Servant of God: Debrief in California… and Heading Home..!

After a week of tent living it was time to pack up and move out on Saturday morning. Everyone helped each other out… especially the students who were in the sick tent and not up to packing their own bags. Thankfully they were all starting to feel a little better for the drive back to California. Breakfast was served amidst the packing up personal belongings, breaking down tents, and loading up the trucks. We then took some time to take group pictures before loading up the vans and heading to the border.

Packing up our bags...

Taking the bags to the trucks...

Taking down the tents...

Youth Pastor Crew...

Faith Church...

Work Team #1

Although the trip back into the US doesn’t usually have any difficulties we took time to pray as we waited in the long line. Chris and I also decided to spend the rest of our pesos by buying churros for all the youth in our van… Jimmy decided to follow suit in his own van after we bought our 7^th bag… though what he doesn’t know is that we were going to share some of the bags with him… but that is okay… we thoroughly enjoyed the fresh churros.

I love churros...

We made a quick stop at Inn N Out for bathroom break and to wait for news on the other groups… I took advantage of this time to hand out the last of our letters. The mail sure cheered up the students, especially those who were sick. I too enjoyed all the letters that I received from Matthew, my Mom and Karen. Even with modern technology it is still nice to get a handwritten letter.

We made a quick stop on the side of the road to drop off my brother. He had to fly home early so my cousin picked him up to spend the day with him before dropping him off at the airport that evening. I enjoyed spending a few minutes talking to my cousin before heading off to another Inn N Out for lunch.

Dropping of Jimmy with my cousin David

Lunch time... Inn N Out

Since we were so ahead of schedule we decided to take an unplanned trip to the ocean. I loved hearing that Erica had prayed she would be able to go to the beach and how excited she was when she found out we could go for about an hour. A large group even went into the water fully dressed, with no towels and a three hour van ride to go. After the beach we even had time for a quick stop at Starbucks for drinks… and were blessed by a lady who decided to pay for our drinks ($40 worth) after finding out what we had been doing for the week. I love how excited the youth are to share about their trip to Mexico.

We are at the beach...

The crew that went into the water...

Abby happy with her mail...

After all of our stops we still made it to the Master’s College in time to unload our bags into our rooms and still make it to dinner on time. Dinner was a bag lunch that we ate on the lawn. After dinner we met for a group session outside under the oaks. It was a sweet time of worship and a short message by Wescot. His message was just the first of many to help the team debrief their experience in Mexico. The focus was on the fact that we are not supposed to compare our Spiritual life with others… we need to commit to obey God. Also, we shouldn’t try to live out the call placed on other’s people’s life… but focus on our own call.

After the group session we met up as a church team to praise God for all that He had done in the past week. It was a time focused on praising God and sharing what we saw Him do in our lives or in the lives around us. We were sent to bed at a decent hour but Cindy and I continued to talk about what God had done in our lives this past week until late into the night.

Dinner on the lawn...

Thankfully we were able to sleep in on Sunday morning which was much needed. I took advantage of this extra time to get in a shower and do laundry so all my clothes were clean before I got home. At breakfast we found out that poor Alex had been up puking most of the night and Garit wasn’t feeling well either.

After breakfast we had our own personal devotions and then a group worship and message time lead by Phil on Jesus is the one who gives us rest. The three key points are that Jesus reveals our heart, Jesus knows what we need, and Jesus enters our chaos to give us what we need. The focus was that the rest we get from God isn’t a vacation… but His grace and comfort in the midst of the chaos we are living in.

After the message we had a time to debrief as individuals going through a list of questions to get students thinking about what they had experienced and learned throughout the trip. This is one of the most important parts of the trip as you take time to process and the couple days in California is not adequate to process it all. I pray that in the weeks to come the students continue to think about what God has taught them and where He is guiding them.

We had a quick lunch time and then met as a church for another time to debrief as a group. It was during this group time that I realized why my feet had been hurting so much and why I had to sit down constantly… they were super swollen. Thankfully we had some free time so I was able to elevate them for awhile but they didn’t really get better until after I got home and elevated them for a complete day.

Lunch time... cool drinks were the favorite..!

Church Debrief Time...

My poor feet... all swollen... time to elevate..!

Free time = Party time

After dinner we had another worship and message. Jesse spoke about how Jesus is the one who fills up. The focus of the message was about how often we think we need Jesus to fill us up… but in reality we need to remain in Jesus, so that we don’t allow our cup to get empty in the first place. The message was pretty powerful as he used a broken cup and pitcher of water to demonstrate the difference. All of us are broken but a broken cup cannot hold water… a broken cup can only remain full if it plunges into the water that is in the pitcher, which is Jesus.

Our church time included a time of communion. We did it differently than I have ever experienced it in the past. The leaders each went to one of the youth to pray for them and encourage before the student went to take communion. The student then had the opportunity to pray for and encourage one of the youth. This cycle continued until the last group of youth was able to pray for and encourage the leaders. It was a sweet time of communion.

We then broke up into small groups to share what God taught us in Mexico and what we wanted to take home with us. I shared how empty I felt at the beginning of the trip and asking the girls to hold me accountable in the upcoming school year. I know that I will be super busy and I don’t want to neglect my time with the Lord.

It was another late night for me… just as I was ready to go to bed poor Brittney was locked out of her room and Camdyn would not wake up for anything. I think just about everyone else on the floor woke up to us pounding on the door but Camdyn… thankfully security saved the day and got the door open.

Leading us in true worship...

Communion lead by Fuego...

Monday morning came very early. We found out late in the evening that everything had to be packed and the rooms emptied before breakfast. Once again I had to collect all of the keys and turn them in after eating breakfast.

Weston gave the final message in the morning called Jesus sends you home. The focus was on how we need to live out our faith beyond the church doors. Some of the points that stuck out to me is the fact that behind every closed door lives a broken family… we are all broken. Also, sharing the gospel requires relationship. Finally, when you walk out the doors today you are on mission… follow Jesus and obey what He asks of you.

Helping each other with our bags..

The final message... thanks Weston..!

We were all ready to go home… before leaving the Master’s College I found out that OSPI had processed my conditional certificate. My prayer before leaving was that I would return home a certified teacher… and low and behold that is what I did.

The trip home was uneventful… we had lunch outside the airport… waiting around forever so the drivers could return the vans… debriefed quickly before boarding the flight..and finally made it back to Seattle. The team stopped to pray before going up to see the family… and funny thing is that Karen was tracking Abby’s phone and they couldn’t figure out why we had stopped and that we were right underneath them when we did. It was a sweet time coming up the escalators to see our friends and families waiting. After everyone got picked up I went home with Karen to experience Abby’s surprise and then finally went home myself… to wake up Matthew..! It is good to be home..!