Houston, Day One, Part Two

I've been lost before, but never like I was today. I'll never know how Lewis and Clark made it across the country without a GPS. I guess it was easier since there were no roads. But that story will come in a bit...

Our trip down was largely successful. We got into Texarkana to FBC Texarkana after 9:00pm, unloaded, settled down, and were in bed by 10:30pm. It was weird - when we turned off the lights in the guys' room (the gym), they were instantly quiet. That never happens. I found out the next morning that a couple of the guys stayed up all night...but they at least were quiet. We had a rude awakening a the janitors turned the lights on in the girls' room at 4:00am and the guys' room at 6:00am. That was neat! I thought it was our guys doing it and was ready to lay down the law, until I found out it was the janitor. Oopsie! That being said, we were on the road nice and early on Sunday morning. As a result, we were able to stop and worship at a tiny Assemblies of God church. We quintupled their attendance. It was fun! And it was cool for the students to experience a different worship setting. We got into Houston at around 5:15pm on Sunday. We are staying at the Servants of Christ Parish.

After a leader's meeting, we departed for two different dinner destinations (because our group is too big to go to one). Two teams went to Dona Chela, a Mexican tacqueria, while the rest of us went to an El Salvadoran restaurant, El Patate. Can I just say, "YUM!"? One of the cool things about a CSM trip is that the students get to experience other cultures, including some of their foods. And not only was the food great - we also got to do the Macarena...twice! Fun times! After dinner, we had our orientation, grabbed showers, and headed to bed. Our accommodations are pretty cramped, and I'm pretty sure many of us guys are sleeping on box springs instead of mattresses, but it's all good. I didn't hear anyone complain about a bad night's sleep.

This morning, everyone got up at various times for breakfast and to pack lunches, had their team devotions and headed out to ministry sites. At this time, I can't give you a great summary of what everyone did today. It was a little scattered for me as I was trying to get out the door to blog and upload pictures...which didn't happen so much. After a stop at Best Buy to get a cord for my GPS unit, I discovered that the lighter in the car I was borrowing didn't work. Lovely. So I went to get David and Rachel from the airport. We decided to run to Wal-Mart or Target to pick up some supplies, which turned into a major ordeal. The roads and highways around here are a bit confusing, so we did a lot of driving and not much finding of the Wal-Mart. We finally did and got our supplies, grabbed some lunch, and I left to take Rachel to her site (David's group was at our housing site when we got there, so he went with them). That involved more getting lost. We finally showed up and Rachel and the other students in her team facilitated water games with the kids in the apartment community. It was HOT! But the kids had a great time with our students, while getting soaked. I was proud of how their whole team interacted with the little kids. I had to bail early as Izzie was feeling sick but was there long enough to be really happy about what was going on. Ken was also not feeling well, but he stuck it out. Now here I am at Starbucks...

A couple of anecdotes:

• We have decided that Brett is no longer allowed to be in charge of keys. When we were heading to our vans after our church service, Brett unlocked his van with the remote, and subsequently lost them. All of the SIMYs were out of the vans looking for them in the grass. Then Brett remembered that he put them in his backpack. Then when we arrived in Houston, he managed to lock them in the van. Thank God for AAA!
• Brett is also not allowed to be in charge of signage. I made signs for the vans. Brett got some tape to tape the sign on the inside of the window...only he put the tape on the wrong side of the paper. Fortunately I made two signs, so he had another chance...only he did the exact same thing again! I'm glad Brett is here, and not only for the comic relief.
• Houston had what he said was a great experience today. His team went to site at which they made lunches to deliver to children and families. They then went out to the neighborhoods and delivered the food out of the front window. He was sitting up front so he got the joy of actually giving the food to the people. I sense that it really made an impact on him.

I will be touching base with the SIMYs and team captains tonight and every night, so check back for more blog-worthy content. Tonight we will be taking a prayer tour of the city, which I know was very impactful for our students last year in Chicago. I expect the same this year.

Don't forget to check out the pictures we have so far on our Flickr site. Thanks, and keep praying for us, please...