Serve 2009

God has been doing some exciting things in my life recently.  Although it is extremely difficult to not be in Kazakhstan, God is continuing to make it clear that I am supposed to be in Muncie right now.  I have the opportunity to house sit for someone starting in August 2009 and going through July 2010.  It is fun to see the way that He provides.  I will be making a three week trip to Kazakhstan this summer to help with a delegation and make sure things are taken care of while I am not there.   Also, He is giving me things to look forward to in the Muncie area.  One of those things took place last week.  

I got a chance to be a part of Serve 2009.  I spent last week working with 10 youth that were part of over 200 kids and youth that were doing community service projects throughout Muncie.  I had such a great time.  It was fun to work with youth again and not have to deal with a language barrier of any type. 

Our group worked with a local group called Blood and Fire.  We did work around the community for those that couldn't do the work for themselves.  We also cleaned up a neighborhood park.  We spent two afternoons hanging out with kids from the community center at the pool. 

Although it was a very tiring week (sleep at 12pm, waking up at 6 am and hard work in between) I had such a blast.  I thoroughly enjoyed being able to serve alongside some amazingly hard working youth.  We had a lot of fun as we worked, which made the time go more quickly.  The week gave me energy despite the grueling schedule. 

I think my favorite part of the week was being able to clean off an entire sidewalk that had been overgrown.  We were originally only planning to do a part of it, but we got done with more than we originally expected and were able to complete the entire sidewalk.  We filled up two pick-up trucks with the dirt and grass that we removed from the sidewalk.  It was extremely tiring work, but very rewarding. 

Conner Prairie

Today I got to go to Conner Prairie with some friends from my small group.  We had a fun time together as we traveled back in time.  There was a hot air balloon, a whole prairie town set in 1886, a stable, and some fun science stuff.  It was fun to just be able to hang out and spend time with friends while catching a glimpse of life in the past. 

I am really looking forward to this next week.  I will be spending time with a group of 10 youth that are a part of over 150 youth here in Muncie that will be spending the week doing work projects in the community.  I can't wait to work with these youth in order to help our neighbors.