RSE Final Day

6/11/2014

So today is the final day of RSE.  It has been an amazing journey so far and I can't wait for what is store today from God.  Arrived their for breakfast and did some more affirmation notes.  I think I forgot to mention those earlier.  Even if I have talked about them they bear repeating.  The took pictures of everyone and put those pictures on bags.  We were all asked to write affirmation notes and put them into people's bags.  I tried to put notes in anyone's bag who I have met and/or knew what they had done for RSE.  It was a lot of fun to write those and think about how this will lift a person up for the day.  We had worship after breakfast and then our speaker for the morning.

This morning we had Julie and Kurt talk.  Kurt is the project head of RSE.  He is in charge of setting up all the jobs for the teams and that area.  It is amazing how he juggled them all and got us to places we needed to help out at.  Julie does a lot for RSE as well and keeps people all on track.  She is an incredibly hard worker.  They talked about their family and how they see the fruits in each of their family members.  They talked about the struggles that they have gone through and how they are going through a low right now.  It is good to know that we all go through them and that we are not alone in them.  We have God always with us as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We have support from all sides.  They had a great message and it really was something we needed to hear on our last day as we go back into the world.

With that we headed out to our last day of work.  Our morning site was a buildling (I forget the name) where POBLO meets.  POBLO, from my limited understanding, is an organization that helps immigrants settle in Rochester.  They help as translators as well as drivers all with the background and love of Christ.  Their aim is to teach them how to speak English and get their drivers license.   It is a really cool program that I would love to learn more about.  At the building they wanted us to prime and paint the front entry.  So us guys started on that while the girls were inside sorting books, organizing clothes, and doing some carpet cleaning.  It was a very hot day especially where we were painting.  We ended up just getting the primer on because there is a lot of area to cover.  It looked amazingly better and they were so happy.

After that we headed to Soldiers' Field to have our lunch.  On the last day we talked about things we learned over the course of RSE as well as dreams we have in our lives.  It was a lot of fun to hear the things people had picked up from RSE.  We talked about learning skills, a lot about John's talk, and many other things.  Also it was a blast to hear some dreams from the group.  There are some wonderful goals there and I pray that God helps each one of them achieve those.

For the afternoon we headed to Slaterly park to do some bridge cleaning as well as picking up trash.  There must have been several groups before us doing the same work because we had to look hard to find trash to pick up.  It is an awesome sign when you have to look for trash to clean up.  We drove around in the go-kart a little more looking for stuff to do before finally heading back to the church early.  There we found a mulch pile being worked on and joined right in.  I worked with Dewey in his trailer to bring the mulch all around the church and fill in the garden beds.  In this case we really saw how many hands make light work and before too long the huge pile was all gone.  Then inside we cleaned up and just took a bit of time to relax at supper.

We had a bit of an earlier worship because we have the concert tonight.  The band did a phenomenal job of closing worship and bring us to that point.  Jackie, DCE from Northfield, spoke that night.  She did a skit about fruits of the Spirit and seeing how they actually work.  She talked about how we needed to be died for and what that really means.  It was an amazing closing message and something we all needed to hear.  With that we did thank yous and some God sightings and ushered out to let the bad get ready.  There were ear plugs provided because last year a different band had been really loud.  They were loud this year but not as bad I am told.  Still many of us, including me, wore ear plugs.  I got up front for a couple songs and it was awesome to watch the youth and adults jumping around.  The band had a great message and stayed after to talk with people and sign stuff.

As things began to wind down I helped out wherever I could getting the church put back together.  It was awesome to see how many people stayed around to help out.  In no time at all we had it looking great again.  The last of us left around midnight to a beautiful night.  I got home and to bed very soon feeling absolutely amazing.  RSE had been an awesome event and the best way to start off an internship.

Today I learned that getting out of your comfort zone helps those around you do the same.  We all have inhibitions but if you are a trailblazer, being as terrified as you are, it helps others to open up after you.