Even though the guys had allowed themselves plenty of time for setting up the stage (about one hour) and the sound system (roughly 1 and a half to 2 hours), when they arrived out in the area where the event was supposed to be, no one was around to tell them where to set up. The migrant complex was large and had several places that could have been the right spot, but since Dale and Rob didn't know for sure, they played the hurry-up-and-wait game. By the time everything was sorted out, they were really under the gun. They set up the stage and the sound system in roughly 2 hours. The event was scheduled to start at 2:00 and it kicked off at about 2:30. The last time I heard from Rob was around 11:00 so I had no idea what they were dealing with but I was sure they weren't having any fun. Meanwhile, I spent the morning and early afternoon on some much needed housework. Zach had to be at a youth event at church at 3:00, so after I dropped him off I headed out to Caldwell to check on the guys. I was planning to attend the event and help with the tear down and, of course, take pictures and I was very curious about how it was going. They were still scrambling a little bit when I got there, but the event itself was going fine. Many, many volunteers donated time, money and energy in their efforts to talk to the migrant workers about Jesus. Besides good music and plenty of preaching, there were jump houses, hamburgers and hotdogs, face painting, and prizes and it was all free.
Some of the testimonials were given by people who had lived very rough lives and had been in prison for everything from murder to drug dealing. They were giving hope to people who had no hope and encouraging kids not to get caught up in gangs and drugs.
The Pursuit is a local church that we have worked with several times before. They hired us for this event and their worship band offered up some great music:
There were several different groups that played during the day:
Gloria had a great time mixing with the crowd. She played on all the jump houses, ate a couple of hot dogs and had her face and arm painted.
At the end of the event, they called up all the kids and started throwing presents out of large garbage sacks into the crowd. I watched as Gloria raced over from the jump houses with everyone else, excitement in her eyes. I knew she really had no idea what these children's lives were like and what these gifts were for.
She ran up to me to show me the great Barbie she caught and I quickly explained to her that there were kids in the crowd who had never had a Barbie of their own before and we looked around just as Rob came up and pointed out a little girl in a pink dress who had been too shy and small to grab for anything. I could see Gloria wrestling in her mind with wanting to do the right thing and wanting to keep the Barbie. It was only a split second before she ran over to the girl and handed it over. The little girl's mom smiled widely and thanked Gloria profusely while the little girl hugged the Barbie box. It brought tears to my eyes and brought me to the realization that no matter how hard I think my life is sometimes, it's really NOT. We do have a crazy, beautiful life and because of this outreach event, Gloria was able to be Jesus to a family and to understand that it's not all about her. I took this picture (with the migrant housing in the background) as a reminder to count my blessings everyday:
The event went very well and we were able to take it all down in an hour and a half. This picture speaks volumes about how we're all feeling after a very long weekend:
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