{"id":3843,"date":"2013-06-30T01:25:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T01:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=3843"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:31","slug":"pennsylvania-highlights-warfordsburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=3843","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Highlights &#8211; Warfordsburg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, Warfordsburg.\u00a0 I&#8217;m having trouble finding a word to sum up our time with Troy and Dina.\u00a0 I want to use words like fun, encouragement, hospitality and support.\u00a0 If forced to pick one word, I guess it would be &#8220;fellowship&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130624_100300-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These two invited us, put us up in their house, sent out letters to friends, hosted multiple open houses, and\u00a0served up a never-ending stream of meals and refreshments.\u00a0 And then filled spare moments with ping pong games and late night chats.\u00a0 We met some great folks from their church throughout the weekend and had multiple opportunities to chat about the challenges faced by Haiti and what role\u00a0Christ is calling us to serve there.We met Troy and Dina just a year ago through their daughter, Loni, and son-in-law, James, who are serving as stateside missionaries at One Mission Society headquarters in Greenwood, Indiana.\u00a0 We LOVE James and Loni (and their cute kids!), so it was a real joy to get to meet and to know so many in their extended family.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130623_123402-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">I love the church&#039;s sign! &quot;Really!&quot;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_081251-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The kids were obsessed with spotting deer.\u00a0 The Princess spotted one of her own from this perch Saturday morning and was so very excited!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_194115-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Troy and Dina hosted a party for their &quot;life group&quot; on Saturday evening and it was a\u00a0welcome opportunity for us to\u00a0meet some great people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_194300-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">I have to tell you that I think the trip was a little frustrating for this little guy.\u00a0 Sure there were plenty of fun things to do: swimming, hiking, and making s&#039;mores.\u00a0 BUT his big brother (and best buddy) was at camp and that made for a lonely week.\u00a0 And a lot of pestering for the sisters to put up with!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_201800-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fortunately, there were people willing to &quot;stand in the gap&quot;!\u00a0 Of course Troy and Dina were willing, but others were too&#8230; here the pastor&#039;s wife plays football with Sammy.\u00a0 Way to break the stereotypes, Kathy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_205310_LLS-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tim was another guest who got to play big brother &#8211; this time at the ping pong table.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_194019-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ladderball!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130623_122646-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Sunday School time and worship service the next morning were sweet times &#8211; and not just because of the playground equipment outside.\u00a0 The sanctuary itself was busting at the seams &#8211; construction on a new, larger sanctuary is nearly complete.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130622_143941-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One of our little side trips took us to an old canal just across the state border into Maryland.\u00a0 I got to jog a couple of miles through this area Saturday morning and it was beautiful &#8211; saw two bald eagles overhead and startled a fawn on the path.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130623_204253-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An all-around great time!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20130624_095747-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">You know it was a\u00a0wonderful visit when &#8211; after\u00a0just three days time &#8211; The Princess cries about having to leave!\u00a0 (But fortunately we still had time with second cousins outside of Pittsburgh to look forward to!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you so much for all you did and all you ARE, Troy and Dina!\u00a0 We\u00a0anticipate with true joy\u00a0the next time our paths will cross.P.S. During the final leg of our journey back to Indiana, we got to listen to the Mark Cahill book on CD you gave us and LOVED it.\u00a0 Quite challenging but also so practical!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First, Warfordsburg.\u00a0 I&#8217;m having trouble finding a word to sum up our time with Troy and Dina.\u00a0 I want to use words like fun, encouragement, hospitality and support.\u00a0 If forced to pick one word, I guess it would be &#8220;fellowship&#8221;. These two invited us, put us up in their house, sent out letters to friends, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3857,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3843\/revisions\/3857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}