Prayer requests

Pray for persons

considering
taking a gap year
next year with
Service
Adventure.
Pray for Open
Door Mennonite
Church as they
prepare for
opening a unit in
August.

Spring Narratives
Dont forget that
your spring
narratives are due
Monday, May 9.

April birthdays
13 Elena Entz
Wiebe,
MMN staf

Ap
ril
20
16

Meet the
Johnstown
Service
Adventure Unit
Each month, we use
this newsletter as a
way to learn more
about whats going
on throughout
Service Adventure,
and get to know
people in a specific
location. This
month, we are
focusing on the
Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, unit.
Enjoy getting to
know a bit about
who they are and
what they are doing
this year.

Back row:
Zimmerman,
Leah
Front row:

and Krista Rittenhouse.

Aaron
Jordan Hodges,
Rittenhouse.
Austen Safell,
Dorothee
Haase,
Shannon Young,

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Service Adventure News

Aaron
Zimmerman
Archbold, OH
Headstart
preschool &
Johnstown

Austen Safell
Nappanee, IN
Family Kitchen
& New Day

Dorothee Haase
Germany
ACRP alternative
school & New
Day

Jordan
Hodges St.
Louis, MO
Willow Hill
Farm & New
Day

Shannon Young
Heubach,
Germany
Johnstown
Christian School
& New Day

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Service Adventure News

Krista and Leah Rittenhouse

Mount Pleasant, PA

Churches: Ive been really enjoying having

experiences with our supporting churches
here in Johnstown. Since there are eight of
them, there are a lot of diferent views on
diferent aspects (even if some of them are
similar), which help me expand my
understanding of, for example, worshiping. I
come from a Baptist church with about 180
members, so coming to Johnstown with
churches that have about 40 members on
average was a big change for me. Not only
the size of these churches, but also the way they do their church services was
pretty new to me. What has been a big blessing to me was leading worship. In my
home church, there was more pressure wanting to be perfect. In our
supporting churches here, you are greatly appreciated when you lead worship
because sometimes there are churches that don't have a lot of people who play
an instrument, so even if you make mistakes, people will never judge or look
down on you because you are all they have when it comes to making music. ;)
Shannon

In Johnstown there are a few good cafs and restaurants to go to, a mall, and a
movie theater. That is about the extent money will take you in this town. Since
we are on a low monthly budget, we find ways to have fun without spending
money. There is a YMCA a few blocks down from us, and a majority of our unit
enjoys spending time there, whether its playing basketball, running, or lifting

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Service Adventure News

weights. Also, we are on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains; there are plenty
of hiking trails in our area, and our unit has gone hiking together a couple times.
One man from our host congregation enjoys taking us to sporting events,
including hockey, baseball, basketball and football. Some of our unit has also had
some out-of-state adventures! Jordan and Aaron went with Jordans host father to
West Virginia to do some hiking and rock climbing. Krista and Aaron went to
Montana to do some snowmobiling in the Rockies with a member of our home
church. Our unit definitely puts the Adventure in Service Adventure!

Aaron

I have two placements. In the

mornings, I work
at an alternative school. The kids
are mostly great,
and it is really interesting to talk to
them and hear
from them. The kids challenge me
sometimes with
their behavior, like if they shut
down and you are
not sure why. I can learn how to
deal with
diferent situations. I feel really
supported by my
supervisor there. It is great to see
the kids grow and
we can have great and fun times
together. My
afternoons placement is the
Christian afterschool program, New Day. I really
enjoy working
there, and I enjoy doing Bible study
with the kids.
Sometimes it also challenges me to
think through
things more and how to break it
down to the level
of the kids. I enjoy doing fun activities like games, crafts, or cooking with the
kids. We also do fun field trips with the kids. It is great to see the kids growing in
their faith! I also enjoy the staf there and working with them as a team. In
general, I am growing through working at my placements. It is a valuable
experience, and I feel like people appreciate our help at our placements.
Dorothee
We got gifts and skills
Serving and leading worship
with the love and joy
Service Adventure
Johnstown unit equals swag
We got love, peace
Learning and serving
Together in harmony
Praising God for life

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Service Adventure News

A year of service
A year of growing in faith
year of improvement
These few Haiku reveal only a snippet of what our year has been. In our unit, we
have been learning a lot about ourselves and each other. Thankfully, God has put
together a pretty solid unit. We get along well. We have our moments, but we live
in a lot of peace. Together, we have done some fun projects and have had some
awesome bonding moments, especially early on. Many thanks to God for this
year. All glory to God. Amen.
Austen
Some joys and challenges of leadership here in J-town:

We have eight supporting churches. This blesses us with lots of support and
interest and invitations to connect with the community. For a house composed
primarily of introverts, it can be hard to balance getting to know all of these
churches with the fact that meeting new people can be exhausting.

Each of us joins our host family for dinner every Tuesday, and many really
enjoy this time. Its a joy to see the deep connections formed through this, and
to know that other adults are investing and speaking into their lives.

Staying on top of the household details has never been our strong point ...
some of less-fun have included addressing a rat infestation, needing the leaky
roof replaced, and trying to get the old radiators working again before
everyone oficially froze.
Krista and
Leah

Photos from Johnstown

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Service Adventure News