Take Me Home...

 

Friday Afternoon and Night

 Why I am writing a small novel at 10:30 p.m. is beyond me. All I know, is that today was a lovely way to wrap up the week. As most of you should know from our earlier blog post, we finished our work at Ms. Cynthia’s house. It was genuinely a miracle that everything came together, and the finished product is beautiful! In the afternoon, we once again hosted VBS at a small church in Grant Town. This was the last VBS of four that we ran, and although some kids ended up only coming to one or two of the days, we had about 6-10 kids each time. We started VBS with games, then moved on to crafts and snacks, proceeded to singing, and finished with a testimony and message from Mr. Brett. After VBS officially ended, we all went to the church basement to try out the new snow cone machine one of the church ladies had purchased. After popping to Walmart to buy miniature ducks and hacky sacks, we came back to camp and had dinner with Ms. Cynthia at camp! All the groups invited people they had met to our final dinner, and after food we had a time where anyone could share something from that week. We also sang and received a message from a Chaplain from San Antonio. We talked as a team for quite a bit, telling each other different things we learned or were reminded of this week, and we played a riveting game of Apples to Apples. Now it is time to pack and sleep. Thank you for reading our.. interesting blog posts, and for supporting Harvest’s mini-missionaries! If McDonald’s wants to sponsor us, Cassie, Bekah, and Lainey would be EXTREMELY obliged. They seem to always want more iced coffee no matter how much they consume. Anyway, on a serious note we had an awesome time at Dayspring. This was (in my opinion) the second if not the first most impactful, interesting, and balanced missions trip we have been on in the past three years. Good work, a lot of prayer, and new relationships were all incorporated into this trip, and I’m going to bed now. Good night!

 

-Eldon Foster

@MissionControlManagerForHarvestMiniMissionaries 

Friday Morning

 Hey everyone! Due to Brett being bald unfortunately he forgot to bring his bag with his computer in it back to the cabins, so it was left at the church overnight, that’s why there was no blog last night. Anyways… this morning we woke up at 6 am so we could be at devotions and announcements by 6:50 am. After that was done, we had breakfast, which was pancakes and bacon! I didn’t get any of the bacon tho… its see through.. (and paper thin). We ate breakfast super fast so that way we could finish Miss Cindy’s room! We normally leave at 8, but today we left at 7:30. All we had left to do today was the flooring and moving back the furniture she wants into the room. We got to Miss Cindy’s house at 8 and by 9:50 we had about half of the floor done. First getting started was the hardest part, but then when we figured out how to do it better, we got the other half done by about 11. There was still small parts of the floor left to do but luckily Dan (our Associate staff leader) did most of the little flooring bits that were left. Since those little parts to fill the rest of the floor were hard to put in as easily since we had to cut then, the floor was finished by 11:30. After we finished the floor, we moved her furniture back in and organized it the way that she wanted it. It looked amazing when we were finished and Miss Cindy loved it so much! It was honestly a miracle that we were able to get as much done as we did. We left at about 12:30 to go and eat lunch. We stopped at Demary’s market to get drinks and then went to the park to eat our lunch. After we ate, we went to the church for VBS, which is where I am right now. We are hoping we get lots of kids today and that it will be an amazing last day! I hope your day is full of joy and crayons. J

                                                                                                                             -Cassie

Before & After!

 

Thursday Morning

(DISCLAIMER: The following blog was "written" one word at a time by the entire group at lunch. They begged to do it this way. I regret my decision.)

Today we are painting Miss Cindy’s walls pink. Then we shopped at this store called Demary’s Market for drinks. Then Eldon talked about random stuff. Then we dyed his pants and hair pink and ate delicious Feastables from Cassie. Then he shared buckeyes. Now we are going to VBS. 

I hope somebody has joy and crayons today.

WV Mission Team

Wednesday

Once upon a time in a place far, far away…. In West Virginia, the Harvest Presbyterian Church peoples set off at 8 a.m. in da mornin to go to Ms. Cindy’s house to work for the day. We were able to finish da floor and the walls so that we could start priming! Let’s just say that everyone had more paint on them than paint on the walls. Me, Bekah, and Eldon had the opportunity to chat with Ms. Cindy! It was super fun, and we were able get to know her more. After we finished working for Ms. Cindy for the day, we headed to go to the activity we chose for our free day, which is white water rafting! The place was called Cheat River Outfitters. It was about an hour away, aka the LONGEST hour of my life because someone does not like the idea of silence… Anyway, we made it to the whitewater rafting place and got on our gear! We met a super cute dog named Pepper and loaded up in the bus to head to the place where we get in the water. The rafting was incredible, and no one fell in!!! Well except for Cassie … just kidding… maybe. We had rapids varying from classes one to three. Three was the best rapids in my opinion. Our guides were super awesome and really fun! After rafting we went to a supposedly Mexican restaurant… that sold burgers :) It was called Rosemary’s Thyme. It twas very scrumptious. Then on the way home we went to go ride on a coal mine simulator! It was…………………………………………………. interesting. Kinda anticlimactic. Then we rode home, and we were laughing so hard the whole way back because we were tired and slap happy! That twas our marvelous day and now I need sleep…. :) I hope your day is full of much joy and many many many Crayonssssssss ! 

