Christ Community Church

We arrived to Pine Valley Baptist Church in Wilmington, North Carolina where we will be staying for the week! We got all settled in and also played a team game of basketball after the long travel day. We are excited to worship with this congregation tomorrow morning!

This morning we had the opportunity to join in with a Sunday School group at Pine Valley Baptist Church to dive into the Word. Afterwards we joined with the congregation to worship and it was very moving! We are excited for the week of ministry ahead of us!

Today we began ministry at Safe Haven which began as an after school program that provides a safe place and nurturing learning environment for the youth of Columbus County, NC. In the summertime they run a summer camp to provide these same resources to the youth of the community.

We are coming alongside this ministry to pour into the youth and today was an incredible day of relationship building. We were so blessed to meet our new friends!

Pastor Shawn and all the kiddos at Safe Haven gave us a grand tour of Columbus County this morning. We saw the beautiful Lake Waccamaw and even lots of gators! Also on the tour we stopped at the courthouse and nature center. We had a great time seeing more of the area we are serving in and spending time with our Safe Haven friends!

This morning we were welcomed back to Safe Haven with lots of hugs and sweet smiles!

Today we had the opportunity to share some of our personal stories with the Safe Haven community. Elise talked about how intentionally starting each day with a grateful heart has impacted her and she led the children in gratitude journaling. Sarah and KK (Michaela) each shared their testimonies and encouraged the children to remember how deeply loved they are by God, no matter their circumstances in life. We were touched by how captivated the children were and how deeply these messages resonated with them.

Not even a downpour of rain can stop us from having some fun here in North Carolina!

Yesterday we played slip n slide kickball with the kids at Safe Haven. Lots of fun was had and sweet memories made!

While we came to love on the children at Safe Haven this week, we were blown away by the extravagant love we received in return. We may be parting ways but this sweet community will remain with us in our hearts and our prayers. We sure love these brothers and sisters in Christ!

For rec day we headed to Carolina Beach and had lots of fun in the sun! Later we enjoyed a water park, arcade, and go-karts at Jungle Rapids! Then we just had to have a little bit more team fun so we conquered an escape room with 12 minutes to spare!

Yesterday we celebrated a special birthday!! It was an awesome day of fun celebrations and we of course had a few treats along the way!

We all wish Kyle a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!