"If the Arizona trip were made into a movie, it would definitely be a musical"-- Evan McElrath, Wednesday Edition

Wednesday-- "Smokin' in the boys' room"--Motley Crue (or Brownsville Station)

   OK, I know you are all thinking that HAS to be a mistake, but just hear me out.  Trust me, it works. :-)

   At breakfast, we laid out our plan for the day.  One group of us had to return to the cultural center to finish the painting there, while the others headed for the fitness center to start the outdoor project there.  We decided that I would take myself and two others to the cultural center to attack the restrooms and the kitchen area.  Although I knew we would have to work hard and fast to get it done, at least we would have the A/C.  And when we stopped for gas, I filled my monster cup with ice so we would have cold water.
   While we were prepping to leave for the day, dividing up supplies and stuff, Tory and I got to talking again.  We had hit it off the prior two days, mostly because once he understood that I am an engineer he could see the method to my madness.  That and our common fondness for Legos had pretty much sealed the deal.  But little did I know that a simple snag would bring us even closer.  You see, we were loading and tying down the ladders on the trailer for the fitness center, and Tory's rope had become tangled.  When he dropped a piece of the knotted mess and started working on one end, I quickly dove in to tackle it so we could get it undone twice as fast. 
   And that was when it happened.  I heard Tory laugh as I started on the rope mass, and we got talking about our love for untangling knots of all kinds.  That was like the third thing we have in common, so now, by default, we are good friends.  Rachel called it a bromance.  I just call it destiny :-)...
   Now, when we got to the cultural center, we were all set to have a hardworking but comfortable day (see above).  However, what none of us had realized the day before was just how much edging was left to be done.  And Herb didn't turn on the air for us today (turned out it was by accident that he didn't turn it on), so the heat got pretty stifling.
   It was Becky, Casey, and me as the initial team at the center.  We got done with the rest of the kitchen in pretty good time, so at that point I was figuring we were good to go.  However, when I started taping the bathrooms, I noted that we were going to have a LOT of edging to do, and that was going to take time.  Fortunately, I had two of our ace edgers, so the girls would edge and roll while I rolled ( I am definitely NOT an edger).
   About half an hour after being in the bathroom, it started to feel more like a sauna.  The three of us were all working in a room that was about 7 X 7, and it was getting hot.  But, being the troopers they are, the girls kept working at it, and by the time help arrived we had pretty much finished the girls' bathroom.
   At about 11:45, Tory brought Courtney and Hannah over to help finish up, because even with all of the work we were doing, we were going to be close on time.  Turns out that Courtney was suffering from a bit of heat stroke/dehydration, so we got her back on her feet while we turned our attention to finishing the boys' room and replacing the furniture and fixtures in the conference room, kitchen, and girls' room. 
   Needless to say, we barely eked it out, and at one point had four people working in the boys' room to get it done.  With the heat it really was like a sauna, thus the title for today.  And once again we ate lunch on the way back to the church.  We met back up with the rest of the team there, where we learned that they had also had a hot day on the roof, and Evan had been mortally (well, the pic was better than the real thing) wounded while valiantly carrying a ladder for Shelby.
   It was probably Wednesday's VBS that really showed me just how desperate these kids are for God's love as demonstrated through us.  While Tuesday had been very cool, and we had been part of that great migration of kids to the park, today was the day when we would really see if they wanted to be around us, if they were really drawn to what we were doing there.  I think that was my biggest worry as we drove out.  That all of the work that the HSM'ers had put into yesterday would be just a flash in the pan, and that the kids would not show up on the second day, or at least not in the numbers we'd seen the day before.  All I can say is that it was great to be wrong, and to see that God's light does draw people out from the darkness.
    When we pulled up, there was already a gaggle of kids waiting for us.  The park had these shades over the concrete pads, and in the heat of August (110 degrees and more) in the afternoon there is only just a small area that actually gets shade.  Well, there were about 10 kids all huddled in that small area of shade just waiting for us.  When we started getting out of the trucks, they literally exploded over to us and latched onto the HSM'ers.  It was awesome to see.
   As we were waiting to start and more kids came over to the park, I saw Miguel walk up.  He couldn't have been more than 4, and he had walked from his home to the park all alone.  And when I say walked, it was not a short walk.  And he had to cross a fairly busy two-lane road.  Anyway, Miguel and I had played yesterday when he managed to lasso me with a rope.  So I went over to say hi, and he looked up eagerly and said "I waited and waited all day for my clock to say 4."  To me, that was a testament to how much the kids here need hope, need love, need God's light on them.  And these kids are still young.  Imagine how much the teens need that, after years of living in darkness and not knowing anything else. It is just heart-breaking, as can be seen in this blog from Kara (http://3-18ministries.blogspot.com/2010/08/life-cut-short.html).  She felt it, and I could feel it through her words.
   Anyway, VBS was once again a big success.  We had extra play water this time, and the kids used it to nail just about everyone in the group.  The hardest part was actually saying goodbye, because we knew we were not coming back to this neighborhood on this trip.  It is sad when you see what God can do, and then you have to leave.  You are left hoping that their short exposure to love and happiness will linger on and have an impact on them.  God knows how much they need it.
   At dinner that night, Tory gave us a black light to use to look for scorpions in the brush around the church (they glow really cool in black light).  We then went home with several of us eager for the epic hunt that was to take place.  When we got back, we did our debrief with Rachel, then had our second big bug sighting.  The girls found a scorpion in their showers.  We did what any good scorpion hunters would do: shut off the lights and watch it glow.  But sadly, it seemed that there would be noone sleeping if it wasn't dead, so we terminated it.
  Seeing the scorpion inside got our hearts thumping for the "real" thing, so a few of us then bounded outside to look for scorpions in the wild.  It all started out exciting: we were overturning rocks, kicking plywood sheets to see if any ran out, rolling old barrels out of the way.  But alas, we saw no scorpions.  Kind of a bummer.  But we had two more nights to try!
  We went inside with slightly less exuberance than we went out with, but it quickly turned happy again when we had a scorpion sighting in the gym.  This time, it was up too high to see with the blacklight, but we considered ourselves partially successful.  At this point, I went out to view the stars again, then retired for the evening.
    Today my lesson was about trusting God.  Every time I think about how "we" can or can't do something, or about how little influence we have, God shows up and says "Yeah, well, I was behind that, so just look at what I can do!"  It boils down to relying on God rather than ourselves.  You see, I am right.  "We" can't do it, at least not alone.  But when we have God on our side, and we are doing His will, He can make miracles out of us.  "Now to Him who is able to far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory"-- Ephesians 3:20-21.  Amen to that!