Helena, Arkansas Mission Trip: Day 2!

Day two is now complete! We are all getting more adjusted to the routine of things whether that is getting to know the kids better, or getting used to making lunches and then going to see friends! Swim camp ran smoothly again today! The kids are learning and achieving so much! It is so great to see how they get more confident with each swim lesson we have. We get to see 3 different groups twice a day, so they get to learn something in the morning and practice it more in the afternoon! I know it has been really exciting in my class to have a couple of them even starting to swim the freestyle, which is quite an accomplishment for a kid who could only put their head under the water yesterday! It is just a blessing to see these kids grow and know that you helped them get there. Another blessing that I have seen personally is at the end of each class, we have a prayer, and I ask my group who wants to pray and some of the little girls want to pray. That just touches my heart because most kids I know are scared to pray, but they love it, and the prayers are always so sweet. For example, one girl was like "God loves us, God loves you, God loves us, Amen!". Pretty good for a 6 year old, I'd say! The blessings ministry started out the day with preparing our wonderful lunch that consisted of a ham sandwich, celery with ranch, and an apple! Then they delivered those lunches to the camp! After that they visited friends that they've known since around 2004, Nora and Curly Moton. They love getting see their old friends! Last year when Bob, Carol, Vivian, and Linda didn't go, the team went to visit Nora and Curly and send them greetings from our blessings ministry, because the relationship they have with these people is so strong and important! The blessings ministry team really does an outstanding job, because they provide so many people in the community with blessings they don't normally get. They also went to visit an old friend who was just a sweet old lady, sweet as can be. Unfortunately, they found out she had passed away. This can also show how meaningful the work the blessings ministry is because they feel what the community feels in the good and the bad times. After completing our tasks for today, we had some free time. Some rested, some took a trip to Wal-Mart. The blessings ministry had a meeting in the afternoon to prepare for a task they have tomorrow, and we will report more about that in the blog tomorrow night! At 5:00 we had an awesome dinner prepared for us at New Light Baptist Church so that we could make adult swimming at 6. We had many adults come out to learn how to swim. Kristen, Kate, and I taught while Anna watched all the kids who came with their parents! After that, we did water aerobics with Ms. Tina, a woman from Helena. She comes with her sound speakers and plays hip hop Christian gospel music and does an awesome job at teaching water aerobics. She gives us a good work out but also puts some fun dance moves in there, so it is super entertaining! Personally, one of my favorite things in Helena, and I am sure the others will agree! After water aerobics, we went back to the Edwardian and had our group meeting where we all share some cool things that happened during the day. Now it is time for bed and get rested for our next day of camp!

Also thank you for your prayers, Bobby has been able to take over his position as admiral at the pool! He is feeling much better! But we do have some other prayer requests! Please pray for Ernest, the pool manager, he is also sick! Also please pray for the teens in the area who are too old for swim camp but not old enough to be a leader. They are all so eager to help out, but not yet mature enough to be put in a leadership position yet, so prayers for how we can get them involved would be great! Prayers for the adults who came to swim tonight, that they will keep working on what they learned tonight! Also pray for those who have been sunburnt!! And then lastly, please pray for all the unspoken prayers not mentioned either in our minds or hearts as we head into the last half of the week!

Here are some awesome pictures from today!!