On the way to Leesburg we made one last stop in Cocoa Beach...Ron Jon Surf Shop...the kids really enjoyed going in and seeing all the surf boards and neat souvenirs. We filmed a short video clip for Oasis to show in Wednesday night's service. It was a lot of fun.
We made it over to Leesburg and got setup to do ministry at the Christian Care Center. There were about 12 kids and several adult leaders that came to watch our program. I have to tell you that this was the most difficult day so far for me personally. I had a really hard controlling my emotions and found myself crying frequently. I was working backstage helping with props like I always do, but today even hearing the songs made me cry. I think the location and the people present just made the lyrics mean something different to me today. I was asked to intro a song and I was kind of nervous about it, but once I got out there I was fine and I had a good time doing it. The only thing was I had to look all those babies in the eyes...doing so opened my heart in a way I wasn't really prepared for. I knew that today would be hard for me...mainly because I am a very emotional person and seeing kids without families would tug at my heart strings...I knew that going in. What I didn't know was how touched i would be when I saw beyond their eyes. I instantly saw the hurt and the lack of understanding...some of them don't really even know why they are there, the emotions that they had and the desire to be loved was incredible. I thought going in that I would be immediately drawn to the smaller kids because by nature I really love the little ones. Today however I was moved by a young man, a 13 year old boy named Curtis. I don't know what it was about him but if I could have brought him home with me today I would have. He was so sweet and so loving to the other kids. He kept hugging them and being their friend, it was priceless. But his spirit was so kind and sweet, I could see that he really loved out dramas and dances...it was almost as if he wanted to be a part of them too. In fact he joked as we were gathering our stuff to leave that we could put him on the bus too :) I told him I wished I could! He came up for prayer during the altar call and Pastor Denisa prayed with him to accept Jesus :) he also asked for prayer that he would be reunited with his mom & dad. He's been at the center for about two months already. There was just something about him...I promised myself that I would pray for him as often as I can.
We had another child come up for salvation too :) and there were several prayer requests for family reunions and healing, there were also some that requested prayer for friends or family members and one of the workers asked that we pray for her and her twin daughters as she prepared to take custody of her three grandsons because her son (the dad) had just been put in prison and the mom was headed there. She was granted custody pending paternity tests and she wanted prayer that it would all go smoothly and they would be able to adjust.
The orphanage was so kind and provided lunch for all of us. It was such a nice treat to spend some time there. It was hard leaving all those precious children behind though. I wish I had a house big enough to take them all!
After lunch we packed up the bus and headed back to Cocoa Beach to get ready surf camp in the evening. On the way we made a stop at a Publix for some supplies and some medicine for one of the kids. Our team sustained a few new injuries today so we are currently riding in the bus with several of the team members under the care of Nurse Nicole :) Miss Carla's ankles are swelling for some reason and so she is elevating her legs with ice and some anti-inflammatory meds. Lyndsey heard some type of pop in her knee during the Gospel According to Disney, so she is iced up and elevated too. Chase also seems to have pulled something in his back, so it's ice for him too. Please keep them in your prayers for quick healing.
We had devotions on the bus again and everyone seemed to enjoy chiming in with their thoughts.
Surf camp was amazing. They had us do one song, Monster. The surf kids loved it! They started out the night again with worship and then led into our dance. After that they asked the kids to come up and give "God Moments", their version of testimonies. There were several really cool ones, but there two that really stood out to me. The first was a young girl who attended surf camp last year and was given a rock in the her welcome pack. Each kid got a rock and they all had something different written on them. Her rock had the word family on it and she was a little taken aback by that. She told of how she came from a really dysfunctional family and she didn't know her dad. She said that she felt that God had told her during camp that she would be able to connect with him. So months later she found him on Facebook and sent him a message that she was his daughter. He was receptive and now they have a great relationship and her mom has rekindled their love and they were back together after 16 years. She said that God did such a big thing in her family and He knew exactly the plans He had for her when He gave her the rock with the word family on it :) The second was also awesome...it was a young man that came forward to say his God moment occurred during the song we did and he thanked us for coming and speaking to him through the dance. He said that he never makes good decisions and even when he does he feels like they are the wrong decisions. He went on to say that through the drama he realized that he can control the monster that fights him by asking Jesus to help him :)
After surf camp, we encountered our first bit of rain since we have been here...when we went to leave the bottom fell out. We got back on the bus and had a time of reflection with Mr. Wendell. Just thinking about what had happened over the last few days. The kids all shared their favorite part so far, what had touched them the most. It was really neat hearing all their answers. I couldn't help but think that we always say we do what we do even it's for just one...an audience of one...we really mean God, but it made me think that even if no one got it yesterday...one did! At the orphanage and at surf camp. Pretty cool!!! I'm sure it was way more than one...but the one was willing to testify that they did.
We stopped at IHOP for dinner around 10pm and everyone enjoyed a great hot meal. We finished up about 11:30pm and hit the road again to drive about an hour to our overnight stop in Kissimmee, FL. We arrived safely around 1:30am and got the bus unloaded and everyone got their air mattresses all setup. We finally got to bed a little after 2am...we are in the gym and have divided the room into sections, one for the boys and one for the girls.
Hope to be able to update again today...provided I can get internet :)
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