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Foundry Family Camp
Two Days of Fun & Fellowship Near the Bay
By Ken Nesper
If you think of Foundry Camp as “family” camp – it is! It’s for the entire Foundry Family. If you think it’s just for kids, you’re wrong. It’s a great way to relax as you get to know your Foundry family better.
From Friday night to Sunday noon on Labor Day weekend, enjoy a variety of multi-generational activities at West River United Methodist Church Camp, which is about an hour’s drive from DC. (Car-pooling can be arranged.) Campers are encouraged to participate in their choice of the planned activities, including a get-to-know-you Friday night, an adult discussion group on Saturday morning, special teen activities all weekend, square dancing Saturday night, singing around a camp fire, crafts and games for kids, and youth-planned and led worship service on Sunday. We eat together in the dining hall, and there are nature trails, a swimming pool, volleyball court, sailboats, and canoes. There are also quiet places to read and relax. This is a great opportunity to meet a wide variety of Foundry folk and enjoy a weekend near the Chesapeake Bay. And you still have Labor Day to mow your lawn!
Cost is $71.50 for each adult; $53.70 for each teenager (ages 13 – 17); and $35.75 for each child (ages 4 – 12); children 3 and under are free. This covers five meals plus use of the cabins. There is a nominal additional fee for use of the pool or boats. For program information, contact Deryl Davis at ddavis@foundryumc.org. For questions about registration, contact Chris Matthews at chrismatt@igc.org or Ken Nesper at kenesperjr@netzero.net or call them at (202) 269-3890 (evenings and weekends). Pick up a registration form at the church office and be part of the fun on September 1 - 3.
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Breaking the Circle: An ASP 2006 Report
by Christina Guenther
On June 25th, a group of seventeen youth and adults left from the Marshall Road Elementary School in Vienna. They packed their luggage and tools into vans and made their way to Summers County, West Virginia, for another summer’s week of volunteering with the Appalachia Service Project (ASP). They were able to minister to Appalachian families by enjoying their company and doing repairs that made these people's homes warmer, safer, and drier. Christina Guenther, a rising 10th grader, was one of our first-time team members. – Matt Smith
How do you explain one of the greatest experiences of your life? I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no humanly possible way that I could explain my trip to Appalachia. On ASP, I experienced deep emotions I never thought I could. Ever since I got back, my mind has been filled with how incredibly lucky I am to live in a secure home with: running water, electricity and, simply, a place to call my own. The phrase “home sweet home” runs through my mind as it has never before.
After experiencing the love that all of the people I met on my trip have for each other, I see how much I take for granted the love I have in my own home. Whether it is a grandfather able to make mandolins for his grandson, or a neighbor who sees a weary mother walking on the road to walk with her, not to talk, but just for comfort. I’ve cried at least once a day since I got back and I still couldn’t tell you why. I don’t feel at home as I did before I left, something isn’t right. I feel almost too lucky to have the life that I live. Guilt was a big factor in our trip. One night in our group gathering, one person mentioned as a comfort to another, not to be guilty, but to be grateful for the ability that you have to help someone else less fortunate. After they are comforted, they will realize the talent they have inside, and will help another. “It’s like the domino effect.”
I am appreciative to have had the experience to go on ASP, I cannot wait until next year, to go back and feel totally complete again. In closing, I offer the words we spoke to each other, every night: “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” As we spin and let go of each other’s hands, we break from the circle into a beautiful, new beginning.
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Young Plants Seeds in Guatemala on U.S. Embassy Staff
Family Nears End of First Year in Central America; Beautiful Country Faces Challenges
by Mark Schoeff Jr.
For a year, David Young has witnessed Guatemala struggle with immense challenges of poverty, violent crime, education, governance, and ethnicity.
As the public affairs officer in the U.S. Embassy, Young helps lead the Embassy’s cultural and educational programs designed to assist the country in overcoming its troubled recent past.
That history has resulted in the third-widest wealth gap in the world, the isolation and alienation of indigenous people, a drug trafficking problem among the worst in the region, a broken judicial and police system, and rampant murders committed with impunity.
But the country will soon celebrate the 10th anniversary of the end of its civil war, a milestone that gives the country – and Young – hope.
“I’m an optimist by nature,” said Young, who served on staff as Foundry’s Deacon for Global Outreach until last year and whose family have been longtime Foundry members. “It’s a very important advance that Guatemala is not at war.”
On a daily basis, Young is the voice of the Embassy, serving as its chief press spokesman. He also oversees cultural exchanges between Guatemala and the United States and works on cultural preservation projects involving the Mayan heritage in the northern highlands.
Other parts of the Embassy are working with Guatemala on educational and security reform. Young and his colleagues know that they won’t change the country overnight.
“In many ways, you plant seeds,” said Young. “It takes a lot of hard work by many people over generations.”
Young, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, was previously posted in Vietnam and worked at the State Department for a couple years before being sent to Guatemala.
In Vietnam, Young, a United Methodist deacon, worked on human rights and religious freedom issues—a tough challenge in a communist country. For all its problems, Guatemala is a more open and Western society than Vietnam, where Young had to contend with constant Vietnamese government monitoring.
“I don’t go around looking over my shoulder,” in Guatemala, he said.
Outside of work, Young is serving as a deacon at an Episcopal Church in Guatemala City, where he has preached and led the music ministry, including singing solo. He joked to Eileen Guenther, however, that he will never be ready for “prime time” at Foundry in that role. His son and daughter, Paul and Sarah, are in the children’s choir.
One of Young’s most memorable recent experiences in the pulpit was when he preached on social ethics at the Guatemalan Primitive Methodist Episcopal Church in the Quiche province in the northern highlands. His hour-long lecture in Spanish on Martin Luther King and the Good Samaritan was translated into Quiche Mayan. “It was one of the most extraordinary experiences I have ever had leading worship anywhere,” Young said.
Guatemala has an active and effective Volunteers in Mission program, and the Quiche Mayan Methodists would welcome a team from Foundry, Young said. He added that he would be happy to help facilitate such a trip and meet with a Foundry group if there was interest.
Young, his wife Diane, who is a librarian at the international school Colegio Maya, and Paul and Sarah have traveled to most of the geographical wonders in Guatemala. “The country side is stunning,” said Young.
Now the challenge is to complement the county’s beauty with peace and prosperity. Guatemala will hold its presidential election next year.
“This one is coming at an important time,” said Young. “There are possibilities that weren’t there for three decades.”
Foundry friends are welcome to contact the Youngs at dndweiszyoung@yahoo.com.
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