I’m glad I went today.

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I felt so good today! I headed to church this morning after missing the last two weeks due to feeling terrible from lack of sleep. I didn’t sleep much last night, but I slept deeply. Not sure who was preaching, it turned out nobody was. The four teens who went on missionary trips this summer to St. Croix, Bulgaria, Panama, and Tokyo got up to speak about their experiences. I’m so glad I went because they were so good to hear from. First, if all teens were like these four the world would be a better place. Sincere, hard workers who care about people, it made me happy to know teens like that were out there. You might think, oh, free fun trip…no, they had to raise funding, and they put those teens to work! In addition, while the kids who went to Panama knew some Spanish, and St. Croix speaks English, the other kids had to really put in effort to communicate. While St. Croix is beautiful, they didn’t spend their time in the tourist area until the last two days. They spent time helping repair the elementary and high schools, slept on air mattresses in the schools computer room, and as Thurman (the teen who went) added, “Killing a lot of roaches.” They ran several VBS (anyone else remember Vacation Bible Schools), and would work where the schools, orphanages, and churches needed help. I think the biggest eye opening experience was Eli in Japan. He really developed a heart for the people. Incidentally, the pastor in Japan knew my dad. Eli came back with some stories. Also, the lady from KAIROS spoke, (an international prison ministry), and she was desperate for volunteers. They needed 150 dozen cookies, and while the local Amish community near the female maximum security prison will help make them, they charge $3 a dozen (which isn’t bad). However, they are also trying to get home made meals to all of the inmates, and they needed volunteers for that too. Most of all, they wanted prayer volunteers. I was so glad to be there. It’s a good day! How has yours been?