One team down, seven to go...

Our first church work-team from Palos Park, Chicago left us this past Saturday. I know they were only the first team, but I was bummed to see them go. Their leaders, high school kids, and cook were incredible. I had over 30 of 38 names down and had had individual conversations with most of the group. One of the most beneficial and important conversations I had was with one of their leaders named Grant who was the group’s worship leader and actually had done the internship down here last summer. He gave me some advice that I will hold onto and at times cling to during this summer. He said something along the lines of:

“Remember your purpose and vision – look for Jesus in the eyes of the people you are serving – look at those people and remember what Jesus says in Matthew 25:34-40 –

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Remember this or you will lose sight of what you are serving for and it will be a long, hot, sweaty summer. Also, learn to love people. Learn to love each team. It will be hard. There will be teams that will want nothing to do with you but you still have to work with them. Learn to love them regardless of how they treat you.”

Grant’s words hit home, and Jesus’ message in Matthew will stick with me throughout the remainder of my time here. Apart from getting some sound advice, I was also really trying to hone my Chicago accent. Joking around with the girls who say “hot” like “haot!” was hilarious. Their impressions of my “accent” were even funnier. Every time they tried to impersonate me they just sounded like a polite British woman.This next group coming in tonight is from Yakima, WA. There are 25 of them so it will be smaller than Palos Park’s 38, but we will still have our hands full. Thankfully after an extended weekend I am rested and ready to roll.

Finally, I must say the thunder and lightning storms are crazy here. I was attempting to sleep in on Sunday morning before church, but was rudely interrupted well before my alarm was supposed to go off by an eruption of thunder that literally sounded like a bomb had just exploded a block away. I rolled over to look towards the two windows in my room which are about 5 feet from my bed. The blinds over the windows prevent me from seeing anything outside, and only let a couple of slivers of light in. When the lightning hit however, it was like a camera flash had somehow dispersed and slipped its way through the 3-4 millimeter slivers to light up my room. Three times I began to count to see how far away it was, and three times I went “one thous…” BOOM! I couldn’t even count a full second before the explosions came and I felt like our neighborhood was being bombed. So much for sleeping in on my Sabbath!