                                                                                                                                                                                    -Lainey

Tuesday Night

 Hello, hello one and all.

Instead of chattering for 5 paragraphs about nothing and everything like I did yesterday I am going to jump right into business.

Ah, no, I shall not be telling you the date. (as if Brett isn’t going to put it as the header.)

After lunch at the park, we went to work at the VBS.

There were a few more kids showed up compared to yesterday.

However.

There were a couple that did not come so prayers that they will be at VBS on Thursday would be lovely.

Also, while on the topic of the kids attending and prayers, please pray for the kids and their families because some of the kids really love Jesus but they don’t have too many people encouraging their faith.

We kept the same schedule of game, craft, snack, dance and lesson.

Also.

After VBS we made our usual trip to McDonald’s to get *drinks*.

And yet again…

Elder (Eldon) was the most expensive.

Big surprise.

After Brett drained his life savings to pay for Elder’s Mcflurry we headed back to camp.

At 5:30 we had dinner which was grilled chicken, and we were told that the people who made it had been working on it since 1:30.

After dinner we had free time till 7:00 which was devotions, singing and whatever menial announcements that they had.

I don’t remember the announcements.

But.

That’s ok.

(or is it?)

Then we had team debrief.

And then I showered and now here I am writing this :)

Also, we just talked to a random guy.

And I don’t know his name so I can’t tell you.

But he did tell us to go to church and that was good :)

I hope your day is full of joy and crayons :)

                                                                                                                                                                                    -Bekah

Sharing Updates with the Rest of Camp!

 

Tuesday Morning

 Hi.  At work today we worked on the floor it was dirty and we did more of the floor because it was rotten. We had trouble at 10 it was the floor next to the door because it was moldy and rotten and we put new boards in and finished it at 11:45 ish . We ate lunch at 12:15 pm and now we are at VBS.

Caleb

Monday Afternoon

Hello everyone, we had an amazing afternoon at our VBS today. To start, we headed to the church where we are hosting our VBS at. We met the pastor and his wife, who are both very kind people. Then we worked on preparing the church for the VBS, which included moving tables and chairs, setting up what we needed for snack, games, and craft. During this the associate pastor was gathering kids from the neighborhood to bring to the VBS. The first thing we did were games while the kids were trickling in. We played two games, four corners, and a weird game Brett came up with. Then we did craft which was coloring a board game that the kids could play, the kids had a second quick craft where they made an animal of their choice out of playdough. After that, we did music time which included some screaming and yelling. Then Eldon gave his testimony. And then we did skit, where Brett tried something new. We wouldn’t know the actual skit, so we had to do it all on improv. It was about the Chronicles of Narnia. Finally, we had a bible lesson about the creation and how He is the potter, and we are the clay. Overall, we had a great day, and we are excited for tomorrow.

 

Thank you for reading, and by the way, we aren't allowed to post pictures of the children FYI.

 

Isaac 

Special Guest Blog...

(The following is a bonus blog from a 10 year-old who begged to make an entry. It appears exactly as she typed it)

Hi my name is miracle .  everyone is so kind .  I love dayspring.  For  v. b. s. thar was 6,7 kind ,loving kids .  meny pepol livfgfncnc,dnhfkjdhc. .srS  e6je`qrt7az

 

Monday morning

 As most of you may know, today is Monday the 27^th of July. And I am sure that the few of you who did not know that it is Monday the 27^th of July are probably checking your calendars and bemoaning that doctor appointment you just missed by 28 minutes.

Now that we have gotten the date out of the way lets move on to other, more important matters.

Like Veggietales.

Veggietales is very important. And not only is it important it is also extremely, tantalizingly, entertaining.

Um. Just kidding. Brett will make me rewrite this if I just blab about the date and Veggietales the whole time. So sorry, but I am not going to be talking about the dancing cucumber. Or water buffaloes. Or Barbara Manatee. Or… 

*clears throat*

So.

Today us gals woke up at 6 am and got dressed and stuff. I don’t really know what time the guys got up and I don’t really care enough (or at all) so I’m not gonna ask. And its going to remain a mystery for all of eternity.

At 6:50 everyone gathered in front of the staff cabin to listen to announcements, have a short devotion and pray that everything goes smoothly.

We had breakfast at 7-ish and it consisted of waffles, see through bacon, grits, boiled eggs, cereal aaand I think there was probably more but I don’t remember.

After breakfast we got our water and lunch coolers ready and headed out to miss Cindy’s house.

Once we got there, we moved a lot of her stuff outside and started sanding the walls while our project manager, Mr. Dan, Eldon and Caleb started patching her roof.

