Welcome Home!!

Hey guys!  It's Jason!  I'm betting most of the students are totally asleep as I'm writing this... and frankly I'm almost there myself.  But I know a lot of you will be checking this today so I want to encourage everyone who's reading this...

I want to write a special note to first the students!

Ok guys...

I am so proud of you guys!  I feel so honored to have been able to lead with you.  I've cried more tears (most of which were those of the proud tears variety...) more in the past week than I have in so long.  It was fun to have a front row view of God working in you and to you.

I know all of us learned so much. Our hearts were broken... we learned the joy in serving... we saw the importance of being unified as Christians and the power it brings... and we've had God bring up parts of our hearts that He still wants to work with.  If your day is like mine... it's already kinda weird to be back.  I found out my car which broke down on Monday night right before I went to the church to fly out is in such bad shape that it may have to be taken to car heaven.  I also am figuring out what it's going to take to get my computer working again which went into some weird coma while in the DR.  In a normal situation, I'd be stressed out but I don't feel stressed at all right now.  I think for me personally I learned the importance of being flexible and frankly not stressing about "stuff".  We just met a lot of people who joyfully live with so much less.  

But I know there are going to be distractions for you too as you readjust.  Maybe you check your facebook or email and see messages that kind of encourage you to be right back who you were before you left or you find yourself complaining about things that would have seemed silly to complain about when we were in the DR with inconsistent A/C and no hot water.  But, I want you to remember what God taught you this weekend.  Back in the Old Testament, followers of God would sometimes create something called an Ebenezer which was basically a sort of statue of rocks whenever God did something amazing.  So every time they saw that Ebenezer they were reminded how powerful God was.

  

I want to encourage you to maybe create your own Ebenezer of this trip.  I talked to so many of you who said something like, "I finally feel like I found my purpose" this week and so find a flag, picture, souvenir... anything that reminds  you of the trip and set it in a place you will see it often so that maybe you'll be reminded of God's amazing work in you.  He doesn't want it to stop now.  We can serve, take risks, be flexible, share God's love, etc as much here and at your home, neighborhood and school than you did in the DR.

And now for the parents.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve with your students this weekend.  We as leaders were blown away by how great your students were.  Sometimes your students might have even described me as "overly protective" because I felt the pressure of making sure they were safe & healthy.  It means a lot to have you trust us enough & trust God enough to let your children be used on such a trip.

I also know it can be tough for some of the students to open up completely to their parents about details... especially details that require you to really open up your heart... but hopefully this blog gives you some ammo for good questions about the trip.  And speaking of this here blog... thanks for reading it.  Your comments made me cry consistently and your prayers WORKED.  We only had 2 girls that were feeling bad on the whole trip and neither was sick more than 12 hrs.  It seemed like every time something might not go well... God reaffirmed that this trip was completely in His hands.  

Sorry we weren't able to blog as much as we wanted to the past few days.  Internet was almost as hard to find Sat & Sun as time was harder to find.  Just a quick recap on Saturday night & Sunday since we didn't really blog about it... 

• Saturday night after PDYM we were invited to be guests at a house of a member of El Circulo Church.  They had a surprise 4th of July party and we ate amazing BBQ & literally danced for 4 hrs.  We really saw how much our team loves each other on that trip.  I can literally remember everyone dancing there... even Sarah who was sick just hrs earlier (I didn't recommend this by the way... she just couldn't be left out of the fun :))
  
• Sunday was a planned day of relaxing.  We went to a hotel by the beach and just hung out before serving in church on Sunday night.  It was so fun to worship with them.

I also wanted every student to play a part on the blog but unfortunately some weren't able to just b/c the team was so large.  Hopefully what you did hear warmed your heart & gave you specifics to pray for.  

It was somewhat risky to blog just b/c I wouldn't really know what to say if we were struggling or having maybe a bad day... luckily that wasn't an issue.  I literally can't think of a trip of this intensity & with this many people participating that went so well.  I wouldn't say it went "smoothly" just b/c plans changed almost hourly but I think that speaks more to your students' amazing attitude than anything.  I can't remember a student whining or being bummed out b/c of all the changes.

Also, please keep up with the blog.  We'll start blogging more soon as we add some photos and videos we wanted to put up while in the DR.  We'll also get a photobucket account so that we can all upload our photos into different folders.  It will be a blast to see and reminisce.  

We'll also nail down the right time to have a DR reunion.  It's going to be a bummer b/c I know with summer schedules, it'll be impossible for all of us to make it on any given night but we'll do the best we can.  If you can't make it... we'll still love you and brag about you.

OK... I'm off to bed.  I love you all so much.

Still amazed I got to play any role in this...

Jason Petty