Wow! It all came together - all of the service, the stories, the skits, and the games - in one fantastic close...that was Thursday.
And it began at the house when we gave it to its new owners.
Our house gets its family...and a quilt from the quilting class at North Boulevard.
The five shepherds who came along on the trip.... They proved to be truly servant leaders. You want to get to know your eldership better? I suggest you go on a mission trip wit them. There's no hiding anything when you spend a week with someone in a foreign country.
In a way we're following in the great carpenter's footsteps. Ever wonder what Jesus crafted?
We build houses. Only God can build a home.
While the five elders with us on this mission trip were gathering to say a prayer for the house and the family that will make it a home, the family stepped inside and a wail went up. It was the most incredible sound I think I've ever heard. At first I thought someone was moved and crying. Then I knew it was a sound of joy. This is the closest I think I've come to believing I'd heard the Holy Spirit speak in tongues through a person. This was a pure voice of the heart and it went up over the conversation of the crowd and silenced it. It was the sound of the family's youngest boy thrilled to unearthly moan by the prospect of moving into his new home. I will never forget that moment or that sound. I'm certain it was a groan the Holy Spirit translated for God.... I wish He'd translated it for me...though there was no mistaking the meaning.
Then in the afternoon the children raced one another to figure out clues left for them and save Inspector Gadget (Joe Mayes). Then it was on to the skit where the next amazing sound of the day was the delight and wonder of the children as our story was brought to a close. All week long our cast of spies (Alpha Omega) and enemy spies (Oscuro - Spanish for dark) have been fighting over control of a file that would reveal the mysterious secret truth. There was mistaken identity - people not being who they claimed to be. Fights with the evil Oscuro in which we did more damage to our own than to the enemy. Scriptural misunderstandings. (Does any of this sound familiar? Is the same show playing at a church near you?)
We searched the stories of the Judges, Kings and Prophets all to discover the identity of the agent who would solve the great mystery for us and help us triumph over Oscuro. But the person and answer we sought was not a Judge, King or Prophet. He was all three. The mystery of the ages is Christ. In a wonder-full, emotional moment, children from the audience stood in front of us and raised the symbols from all the stories that lead to the story of Christ's birth. All of those stories actually being part of one story, the story being written by God, the story that brings together all of our stories. It was a powerful moment capped with all of the children cheering, proclaiming: "We are Alpha Omega! We are Alpha Omega!"
We finished the day painting our own mosaic of stories, a word painting of our week here in the City of Children. We gathered at the stands on the hill to one by one offer up a phrase or few words that captured one of the many wonder-filled moments of our week. Here are a few:
"Hey, it's Patrick!"
"Joe, thanking the children."
"We [our three youth group interns] can't be in three places at one time.... Well, I guess we can."
"Having five elders on a mission trip."
"And still having fun."
"Hearing Macho Dinero's laugh again."
"Ha. Ha."
"Seeing my son in a dress."
"AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaa."
"Hearing one mediano boy saying 'Waa-waa-waa'!"
"When are you coming back?"
"Karla's story and her smile."
"The sound of the youngest sons reaction to his new home."
"He's with me."
"Fifty-one weeks."
Ask a team member if you'd like to hear the story behind any of those phrases and get a peek into what a God-filled week we experienced.
And then it was time to clean up, pack up and get a few hours of sleep before we head home, tired and happy. And, hopefully, changed. The real test of our work here...will be our work at home.
- Nelson
Please, if you have any other thoughts or wishes or questions or needs, don't hesitate to make a post. If you'd like to post some more of the comments we closed with on Thursday night, feel free to post them here. Adios, amigos....
