front porch sitting :)

I love being outside in God's creation! It's so amazing to think about God when you look at all He has created. I do a lot of front porch sitting when I'm at home and even though it's not the best view in the world it is still a view that I love to look at and think about all the memories of working in the garden with my family, mowing the yard, playing games and tending to the roses. Sitting here I like to think about how I also had a hand in helping things to grow that God created. I feel so privileged to be able to be used by God in helping tend his creation... whether it be through tending the garden or tending the people he has created.
This past week we have gotten a chance to visit with some older people in my church who are now home bound. They are not able to attend church any more because they can not get around well and do not have a lot of visitors. We got to go and talk with them and sing some hymns with them one day this week. It was really cool to talk with them about where they have come from and what they have learned in this life. Our team had a good conversation about how we sometimes over look those people who have gone before us that really helped to set up the church. We realize how times have changed and we have to prepare and plan for different times but we also realize that the people who started everything should be given credit and listened to and be loved. We also got a chance to do a worship service at the nursing home where my great-grandma is at (she is 102!). Granny Reid was having a "good day" when we went and she even got to sit out and worship with us! Some of the people were not alert enough but others were. We had a couple of people talk to their hair dresser about what we did for them that day and they told her how much they loved us just taking time to come and worship with them and visit a little afterward. There was one lady that I talked to and she told me "I know that Jesus you were talking about!". She also shared a little bit of her story with me. It is so wonderful to hear about people and where they have come from and how Jesus has helped to bring them through life! We also noticed that not only people that were staying in the nursing home were listening to us but their visitors, nurses and even the maintenance men stopped by to listen for a little bit. I pray that the people that were there understood what we were saying about the love of God and will seek and find Him.
Today we went to the "Caring Hearts Free Clinic" clinic in VA. This is a free clinic for those without medical insurance. We helped them move some furniture and update their files and do anything else that they needed us to do. There were two boys that were helping the clinic while we were there today. They were juniors in high school, and seemed to be really interested in what we were doing this summer. They wanted to know why we were there and what we normally did and things like that. They were some pretty cool guys themselves, we enjoyed getting to know them. Anyway like I said we got to help out with their filing and stuff. It is crazy how many people that they are serving, I do not remember the exact number of people that they have served already this year but it was a very large one. We did get to visit with some of the patients that were coming there, however they did not tell us a lot about their lives, they just wanted to know about why were there.
This week we have also been helping out with VBS every night at my church. We were able to talk with the youth the first three nights about what we are doing all summer and how they will have chances to do the same thing when they are in college and how they can be a missionary right here at home. We talked with them about our ministry that we do through drama, interpretive movement, and music. They were all really interested in all of the summer missionary opportunities that are provided through the Baptist State Convention. :) I am excited that the youth of our church are starting to dream big about their own ministry opportunities!
Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers as we go throughout the summer. Some things specifically that you could be praying for are the older people in our church who are overlooked. Pray that they will be remembered for the things that they once did and that their voice will be heard. Pray for the people that we served and served with today in the clinic. Pray for the youth of the church here and around the world that they would start dreaming big about the missionary opportunities that they have everyday. Please pray for our team to minister to the people around us everyday; people in our hosts homes, people who provide us food, and anyone and everyone that we come into contact with. Thanks again for your prays they mean so much to us all! God is working and you are a part of what he is doing around us when you pray!