Kenwood United Methodist Church

You talked, we listened, and we are excited to launch a whole new Sunday morning education curriculum for children beginning September 12!  We invite everyone to join us in the sanctuary at 10:00 on September 12 to learn more about this curriculum, and how we will implement it.  Here are some of the important aspects of story circles, based on what we heard from you:

On Sunday, September 12, we leave our summer worship schedule, and worship resumes at two services, 9:00 and 11:00.  Nursery care for infants and toddlers is available at both services.

On night two of VBS, the story of Elijah was the focus as we learned about how near we can be to God.  In Innovation Science Lab, Mr. and Mrs. Gemmell taught the kids about how to talk to one another using paper clips, two cups, and string.  In Moons and Tunes, they learned You and Me Together and Revolution.

Commander and Galileo ask us to listen carefully.

The orange group goofing off as they head into Cosmic Crafts

We are collecting an offering this week for Nothing But Nets to fight malaria.

Vacation Bible School 2010 blasted off on Monday July 12 with a new record for Kenwood–60 children in attendance.  Monday’s focus was on understanding the creation story, and how awesome it is that God created the world.  In Bible story time, the kids got to re-enact the creation story, pulling the different elements of creation out of a big box labeled “In the beginning…”  They were also introduced to Commander and Galileo, our Assembly Time characters for the week.

60 children and teachers in the sanctuary for closing assembly.

Josh Burnap leads Rocket Rec

Thursday saw us back at all three of our worksites. We finished bathroom trim work at Jerita and Jimmy’s, had lunch then went to Mr. Earl’s where we installed new vents under the house and put new molding on his screen door (more power tools!). we finished up by fixing Mrs. Dorothy’s ceiling fan.

We returned to Hinton, took a dip in the lake and then prepared for dinner with our homeowners at the center. After dinner and sharing about the work on all 19 worksites, we had a closing worship service. At the service Kate shared our group’s quilt square symbolizing our week: “Many gifts, one spirit.”

After a final competitive card game and a night’s rest, we headed out at 9 am for the journey home.

Day three at Hinton found us working at Mrs. Jerita’s house, painting and installing some trim around her shower in her bathroom.  Mrs. Jerita had a rooster and hen, a bunny, a plentiful garden, a hyper poodle and a grandchild, Autumn, as well as some other family members.  It was hard to fit all ten of us in her bathroom, so we took turns learning how to use the power saw, and building relationships with her family.  This site also saw our first minor injuries of the week in an irritated eye (Jack) and a mysterious arm itch (Kate)–which we dealt with and seem better on Thursday morning.

That afternoon we went to the Nantahala River Gorge and went white water rafting, which was a fun filled afternoon.  We had pizza at a local pizza joint and came back to the Hinton Center where we had to finish our quilt square representing our week.  The square will be our offering at worship tonight.  One of the pictures today is Kate working on it.

Today our team finished our work on Mr. Earl and Mrs. Dorothy’s home.  Led by deck builder extraordinaire Mark Waite, we added a new handrail to Mr. Earl’s back porch then painted it.  We also put down tile in his home and added some thresholds between rooms.

At Mrs. Dorothy’s, a team painted the porch we cleaned yesterday.

After our work day, we went to the Fire Creek Recreation area for some rock splashing.  That mountain stream was cold!

After arriving on Sunday afternoon, we introduced ourselves to the 128 other people volunteering this week!  We divided up into 19 teams, and learned about our sites and our team member assignments.  We are working with JC, a Hinton staff person, and will be working at three different homes this week. We concluded Sunday with worship.

This morning (Monday), after morning devotions, breakfast and packing our lunches, we began our work week at Mr. Earl and Mrs. Dorothy’s homes. They are a brother and sister who live in homes built by Hinton in the 1990′s.  At Mr. Earl’s house, we finished painting the front porch and cleaned and painted the side porch.  After lunch, for which Mrs. Dorothy joined us (Mr. Earl is actually in the hospital right now), we cleaned off her back porch in preparation for painting it tomorrow.  After a stop for ice cream we returned home for a dip in the lake and showers!

At 6:20am on Sunday, June 27 the 2010 Hinton Mission Team departed the Kenwood parking lot en route to the Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville, NC. The ten member team represents a historic moment in the life of this congregation founded in 1891 and now sending it’s first team in mission beyond the community. Team members Beth, Josh and Jack Burnap, Kate Dotson and Beth Givens, Mark, Deb and Matt Waite, Emily Eaton and Leslie Hanky will be doing home repair in Appalachia through July 2.