Completion

We have finally finished the last day of ministry. We are planning on pulling out by 10am Saturday morning, which should put us at the church at Noon. The week was very successful and quite full of unexpected twists and turns along the way. Most of our best laid plans ended up falling through, leading to new plans on the fly. The crazy thing is that most of the last minute plans were the best things we did!
Tonight's outreach was gigantic. There were at least 300 people there (that's a conservative estimate). We quickly realized that we were not even going to have enough food for the people that came, much less our own team. We told all our people that we weren't going to eat there and ended up picking up a couple dozen pizzas instead. We got no complaints on that one! It was great to end with a bang, though, and the students had a great time. All of them have been amazing this week.
One of the activities we had each of the students engage in was writing a letter to their parents, which they are going to give you when they get home. Should they forget to do that, you can remind them now that you know about it. I really encourage each parent to set aside a couple hours, maybe take them to In n Out or something, and ask them to walk you through each day of the trip, what they did, and what God taught them. It will help solidify some things for them and get you in on it so you can help them along the way. Also, as many of them experienced more extreme poverty than they have before, it will help if you can process those emotions and responses with them.
Thanks so much for everyone's prayers. God was at work, and it was very evident. Please pray for safety as we drive back. We look forward to seeing you all again soon!