"So I get to be a human piñata?" asked my nephew, Austin. He wasn't really complaining— when I asked if one of the older boys could wear a t-shirt with candy glued all over it while being chased by the younger kids, Austin was the first to volunteer. Last weekend, my family was planning to go camping in a remote area near the Juanita river. Unfortunately, there were heavy thunderstorms and flash floods in the forecast, so we decided camping with small children next to a river wasn't safe. … [Read more...] about How to Make a Candy Scramble T-Shirt
Camping in Pennsyltucky
Public campsites are to camping what decaf is to coffee. They might be safer, cleaner, and more conducive to sleeping, but they're favorless and boring. So when my church small group went camping last month, I was glad we were doing primitive, private-land-next-to-state-game-land type of camping, not pitching our tents at a KOA and trying to avoid eye contact with the neighbors at the next campfire. Marlin and Amy, one of the small group couples, did most of the planning. Marlin has … [Read more...] about Camping in Pennsyltucky
A Day in Queens
"It's not a good idea to go up to people and ask, 'Are you homeless?'" It's mid-Saturday morning at the Ministry Training Center (MTC) in Elmhurst, a neighborhood in Queens, NYC. About two dozen Lancastrians have just gotten off the bus in the Big Apple and are getting a crash course in local demographics and street ministry. "There's about ninety thousand people per square mile here in Elmhurst. Most of them are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Many of them don't speak English." … [Read more...] about A Day in Queens
17-Year Cicadas—Visitors from the Underground
"They sound like a chainsaw starting up," is how my sister Joanne described the noise that the Brood X cicadas make in the woods near her family's home. The 17-year cicadas have emerged from their underground dwellings, and are crawling up trees, shedding their nymphal skins, and filling the woods with the sound of their singing. "Our dogs love to eat them," my friend Linda said on Sunday evening. Linda and her husband also live in a wooded area, and she showed us pictures of her garden … [Read more...] about 17-Year Cicadas—Visitors from the Underground
A Brighter Springtime
I remember clearly what I did on Easter 2020: I went biking alone. No church, no family dinner, no socializing. Of course, that's how the season was for most everyone. Stay home and slow the spread. I was fortunate to keep my job, but everything else pretty much halted. For good or for ill, that was spring 2020. So while I have been seriously neglecting Penny Letters in the last few months, it's because of happier days! I took a Saturday job answering phones at a mulch business, church … [Read more...] about A Brighter Springtime