Bats? Where Are You?

This summer, Austin Agape is doing something very fun on Thursday nights. We're having THRILLING THURSDAYS!

What are Thrilling Thursdays?

Every Thursday, a person from our group is choosing a surprise activity for us. The person tells us where to meet, if there's a particular way we should dress, and how much money to bring. And then we have a surprise!

This week's surprise involved going down to the Congress Street Bridge to watch the bats fly. Did you know that every year 750,000 Mexican freetail bats come to Austin to make their home under one bridge? That's right, and they live here for six months. All of the bats are female, and they're pregnant. So by the end of the summer, there are 1.5 million bats living under one bridge! Every night they come out to fly, and they save us from an even larger population of mosquitoes and other bugs. Thanks bats!

The bats usually fly just a bit after sunset which was 8:30pm this Thrilling Thursday. But guess what? The bats decided to sleep in a little, and they didn't start coming out until 9:30 when it was already dark! So we didn't get as nice of a view as we hoped to see. But it was still fun, and we laughed a lot while we waited on the bridge.

Gotta love Thrilling Thursdays!

Kentuckiana-a'ganza!

We've just returned from an incredible trip to Indiana and Kentucky. That's right: We traveled to the border of both states - hence Kentuckiana! We stayed and worked in New Albany, Indiana, a quaint city along the Ohio River. Right across the river, is Louisville, Kentucky. We spent some time in Louisville doing some fun activities - seeing the waterfront, a science museum, and the Mothership! Yes, we visited the headquarters of the PC(USA).

We stayed the week at St. John United Presbyterian Church in New Albany. The members were incredible hosts! Renee grew up in this church, and when she met Ian in high school, he began to join her there. It was wonderful to see so many people and places that Renee has mentioned!






We did wonderful work all week. On Tuesday, we cleared some limbs from the yard belonging Renee's Dad. This is work he really needed done, but he couldn't do it all by himself. The UPC Barcodes can move things quickly when they work together!





On Wednesday, we hosted an event at the church for neighborhood children. St. John is located in a neighborhood where there is a great deal of children living in poverty. The church has a ministry on Wednesday nights called Wednesday Night Live. We cooked dinner for the children and played games with them in the gym. It was a lot of fun.



On Thursday, we worked for the Interfaith Community Council food pantry. The Interfaith Community Council serves many needs for people who live in New Albany. We sorted food donations, assisted clients, cleaned, and called churches to confirm schedules for Vacation Bible Schools throughout the city.



On Friday, we did a great deal of yard work for St. John. We also pained a garage door!







On Saturday, we worked for the New Albany Housing Authority. We planted flowers with youth who live in the Housing Authority Apartments. We also played basketball with the kids. Everyone enjoyed our time together!





And on Sunday, we led worship at St. John. What an amazing week we had together, serving and laughing a lot!