Heading to Mexico… first stop… California..!

We headed out early on July 20^th… meeting up at the airport for a time of prayer and farewells with family.  It was a joyous time as we were all excited to finally start on this adventure.  The flight to California was uneventful and we arrived quickly.  I loved watching the youth interact at the airport as we waited for the drivers to go pick up our vans.  Our first stop in California was lunch at Inn N Out. 

All Aboard... 

Interacting at the airport... 

Weston in heaven... he chose the lunch stop.  

We arrived to The Master’s College before any of the other churches.  Unfortunately one of the driving groups broke down and was delayed by hours.  Since we had time to kill and it was super hot outside we opted to make a trip to Walmart for any last minute items.  

The Master's College... 

Ready to shop... 

I was super proud of our students who were instantly ready to help unload vehicles once they finally arrived.  It didn’t matter that none of the stuff belonged to our group they were always willing to serve. Weston and I were finally able to get the keys to our rooms so we distributed them to the group and then headed out for a late dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. 

Serving as a team... 

Yummy Mexican Food... 

Erica showing off her tacos... 

We made it back to the college just in time for our first evening session.  It was a great way to start with worship and a message from Tim Vincent about Jesus being the one who saves us.  He got us thinking about why we chose to come on Serve… and what purpose Jesus may have for us being here.  

Ready for some worship... 

Unfortunately I didn’t get any homework done on Wednesday so I knew that I would have to miss out on the Thursday outing.  Of course, I couldn’t tell the students since it was still a surprise.  All they knew was that they were supposed to wear their team shirt for a group picture. The students were then broken up into random groups with members from other churches.  It was a blast seeing the shock on their face when they found out that they were going to Magic Mountain.  

Serve 2016 - Team Photo

Breakfast of champions.. 

Weston giving a lesson on making coffee... 

Meeting up as a group... 

Guess what.... you're going to... 

Magic Mountain... with strangers..!

Thankfully, I was back at the school today as I found out last night that there were complications for my conditional certificate to become a certified teacher.  My parents were able to print off the form that I needed and fill out my personal information on it so they could scan it and email it back to me.  I was then able to send off the form to Central and get it to the right hands so they could fill it out and return it to OSPI (office in charge of issuing certificates).  It was just another obstacle that God was able to help me jump through..!

I spent the day back in my room with snacks I bought from Walmart and worked on homework all day with Spanish worship music in the background.  My goal was to complete everything I could today and try to complete everything before actually going into Mexico. 

Meal plans for the day changed from receiving a bag lunch to having a bag dinner at 7:00pm… which meant I had to go for about 12 hours without real food… I was very glad when I found out halfway through the day that Weston and Jimmy were going to bring Maria back to the dorms and that they would stop and pick me up something to eat… praise God… I needed refreshment to continue through my work. 

Homework and Snacks... 

I finished all the homework that I had hoped to before the team returned and so I joined back up with them for dinner and another worship session

Ice Cream - A favorite after a hot day..!

Friday morning we woke up early for a yummy breakfast and then met up as a group to receive our team devotional.  I loved having a time dedicated to being able to get into the Word.  Mitch gave a message on who we are and how our identity is found in Christ alone.  The quote that stood out to me is that I will never be more fulfilled than I am when I live my life as God intended me to live it.

I LOVED breakfast time... 

Of course... ice cream was a favorite at every meal... 

Youth leading youth in worship... love it..!

Today was our only full day in California for training so we met back up and went over conflict resolution as a large group, our own individual conflict resolution styles, talking about it in our family groups and finally as a church group.  

Tim leading the conflict resolution session... 

Individual study on conflict resolution styles... 

After lunch we met back up for another worship and message session. Wendy gave a message on how God equips us… how often times God can use gifts that we consider “ordinary” to do great things.  Also, God uses the situations we are in, even the miserable ones, for a purpose…

We then had a couple hours of free time.  I was going to take a nap and had finally laid down when I decided to check my college site… to find out that my teacher uploaded the rest of my assignments.  I quickly got up and started working on homework again.  I worked straight through until dinner… ate quickly and then took my computer to the chapel to continue working as long as I could.  I even took notes on my computer as I worked on homework. 

Jon Wimmer gave a message on how Jesus sends us out just as He was sent.  He challenged us to be the messengers that God created us to be… to take out the message, Jesus, to the world and to worship God which is what we were created to do.  We then had an extended time of worship and reflection.  What a time of worship it was… it even sparked an unplanned extended worship time.  

We sure ate good... 

Welcoming the Holy Spirit to join us... 

True Unhindered Worship... 

God started working on my heart... 

This picture still makes me tear up...

I loved experiencing this trip with my brother and Abby...!

Another touching moment for me... love my girls..!

We met up as a church group afterwards and talked about what God was teaching us as we embark on this adventure.  Before heading off to bed we encouraged the youth to pack up as much as possible in case we had to evacuate the college.  We could see the fire off in the distance and found out that it was not contained at all… so it was better to be prepared.  I did have the opportunity to talk to Matthew on the phone as I watched the flames of the fire... 

The fire we saw from the college... a little scary..!