From Amy

The night before Labor Day, we had our second neighborhood bonfire. That afternoon, our two oldest kids drove their bikes around the neighborhood and invited people to the bonfire. We gathered similar supplies as last time...s'mores, LOTS of juice boxes, LaCroix and Diet Coke!

We started the bonfire relatively early, maybe around 7 p.m. Just like last time, at first it was just our 3 kids and 4 neighbor kids. They had fun doing "tricks" on the grass, riding their bikes in the cul-de-sac while the fire was getting going, and doing their Nerf guns. Once the fire was ready, they wanted to do s'mores. Honestly, it was an excellent experience for me to practice being like Jesus. Particularly in the area of PATIENCE, as there were 7 children all wanting s'mores at the same time (I was in charge of s'mores), and I was nervous about somebody getting burned or poking someone's eye out with the metal marshmallow sticks. I'm one of those moms who gets nervous (rather than relaxed) when kids are around fire and water, so this was an EXCELLENT exercise for me in TRUSTING JESUS and BEING LIKE JESUS to all these little ones. Needless to say, they all had a great time eating their s'mores and hanging out around the fire, and everyone was completely safe. 😉

Shortly after that, our neighbor across the street brought me and Seth a HUGE piece of chocolate cake (see photo above)! She had been hosting her in-laws and was so gracious to bring us a piece of cake right in the middle of her OWN hosting of an event. Once again, I was humbled and totally taken by surprise. WE were hosting an event, yet our neighbor was serving US. I have a hard time RECEIVING from others because I am such a giver by nature...this was a beautiful exercise in RECEIVING while I was GIVING. The Lord has had me learn this lesson before, so it was no surprised we were reviewing this lesson yet again!

Before we knew it, it was getting dark. Neighbors started showing up. The guests across the street left, so both of those neighbors came over. The neighbors two doors down came with their son. A son/daughter from two blocks up came, and we've barely engaged with them in the 3-4 years they've lived in the neighborhood. And a mom/daughter came from two blocks up as well! It was a fairly big crowd at its peak...around 20 people around the fire. It was a really interesting and diverse mix of neighbors just as it was last time, but there was GREAT conversation, GREAT community building, and overall, it was a GREAT experience.

Everyone enjoyed themselves. The only reason people left was because it started raining pretty hard.

The rain cleared within 15-20 minutes, so Seth & Cooper went back out to the bonfire. They had some rare father/son quiet bonding time together, which was FABULOUS from my perspective, and perhaps the BEST part of the night's bonfire. Seth & Cooper were out by the bonfire for a good hour at least. Later, when we were going to bed, Seth said that his time out at the bonfire with Cooper was "perfect."

On another personal note, offering hospitality through the bonfire has been a good experience for me. I have this notion that life is supposed to go a certain way, that I'm supposed to behave in very particular ways as a Christian. In fact, I have had some anxiety about wanting to do these bonfires the "right way." When I was doing devotions the morning after this bonfire, I opened up 1 Peter 4 & 5, as those passages have really been speaking to me this summer and fall. I came across 1 Peter 4:10, and it really resonated and gave me peace as it related to the bonfire..."Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."

"God's grace in its various forms." There is something freeing in that for me..."God's grace in its various forms." That verse has helped me reframe the bonfires, and has also helped me reframe life recently. God bestows His daily graces upon me, so I bestow daily graces upon others.

As you said after our last bonfire..."As you are blessed - be a blessing." YES.

Thank you very much for this opportunity to receive and extend grace.

Amy Pederson

From Molly

Whoops - August was crazy, so I totally forget to get you an update.  We decided to host the National Night Out on August 2nd and have the firepit out to roast hotdogs.  We handed out hot dog buns with a poem.  Poppy helped me stuff the buns, and we invited our 3 neighbor girls to do door to door with us to hand them out.  They thought it was lots of fun :)  Lots of neighbors came, and the highlight was the teens down the block hanging out for awhile.  In fact, twice in the last 3 days the same kid from 6 doors down has asked me when the next campfire will be.  I love that we've created some expectation and anticipation.  We plan to do at least one or two this fall and maybe even in the dead of winter on a not so cold night :)

FROM CHRISTINE

We were super excited when we heard about the bonfire idea because we have been wanting to do something that brings our neighbors together! So...tonight we are planning an outdoor movie in our backyard!! We will have a bonfire with s'more fixin's of course! We plan to have the bonfire around 7:30ish and then start the movie around 8:30ish when it's darkish!! Come on by if you'd like! We have some neighbors and friends from church coming!! The featured movie is Toy Story 2!!

