Look at it now!

Remember me saying something about the "joy of the Lord"? I think the first photo says it all. Here they are, Jess and Brandon, the young adult long term volunteers who somehow find this joy in every single thing they do! They are standing in the middle of some of the worst mess known to man and this is their attitude! It becomes contagious for the rest of us!

And then we have the REAL team that pretty much stays behind the scenes doing whatever it is they do? Please allow me to introduce Jax on the left, Allen and Dovie's child, our oldest, Bitty in the center and Jess's child, Duke on the right. There is one team member missing, our Chinese Crested Hairless, Samson, who wasn't feeling photogenic that day! They also keep all of us and the volunteers laughing.

You can see by the photos that the team was busy once again transforming the new warehouse to be. It is such a dramatic change just in the last few days! All of the walls are gone, you can see the girls hammering the nails from the studs. And then green "box" is the baptismal! Even though it's dirty and covered with mold it is cleanable and we already have a church that will be so excited to receive it.

The photos on the right show just how messy this job is. Yes, they do come clean after a shower but it takes more scrubbing than they could ever imagine. It makes you think that the best thing to do with the clothes and shoes is to throw them away rather than take them home!? They made such progress today that most of them will be moving on to another tear out tomorrow! I can show you the photos but I can't get the sounds to you, the singing, the laughter, the screaming when they uncover the home of thousands of cock roaches, it's just an amazing thing to drive up on the job. They don't usually even see me until the flash of the camera goes off. They are so into what they are doing --- and doing it all from the goodness of their serving hearts! Such a God - thing and we are blessed to see it every time a team comes.

For you parents who sent your children, they are awesome and we thank you! We only promise one thing -- they will come home different children -- God touched children!

Until tomorrow . . . Susan and Monty