Day Camp and River Cleanup!

Monday was wonderful! We started the day with a wonderful worship time at the church to "jump start" our day with worship and a short session by Jay to get us focused on God! Getting ready to head out for the day!
We all circled up in the parking lot to pray together before we all headed out. This is just about a fourth of the people...there are 150 of us!!

The day camp went great! Jay started with the story of creation and cut out these awesome reminders to help us. We didn't know how many kids might show up, but we were thrilled!

We played lots of fun games...

We learned to make balloon animals...

There was an awesome God moment at the end of the day when an Indian lady came to pick up her girls. We got to talking and she was a strong Christian who is working to reach out to the Indian Hindu and Muslim people in MARIETTA, GA! Yep...she lives just minutes from our church and we hit it off wonderfully. It was totally a God moment (our theme for the week!).

We are getting together the week after we get home from Helen and going to talk about ways that we can pray and reach out to the Indians in our community! How cool is that since I have been to India! God totally brings mission fields right to where you are when you you are where He wants you! I can't wait to see what He is up to in this new friendship!

Then, we headed to the river (Chattahoochee) and joined the rest of our group to clean the river of trash. Many tubed down the river to collect trash, but Jonathan needed families to walk the river to clean the banks. So, we were ready to help! How cute is my sweetie on the bank?

So, we headed off and walked for a while to reach our entry point. Then, it was in the river! It looks quite tame and shallow here...don't be fooled. Many times the water was up to our chest and the water moved very quickly! It was quite an adventure I must say...especially to keep my camera dry!

I saw this white thing floating in the water and thought it was a paper towel...nope...it was a dead fish! I would like to say I never made that mistake again...but I did! We all got a good laugh:)

Here the girls load trash into our HUGE garbage bag! But, we almost filled the whole thing up with LOTS of shoes, life vests, beer cans, water bottles, and just about anything you could imagine!

Mr. Jonathan helps Virginia at a slippery part! He was so precious! He is a summer missionary with NAMB for the summer.

We finished the river and headed back for a quick swim at the hotel with all our friends. I love that this place is crawling with families and kids who have a passion for God, their families, and the lost of this world.

We have been talking to our girls this week about what it means to be a servant. Jesus said that He came to SERVE and not to BE served! A servant did the things their masters didn't want to do. So, we have been reminded to follow Jesus we must look for those things that NO ONE else wants to do and get to it with joy...because that is where Jesus was found. No one else wanted to hang out with the lepers...much less touch them.

No one else wanted to be with tax collectors or prostitutes...but Jesus reclined and ate with them in their homes. No one wanted to die on a cross and be beaten for a people who would rebel, hate, and turn away from them...but Jesus was found doing the things NO ONE else wanted to do. What are we doing today that no one else wants to do? Are we truly servants?

I heard an amazing quote recently...

"If you want to be a servant -

Don't be surprised when you are treated like one!"