Expecting the Unexpected-Ten-foot men, Midgets, Barnacles and Prince

When we woke up this morning to get ready to attend the church service at Kirkwood UMC, we realized that the church members who were coming to Sunday School did NOT get the memo that their Sunday School rooms were going to be filled with air mattresses and sleeping girls. In typical FUMC form, we went into flexibility mode and "It's not about me" mode and helped them get over their initial shock.
At the church service, to our surprise, we found out that Patrick has a twin who had the lead role in the Children's play, "Overboard". After the service, Patrick was actually congratulated for a job well done. In the play, Jonah said, "Cast your presence over me. Hold me in your arms, Dear Lord and listen to my prayer." This is very similar to the prayer we asked you to pray for us this week.
We went to fast food restaurants such as Taco Hut, Pizza Bell, SubDonald's, and McWay.
After lunch, we quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed out to an awesome water park. The Lazy River and the pool were a big hit, but we weren't a big hit with the lifeguards and other pool-goers. We cheered, chanted and screamed for everyone going off the diving boards-even the people who were not a part of our group. We got our first shower, and for many of us it was our first experience with an automatic, motion-sensored shower. They seemed to have a mind of their own and shut off, while we were covered in soap or shampoo.
We came back to the church and had our Annual Pizza Party--thank you, Mrs. McKenzie! Then, we moved to the gym to play "THE FUNNEST GAME EVER!-Barnacle. We played some more team-building games, including skits for imaginary projects such as "remodeling a kitchen for a 10-foot man", "organizing a closet for a midget", and "painting a house for a person who loves the color purple-even more than Prince".

Our devotions for the evening were based on the scripture Joshua 1:9. Like Jonah and Joshua, we are promised that we should not be afraid, for the Lord will be with us no matter where we go and we must listen to his call. We were given a "time capsule" to keep all of our Mission Trip memories. It included a journal and pen for our personal journal time. Thanks, Julie Heath, for all of the time that you spent hand-engraving the glass jars with Mission Trip 2011 with the cross and flame! As we journaled we listened to "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story. During this song, we thought about how God would always be our friend, and the things that we want to be our "keepers" from the trip--just like Andy wanted to keep Woody. Our second song was titled, "This is the stuff". Our key verse was "In the middle of my little mess, I forget how big I’m blessed." In other words, the little things aren't worth worrying about and God has a plan for us and sometimes uses things to teach us.

Overall, today was a great day. We really started bonding! We are looking forward to our first day at Kingdom House where we will begin to share the love of Christ with others whose "little mess" is much bigger than ours. We love you and thank you for supporting us!