Washington DC, Amazing!

We started off this morning with a visit to the National Cathedral for worship and a tour. The cathedral is amazing, very large with ornate architecture and beautiful stain-glass. Worship was inspiring, with a sermon by Dr. Matthew Sleeth, who left his career as an emergency room physician to follow a new calling. He now writes, preaches and speaks around the country about issues of faith and the environment. Alline invited him to come to Traverse City next year, we will see if we can work out a visit! Here is his website: http://www.matthewsleethmd.com/Home.html

One of the choir anthems was John Rutter's "For the Beauty of the Earth", which was beautiful and went along well with the theme of caring for God's world.

This afternoon and evening, families did their own site seeing including some of the Smithsonian museums. Several of us met up for ice cream after dinner. This evening the kids gathered in each others' hotel rooms, we heard lots of laughter. They seem to enjoy being together in a new place and the novelty of staying in a hotel with their friends.

So far, the weather is cold. In fact there was a little snow this morning, but nothing that stayed on the ground, thankfully. The cherry blossoms are really beautiful and new leaves on the trees gives the hope of spring. Tomorrow morning we walk to the YSOP headquarters bright and early to start our mission work. None of us are really sure what to expect, but we pray it will be a meaningful experience for those we are helping, our children and us.