Last Weekend, Part 2

In addition to the Dodgers Coliseum game, last weekend was our church's third annual Serve Weekend. I was a project leader for the third time in as many years, but unfortunately, I had to cancel my project a week before we were supposed to do it. However, I think that was all part of God's plans.

I am also on the leadership team at our church for Serve Weekend and was fortunate enough to be able to go around to about a half dozen projects on Saturday (before the Dodger game) and what a blessing that was!

I don't think I can put into words how moved I was at our first and last stops of the day. The first stop was the largest project of this year. About 70 people were working on a lady's house which was in violation of city codes. Picture paint chipping all around the house as well and 5-6 foot tall Dandelions and a large variety of other shrubs and weeds that nearly made the house invisible from the street. The manpower and effort supplied by God through the 70+ volunteers on this project was overwhelming. It looked like a whole new house and property when they finished. You can actually see some of the pictures at the Serve Weekend Picture site here.

The last project we visited was one that was taking place at First Day. This a home for the homeless where they can live for up to 6 months and work on getting back on their feet again. I had heard a lot about it from the previous Serve Weekends but had never been there. It is truly an amazing place. There are 45 current residents. Again, I can't describe what it was like visiting there, but I am amazed at the strength the people have there, both the residents and the staff.

Serve Weekend is being taken to the next level in our area this year as in mid-May, at least 15 other churches in Whittier will be doing their own Serve Weekend and we are working with them to make sure they are successful. It's very exciting to see this happening and of course it helps when one of Whittier's City Council members is fully on board with this! (He attends one of the other churches that will be participating in the next round of Serve Weekend.)

So, needless to say, last weekend was very busy, but well worth the busyness. God is doing great things in our community and I couldn't be more happy to be a small part and witness of it.