Today was one of those days where you are constantly reminded of the funny memories that life has to offer. The weather was once again, scorching. The blazing sun projected a temperature of 96 degrees today, and needless to say, we were sticky with sweat. Yuck! But one of the blessings of this was the reminder of showers at the end of the day. This is when I was reminded of a funny little quote. In the TV show, The Office, I recalled a scene where Michael Scott misquoted “Cleanliness is close to Godliness”. To be clean. Besides the aura of feeling squeaky clean, the smell wasn’t that bad either. Everyone was nice and smelling fresh. Something wonderful!
Besides a physical cleanliness, we were also blessed with a spiritual cleansing. Last night, Brad blessed us with a big sponge and soap called his spiritual message. It was the “deep scrub” of the week. This whole week, we’ve been challenged as a group and as individuals to we stand before God willing to serve. So now as the our week-long cleanse comes to an end, it all comes down to the fact of choosing to keep our hearts guarded from the dirt, our eyes clean from the dust, and our ears available to hear what God has to offer us. With new experiences, new words, new adventures, and new memories, these are all moments that we will be able to take home with us. Whether it be a cool word in Spanish, or a lesson learned from God, our lives have been cleaned with the SERVE: Mexico Brand soap. Now it is up to us as a group to decided what we want to do next with this cleanliness.
Peace out Jesus Scouts and see you in a few.
- Holly Irvin
Team Perfect: Well, today is Friday and our week here in Servlandia is coming to a close. While I was sitting here waiting for my turn to write, I was listening to our band sing “How awesome is the LORD most high” and it was easy to look back and assess the week. We were able to bless two families by building them houses, playing with their kids and giving them the ultimate gift: God’s love. But as the last nail went into the second house, Team Perfect and the rest of Servlandia was not even close to being ready to stop serving. Throughout the week, all the teams were to be looking for a “special project” to do today. We all found some options but a great opportunity was given to Northshore. All three of our amazing, Northshore teams were getting to go to an orphanage together. I was excited to go and to serve with the members of Northshore who aren’t on Team Perfect, but little did I know that my favorite part of the week was yet to come.
We woke up this morning knowing it was our last full day in Mexico. We were exhausted and dirty but with the hopes of a great “special project” and a refreshing shower in the near future we started the day. After session we loaded our vans and headed off to play with some crazy boys at the orphanage. We had a blast playing soccer, throwing Frisbees, playing “Hot Potato” (in Spanish of course), talking and being “Neenjaas!” or Ninjas. We had pizza for lunch and, little did we know, we were having pizza for dinner back at camp. YUM! Today being the hottest day of the week, it was a little too hot to be active after lunch so we all sat in a room and pulled out a guitar. We had some traditional songs played like “The Lake Monster Song” and the new “Servlandia” song. But eventually, it turned into a worship service. We sang “Open the Eyes of My Heart”, “Everyday”, and other songs both in English and Spanish. It was amazing to see the two cultures bonded together through worshiping our Creator. Both tears of joy and tears of laughter were shed during our time of worship together and nothing can measure up to the feeling of the presence of God in that room. It made our last day in Mexico the best day. Though we were sweaty and gross, though one of our vans broke down twice, though we had all 17 girls stuffed in one van on the way to the showers, God was there to provide for HIS children and to love on us always. So moms and dads, brothers and sisters, be proud of your kids and siblings for showing the love of Christ through the tough times. We have learned so much from the gracious and amazing speakers and we will be home soon! With love from the team,
-Morganne Chadwick
Navy Blue Ninjas: Wow! Today was incredible! Though each day is long, and pretty tiring, each and every single day that our team has been in Mexico has been a gift from God. He has challenged us all, to the point of putting us out of our comfort zones. Yet through it, our team has grown so much in both character and perseverance. God has been working in all of our hearts and has been transforming us into the pattern of his will. All of us have bonded together as a family. Today was one of the hottest days this week, and one of the most eventful. This morning, after session, our church visited an orphanage in El Florido, Tijuana. After playing soccer, Frisbee, and dodge ball with the kids at the orphanage, we than gathered in the downstairs room and sang some worship songs in Spanish. The whole day had so far been a blast and everything was going extremely well. After 2 days of hard work, we finally had a day where we could relax and play. So far Friday was going pretty good, that is until we hit the road. After we said goodbye to the kids at the orphanage, we then drove to the dorms at “Caravan Ministries” to take a shower. On the way to the Caravan, our van broke down in the middle of the highway, in 95 degree weather. After a few failed attempts to jump-start the van, we all tumbled out of the van and pushed the enormous vehicle through the intersection and towards the side of the road. Mr.. Lindquist, one of our leaders, who happens to be a police officer, was able to stop traffic so that we could push the van out of the middle of the highway. Thankfully, once the van was transported to the side of the road, we were able to jump-start the car with jumper cables, and made it to Caravan just in time. After sweating like a pig for the whole day, it felt nice to crash in the showers. Our whole team was refreshed and ready for more of what God wanted to do in our lives. All in all, the whole day was awesome! The evening session was by far the best out of all the sessions.
- Chris Langley
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