Real Life Day 2

Day 2 is really day 1 with yesterday being a travel day.  Most first days on site with a missions trip is spent in training and preparing for the week ahead, but not this week.  We hit the ground running this morning.  We got to Real Life Children's Ranch (rlcr.org) and started in the chapel with a time of prayer and devotion.  It was a sweet time as the students not only prayer for themselves and the week but for each other as well.  We then divided into team and took on three projects.  One team is sodding the front yard of one of the houses at the ranch, another one is pulling up carpet at a house, and then the other team is clearing a tree line on the property.  Each team worked really hard and got more done today than expected.  It was hot and dirty work but we pressed through and did what needed to be done.

We knocked off a little before 5pm and got ready for dinner.  After dinner and clean up we set up a big screen movie and hung out with the kids of Real Life.  We gave them candy, laughed and connected with them.  As the movie finished the fun moved outside to the playground and basketball courts.  You could sense the presence of God as you heard the laughing and playing of the kids.  Several had to fight back tears as we understood what God was doing in that moment.  In that moment no one cared about Foster Care or wounds or scares, all we cared about was right there.  No one was worried about where they had been or what tomorrow held.  It was beautiful!

So very proud of our team today.  When they were tired and worn out from working in the hot sun, it did not matter, as soon as those kids came in they came to life.  You heard our students connecting with kids not whining about be tired and dirty.  You heard laughter, not grumbling about being ready to leave.  We actually had to force them into the vans at 9pm after being there for 12 hours.  

Tomorrow holds more projects and a slip n slide.  It is going to be awesome.