After a while of working in her house we found a ginormous hole in the floor, so we had to pull up 90% of the plywood flooring. (Guys, I hope you can hear the sarcasm in the print.)

BY THE WAY!! I pulled up half the plywood by myself.

Um.

Kidding.

Special thanks to Cassie, Lainey and I suppose you too Brett for helping pull the plywood up.

After we finished up with the stuff we started on we headed to a park to eat our lunch, which is my current location.

After I finish taking another 96 minutes and 35 seconds to type this we are going to do the VBS.

I hope your day is full of joy and crayons

                                                                                                                              -Bekah

Sunday Afternoon

Hi everyone!!! During this afternoon, we went to see our worksites for the first time. The first worksite we went to was to Miss Cindy’s house. As soon as soon as we got there, she came out and immediately greeted us with handshakes and took us to the room we will be working on. The room was a bit cluttered and there is a leak coming from her ceiling. Our job is to help her clean and redo that room. We are going to take out and organize all the stuff, fix the leak in her roof, clean her room, add flooring, and fix her dry wall. We will be working on it Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:30 am -12:30 pm, so prayers will be very helpful! After we visited Miss Cindy and talked with her for a bit, we got in the car and went and saw the church that our second worksite will be at, aka a VBS. We didn’t get to go inside of the church yet, but we scoped out where it’s at and tried to find out where to park. During that process Brett went up a very steep hill at the back of the church right next to a big cliff. Somehow, he turned the car around from the very small space and saved us from falling off the cliff. After we left the church, we got to go to McDonald’s to get yummy drinks! Last night was freezing cold in the cabins and not many of us packed warm enough clothes, so we all decided to go to Walmart to get sweatpants and blankets before we had to go back to the cabins. We ended up getting the sweatpants and blankets for those who needed them, but we also got candy, pillows, hot wheels, Legos, and Eldon got a rope to tie a fan over the top of his bed for some reason. When we got back, it was dinner time. We got to have sandwiches from Subway! Now we are about to have a prayer meeting for our week.

 

 

                                                                      --Cassie J I hope your day is full of joy and crayons 

Country Roads...

 

Sunday Morning

 Congratulations… you’ve found the Harvest 2026 Summer Mission’s trip secret log…

 

The date: 7/26/2026

                  

We fell asleep last night to the soothing sound of five fans, spiraling air through our warm room. The summer temperature had seeped into our cabin, but the constant artificial wind gave us a cooling sensation that let us fall asleep with ease. Our beds were soft.. maybe too soft. Almost as if an old guy with a hurt back had designed the buildings. 

 

                  Before the night was over, the boy’s leader (Mr. Wirebaugh) informed us that he would wake us up at 7:30 a.m. for a late breakfast. At 8:00, we proceeded to eat breakfast that consisted of muffins, yogurt, cereal, and fruit. 

 

                  Between breakfast and church was a scheduled rest period, in which Caleb and I (Eldon) played card games with another group. Then we entered the pavilion to have church! The topic of the sermon was on how humans compare themselves to one another, and how evaluation is from God but humans have twisted it into comparison to feel better or worse about their actions. 

 

                  Now we’re heading out to our worksites to learn more about the work we’ll be doing this week! If you’ve found this log, pray about giving us energy to do good work for the Lord! 

 

-Eldon

Secret log creator for Harvest DaySpring camp.

Saturday!

Hey everybodyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!:)

Today we left for the missions trip at 11 a.m. from Harvest! The ride was three hours and forty five minutes of Eldon talking about his bear named Mr. Bear. As soon as we got on the road Cassie got hungry and we all unanimously agreed to make Captain O so so so Shiny (Brett) take us to Chick-Fil-A. It was very delicious so we decided to begin our journey to West Virginaaaaaa, Mountain mamaaaaaa.... Anyway as soon as we got on the road someone had the use the bathroom (it definitely wasn't me ...). After our bathroom break we drove the rest of the way to West Virginaaaaa, Mountain mamaaaaa, take me homeeeeee, country roadssssssssss!!! Once we arrived at the camp we unloaded all of our stuff into our cabins. Then we got to go get dinner, which was tacos! The tacos were muy bueno! After we ate dinner we did orientation and learned more about what we are doing this week and the history of the people of West Virginia. Then Eldon sneezed quite loudly and everyone turned around. It was very disrespectful to interrupt the speaker like that (lol). Once orientation was over we raced to the showers before they were all taken. Spoiler alert... all the showers were taken. Its ok we still got showers. :)))) We had an amazing day and cannot wait for tomorrow! I hope your day was full of joy and crayons!
- Lainey (aka not bald)

We Made It!

 

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG!

Starting on July 25th, eight Harvest Presbyterian youth and adults will be partnering with Dayspring Camp to serve in Fairmont, WV. In the mornings, we will be working in Grant Town, an old coal mining community, helping an elderly woman repair and refurbish her home, and in the afternoons, we will be working with a local church to provide a VBS for neighborhood children.  Please keep us in prayer and come back daily for updates on our trip!