Joyful Expectation

Post for July 7, 2024

When I think back on all that happened today, I see such a beautiful picture of the hands and feet of Jesus at work. We tell team members that this day can be one of the toughest because there’s so much physical labor and brain work, yet our bodies are still acclimating to the temperature and humidity. However, looking around at our team today, I only saw joyful expectation. 

When we woke up this morning, it was pretty rainy and dark outside. It stayed that way through lunch time, but all of our tasks were at the hotel this morning so it worked out well! For breakfast, we had fry jacks, ham, eggs, beans, watermelon, and fruit punch. After breakfast, we dispersed individually for devo time. If you’ve seen us share a photo of the devo on Instagram this week, you know that the cover is the view that we have from the rooftop of the hotel. The rooftop was a pretty popular place for devo time this morning, and it did not disappoint!

After devo time, we huddled on the 2nd floor to break out into groups. All of our returners and Bible Adventure Camp teachers went with Maddie and Amber to prepare their lessons for the week. Amy and Taylor stayed with the first timers and gave them more of the story behind 28:19 Ministries and all that God has called us to. After about 30 minutes, we switched up the groups and started on different tasks. The boys worked through the curriculum for the Warriors Camp this week, and got to take a first look at the fun plans in store. The women talked about how to be a table host at the Transformed Conference, and prepared tote bags for each woman attending. Everything is so beautiful and intentional! The girls leading Sister Squad began working on a beautiful tassel backdrop for the space. They sliced up table cloths and hung them on garden fencing, and it turned out SO cute! It was so fun to listen to music and get creative! 

By the time we finished these tasks, it was time for lunch! We had delicious fried rice, baked chicken, papaya, cole slaw, and watermelon juice. The fried rice here cannot be beat. It’s always a favorite amongst the team! Lunch was the perfect refresher before jumping into a full afternoon and evening.

After lunch, we grabbed a few bins of supplies and loaded the bus to spend the afternoon at the school. Our sweet driver, Estellyn, was so patient with us today and is truly part of the team this week. She’s managing ALL transportation for us this week, and we couldn’t do it all without her! When we got to the school, we split up into the different spaces we’ll be using for programming this week. One group worked on the Transformed Conference space and made it look and feel SO beautiful. We can’t wait for all of the women to walk in and see it all tomorrow! Another group worked on the spaces for Bible Adventure Camp. We moved out all of the desks and turned the classrooms into a fun circus theme. It is SO cute, and so many of the items you purchased from the Amazon Wishlist were used in this space! Caralyne even learned to make balloon animals, and now she’s a PRO! The last group of team members worked on the space for Sister Squad, the program for teen girls. This space feels so FUN — disco balls and lots of pink and purple and orange. The teen girls are going to LOVE it! There are so many fun things planned for each space, and our team is so excited to get started tomorrow! We spent just over 3 hours at the school putting in so much work, but to see it all come to life will be so worth it!

We rushed back to the hotel to get changed for The Gathering before heading up to dinner. For dinner, we had stew beef, potato salad, rice and beans, fried plantains, bread pudding, and pineapple juice. We ate fairly quickly so we could set up the space for The Gathering. For those of you that are new or haven’t heard, The Gathering was born out of the Night of Worship from last July’s Mission Experience. That night, over 200 people gathered on the football field in Pomona for worship and a message from two pastors in Belize. People were saved and physically healed – we experienced revival here. We were all wrecked that night by how the Holy Spirit showed up, and God orchestrated a beautiful relationship between 28:19 Ministries and Pastor Lord. Since we left Belize last year, Pastor Lord has driven from his home over an hour away to lead The Gathering each week. After the Night of Worship in 2023, we knew we couldn’t just stop there. God was calling us to something so much greater. God was leading us to start The Gathering – a church. Tonight brought tears to our eyes. An image of God’s faithfulness. The result of obedience. Tonight, there were 68 (yes, SIXTY EIGHT) people at The Gathering. Only 21 of those 68 were from our team. Men, women, children, and families filled the rooftop of the hotel. There were so many people that Hez had to go get more chairs from the school! We started out with worship. We sang Trading My Sorrows, Reckless Love, and I Speak Jesus. It was so beautiful to see so many people surrendered in worship. Pastor Lord’s sermon was about what it means to be a Christian. It was so powerful and spoke to so many people in the room – members of our team included. At the end, someone from The Gathering made the decision to follow Jesus!!! Tonight was so special to be a part of. We brought a little surprise with us for the members of The Gathering – t-shirts with their brand new logo! Everyone loved them! We finished the night with fellowship and preparing for our first day of programming tomorrow.

As you can see, today was a day FULL of preparation and joyful expectation. So much goodness is yet to come, and we can’t wait to see what God has planned this week! 

As you think about it tomorrow, please pray over our programming. We will have Bible Adventure Camp in the morning, and this program will be all hands on deck. In the afternoon, our team will be separate for Warriors, Sister Squad, and Transformed Conference. Can’t wait to share more tomorrow!