And so, as there is much to say (if I can remember it all) I will break it up into multiple different entries. I think it might be better than having one massive post to sift through.

So, for the month of July and August we have been doing a huge series on Justice at The Sanctuary. The first part of the series was a look at justice itself. I taught twice in that part. Right after we finished the justice part we had our annual week-long service project in Elizabeth, which we call The E-town Mission. Now we are wrapping up the series with a month-long look at Micah 6:8. Exciting.

Anyway, the E-town Mission was July 14 – 18 and it was pretty cool. I took off of work so I could participate in the full trip. Unlike past years, though, I was not a crew leader, and I totally didn’t mind. This year Cathy and Armando led our group and I was just there to look pretty help out. It was cool because Cathy was in my group, I believe two years ago, when I was leading it. I also had the responsibility of taking pictures and video throughout the trip. We managed to capture over 1000 photos and about 3 hours of video. I haven’t gone through the video yet, but the pictures are on Flickr. I tried to diversity the pictures as much as possible, meaning I had multiple cameras there and gave out the extras to other groups to try to capture all the different crew’s work instead of just mine. Still, there was an overabundance of pictures of my crew by default since I take more pictures than anyone. I still have one more set of images to go through that I just got from someone a day or two ago, and so those will be posted in a day or so. You can see the full and expanding gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/whartz/sets/72157606390538838/

We did a lot of work around the city in the week of the trip. Our (when I refer to “our” or “we” I am most likely, unless otherwise specified, referring to my crew. Other crews were sent to other jobs in different parts of the city at different times) first stop was the Salvation Army for a VBS kids club thing. We hung out with the kids all morning, doing crafts, singing songs, dancing, telling stories, hanging out, and playing games. Most of the kids were really good. There was one the first day who seemed quite a jilted and disenfranchised little girl. She was downright mean to us and everyone in the room. As the week progressed she got nicer and I think she really liked us in the end (my crew went back the the Salvation Army once more that week). Also, this is where Little Billy was born.

We visited 2nd Home, a day center for the elderly to come and hang out with other people. We were there for a few hours on Monday. Other crews were there throughout the week as well. There was music and singing and dancing and pool playing as well as a riveting game of ring toss that the people there seemed to quite enjoy. 2nd Home is not a place for the sick and dying. It’s not a nursing home. Rather it’s a vibrant community of the elderly who come there on a daily basis for friendship and fun. There was a lady there who was quite adamant about me and Maria dancing and she made it known that this is what she wanted done. There was also an acoustic rendition of La Bamba, or at least that is what we tried to perform, with Manny on the guitar and Armando trying to lead. We’re all in agreement that it was the most un-La Bamba version of La Bamba every attempted by human hands.

Of course there was the “manual labor” aspect of the trip as well. One day we we were sent to the North Elizabeth train station. There is an area of land in dispute there. It’s a path and stairway leading from the train tracks to the street. NJ Transit claims that it is property of the City of Elizabeth. The city claims that it is property of NJ Transit. As a result, neither party takes care of it. And so it has become overgrown with 6′ tall weeds and vegetation. The people who come from the train late at night fear that they may be jumped or assaulted because there is significant area for a would-be-assailant to hide in the overgrowth and surprise them. And since neither of these parties will do anything about it, we did. We went and cut down all the weeds and tried to open the area up as much as possible. There was much machete use. Oh, and I wrestled a tree. You see, in the middle of cleaning out an area I found a branch… or what I thought was a branch. I traced it to its source, yet the branch kept on going further and further and further. Eventually I realized I was dealing with a 30+ foot tall tree. I thought I could leverage it and push it to the back, out of the way. Instead I moved it and it fell over the train tracks (!). And so I called Armando and Clarence over and we muscled it off the tracks and into a small ravine. It was a feat of great manliness and strength.

The next day we went to the Liberty Center to work in the building, cleaning, working in the construction of the main theater, etc. Still sore from the weeding of the train station, Pastor Gary told me to get my machete again cause I was going to the back of the building to make friends with more 6′ tall weeds. And so me, Sarah, Jenn, Jose, JonStevens, and others headed into the forest that was the Liberty’s backyard. And the hacking commenced yet again. We got most of it done in the morning shift. My crew left to head back to the Salvation Army for shift 2 that day, and the remaining crews completed the deforestation so that it was all complete and clean. Other crews at the Liberty cleaned windows and bathrooms. Some went upstairs and worked in the 2nd floor theater. Some worked in the main theater, moving construction material, screwing down and painting the main stage, and moving things into storage.

We finished the work week by running a car wash for a local church. They needed to raise money for an event for their youth program. And so we put together a free car wash and had a place for donations. All donations went to this church, and I believe they were able to raise a few hundred dollars. The car wash was fun. As the day progressed the crews got more efficient with their time and cleaning. As we were closing down for the day there was a line out of the driveway with cars waiting for their bath. As the people had their cars washed they had the opportunity to get out of the car and we had a little chat with them about what we were doing. It was a really beautiful day also, which made it really enjoyable.

There was much more we did that week. We (the group collective) took some kids to the park, went to a nursing home to hang out with the sick elderly, cleaned up different streets and areas in the city, planted flowers and did basic landscaping in public areas, repaired damaged structures in the city, etc.

And then there was the activities. We went to the park, went swimming, went bowling, barbecues, etc. And at the end of the trip we all went to Dorney Park for the day to ride roller coasters and other recreational things. While there we also took one of those old timey cowboy photos.

Overall it was a great trip. It really tied into the discussions we’ve been having on service and justice the past months. People are excited to go out and make a change in their city and world. Some are beginning to make plans on how to make the E-town Mission a year-long project instead of just one week throughout the summer. The happenings of this week and the discussion of The Sanctuary had really influenced me personally and made me rethink a great many things in my own personal life, some of which came to heads in my trip to San Francisco, which I will blog about a bit later on. In addition I was able to make new friends and get closer to pre-existing ones. I’m really glad I was able to be a part of the experience.

To see all the pictures of the things we did, visit our gallery on Flickr. Videos (hopefully) to come soon.