Today we arrived at the worksite at around 8 a.m. We got straight to work with a team fixing and filling the big hole in the laundry room.

The crew Bobby, Sam, John Paul, Charlie, and James spent the entire morning cutting and screwing boards, attaching cables and pipes, and calling for hammers and drills all while yelling “Watch your fingers!”

Meanwhile, Corinne, Lucy, Emily, and I scrapped, sanded, and painted the dining room and kitchen.

With our arms tired and sore we thought we had accomplished the most grueling task of the day…but then came the flooring. With Isabel’s help, we all tackled ripping up the old floor with crowbars and hammers. After lunch, we swept and began to plan out installing the floorboards.

While the crew in the laundry room finished putting up drywall, connecting pipes, and putting materials I’d never heard of together, Lucy, Corinne, Isabel, and I began the floor in the dining room. Earlier this week I was on a site where we completed the kitchen floor so used my experience from that to help (as well as peaking at John Paul’s work in the kitchen to make sure we were right).

With a few dance breaks, many singing duets, and lots of encouragement we finished the entire floor. It was really rewarding to see the finished product after working overtime. So now that we are professional floor builders you know who to call if you ever need help.

-Zara Koso-Thomas

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Today was a very productive day in the morning at the Boone worksite! We started the morning off by working on drywall, and then we knocked down one of the walls in the house.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the site for a meeting at 11:45am, and afterwards Jeanne and I drove back and forth from the work sitehouse about 4 times to drop stuff off and pickup people. It was super fun being the passenger! Then, Jeanne and I made dinner which was baked ziti and meatballs.

We ended the night (for now) by going around in a circle and saying how each person in the group showed up for one another this week! Can’t wait for the all nighter but not sure if I will make it.

Gia Grigorian

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It was great to see the progress made in the two houses I worked on this week. The storm-damaged house looks so much better today than on Monday,

and the transformation in the home with the broken water-heater was just miraculous!

Working with great people, and doing good work as part of PPC is a great way to spend a week!

-John Hein

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Helping hands unite,

Building hope in New Bern's light,

Showing up in flight.

-Charlie Trenkamp

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Rumor has it...

- Everything’s fine

- JohnPaul and Zara are flooring gurus

- Everyone waited to write notes until the last night again

- The best olympic sport is swimming

- Mark and James are the heaviest sleepers out there

- It’s not looking good for puzzle 2

- College and adult mission trip in January?

- This happened

- We had an awesome week.

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Thank you for following along on our journey! This was a special group and year of serving in New Bern. We appreciate all of your love and support and will head back to PPC tomorrow!

We started off our day like always with Chris’ much anticipated wake up call. After a very eventful rest day yesterday, we had a slow start. We have seven of the chattiest girls, but somehow our packed room is completely silent in the morning as we struggle to wake up.

Slowly but surely we all gain the little bit of energy we need to eat our breakfast, get ready, and prepare our lunches for the day. When asked about breakfast JohnPaul said, “Breakfast may be slow and tired, but every bite is a delicious reminder that good things take time."

Everyone piled into the cars and started playing their favorite music to get us excited for the day! (Addition: JohnPaul also wanted to add “The food felt a bit lacking in flavor and substance in certain departments but nonetheless fortified us for a rigorous day of work”)

-Corinne Davies

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Charlie Trenkamp has an irrational fear of animals. Being the good friend I am, I decided to help him get over his trauma by throwing a frog at him.

Fortunately it’s safe to say he has learned a valuable lesson and has taken an important step on his journey to rehabilitation.

- Sebastian McFeaters

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Today we visited a house that needed repainting and some other work done, but soon it was clear we had to go above and beyond to help the family in the house.

We ripped up the kitchen floor and some more floor of a bedroom to help with molding and to replace a water heater that was broken/leaking.

It was very hard, probably the most challenging mission trip day I’ve experienced so far. We didn’t get to finish the job today but tomorrow we are going back to finish the mission.

It’s very rewarding and humbling to help less fortunate people & families in situations like this, and we are prayerful for the family & all victims in New Bern. I’m hopeful we get to make a long lasting impact in this house and can continue to show up for others.

- James Chhetree

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By this time we know our labor pool pretty well so we ( the elders) fine tuned how the teams were divided, putting our highly skilled drywall crews to hang ceilings in one site and sent a powerhouse team to assess the new job…

The good news about a new job is the worse it is when you first walk in, the bigger the delta will be at the end. The hope and challenge is to keep the delta positive.

