Thursday in Potlatch...

Thursday has been another joyful day in Potlatch. It hit us today that we’ve turned the corner and are on the downward slope of this trip. One blessing of the small-town mission trips is that the bond the students create with one another is much stronger and more intimate than when all of the students are together in one city. Rather than migrating toward their friends, the students are more willing to branch out and spend quality time with people that aren’t usually in their social circles. Today was proof that our group has bonded, and loves and supports each other as brothers and sisters in Christ during VBS, our service project, and throughout our evening.

Vacation Bible School has continued to run smoothly with upwards of 70 children in attendance. Our big question of the day was: How can Jesus help me when I mess up? Each class looked at the story of the prodigal son and how his father forgave him and was overjoyed when the son returned home. The children learn so much from the lessons, but what’s so great about an experience like this is that our students learn just as much or more from the opportunity to work with the children and adults (volunteer helpers) in a community like this. The members of the church and the parents of the children attending VBS have been oozing with compliments over the outstanding job our students are doing. I, too, can’t stop raving about the effort and ability every person on our team displays!

Their effort and ability doesn’t stop at VBS, either. We were able to complete our service project today, weeding the entire yard, front and back, of the church parsonage house and finishing laying the railroad ties throughout the yard as well. A small group of our students even attacked a gnarly nest of blackberry bushes, where they destroyed and dug up three large root balls and completely cleared the branches from the yard and surrounding fence. Imaginations running wild, someone on our team decided that the root clusters closely resembled Ent hearts (a Lord of the Rings reference). Any chance to use a little inventiveness and playfulness while working makes the work load lighter.

After completing our service projects, we took the night off from youth outreach and headed into Moscow to grab dinner at a Chicago-style pizza joint. With six pizzas to choose from, our team had plenty to stuff their stomachs with! However, eating wasn’t the only activity taking place at the dinner table. Returning to the idea of the unity created on small-town mission trips, it was such a joy to watch our students interact in true friendship and fellowship throughout the evening. After pizza, we came back to Princeton Nazarene to roast marshmallows over the fire pit here at the church. We discussed movies, books, stars, inside jokes, and a plethora of other topics. Even as I write (at 11:30 at night) our students are still together laughing and having fun, and we’ve even discussed how we’re going to get together later this summer in anticipation of missing each other when we return home this weekend.

It’s hard to imagine that the end of our trip is coming so quickly, but the experience of glorifying God in so many ways throughout our trip has been irreplaceable. God’s plan is so great and perfect, and placing these thirteen people together in Potlatch, Idaho is proof of the intricacy of His story and our roles within it.

- Kirsten