Car Wash & Training

Hard at work on the first car

Yesterday, we washed countless cars, raised almost $1,000 in support, and had an epic water battle. We worked together as a team as well as with the MP1 team to get this task done. The teens were great servants and were pretty thorough in their work. I was impressed to see the pride that they took in their work. They were truly living Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man." We even had one gentleman who brought 2 other cars back after he saw the great job that we did on his first car. Despite all the sunburned feet, it was a pretty great morning.

The first of 3 cars this gentleman brought back

Attracting attention on the road

Kelly & Paul soaking Shauna & Sam

Paul getting Zane, the MP1 leader

Micah & Jason (MP1) tackled Sam to the ground and dumped water on him

This afternoon, we had our 2nd to last MP meeting with MP1 before we head out to our respective locations. They finished learning the puppet skits & songs. (What troopers! It's tough to hold your arm in the air while moving a puppets mouth for over an hour. I know - I only did it for 2 songs and was reminded of the forearm muscles that I developed on my MP2 & MP3 from doing puppets.) They have progressed so much since they first picked up a puppet at the beginning of training in April!

We also practiced/perfected our wordless drama, "Set Free", as well as our fun skit, "Doctor, Doctor". This group has a pretty funny "Doctor, Doctor" already; I'm looking forward to seeing how much funnier it will get. Carmiña and I have been praying for our team's "Set Free" drama and how we could help them take it to the next level. I am excited to say that today, they got it! They have made it their own and I can see their personalities coming through in their drama! I'm pretty excited for them! Way to go, team!

We ended the meeting with sketchboard practice. Some of us (me) haven't done a real sketchboard message since 2005 and were pretty nervous about doing one in front of the teens. By the grace of God, I wasn't as rusty as I thought. We spent about 2 hours practicing painting up and giving our messages to our teammates. While we were waiting to paint up our messages, I was role playing one-on-one conversations with the teens. Going to public high school, I remember many questions that my friends would ask me. I then turned those questions around and asked my team. Just like Crazy Love and Christian Belief, the teens are thinking more and more about what they believe and why. What a blessing for them to discover this while they're young!

I want to end with the Scripture that Paul opened our meeting with - Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." The guys on my MP3 team in 2005 called this "shrugging off and transcending". That is my prayer for our team tonight - that they would throw off everything that is entangling them and run with perseverance with their eyes fixed on Jesus.





Good night and God bless!