Norfolk Update #1 - 7.20.17

This won't be too long of a post, as today was mainly a travel/set up day for us. The team left the Chapel and traveled (slower than hoped) down I64, making it to Spring Branch Community Church. Spring Branch has graciously allowed us to stay in their Student Ministry Area for our time down here. When we arrived, we unloaded the vans and settled down for some dinner. We ate and had an opportunity to explore and settle into our home for the next two nights. We then all came together for this class's very first Porch Time! Porch Time is a staple on all of our Student Ministry Mission Trips. Tonight we set up what the "Remember That Time" and "I Saw Jesus" portions of Porch Time are so that they would be prepared for tomorrow night. For those of you who don't know, each of these are opportunities to share with the whole team both funny moments from the day, as well as times where anyone had seen Jesus at work in the people we interact with, at the sites we work at, or in their fellow team members. We then were led in a time of worship, where we joined our voices together to sing praise to our God. When the singing had ended, Nick gave the first of three talks of the trip. Tonight we spoke about the idea of "opportunity."  Everyone on this trip had the opportunity to not come, to do something else with their time and yet here we all are. Just as God acted in Paul's life on the road to Damascus, which led to Paul's conversion and actions for Christ, so too has God acted and will God act in our lives. In response to this action, we are called to be "ambassadors of Christ" as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:20. Part of being an ambassador of Christ is doing the work that we are called to do, as well as reflecting Christ in all that we say and do. After the talk, the team split up into small groups to continue to discuss this further. As small groups wound down, so too did the night and the team got ready for a good night's sleep in preparation for a full day tomorrow. For those who want further updates throughout the day, please text "NORFOLKPARENT" to 41411 and as always, prayers for God to move on this trip are appreciated!