ House is a home for men recently released from prison and one of the missions of Jubilee Housing.  James has been through many challenges, starting with his abandonment by his 13-year-old mother.  But the thing that got my attention is that James feels that Christ has never given up on him.  Why?  Maybe so he could be here for us today.  And maybe that's why Christ hasn't given up on us either.  So we can be here today for each other.

Morning on Capitol Hill

In the old days I used to get frustrated with DC maps because you frequently couldn't get there from here.  Now with GPS things are better.  Not.  You still can't get there from here, but now in a much more high-tech way.

The Supreme Court steps

This morning we rode the metro to Capitol Hill to visit the very uncatchily named General Board of Church and Society.  There, Amy spoke to us about the Methodist Building (the only non-government building on the hill) where the board resides and about the advocacy the board promotes.  It was a fascinating discussion on many levels.  One unintended moment:  Amy seemed surprised that the youth had not developed negative stereotypical views regarding the SNAP (Federal Food Stamps) program.  Truthfully, the youth are not aware enough to have views.  She had us work through an exercise to show how difficult it is to adequately feed a family solely on the SNAP program and asserted that proposed cuts to the program would be bad.

OK, but I felt a little funny.  If I advocate a position as true - not just good, but true - then there is no possibility that some other opinion might have any merit.  And as a result you might feel funny too.  It was a thought-provoking morning.

Food, and lots of it.

In the afternoon, once we found the Capital Area Food Bank (!) we had quite the experience.  Folks, we're doing pre-sort. Here are the boxes full of store-rejected food.  Dented, leaky, expired gets fed to the hogs (which, you understand, are not present.  They are offsite).  The rest goes to these dozen 6-by-6 bins by category.  Try not to get in the way of the fork lift or the other thirty people doing the same thing you are.  It reminded me of my experience driving bumper cars.

I haven't mentioned that we're having a great time here.  From the sidewalk in front of the church many impressive edifices are visible, including the Washington Monument straight down 16th St.  Washington is leafy, green, and busy.  Lots of construction and rehab going on.  Roads, buildings, construction cranes all over.  Krispy Kreme, CVS, and Starbucks close by.

Monday - Day One at Passport DC

Today we were led on a prayer walk through the nearby neighborhood by Fritz, who represents Jubilee Housing.  Jubilee Housing is part of a network of Christian organizations spawned by the Church of the Saviour providing "Justice Housing".  That is housing assistance to folks who are excluded from traditional offerings.  One example would be serving folks recently released from prison.  As you might imagine, without assistance these returned citizens have difficulty negotiating the intricacies of civilized life.  The network provides not only housing, but also job search, addiction treatment, childcare, fiscal training, even a micro loan for starting a business.  As Shari who administers the transitional housing says, we'll love you through the hurt, love you back to life. Along the way we met who Marcus of Life Asset, who lends successfully to folks who most would say have no business even asking for a loan.  All three were excited to be living their calling after having previously pursued different paths.  

Walking through the Adams Morgan neighborhood

Ministries in action

Afterwards we visited DC Central Kitchen and helped prepare 5000 meals for distribution across the city.  The attitude of the managers there was: Great, you're here.  Grab an apron and a hairnet and let's get you cooking.  5000 meals, every day.  But more than that, DC Central Kitchen is a training program for people to get back on their feet and learn how to be competent in work and in life.

Tim and Don on cucumbers

The fish cake team in action

The bread pudding team at work

Arrival

Hi, this is Passport chaperon Chris Barsam reporting to you from First Baptist Church near DuPont Circle in NW DC.  We made it!  A beautiful church.   The boys are sleeping on the floor in the basement Fellowship Hall, and the girls are in the slightly more comfy third floor classrooms.  We are here with 45 youth from 3 churches in Manhassett, NY.  A full week of service and learning is planned, focused on entities that address food insecurity.  Kudos to the DC Fire Dept.  My first elevator entrapment (along with Tim and the boys) was handled with aplomb.

Ice breaker in the Fellowship Hall

As part of our evening Vesper Service, we engaged in a prayer walk around the campus ending in a moving candle lit prayer in the darkened sanctuary.  We are fortunate to have that church floor.  In this prosperous-looking neighborhood we noticed several homeless men bedding down on the covered church entryways.  Having some connectivity issues, so I'll touch base when able.