First day of training - Travel and Getting Started

Tuesday July 6

The PCB Mission started its activities in fine fashion, taking an early morning flight from O’Hare to Memphis, Tennessee.

A small hiccup in plans reared its head when the airlines informed us that the luggage for one of our team decided to take a later flight out of Chicago. Spirits were high, though, and the team moved on with promises of luggage delivery by the airlines later in the day (a promise later proven to be unfulfilled.)

We had several hours before check in at Camp Hopewell (a mere 50 miles away) so we soaked in some Memphis culture. Blues City Ribs, on the world famous Beale Street in Memphis, provided a very satisfying lunch. There was even time to walk around the home place of rock and roll and to duck into the Gibson guitar factory for a quick look around. Now it was time to move on to more substantive fare.

Arriving at Camp Hopewell, we met the first of the many friends in our quest to learn about clean water systems that are proving to be so valuable for more than 300 communities around the world. At 3:30, we began the introductory session to the camp. This session was light hearted and hopeful – full of promise for helping other have clean, healthy water – and doing so with the Lord in our hearts.

Dinner is served family style. The young people, also staying at the camp took half of the dining hall, while our group of 40-50 had the other half. The separation was illusory only, however, as the atmosphere of love, cooperation, and fun permeated.

Losing no time, our real work began right after dinner clean-up- The LWW students broke into three separate sessions for our first classroom work. After the classes, evening devotionals topped the day, replete with guitar music, singing, and love for the Lord.

(Sorry, no pictures yet. Cables for the camera/lap top connection are in Chicago with the errant luggage.)

Janet, Fred, and Ron