First Week

This is it...I just got home after possible one of the LONGEST weeks of my life. Our first day we checked the trip odometer and it read 108 miles traveled. We went from Lake Wylie to Rock Hill to Chester in one day....for those not around here, that's a good bit of traveling. We started every morning at 9 o'clock and I got home every night around 8:30 or 9, after driving all over Northern SC it seems like and hanging with around 200 kids everyday.

I wouldn't change it for the world.

This was quite possibly also one of the greatest weeks of my life. We ran the whole spectrum, starting off in the morning with 3-5 year olds, going to two YMCA camps in Rock Hill for 5-7 and 9-10 year olds, then finishing our night with a VBS in Chester with all ages. Suffice it to say, we had to adapt the material we got very quickly, because preschoolers and 5th graders have veeery different tastes. Luckily, the songs we had are good for everyone (even some adults got into them) and most of our memory verse stuff we were able to keep intact, and I was even dubbed "Bubba" at the VBS for the week, which is a persona I'll probably keep for the rest of the summer (for some reason I make a dang good ole' Bubba). But it seems like we had to make drastic changes to the way we told our Bible story and the words we used.

However, one thing we didn't change was the gospel message. I was very proud of my team, who are both a bit younger than I am and neither of them have had much practice with this, but they shared Jesus Christ with these kids, sometimes using simpler words, but never watering down the message. We had at least 13 decisions just this week...and this is only the beginning. I'm getting really excited to see how God is moving in this ministry. I can't wait to see how it starts expanding and gaining more notice in our community.

Please keep us in your prayers though. We had a fantastic week, but we are exhausted. There are only three of us in the team, sometimes with an adult, sometimes by ourselves, standing in front of 50 kids trying to keep them attentive and entertained, while trying to share the love of Jesus. It's a daunting task, so please pray for us that we'll have the strength and wisdom to deal with any problems, and that we can be worthy vessels for the Holy Spirit to move through these kids in our community. Next week, while I'm off, I plan on diving back into the Word and reflecting back on some of the things I've learned these past couple of weeks, so I should be updating pretty soon. I love you all! God Bless!

Matthew