Mission Trip week is always one of the highlights of my summer. It’s filled with so many amazing adventures. On top of that, we’re able to accomplish so much ministry work in a short time. The students form new friendships and deepen others, in ways that wouldn’t happen outside of serving together like this. But I think the main reason I love weeks like this is because of the spiritual growth spurts that I get to see first hand in each of our students.
Ministry Projects: Today we continued working around the grounds and the building here at KIDS Inc.:
The Grounds Crew finished spreading the last of the 20 cubic yards of much. This was a LOT of shoveling and wheelbarrowing and spreading. They’ve become experts. And they did it all while singing and laughing and deepening friendships. This team then moved to power washing some mud and moss stained areas. Some of this team worked the perimeter of the property and the parking lot, spraying weed killer on some crazy overgrown weeds. They also cleaned out a number of plugged drains and underground entryways that they affectionately nicknamed “the dungeons.” This will help stop some of the flooding they get regularly. This team has learned to use all kinds of yard tools and equipment with skill.
The Movers spent most of the day, you guessed it, moving large and heavy items. They continued to remove unwanted junk from the building and various storage areas into a huge dumpster. They’ve more than filled it. They continued to haul unsightly debris from corners of the property as well. While there’s not much to say about hauling garbage, they did it with great attitudes. I didn’t hear a complaint about the hard work in the heat all day. This team finished with their tasks a bit early, and dispersed to assist the other teams.
The Painters spent most of the day taping and painting. This hasn’t been the easy kind of painting where you quickly knock out a wall with a roller in a few minutes. This has been the painstaking detailed work of painting door frames and lots of trim and repair work. They’ve had to work in hard to get places from difficult angels. Again, without complaint. There’s still quite a bit of painting to do yet this week.
By the way, all of the projects I just described were done by 3pm today! This is an efficient and hardworking team! We finished our work projects a little early today so that we could get out into the community. We divided up into 4 teams with maps, gloves, and garbage bags. We walked the surrounding neighborhoods picking up garbage, praying for the community, and praying with anyone we ran into. It was a very powerful experience and a practical way to show love to the people living in the area.
Our evening worship is one of my favorite parts of our day. We gather and celebrate Jesus by singing together. We take some time to review our daily Bible study. We reflect and share about what God is teaching us. Finally, we evaluate our day and plan for tomorrow. I wish you could hear our students share about how God is working in and through them – it’s amazing!
Today’s focus was SHARE. While we’ve been sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in various ways throughout the week, today had a special SHARE focus. We spent significant time in the blocks surrounding our nation’s capital intentionally encountering people with the goal of sharing the gospel.
And we’re off. Thanks so much for your encouragement and strong support.Today we are traveling to DC, settling into our hotel, and having orientation.
Well, we made it home safe and sound. On our return trip we enjoyed a stop at the Creation Museum. It was a fun and relaxing way to close out our trip.
Thanks for the many ways you supported us – especially through prayer!
Here are a bunch of yet unposted pictures from the week. Enjoy!
What an amazing and fulfilling week. I’m excited to report that we finished up all of our projects this morning. This 48,000 square foot ministry facility hasn’t looked this good in a long time. It’s much more inviting for their daily and weekly outreach ministries as well as for their weekly church services.
One of the morning highlights was delivering thousands of hygiene and school supplies to the adjacent elementary school. They were overwhelmed and blessed. It’s exciting to see KIDS Inc’s growing partnership with this school.
During lunch we got to hear Rhonda’s faith story. She’s one of the ladies in the community who have trusted Christ out of some very painful circumstances. We had the opportunity to help her around her property earlier in the week.
After lunch our team had some much needed down time as we prepped for a long afternoon, evening, and night. We finished up our VBS. The teens did an excellent job presenting the gospel to the kids each day.
Immediately following VBS we hosted a hot food meal for the community. Many families from the community attended. They enjoyed dinner, worship music from our team, faith stories from our youth, and a gospel presentation.
Immediately following this meal we hosted a 2 hour teen hang time for community youth. We served them dinner and got to play tons of games and hang out. Two other youth shared their faith stories, and we presented the gospel with an opportunity to respond.
We’re just about done. We have some final packing and cleaning to do in the morning before we head out. Before we come home, we’re taking the team to the Creation Museum. I’m sure they’ll have an awesome time if they can stay awake.
It’s a real joy to watch God work in and through our youth. This week has been a spiritual growth spurt for many of us. It’s exciting to see them stretch ministry muscles that they never knew they had.
Highlights from today:
1. Blessing two widows connected to this ministry with property upkeep.
2. Watching our students run a VBS nearly on their own.
3. Hearing from Jake from KIDS Inc. about how our work this week is helping them with their long term and sustainable ministry goals.
4. Enjoying dinner out on the town at a local restaurant.
5. Laughing together – a great sign of unity.
God’s doing great things. As usual, please keep this team in your prayers.
Tonight’s post will be brief for three reasons:
So here are a few highlights:
Tomorrow we will divide and conquer again. Two of our teams will be offsite at homes in the community helping several widows with their homes.
Until then – we appreciate your prayers!