FROM JAYSON

Light it and they will come! We got our fire pit a month or so ago, and we had great hopes for it.  I'm from a black community (where I grew up) and setting fires had little to do with Jesus.  However, I've noticed that in my Plymouth community my neighbors would have fires every so often.  As you announced this proposal, my wife and I discussed it non-verbally through eye contact that we'd like to try it.  On the first time using the pit, we had a fellow church family over, and we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  I made a point to discuss faith, discuss my crisis with my faith decades ago, and how I'm on the path to finding what I've lost.  We had a great conversation, and he showed understanding to my situation.  He told me a bit about his journey.  It was good. The next time we used it, we had neighbors over after dinner.  Immediately, they asked where we got it, which left a huge hole to discuss faith.  I know they are 'believers' so the conversation was easy and interesting.  We talked about our churches and what were some of the difficulties being a Christian today.   I don't have any pictures, but I have the experiences.  Since we've had the pit, we've used it every weekend and are going to use it the front yard to see what happens.  I appreciate the pit and the time spent discussing faith and Christ.  Thanks You,

FROM MOLLY

It's nearly midnight and I think it's going to be a while until I'm able to fall asleep because I'm so excited. The last of our 13 neighbors left our fire at 11 p.m. tonight. Craig and I would have been really excited if one or two people showed up but we kept having to add chairs as they continued to come! Around 6 p.m. this evening Poppy and I walked down our block and handed out packages of s'mores with a little poem attached inviting people to come to our house for a fire tonight. Some of them were left hanging on the door and others we were able to hand over and invite our neighbors personally. Some of the people we've only talked to a few times While others we knew a little better. But in the two and a half years we've lived here we've only personally invited one family over to our house and that has happened multiple times. We've always intended to invite our other neighbors over but getting the fire pit from church was the little kick and incentive we needed. Since Church paid for it, we feel an extra responsibility to be good stewards of that gift :-).

Lesson learned tonight is that you really just need to invite people and they will come. We had such a wonderful time visiting around the fire learning a lot about our neighbors, laughing, and building relationships. We got to hear about how people met their spouse,  the kind of families they came from etc. We learned  our 11 year old neighbor wants to become a lawyer :-)  He ended up coming by himself as the only one from his family and was one of the last ones to leave hanging out with a bunch of adults. We found out he was nervous about going to Middle School this year and so we were able to encourage him :-) We are definitely going to continue to do this. Now I will be laying awake in bed thinking of the next rhyme invite. I think we will roast hot dogs next time and leave a bun in bags for people and tell them to bring their bun(s) to our house for fun :-)   Thank you PCC for giving us the little shove we needed to do what we wanted to do all along :-)

PS. One of our neighbors about 5 Doors Down kept telling me how she never would usually do something like this as she is such a homebody. She mentioned it several times like she was surprising herself that she came. She ended up bringing her husband and three kids so we got to know all of them. Their kids played with our cat and our tire swing as the adults got to talk. So I told my cat tonight she will have some rewards in heaven :-) okay goodnight. Forgive me if anything sounds weird or is misspelled because I spoke this into my phone.

FROM JON

Thank you for the firepit. We just put it together Sunday evening.












The timing was interesting as we were telling the kids that we couldn't use our old fire pit any longer as the metal basin had finally rusted out after 5 years.  Then that next Sunday my 11 year old son, Ryan, looked at me when you were "giving" away fire pits and asked if he could run up and take the ticket so we could have bonfires again. It was a little embarrassing to take this "handout" from the church.  But I figured this will encourage us to invite other neighbors over for years to come and to build purposeful relationships with the Kingdom in mind.  Something we've spoken about and acted on a couple times but now MUST act upon more frequently and with more neighbors... or the guilt of a freebie from church will eat me up!  I'm thinking this one will last for 10+ years as it is brick and the metal ring inside is very thick.  So, no excuses now... and for many years to come.  Watch out for smores in Southern Plymouth!!! Thank you,

FROM STEVE

This afternoon I typed up an invitation to 35 of our neighbors to join a closed Facebook group for the neighborhood.  Anna and I spent the afternoon delivering them door to door.  It was a great afternoon connecting!  The bonfires will start soon, along with several other gatherings our neighbors suggested this afternoon.