This week with LiT is suburb week, meaning that we are
doing work with churches in the surrounding towns, as opposed to the churches
in the city of Trenton. Today, the whole group was at Abiding Presence in
Ewing, NJ. We worked with Pastor Dan Whitener (aka my dad) in projects in and
around the church building. I personally helped move brush from trees that we
were cutting down around the parking lot, as well as doing a good bit of
weeding during the afternoon. Working in the gardens was actually pretty fun
and rewarding, and the sun was not too, too hot today, which made the work a
lot easier. Plus, as a group, we are growing closer and more comfortable with
each other so we have plenty to talk and laugh about as we work.
The morning began with a talk from one of the members of
APLC, David Olson, on the topic of the solar panel grids that the church uses
to produce energy. He shared with us the steps of the project from beginning in
2006, to completion in 2009, to how they are working today in 2012. It was so
interesting to hear about how they work, as well as discussing the concerning
topics of energy conservation and climate control. Though not exactly what we
expected to be doing with this experience, it was a great opportunity to learn
about how we can help the environment and therefore preserve God’s beautiful
Earth for as long as possible.
One of my favorite aspects of this program is that we
start and end each day with devotions as a group. In addition to prayer and
song, we are reading the book of Acts together. We kind of just decided one day
to read through Acts, but as we began reading we realized that no other book of
the Bible could be as applicable to this program as it is. Acts is the book of
the Bible in which Jesus’ disciples, and Saul turned Paul, are sent out on
their own to begin spreading Christianity and explaining to people that Jesus
is the Messiah. Though we are not evangelizing as much as they did, it is
interesting to read about their travels and struggles in spreading the good
news of Jesus on their own, without any direct guidance from a leader, just led
by their faith. Similarly, the ten of us are all doing work and learning to
lead and trust in God outside of the comforts of our own congregations. Some
days our direction is more obvious, but other days we have to think harder
about how we have seen Jesus working in our lives. But through the experience
as a whole, I can personally say that my faith is growing and being nurtured by
living and working with the group and helping the churches in the ways that we
have.
--Olivia
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