Ceilings were meticulously scraped by multiple teams perched precariously on step ladders wielding razor sharp sometimes vibrating knives while others tossed leaky water heaters out the door in order to cut the floor out and replace rotted joists.

The hope is by the end of tomorrow Teegee will have newly painted ceilings and new floors in the kitchen, dining and bedroom and a new water heater.

We are all thankful that God has been so good to us and we hope that we are spreading that fortune to others that are not so lucky

-Bobby Srour

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The sun was setting, and there was peace in the air.

With devotionals finished shortly before, spirits were high from our fruitful discussion of teamwork and seeing God in one another. The theme of camaraderie got JohnPaul working. He set up the cones, Harper connected to aux, and the games began. Capture the flag has become a yearly staple of the mission trip, and this year was no exception.

The games began, here is the highlight reel:

⁃ Mark made a big break at the line with the flag in hand, taking large strides to the finish line, when suddenly, JP dove onto Mark, keeping their team safe.

⁃ With an assist from Mark, Gabi zipped between her opponents, taking the first point for her team.

⁃ Superb soccer star (alliteration🤩) JohnPaul D’Andrea, ran quickly and efficiently holding on to the other teams flag and got his team on the scoreboard.

⁃ 1-1

⁃ “I juked Isabel, and then juked her again, and then waited patiently for the perfect moment to run across the line for a point for my team” - James Chhetree

⁃ 2-1

⁃ With a bit of confusion and the youth leaders competitive side, the game continued to best 3 out of 5.

⁃ Our underdog of the game, Lucy Ward, standing at 4”11, took a sneaky approach to secure a point for her team.

⁃ 2-2

⁃ The game is tied, and going into the final match tensions were high, breathing was heavy, and sweat was dripping.

⁃ The final match began, and both teams took an offensive approach. Almost instantly, JohnPaul is in jail, and Gabi and Mark ALMOST took the flag home.

⁃ Juliette Mamalian spent most of the game jamming out to Harper’s impeccable music. With all of her energy conserved, she had the fortitude for one final sprint. Mamalian made it into the save zone, able to take hold of the flag, and wait for the perfect moment to escape. She kept an eye on Zara KT, who was playing an incredible game of defense for her team. Zara lost focus for a split second, and that was all Mamalian needed. Unleashing her pent up energy, she bolted out of the safe zone, at approximately 64 MPH. Nick Mason, Zara KT, and Jeanne Grillo, tried valiantly to catch up to Mamalian, but their efforts were sadly in vain, as Mamalian crossed the line and won the competition for her team.

xoxo your champion, Juliette

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Rumor has it...

- The townspeople successfully rid themselves of the mafia

- The puzzle has successfully been conquered, it’s on to round 2

- The prank wars between both groups has started

- Somehow I had to add more people to the site where there were cockroaches due to their insistence on going

- The best olympic sport is Volleyball

- Mafia is hard to narrate, especially with 21 people

- We might be a competitive group

After two days of hard work, our crew took a well deserved rest day. Special shoutout to our incredible hosts Jan and Stewart, who fed our whole crew and let us invade their abode! We are giving the group a day off of blogging, but enjoy some of the photos from the day.

2024 Mission Trip Team

Youth Leaders

Lunch at the clubhouse

So wholesome

Bobby and his drone

Pool Party

Ocean Party

PPC’s Tik Tokers- Yes, we have a Tik Tok now

A Man at peace with the world

What could have been said to lead to these reactions?

The perfect photo for an inspirational quote. Here are a few we like:

“It’s sad to know I’m done. But looking back, I’ve got a lot of great memories.”

“Looking back we see with great clarity. What once appeard difficult reveals itself as a blessing”

“I look back not with regret, but with gratitude”

Candid or Plandid?

Stay tuned for this interview

Beach Boy

Beach Boyz

Beach Boyzzzz

Another perfect photo for an inspirational quote. Here’s a few we like:

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”

"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go"

"Everything you've ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear"

#CoupleGoals

The worst way to wake up from a nap

New Headshot

Beach Girlz

Beach Girlzz

Beach Girlzzzz

Yet another perfect photo for an inspirational quote. Here are a few we like:

“Keep looking down, for it is there that your dreams take root.”

