Families on Mission day 2

Bryce, one of our team members, talks here about seeing the ocean for the first time.

Btw we are all family here! We all have nick names....

We left Velma a little before 5 am Sat. morning and headed sw with these guys.....

These guys were in Vicksburg, MS checking out some history, they had left the day before...

The Williams.....

The Nortons, Minus the older kids

You could call families on mission , vacationing with a purpose.

Let me tell you how I and 17 other people got here.

18 years ago I spent a week at Atlantic Beach, NC doing resort area ministry with some of my dearest friends and family. For me it ignited a life long desire to do more than sit on a pew, ya know?

2 years ago I was sitting in a breakout session with a children's minister named Cliff May. This guy was telling us how he'd started training his preteens to serve instead of being entertained and how they'd taken them all over the country and even overseas to do mission work. All before they were 12.

I liked the concept. I worked with kids on this level. 4 weeks later we are at falls creek kids camp and not only are kids getting saved, when encouraged they would do the devotions at night and lead the music and then one decided God was speaking to him about being a missionary.

Hummmmmm.............

So from the moment we returned May, 2009 I waited for the trip to come together. I started searching for places to serve. We had contacted a couple in Gulf Shores, Al 5 years prior about taking a group of teens done to do resort ministry. That couple has left but Nate and Alecia Deihl have taken their place and once I contacted them in the fall about a summer trip they said, "Come on"

So by November we had dates and a place, by Feb. we had a place to stay and by first of March we had a tentative team. God put it all together, there is no doubt and we rely heavily on his leadership from start to "what do we do now" on the way home....

My God is so big , So strong and so mighty there's nothing that he can not do...

 
Two neat converstions we've had a long the way....

A lady came into the van at a gas station, said she was a Believer and from Gulf Shores...and she said thank you for coming, it reminded her of Katrina when they didn't have water for 2 months and so many teams came down to help. You know they are in somewhat of a disaster down here.

Another conversation came as I waited for our massive order of chicken...I noticed the man in front of me looked a little like the guys around Velma- oilfield. So I asked if he was working on the oil spill. He said yes, I asked how it was going and he replied , "hot, so hot" I told him were I was from, what I was doing and asked how could we help you? He smiled, I think just knowing someone cares enough to ask and come cheered his soul. There is a set up place close to our condo that is a clean up station-

We were told the beaches are fine, get on it. The kids couldn't stay out of it and we put our feet in last night but when we got home we had oil residue on our clothes and bodies, we scrapped it off with a knife and washed. It's not "fine" there's a lot of oil in the gulf and it's not good. We couldn't have come at a better time.

So we are here, exhausted from a year long journey to this "time" but over joyed as usually at the same time. Thanks for following, hope you find a relationship with Jesus if you don't have one, hope you get closer if you do know him and I really hope you decide to live on purpose, vacation with a purpose and tell others about the hope, love and incredible peace found only in Jesus!