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Live Love

Over Valentine's weekend, Kraig and I took a group of our youth along with our friends at First Baptist Lakeview down to Atlanta to the International Village for a mission trip/retreat.

I have to confess....I was beyond stressed out.  I was imagining anything and everything to go wrong. This was the first trip that we completely did ourselves.  Usually, we go along with others and go to some big retreat where we have to plan NOTHING!  But with this, we had to plan EVERYTHING.  So, I was scared of forgetting things, how everything would work out, and what things could go wrong.

Well, GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!  We arrived late Friday night and had a great start off to the weekend.  Mitchell and Kraig did a great job all weekend with the main talks.  And the music was wonderful.  But the main part of the days were doing the missions.

Both Saturday and Sunday we went to different apartment complexes and played with kids and shared bible stories with them.  We just loved on the kids.  We braved the freezing temps, stepped outside of our comfort zones and just had a blast.  The kids were all touched in some way or another. The team we worked with ministered to the refugees that come into the area.  Whirlwind Missions help them with jobs, places to live, and other things to help them get settled in America.  But they love them and share Christ with them.  Its so beautiful to hear their hearts and see the work they do day in and day out throughout the year.

I think it is safe to say our kids came home changed by the Lord.  I can say, I did too.  I try to cram so many things into our days but at the end of the day, I need to be able to say... "did I love on someone?"  "Did I help someone?"  "Did I put others first?"  I mean that's the gospel.  I hope going forward, I can take time and live love instead of cramming things together to just get things be accomplished.

I'm sure this is all just ramblings but it's always good to put into words things we see and do that matter to us.  Well, this weekend was amazing in all sorts of ways and God is good.  Although, we had to cut it short because of the "snow,"  I never heard a complaint...all I heard was "when can we go back?"

I challenge you to look up Whirlwind and plan your next youth trip to visit them!

Hope you all had a great Valentine's weekend.  We sure did!!!
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