Lighthouse Mission

I keep being reminded of how fortunate I am to be able to travel and do the Lord's work abroad. Traveling has always appealed to me and is a testament to God working in mysterious ways. In all my dreaming of places to go and things to see I never imagined I'd be staying in Christian homes, praying for people or cooking for large banquets. His plans are so much better than ours. Even though it's for a short season, God is constantly inspiring me in numerous ways and I can't help enjoying life to a greater degree.

It's been on my heart to give some encouragement to those who are unable to go on mission trips or have not been called. This is where I think prayer comes in. Having a strong  prayer base at home is incredibly important for a missionary. I've felt the protection of prayer and I thank everyone who's doing God's day to day work and prays for me. Thank you. Prayer is no small thing, the fragrance of prayer alone can turn whole families to the Lord ;)

Serving at Lighthouse Mission (feeding the hungry and helping the homeless) was a real rewarding experience. Cindy Fiore, one whose life is dedicated to God's work, invited me to the Saturday Kids Club event. We started setting up the lunch tables with plates, napkins, Capri Suns and apples (later the kids ate hamburger and fries from McDonald's and a cupcake). Beautiful new, clean building. Pastor Jim Ryan touched on the state of these kid's lives and some things that have happened at similar events. It frightened me to the point that I contemplated serving in the kitchen the whole time instead of interacting with the kids. Anyway, the kids started arriving and grabbed carpet squares to sit on as they reviewed the Bible verses they had been learning. Many raised their hands to recite them by memory! The funny thing was I engaged the kids right away, sitting down with my carpet square, next to some young boys. I guess my natural tendency of wanting to be around kids overrode the fear I had felt. Amen!

This weekend's entertainment was a 45 minute puppet show cleverly done with kid participation. The sound of children giggling

is the best! After the puppet show we went outside in their courtyard and played jump rope, double dutch, bubbles, football, you name it. I helped keep order with the girls playing with the large jump rope. It amazes me how simple it is to connect with kids. With one girl all I asked was if she knew how to do hand clapping games and she did. We started the series of clapping diagonally, back to back and what not, then a boy comes over and wants to join in, she shows him how to do it and lets just say, it's a girl thing.

For the rest of our time outside that same girl held my hand and wanted to be right by my side. So precious, I don't know if it's just me but when a kid wants to hold my hand my heart just melts. Lunch was a little crazy there were 72 kids and about 12 workers, a young boy lead us in prayer for the meal- so cute and after lunch each kid got a pail of beach toys as they left. 98% of the kids were Hispanic and African American. I will probably be volunteering here the next couple Saturdays.

 http://www.lighthousemission.net/Lighthouse_Mission_Inc./home.html

God Bless,