Friday Five: Recap
It's been a little bit since I updated the blog. I've been living out of a suitcase for the last three weeks and let me tell you, it's very nice to be home. One week of the three I was on a mission trip, the second week and beginning of the third I was on the senior class trip, and then the ending of the third week I was up at University Days in Walla Walla, WA with a bunch of the seniors. I have been busy.
But, I have decided that today's Friday Five should be a recap of the five things of the mission trip that I either remembered, or stuck out in my mind. The mission trip was my major focus in these last three weeks, so I will keep it in focus.
1. Work Attitude. The work attitude of everyone was great! I loved working with everyone because their work attitude and ethic was awesome. A project needed to be done, everyone was willing to step up and take care of it, even if it meant cleaning 50 pews.
2. Thankfulness of the Church. The Fort Myers Spanish Church was sometimes overwhelming in their thanks to us. We had lunch provided by ladies of the church several times, they got us tickets to a hockey game, the science museum, and the winter homes of Edison and Ford. This church was just so very thankful and that stuck out in my mind.
3. Week of Prayer. The students on the mission trip really stepped up when it came to week of prayer at the Port Charlotte Adventist School. They all did a great job interacting with the students at the school and leading them in worship. We all had a lot of fun there.
4. Church Turnout. The Sabbath before we started work, the church called for people to come and help on the first day of work. We were all surprised with the amount of church members that showed up to help. Never before have any of us seen that much support, and without their help we would not have gotten everything done that we did. It was a great testimony of the love of the people of their church.
5. God. There were ups and downs on this trip, as there always is on a mission trip. And I can honestly say that several times on this trip I struggled with my role change from someone working on a mission trip to the person leading the trip. But God worked in so many ways, and each evening as we recapped the day the students would tell everyone of how God had either worked through them or had worked through something that they had seen. My only hope is that they have grown closer to God through this experience.
Fort Myers Mission: Work Day 5
Tonight's post will be short. We have to get up at 4am to get people to the airport to return the rental cars and get half of our group checked in to fly back to Medford.
Today we finished everything and the church looks great. I'm very proud of all the hard work the students did. They had a great work ethic and I'm glad that each of them came on the trip.
Our contact here at the church came by and was very happy and thankful for all the work we did. We are very grateful that God provided the opportunity for us to come here and serve the Fort Myers Spanish Church. I hope that every person was blessed. Thanks to Maranatha for jumping in and helping us while we were here. It's been a tremendous blessing.
Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging notes. We greatly appreciate it.
Fort Myers Mission: Work Day 4
This post will be short as we were able to go to a hockey game tonight. The Fort Myers Spanish SDA Church had some tickets and to say thank you gave them to us. We had a blast.
But it wasn't without a lot of work. We are essentially done with the church. Everything on the list has been accomplished. We came, we saw, we conquered. But, it was only by the grace of God that we got everything done. I saw God work in some amazing ways this week, and I hope that each of the students did as well.
Tomorrow is our last day for week of prayer and work here in Fort Myers. It has been fun, and it's been a good experience. The church members have brought more food than we could ever eat, we've made some lasting friendships, and we've done some very hard work. All in all, a successful trip. Praise the Lord!
Fort Myers Mission: Work Day 3
Today was work day three. We have been here in Fort Myers for 5 days. And the last three have been very busy in all the work we have done. We have painted, scraped, raked, sprayed, spackled, caulked, painted some more, and swept. And that's only about half of what we've done.
We have also spent time with kids at PCA, leading them in worship, and helping them with various projects in their classes and around their school. It's been a treat to spend time with them. And the student from our trip are quickly connecting with the students from PCA.
Tonight we stopped work a bit early and headed to the Fort Myers Beach. It was well worth it. We saw the sun set and we played in the water. Talk about a rejuvenating time. We have been working so hard and so quickly that to take a short break is nice. All the students were happy about it.
Tomorrow is more of the same, but less work. We have worked so hard that we have gotten almost everything that they have for us to do done. Tomorrow and Thursday will be primarily working on the little things and making sure that everything is perfect before we leave on Friday.
Continue to keep us in your prayers.
Fort Myers Mission: Work Day 2
Wow, what a day! We have gotten a lot of work done here at the church in a very short time. Each student has done a tremendous job and I'm really proud of them. But with hard work comes much tiredness. Most of them are ready for sleep and have headed in that direction.
We started today heading out to the Port Charlotte Adventist School. They are a K-10 school in Port Charlotte that reaches to quite a few students. For a retirement community they do well: 73 students. We are providing them with a week of prayer focusing on different characters in the Bible. Today we looked at the wisdom of Solomon. Great talk.
We then spent time with the students of PCA helping them with their reading, spelling, math, and keeping them from accomplishing their class work. Good for us! We then were able to set up a time for a beach vespers with them for tomorrow and help out by pulling some weeds under one of their jungle gyms.
Then the work started on the church. Today was more. Caulking, painting, cleaning, etc... We spent about four and a half hours on the church and the various things we needed to do. But we are further along than anyone expected, which is good. I am very proud of these students and the way they hold themselves as they serve this church.
Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.