Saturday, June 13th: Departure for Mountain TOP

Dear faith partners,

Hello! This is Slocomb, writing to you from the conference room at the Wingo Inn on Arnold Air Force Base near Manchester, TN. We've stayed here the night before check-in at Mountain TOP for the past three years and it has been equally fun and accommodating to this year's mission team.

We departed from the Cathedral at 10am this morning with much excitement, but also a tinge of sadness and longing for the team members who weren't able to make it down with us. Two of our adults were “sidelined” for medical reasons yesterday. They will most certainly be missed, and we all hope, pray, and expect for quick recoveries for them both.

On the bright side, Judi Stoker was able to fill in as a chaperone at the very last minute! Literally! I called her at 7am this morning to ask if she could drive one of our vans! And I have no idea how or why she said yes! We appreciate you Judi! Thank you again!

Tomorrow morning we will arrive at Mountain TOP 29-strong, with 23 teenagers and 6 adults (14 & 3 from the Cathedral, the rest from St. Barnabas in Montgomery and St. Christopher in Fairborn). It will be another incredible week on the Mountain for all involved: families will be served, sheds and porches built, little kids played with, friends made, and teenagers' nervousness and fears overcome. Each day, beginning tomorrow with our arrival at camp and ending next Saturday with our return to Cincinnati, two Cathedral teenagers will write to you about their experiences on the mountain. As you worship together Sunday morning, please continue to pray for us and for our ministry here with Mountain TOP.

And thank you again faith partners! We appreciate you!

-Slocomb

For Sunday:  O God, whose fatherly care reaches to the uttermost parts of the earth:  We humbly beseech you graciously to behold and bless those whom we love, now absent from us.  Defend them from all dangers of soul and body; and grant that both they and we, drawing near to you, may be bound together by your love in the communion of your Holy Spirit, and in the fellowship of your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.