Mission Florida, 2009!

At the last minute I decided to go with the youth on their mission trip to Mary Esther, FL. I was supposed to go to New Mexico instead but I didn't really want to make that trip by myself. So, I called my brother and we arranged for Deon, Karah and myself to go to his house for Christmas. The hard part of this decision was to call my Grandma and tell her I wasn't coming to stay with her on my way to and from my brother's house. I will have to go for a visit with here sometime in August. I miss her so much.








We left our church parking lot at 7:15am on Saturday, July 11th and arrived at First Baptist Church in Mary Esther, FL at 8:55pm! It was a long drive and we soon settled into the youth and singles education department above the fellowship hall.



We attended the early worship service and then Sunday school because we helped prepare lunch for the World Changers that we would be feeding through out the week. Sunday night after the services we meet some of the singles and youth out on the Boardwalk beach to play some beach volleyball. Only Erskin, Haddie, Jordan and Scott played, the rest of us walked up and down the beach and played in the edge of the water.





Each morning was pretty much the same. We would get up and go down to breakfast. We would eat cereal or leftover from the previous day if there were any. My favorite breakfast was the chicken wrap that I had Wednesy morning and the cold pizza I had on Thursday morning.







When breakfast was done we would go back upstairs to get ready for the day. That included a quiet time with the Lord.



At 10am each day, except Wednesday (pizza day), we would go down to the fellowship hall and prepare lunch for theWorld Changers. We fed two teams each day. These team were re-roofing a couple of houses in the neighborhood.










I was in a team with Loree, Karah, Scott and Kayleigh. We went to the work site every day and set up their lunch and when they were all served we would have lunch with them. It was an awesome opportunity to interact with them and love on them and get to know them. It was a real blessing to serve the World Changers.



















We also had our own service projects to do after we fed the World Changers. We went to three of the sweetest ladies homes and did yard work for them. Monday we went to Miss Louise's house. Tuesday we went to miss Cindy's house and Thursday we went to miss Sally's house. There was a lot of leaves to be raked and bagged, lots of trimming to do. Aaron mowed for us and we also did some power washing of a couple of decks. It was hot, hard work but so worth it!























We headed to the beach every day except Thursday. We were treated to pizza and a pool on Thursday by Curtis and Mary. It was a special treat.






Even though we went to the beach five times we only swam three times. The beach was awsome and we had tons of fun playing in the waves. I really enjoyed walking along the beach and watching the people and the birds and the waves. It was such a worshipful time for me.

Friday evening after the beach we went to Dewey Destin's to eat. It was an interesting little place right on the water. It really looked like it could be a fish camp! The food was incredible and we walked out on the pier after supper and just enjoyed the night. It was a really great way to end our mission trip.















Saturday morning we got up bright and early and piled back into the van and headed home. It was a pretty quiet trip home. I have to admit I slept a lot on the way home simply to make the trip go by faster!








It was an incredible trip and God is still revealing to me things that He wants me to learn from this experience.