Life on the field in Arizona

Through the kindness of a Christian resident, God blessed us with great accommodations--11 of us and the home has 11 beds and 2 1/2 baths.  Perfect for us to get a good nite's sleep and getting ready early.  We did discover a leaky pipe, so Jerry and Larry got  replacement parts and fixed it. 
We all got up early and started with devotions after breakfast. Nick and Kat joined us for devotions centered on the Bible App's Acts of Repentance series. We prepared our lunch meals of PBJs and headed off to the Kennel. Our plan was to spend the day loving on the Apache youth by engaging them in some life skills and games. While the men spent some quality time bonding with the youth at the Kennel,the women were able to get "crafty" while bonding with some of the Apache women who were sewing.  A few of the youth joined us in grocery shopping for a dinner meal of eggplant parmigiana to feed everyone.  The life skills included preparing and cooking the meal of eggplant, salad and garlic bread so the youth cut up food, prepared it, cooked it and then served 25 people (us, the missionaries and quite a few children).  And yes, cleaning up was a life skill also. This effort provided first time experiences for many of the youth but also included Lloyd, a junior in h.s. who is also a student with Johns Hopkins entrepreneurial program in cooking/baking. He led a number of other youths in the cooking. While some youth cooked, others played basketball, knockout (a form of horse) and a number of challenging contests from Minute to Win It.  Before eating, we conducted a devotion attended by the missionaries, youth and us. One of the 15 year olds overpowered us with us with his words of redemption and commitment to God's word. Awesome and humbling for us. After dinner, we celebrated a youth's 15th birthday with a cake baked by other youths.  Long day but totally rewarding day.  No risk of violating the 11pm lights out rule as everyone retired early. Awesome day sharing God's presence and love. 

Peace and blessings,

Mike Gallagher





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