Following the morning service, the church gathered in the fellowship hall to stuff over 200 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes full of toys, necessities, fun, laughter, and love. There was a place for hands of all ages.

We had our joyous work cut out for us, so we shared a good lunch before starting. The afternoon was great fun, and there was the usual chaos as the maelstrom commenced, but it was over all too soon.

We upped our goal to 200 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child this year, so we gathered tonight to decorate the boxes ahead of time. No talent was required, just a willing spirit. Whole families showed up—Grandma, Grandpa and the kids! And we didn’t even need to get dinner as pizza was provided.

It was a blessed night of fellowship and devotion. The main event was the reading of 1 Timothy as the early church would have received it. Each reader (one for each of the six chapters) gave us a word or an idea to listen for as the book was read. Afterwards we discussed what we learned and how we can apply it.

Our food theme tonight was “anything that dips,” and there was an amazing variety of favorites shared.

What better way to end a long week than to roast hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire, and enjoying the fellowship of church family and friends? The activities that transpired were of great excitement. People played catch with the football, and most of those present joined in a game of kickball. While the youth played freeze tag and manhunt in the field beside the church, the adults congregated around the fire enjoying s’mores.

Some families chose to camp out at the church while others decided to spend the night in the comfort of their own homes. The next morning the campers had a mouth-watering breakfast consisting of sausage patties, pancakes, scrambled eggs, juice, milk, buttery toast and coffee. After the campers packed up, everyone went to a farm in Westmoreland County to shoot targets and shatter clay pigeons. We look forward to the next time we can all get together and make more fond memories.

We love and appreciate Pastor Rick and Betsy. We celebrated another year with a fellowship dinner following the morning service. After everyone was well fed, many of us told them just what they meant to us. Even the shy ones spoke up (a little). Especially heartwarming was to hear new arrivals express how their children loved Hanover, and how the adults appreciated Pastor’s solid and accessible Bible teaching.