About a week before Spring Break, we decided we needed to find a stopping point in the middle of our trip to stay the night. I have a pretty big family and I was pretty excited that we were going right by one of my Aunt and Uncle’s house. I called up my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Woody to see if we could stay with them and they immediately said yes to housing 10 random college-aged and older kids that they had never met before except for their niece. Such brave souls to take on that challenge! But they took it and we all were very humbled by their hospitality.

After getting to New Palestine Methodist Church we were fed pizza, fruit, dessert and given a tour of the church. They had a huge gym area where we were able to get some energy out after being in a car for hours. The church rented cots from the American Red Cross for us to sleep on at night. In the morning we were fed yet again, breakfast casserole, donuts, and fruit and sent on our way with fruit, leftover dessert and prayers. The hospitality didn’t end that first weekend: we were given the option to stay on the way back to Morgantown after Spring Break and we took advantage of the offer.

My Aunt and Uncle couldn’t be there to see us the second weekend but left us in very good hands. We were fed desserts when we got in, put to bed in the American Red Cross cots, woke up to another home cooked breakfast casserole and sent on our way with more fruit, desserts and prayers. I am very thankful for my Aunt Barbara, Uncle Woody and to New Palestine Methodist Church for opening up their church’s hospitality to us and for providing us so much comfort, love and hospitality.

[Written by Katy Rile]