Destination: Cusick, WA & Spangle, WA (don't worry, we'd never heard of them either)
We were in Cusick from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. We stayed at Riverview, which made it seem like camp. Our team of 40 nearly doubled Cusick's population. No joke. We worked on the streets mostly- cleaning out the gutters and pulling weeds from the cracks in the sidewalks. After we finished the streets, we went door-to-door offering to help with any projects that needed to be done. Really that just meant a whole lot more weeding.
From Tuesday until Saturday morning, we were in Spangle. I think they had about 270 people total- a big improvement on Cusick, but still a fraction of my graduating class. The girls stayed at Pastor Dave's house and the boys slept at the church. Spangle is the kind of town where people don't use last names. That first afternoon, I was at Leone's house. First of all, Leone is 90 years old. When I think 90, I think of someone laying in bed waiting to die. That wasn't Leone in the slightest, though. She had written out a list of chores for our team of 6 to get done- everything from unloading the dishwasher to vacuuming the furniture (just ask Josh about that one). When we were done with her list, Leone insisted that we all sit down in the living room and take a break. She told us all about her life and when she was finished with that, we played games. For a 90-year-old, she sure knew how to make things awkward.
The next two days, I helped with kids camp. It was held at the park (another thing about small towns- there's no need to clarify which park you're talking about because there's only one park) and we somehow entertained a bunch of kids with a few Bible stories, some crafts, a playground, and a parachute for 3 hours each day. Day 1 brought 5 kids but day 2 we had more than 20. It was tons of fun to just play with them, and I really think Branden was showing Jesus' love to little Mark as he taught him to fight like a ninja.
On Friday, the team leaders decided to reward us for our hard work by taking us to Silverwood, an amusement/water park in Idaho. It was tons of fun, but I think we all felt a little weird taking a day off. The next day was just the drive home and I think by that time, we were all way beyond tired. Everything was funny and aggravating at the same time. It was really nice to finally be home.
I had a lot of time to think during the week and I spent most of it thinking about time. It's so weird, if you really think about it. I have a hard time grasping the concept of eternity, but on the rare occasions that I feel like I'm starting to understand it, I realize the eternity that most of my friends are headed into. They don't know Jesus, nor do they express any desire to. Does that mean I should stop looking for opportunities to share the gospel with them? No. I used to be scared to sound too religious around those friends because I didn't want to drive them away with a few carelessly uttered words. It wasn't that I was scared they would reject me, but that they would stop seeing me as someone they could trust. If I lose their trust, I lose their permission to speak into their lives.
This trip made me realize that I don't have time to worry about any of that. In the grand scheme of things, it's not going to matter whether they think I'm crazy or decide to walk away from our friendship. In Washington, we talked a lot about planting seeds. A short-term missions trip like this is all about planting seeds; we went into communities with established churches that needed help breaking down barriers within the community. The people of Cusick and Spangle are going to see the things we did around their towns and wonder what it's all about. When they do, they'll know exactly where to go. We've planted the seeds but it's the local churches that will be seeing the fruit.
My friends know I follow Jesus and they see the things I'm involved in and care about most. They can see where my heart is in all of it. I'm starting to see how the friends I have here may only be my friends for a little while longer, but I'm planting seeds. They are seeing who Jesus is through me every day, even though they may not know it. I don't need to talk at all in order to share the gospel with them. I may not see fruit in these friends, but someone else will. I've discovered a real urgency in the way I want to be living out the gospel in my life and I'm excited about it.
"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven"
-Matthew 5:16
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