Sunday's Sermons, Slides, and Spirituality - Sunday Recap

Hey guys! Day one in Jacksonville was pretty cool! We got up at 7, which was CRAZY for teenagers in the summer! But we went to Sunday School and made up 97% of the attendance for this morning. Then we went to the church service which was quite similar to our services at home. The pastor told the story of Moses and the Burning Bush and also spoke of his call to ministry (it was his first Sunday at Mandarin UMC). After church we split for lunch between yummy and yummy-er burgers! Some of the group went to McDonalds and pretty much everyone else went to Five Guys and Burgers and Fries. Then we began our quest for Adventure Landing Waterpark, not realizing there were two places with the same name. So we got lost. Hours later (just kidding), we found the Waterpark and had a great time on water slides, the Lazy River, and in the Wave Pool. Then we went back to MUMC for showers and pizza. Mandarin's youth group was meeting at the same time and asked us about North Carolinians' love for Chacos. Afterwards, they invited us to join them in various line dances. After showing us up with their awesome moves, we had some free time. When it came time for devotion, we started with an energy buzz game. To help us to remember to stay positive throughout the week, we were given "Energy Buses". We then learned our groups and agencies for tomorrow and played a new "I Never..." game to demonstrate what a confusing task at a worksite could be like. When we were fully prepared for our mission work tomorrow, we changed to a more personal, one-on-one with God devotion. We related back to the reference of Moses and the Burning Bush from the sermon this morning. We focused on verse 5 of Exodus chapter 3, which says "Then the Lord said, 'Don't come any closer! Take off your sandals, because you a standing on holy ground.'" We remembered that Moses had the choice to keep walking or stop, and sometimes you have to stop and stand on the holy ground to listen to God. A lot of us figured we could probably do a little bit more listening and a lot less talking. We now are coming upon our lights-out time, so good night to everyone in Gastonia and beyond. We love you and thank you for supporting us as we represent ourselves, our church, and our community.

Maggie L., Maggie C., Alexis, and Sarah