After dinner we all gathered together for our first porch time, which is our nightly gathering where we share great moments from the day, sing songs, and have a talk from Luke or Emily to help process our experience on this mission trip. Tonight it was beautiful to watch 24 middle school students sing praises to God and listen intently to Emily as she gave an introductory talk about how to get the most out of this trip. She used Matthew 24 to show us how we are not only serving the people of Norfolk, but we are in fact serving Jesus himself. Along with that, she challenged everyone with the idea that even though we can see Jesus it does not mean we will see Him because we all have spiritual blind spots that can distract us.
Following porch time we split into small groups where everyone began to build relationships by sharing about experiences in their own life where God has shown up. Then we all discussed in our groups what our own personal spiritual blind spots might be and how we can battle against them so that we don't miss out on what Jesus has in store for us.
God has already begun a great work in the students on this trip and we are all very excited to dive right into serving tomorrow as we go to tour a homeless shelter in the morning and visit a nursing home in the afternoon. Thanks for entrusting us with your children for the weekend and check back tomorrow night for more on what God is doing in Norfolk, VA!