“Looking down is not a sign of weakness, but a perspective of strength.”

“Eyes down, heart open.”

This Blogpost was brought to you by our sponser Coca-Cola.

For today’s work, the group split up into 3 sights. One group went to do flooring, working around kitchen obstacles, but enjoying the AC.

Some others went to finish caulking, painting, and floor boarding a bathroom before joining our neighbor church at their site painting floors.

The last group stayed at Ellen’s home (from yesterday) to put in ceiling insulation and floor boards.

Lots of work was done! Juliette, Corinne, and Nick used their teamwork to fetch a pear. Sam’s youtube rabit holing came in handy to expertly install flooring. Jame’s parkour skills were tested as he climbed a fridge.

- Harper Smith

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On Tuesday morning after having a quick breakfast, we headed out to the worksites. Our crew went to the house of a former professional basketball player whose bathroom still had a bit of work to be done. Most of the rest of the house had been repaired prior to our arrival. After the warm introduction with the homeowners, we set to work on the bathroom.

Corinne caulked very well while Juliette, Chris, and Nick masterfully painted the door frame and trim. As we worked, we took care to achieve the best in reviving the bathroom décor. After we completed our work, the homeowners were very happy and appreciative of our help.

We then had lunch and did our devotional in which we reflected on how we can better show up for God, for community, each other, and ourselves. After lunch, we went to another site where debris was being removed by a neighboring mission team from New Jersey. We helped them remove the last of the debris and then we painted the floor - the last thing needed before new flooring is to be installed.

It was a great day as in completing multiple projects at two different sites, we helped out more than a few people throughout the course of today.

- Nick Mason

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While others went to their respective blissful sites to install fluffy cloud like insulation or stretch their arms and cultivate their creative sides by painting, my group had the grueling task of installing wood panel floor boards.

We were reduced to lying down as we worked with a relentless vent of air conditioned air blasting straight in our faces at all times.

However we dauntlessly persevered to complete our task.

Afterwards the full group reconvened for a tour of the delightful town of New Bern, North Carolina led by the artful and knowledgeable JohnPaul. The downtown consisted of a few blocks rich with civil war and revolutionary war history, charming boutiques, and many, many bears.

We saw the mansion of the colonial governor of North Carolina, the birthplace of Pepsi, and ate at the Cow Cafe, best ice cream in New Bern for 17 years running.

After the expertly run tour, which many said was the highlight of their trip so far, we headed back for a superb meal of tacos with rice and beans.

- JohnPaul D’Andrea

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After our team (Zara, JohnPaul, Sam, and I) completed installation of vinyl floor tile strips on our site, we decided to explore the historic town of New Bern, NC. New Bern was chartered in 1723 and sits on the shore of the Neuse and Trent Rivers.

In 2018 Hurricane Florence hit as Category 1 Hurricane, but winds pushed waters in a storm surge that flooded the town of New Bern. We are here working with Craven County Disaster Recovery Alliance, who are working with non-profit and faith-based organizations providing repairs and rebuilds for survivors of Hurricane Florence. CCDRA is active in case management and the coordination of volunteers and rebuild/repair sites.

Since our site was nearby to the historic downtown area we decided to drop in for ice cream!

We got ice cream, strolled the streets, dropped in at the 'birthplace of pepsi cola' and visited some of the bear statues.

New Bern is a gorgeous town that seems to be well on the road to recovery from Florence. Here are some fun facts.

- Jeanne Grillo

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In the afternoon, our team (Bobby, Mark, Charlie, Lucy and I) set off from the work site to our next adventure: cookout! Cookout is an incredible southern fast food chain with 40+ milkshake flavors. Once the milkshakes were secured, me, charlie and lucy hopped in bobby’s truck bed.

We were off to cvs in hopes to cure charlie’s mysterious cough. After much deliberation on the exact vitamins and supplements to buy, the three of us made our way back to the truck. We were greeted with bobby’s sarcastic “Did somebody take a wrong turn,” to which me and Lucy explained that it was surprising difficult to get charlie to buy a Benadryl. We drove back home (in our actual seats with our seatbelts on) after a long day of work and milkshakes ready to start a night full of activities.

-Gabi Henderson

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Rumor has it...

