Ned Erickson: UPDATE Week of April 17

Julia Lovett has been officially adopted by the city

AND WHAT A WEEK IT WAS

To steal a Roald Dahlism The Fellows continued to do a whiz bang job while I was away, and they continued to perform at whiz bang levels now that Ned has returned to the helm.

Susan Scott, Christina's host mother, hosted us on Monday night. (Susan's pictured here in the back with Christina's grandparents who came to town to visit.) Dinner was wonderful, with a special shout out to Stan who came to cook and hang out.

Welcome to Winston-Salem Christina's Grandparents!

A few days later, I was walking down fourth street and literally got a shout out from him from across the street! Ha! I love Winston-Salem.

Wednesday we had a fantastic Leader Lunch with Mike Ford at Wake Forest. In addition to sharing his story, Mike shared some insights on the significance of the twenties. He left us with some reading assignments and a list of key questions that are now thumb nailed to my wall.

Mike in action

I can't speak highly enough about Mike. The man embodies what the Fellows is all about. I'd be happy if I grew up to be half the man Mr. Ford is.

The man shines bright. There is no denying

Wednesday afternoon, the female Fellows were greeted by Grace Hilliard, daughter of Beth Hilliard who has been doing a fabulous job leading them this year.

Grace always steals the show

Then, we had an impromptu meeting about Israel at the Quiet Pint. I received no resistance from the Fellows.

That night, the Whitworths bailed me out and hosted a Fellows candidate coming into town to interview. Rereading her application, I saw on the last page that she was allergic to cats and dogs - so I scrambled. The Whitworths only have Friar Tuck the guinea pig. She interviewed in the morning, then we had another candidate drive into town Thursday night to stay with us. She interviewed in the morning after attending class.

Summit shout out!

Afterward, I gave out t-shirts from Summit School! Jeff Turner had given them to me after our Leader Lunch a few weeks back, and I finally got around to handing them out (I needed to do it when we could get a picture!) Thanks Ashley for taking the pic, by the way!

Thanks Summit! T-shirts is the Fellows love language (and mine!)

That afternoon, The Fellows headed to East Winston to help GIDE host an event called "Running From Crime"

More free t-shirts!!!

There was somewhere between 100 and 200 kids.

We were in charge of games.

Here is me explaining things from a top a sewer manhole

Reese running tug-of-war

There was a bit of managed chaos...

The winners of the water balloon toss

Ned doing some kind of rendition of the Hokey Pokey

The Fellows with the one and only Mr. Bill McClain

I'd do anything for this man

Christina showing off her hoop skills

ISRAEL!!!

I will be here next week!

I will be looking out over Nazareth next week!

I can hardly believe it. At this time next week, I will NOT be writing an Update. I will be standing on the precipice looking over Nazareth with eleven of my favorite people in the whole world! Twelve, thirteen and fourteen when you add Hunter, Laurie, and Haley Lambeth!!!

We will be going on adventures such as hiking the Jesus Trail, swimming in the Sea of Galilee, and climbing the Arbel Cliffs.

We will be visiting the sites where Jesus spoke, healed, and saved the world.

We will be supporting Young Life, encouraging leaders, and then to top it all off...We will be doing the Program and Work Crew for a brand new Young Life Capernaum Camp (Young Life for Special Needs) in Israel...where Capernaum actually is!!!

We will be hanging out with friends like this young man

And this young man...no Lia though...insert sad face emoji

Wow!

Thank you to all of you who have financially supported us. We are nearly to our goal. However, we continue to fundraise - the need of course is great.

So please think about how you want to contribute to this incredible, once in a life time opportunity!

give to www.wsfellows.com/give

or mail checks to Winston-Salem Fellows

851 W. 5th Street

WSNC 27101

of if you want me to pick checks up from your door or swipe your credit card - just call or text or email!!!

Recruitment Update

We continue to receive applications by the day. Praise the Lord!!! We now have seven females we are in process with. Two interviewed last week, and we have three more this week.

The team and I have enjoyed chatting with each of them, and I'm optimistic that the four we are looking for to fill our female quota will be among these folks.

It is nerve wracking because all of these Fellows are great and have options.

We continue to pray hard for Antonius who should be giving us a yay or nay this week. Please join us in praying this guy onto the team, as well as for Shuhui, Ashley, Mary, Kristen, Natalie, Grace, and Susannah! Come on Jesus!

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Enjoying the sunshine and refreshment at The Porch

Dave Dave (aka Bear Paw) and I headed up to Camp Hanes for Adventure Guides

Bear Paw's first archery experience - and he gets a bullseye!

Christina and a special visit from two of her favorite people

Please Pray for us as we finish up details for our trip...

There is so much amazing stuff going on I forgot to mention that before we head out for Israel, we are heading up to Washington D.C. to join the rest of Fellows Nation for the National Fellows Conference April 28-30!