I received this email from Chris on the last day of the missions trip.
We were up early this morning. We wanted to be on the road by 7, so that meant getting up and packing everything into the trailer, eating, etc. and that meant an early day.
It’s bittersweet leaving a place you just start to figure out how things work and you see so much more to do. We love the folks we’re working with/for and that’s a good thing. They’re so appreciative of even the littlest thing we do!
However, home calls us so off we go. Please remember Harold, Chris, Debbie, Ricky, Darrell, Lindsey, and Oscar in your prayers. They keep the fires burning there in New Orleans. They do a good work each and every day.
We also had to say farewell to Kyle. Kyle had started the planning on the trip to New Orleans while he was with us at Parkview, but has since moved back home to San Antonio. However, he met us in New Orleans to follow up on the trip. The kids were bonkers over seeing him. And I saw a few tears shed as they said good-bye to him. We do wish God’s blessings on Kyle. He helped immensely in the work effort here.
Well, no trip is totally uneventful, and today was no different. Somewhere in Mississippi one of the trailer tires shredded and so we had to stop and wait for the rental company to send a tech out to fix it. While that was happening we had lunch. Jon went back to the trailer and waited for the company to show up. We all went on ahead and Jon caught up with us a couple of hours later. So, while it was an inconvenience, there was no real harm done. We’ll take that type of event any day.
We arrived at the hotel about 6PM. Glenn ordered Pizza, Anton retrieved root beer and ice cream, and we had a feast. Then we had a debriefing meeting where we shared. Boy do our kids love to tell what happened in their lives this week. They related story after story. Tears of joy were shed by many. We prayed together and then worshipped. We started at 7:30 and ended about 9:20 – Longer than our regular church services. Then the kids were allowed to swim in the pool, play cards, talk, etc. The hotel is quite full, and our kids are keeping the noise under control and not bothering anyone.
Have I mentioned how well behaved and mature our students are???? I’m amazed. Good job parents! Good job Glenn and Julie! Good job students, you are ultimately responsible for your behavior and you accept the responsibility quite well.
It’s been a real pleasure being with these students. I’m sorry to see so many leave for college and leave the youth group. But, they’ve done a good job mentoring the younger ones and the new leaders are already beginning to shepherd the upcoming freshman.
God is good. God is great. AMEN
In Jesus’ name,
Chris W.
Earlier posts in this series:
David W. Swanson 
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