Meadowbrook Christian School

This morning at church we are joyful in worship. We are being encouraged and motivated by Pastor Jose's message. The message is about us wanting to do things. One of the things that have stood out is, "Why do what you do for God?" What a powerful message to reflect upon. We are also sharing our testimonies with the church and talking about our walks with God.

After a delicious lunch, we went to the beach to pick up trash. This provided a great conversation starter to share the Gospel and pray for people!

Some of us took a walk and decided to spend some quiet time reflecting and talking by the beach.

Happy Birthday, Cade! Penny showed us how to expertly cut the cake so that there were enough slices for everyone.

This morning we got to hear part of Pastor Jose's testimony, and how he came to the church. Now we are splitting up into two teams to tackle two projects. We are excited to show God's glory through our work!

Half of us are helping with the Community Garden of the church. They used to have their non-profit to help the community in this area, but Hurricane Maria destroyed the building that used to be there. The church has great ideas for this land though! They are thinking of gardening, and even using the produce to feed the community! 

However, right now the church is just returning to these grounds. We are going to do our utmost this week! Currently, we are painting the trailer they have for storage, moving gravel to places the water accumulates, and cutting some branches to use as limiters on the beds for the soil. Go, team!

Half of us began working in Gloria's house, scraping old paint to prepare to re-paint as well as cutting the grass and removing rocks from the lawn. What a joy it is to serve!

After a yummy lunch, we are cleaning up the fence. We are doing this so that when Gloria (the homeowner) has to clean she has an easier time. We've also scraped the ceiling and are finishing the lawn. We are happy to be a blessing by cleaning the house that she inherited from her mom.

After dinner, we prepared for Thursday's homeless ministry by decorating food trays with verses and drawings. We worked together to finish about 100 in an hour!

So far we have helped put up a tent and put a second coat of paint on the trailer.  We also continue to clean the land.  A beautiful morning and a lot of work.

Today we pressure washed the outside of Gloria's house to prepare to paint! We are also preparing to repair some of the cement on the ceiling.

This afternoon we are painting the outside of Gloria's house. Some of us are scraping, preparing to paint more. We are having so much fun spending time with each other and learning. It's a joy to serve and be able to bless others.

Tonight we drove to Playa Espinar to help minister to some residents who are unable to arrive to church. Jacob gave a message, Jaby translated, and Keegan prayed. Even as the sun went down we continued the service by flashlight!

Today is our third day in the Family Garden and we started cleaning the front side of the garden.  It’s starting to look very different. There’s a long way to go, but we can already see the progress.

We are working hard to finish Gloria's house and make it look as perfect as possible. Tomorrow morning we will paint the windows to finish the look!

Today we spent the morning putting the finishing touches on Gloria's House. She was so grateful!

We handed out over 60 hot meals in the community of Aguadilla this afternoon. The ministry For Such a Time As This prefers to call them people "on foot" instead of homeless so that we can make more personal connections. It was a privilege to be able to pray over all of these brothers and sisters in Christ.

Nearby where we were serving, there was a park right next to the beach. We had a relaxing time enjoying the view as well as the amazing treehouse built there between the ceiba trees!

Before lunch, we took time to clean debris out of another house near the church, owned by another woman named Gloria. Using teamwork, we cleared a lot of metal, wood, and trash that had been left in the yard after Hurricane Maria.

We are so grateful for Diane and everything she has done for us this week. We had the opportunity to pray over her today before she left to visit family in the States. Thank you, Diane!

We had an awesome time snorkeling and swimming in the bioluminescent bay! There are only 6 bio bays in the whole world and Puerto Rico has 3 of them. What a magical experience!

This morning we finished cleaning the debris from Gloria's yard and moved some lumber that she plans to use to build. Before we left, we prayed blessings over her life as she continues to rebuild her home.

All of us got to visit the garden today and see the hard work that the others have accomplished during the week. We were also able to do some more work with more hands before lunch! When we finished working, we prayed over Joe and Britton and the vision that God has given them for this place.

We wanted to explore downtown Rincon and buy some last-minute gifts and souvenirs before leaving, so that's exactly what we did this afternoon! Some of us even ate empanadillas one last time.

So many memories were made this week. So many lives were touched, including ours. Today we are not saying "goodbye," but "see you later." We can't wait to be a light for others back home!