NY Mission Day Two through Jessica's Perspective

Karen Carpenter would not have enjoyed today since "rainy days and Mondays" always get her down - but we were loving this cool weather. It was only just drizzling while we ate a yummy breakfast with a gorgeous view of the lake in the background and the kids laughter from our table easily drowned it out. The friendships being formed here are beautiful, silly, and fun.
After breakfast the boys all went to chop wood, while the girls split into two groups with myself and Nicole helping in the nursery as the others began cleaning empty bunkhouses. In my mind this was going to be a blissful easy several hours sitting on a porch rocking a sleeping baby...in actuality I was holding a screaming child while telling another I could only help one melt down at a time, repeatedly removed toddlers trying to climb up the slide, and intervene when the little guys had difficulty sharing the trains. It was messy, loud, and full of dirty diapers. But it was great. I got to see little ones learning to share, smile and laugh and dance around while listening to praise music, and hear the gratitude of an overwhelmed nursery staff.
We were kindly invited to join the family campers for their Bible hour and were greeted warmly by staff. The teaching was great.
After a lunch of pizza and wings all the guys went to, you guessed it, chop more wood, while all of the ladies worked with a cleaning crew to clean multiple bathrooms and meeting room around the property. We had a blast laughing and joking as we scrubbed toilets. One young man who works here for the summer was very clear in his instructions on specifically how I was to mop the bathroom floors. I chuckled at his serious and through instruction, but also saw how amazing it was that this college guy wanted to make sure the job was done well every time. This work crew does this three times a day! Finding joy in the mundane was a talent I saw shine in all of us as we cleaned. Time flew by and we were finished early. Us ladies went to go see what all of this wood chopping the guys were doing was about.
When you hear someone talk about chopping wood, you may picture in your mind one guy with an axe chopping some firewood in a backyard - at least I did. Boy was I wrong. These men were working tirelessly to clear an area of forest to build new cabins, and they had all the cool toys to do it too. There were chain saws buzzing, a hydro stump cutter cracking the most massive pieces, and some guys thwacking an axe to chop up firewood for bonfires at camp. It was so cool to see them all working so hard and quickly incorporate the rest of us into their assembly line of piling the chopped pieces. Do not worry, there were no serious injuries and everyone went to dinner with all the digits and limbs they originally came here with.
This evening the highlight was seeing God work through the CEO of WOL who gave the gospel message to the high school camp and see somewhere around twelve respond with joining our family. The high school camp is on a massive island that the camp was incredibly blessed to acquire some years ago at a very low price that they had not necessarily thought would be accepted. The passion and energy in that room were contagious and fueled us as we walked back to the boat through the downpour. The light rain and drizzle turned up full force and gave us a memory we won't soon forget.
It is getting late and we all need to rest before we go to the tasks that await us tomorrow, so I am sure there is more that happened that I am forgetting. The main thing I want you to know about today - is that our team is growing in friendship with each other and the missionary families as we work hard alongside each other. There is joy to be found in the mundane and difficult chores we all complete day after day, and I hope you will experience this for yourself soon.