So thankful for your comments and encouragement

Thanks so much for leaving your encouraging words for our team. It is amazing to watch these kids put their faith in action and work to be like they believe Jesus would be if He were working alongside us. This is a generation of action. They are not satisfied to sit and absorb. They want to get out there and rub shoulders and make a difference.

I believe your support of these kids will impact their lives forever. They are much more likely to lend a hand now that they are seeing how rewarding it is to live selflessly. It's so exciting to see kids discovering purpose and learning that they can make a difference right now.

We have so many stories to tell. Some make us laugh and some make us well up with tears. Others give us a sense of righteous anger as we see injustice right before our eyes. Through working to help others and bring them hope, we are also experiencing change.

Today, Jeremy met a little girl at the Fisher School who decided he was her husband. Jeremy was so awesome with her. I wish you could have seen this athletic young man showing compassion and patience as he played with her. She says she has two daddies and two mommies living at her house and talked about one who had gone away because he was giving her mommy "whoopins." She is five years old and has a sassy mouth on her and has already lost so much childhood innocence. Jeremy played with her, laughed and played house. At one point she wanted him to carry her around like a husband would carry a bride across the threshold. He was trying to accomodate her but she decided he wasn't doing it right. She finally made her frustrated demand and yelled, "Hold me like a woman, Fool!" We all got quite a laugh about that one. What an awesome thing it was to see Jeremy being so gentle with this little one who has had such a difficult life already.



Ben's team showed up at a "house" of sorts in a very rough looking neighborhood. Grafitti on the front door made it clear that it was a racially charged neighborhood. To be honest, it was scarey. But, the team had the opportunity to talk with three men next door who were working on a car and pray with them. Dan Larrabee pointed out how sad it was that we judged them by the neighborhood before we even met them. Tomorrow, the team is bring the guys some coffee and donuts to start off the day.

I enjoyed watching Jordan working so hard to help. What a strong young man he is! I thought he was going to toss a fridge into a house by himself! It's clear that God is opening up a whole new realm for him and helping him see just how valuable he is.

Our "quiet girls," Dali, Hannah, Nicole and Annie, are blossoming and growing very comfortable. They are joking with other team members, smiling and sharing. This is one of my biggest prayer concerns for this trip. Our next core group is right there. I have been praying that God will knit them together and unite them in purpose.

Our reflection time tonight was sweet. Our sharing time was powerful and our quizzing time of memory verses and trip trivia questions was a lot of fun.

I will head back from my spot here in the McDonald's parking lot and call it a night early since it is only 11:40 (haha). The gang had lights out tonight at 10 but then the church alarm went off at about 10:45! Doh!

We will awake for breakfast and be back on our job sites by 9:00 am. We've had many changes in our teams and have had to be flexible. People have moved here and there.

- Scott Linscott