- 1 v 1 Leader: Juliette

- The best sport in the olympics is track and field

- Solitaire is impossible to win irl

- The puzzle might be completed tonight

- We were defeated in cornhole, but the main event is yet to come

- The bear puns are a problem

- James can’t win a text game

- Harper is the best family feud host

As morning broke, we set out, with a lot of unknowns. Where is the house? What is the work we will have to do?

We showed up, opened a door and we were shocked to see a missing subfloor, ceilings nearly falling and were shocked to learn water had recently been in the crawlspace. 

This was someone's home, a barbers wife, pictures of children and likely grandchildren on the fridge. 

How can we help? What are we doing? This all changed. What direction do we go? 

At times our lives can be full of excitement, ready to pounce on work. Expectations set. Plans made. It all can crash around us. That is when a pinnacle of patience is necessary. This morning reminds me of that. 

I'm here, ready to serve. But where do I go? 

-Sam Gray

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The first day of the mission trip was filled with various fun activities; however, the car rides to and from the worksite were definitely the most eventful! This morning I was in an extremely chipper mood (even though it was 7 in the morning) but it came back to bite me as the the day went on and I became more tired.

I was a car with Chris, Sam, Charlie, Johnpaul, and Sebastian. I insisted that no one fell asleep for the thirty minute ride to the worksite so I decided to roll down all the windows and blast my favorite country songs.

This was all fun and games until Charlie and Johnpaul decided to get pay back and blast their favorite music (including folk and hillbilly music) on the way home from the worksite.

All I wanted to do was sleep and I had both of them singing EXTREMELY loud in my ears… not enjoyable.

-Lucy Ward

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In the afternoon, our team persevered as we had to deal with the humidity and intense heat.

After lunch, our group had the task of taking down nails all across the house. We also took down the roofs that were heavily dampened by the flood. Our team was heavily engaged and we made steady improvements on the house. We are excited to get up bright and early for the day tomorrow!

- Mark Mitchell

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The ride back

After a day of hard work taking down all the ceiling, nails AND the molding, Bobby’s crew left the site for a landfill expedition. We met many challenges along the way. First, finding the back entrance to the Tuscarora landfill and then pleading with the gatekeeper even though we had 5 minutes to dump our load, but we were able to dump our load thanks in part to the brand new dump trailer.

After our landfill expedition, we went on another excursion to the Lowe’s in search for dry wall and 2 by 8 boards, which we found! Hooray!

P.S., it is rumored that one of the cars stopped for dessert before dinner

-Isabel Srour

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Today at lunch, we talked about ways that we could SHOW UP for God, for one another, and for the community. It was so hot that we sat in the air conditioned car and just brainstormed different ways that we could let our light shine while we ate our lunch and cooled down.

Then, this evening, each of the smaller car groups shared with the whole group the nuggets of the lunch brainstorming session and we came up with an intentional list that all of us will follow this week for how we will show up for God, one another, & the community. Everyone was so thoughtful in their responses. I was blown away how people were willing to enter in. Check out our final show up list.

It’s going to be an awesome week!

-Pastor Emily

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Rumor has it...

- JohnPaul has way better handwriting than Corinne and Juliette

- Kickball in the dark is hard

- Food tastes better when you’re tired

- Pastor Emily is not a fan of humidity

- We were challenged to a game of ultimate frisbee and they don’t know what’s coming

- James is leading the trip in post work naps

- Charlie agrees that scrambled eggs are by far the best

- This picture was taken

The day began with a commissioning service for our team of 20. Shout out to Pastor Emeritus Kerry Stoltzfus for a great sermon and sharing about the legacy that we carry on at PPC.

(Our two unsung heroes working behind the scenes)

After that, we said goodbye to our families, loaded up the vans, and headed to New Bern, NC!

The full caravan arrived around 7pm to set up our lodgings for the week.

Before long, the games commenced. What better way to learn about a new place than to play hide and seek?

With that, the whole crew was in bed by curfew and got a great night’s sleep for our first day of work. I’m writing this ahead of time with the full confidence that this will happen... right?

Rumor has it that...

- One of the cars stopped for Cookout milkshakes on the way down

- Sam is the best hide and seeker around the block

- Spit is the most aggressive card game

- Nick’s hair was made to be braided

- If Sebastian can finish this puzzle tonight, there may be a celebrity appearance from beloved mission trip alumni Preston Kuhn. Chris may be strongly considering extending his bedtime to make this happen.

- “BS stands for Big Sandwich”

- The best country is 70’s country

- Pictureception occurred