Mission Trip Updates

Update from San Diego 2

Tuesday morning we headed back to Potrero and worked at Marjorie’s house. Marjorie lost her garage in the 2007 fire. She is still living in her house but has failed fire inspections and faces fines and even eviction if her property is not cleared of brush and dry grass. We spent all day not only clearing everything that the fire department asked her to clear but also doing some other landscaping for her. Her husband had been quite the gardener when he was living, but after he passed away in 2004 many of the gardens fell into disarray. Marjorie was so grateful for everything that we were able to do. Not only will she pass her next fire inspection but she can now also begin to enjoy the plants and gardens around her house again. It was good for our students to hear Marjorie’s story and to really get to know the person that we were helping. God used us in incredible ways on Tuesday which was very cool to see.

We enjoyed swimming and some games after we got back ‘home’ to the San Diego CRC. Dinner was BBQ chicken, potatoes and corn which was devoured quickly as we were all very hungry from a long day’s work. After dinner we relaxed and had some group time looking at Acts 2:42-47 and talking about what it means to love each other. We all made lists of every one in our group and spent time going around the circle sharing what we had seen about each other over the last few days and even longer. It took us over an hour to make it through half of our group. We will finish this very enjoyable time tonight.

Today (Wednesday) is our day away. We slept in a little longer, will have a pancake breakfast in a little bit, and then we will head to the San Diego Zoo for the day. Everyone was very excited to sleep in a little bit and we can’t wait to see what the zoo has in store for us today.

So far we have had a great trip. Everyone has been safe and injury free (even with a close call on Monday morning with a relatively large rattle snake!). We know that everyone back home is praying for us and we appreciate all of those thoughts and prayers.

Bret Lamsma and the rest of the Journey crew.

Update from San Diego – Monday Night

Our trip to San Diego on Sunday was very good. After a time of prayer at church we left Ripon around 7:15. We made it through the Grapevine without any mishaps and even made it through LA without much traffic. We were at San Diego CRC by 4:30. We got settled in and hung out for a while and then headed out for dinner. After dinner we drove down to Mission Beach and walked around, watched the sunset and threw Bret’s Frisbee onto a near-by roof. All in all a fun night. We returned ‘home’ and talked about the week for a while before getting ready for bed.

Monday morning we got up around 7, had breakfast at 7:30 and were on the road by 8:15. We drove about 45 minutes East of San Diego to Potrero where we met Seth Connoly, the volunteer group coordinator for Volunteer San Diego. He took us up to the property of Diane who lost her husband and almost her son in the fires of 2007. Her home has been rebuilt, but in order to move back in she needs to have all of the brush and shrubs within a 100 foot circle around her house cleared. We worked all day clearing brush with weed eaters, saws, a hog brush and sometimes our bare hands. It was hot up in the mountains so we took plenty of water breaks in the very limited shade. Everyone worked hard and we finished clearing all of the brush by a little after 3. After saying goodbye to Diane we arranged where to meet Seth tomorrow morning and headed back to San Diego. We swam and played games when we got back ‘home’ and had a great spaghetti dinner. After dinner we enjoyed some free time and spent some time singing and talking about what it means to love God in our every day lives. Tomorrow morning we are heading out to Potrero an hour earlier than today, but we will also end a little earlier so that we are out of the heat more in the afternoon. It was a great day and we are all excited for what tomorrow will hold.

Bret Lamsma and the rest of the Journey crew.