Who wants to wash clothes? You?

It's really Friday this time. I'm in a hotel room in Laguna Beach (which may be the most beautiful place I have ever seen) and we have begun our "decompress time." After a week of waking up at 6, taking cold showers, and doing ministry for roughly 15 hours a day, I think the team has earned a night of relaxation. We are taking them to Red Robin for dinner, and most of us have been swimming in the frigid Pacific.

Here is how this morning looked for us- A group of 10 went and loaded 5 food gigantic trucks full of food to help the hungry on Saturday morning. A group of 8 did laundry with the Men's Discipleship group (see previous post for description of discipleship), and a group of 9 went to Skid Row to invite people to a free meal.

The food truck team labored hard and got to share some connection with each other, as well as some leaders from the Dream Center. One of the coolest parts of this trip is the amount of connections you make with brothers and sisters in Christ- all of which seem to have an incredible story.

I plan on posting a blog solely on "Skid Row" tonight- so for now I will talk about our laundry team (sounds exciting right?)! I saw a lot of eyes roll when I said laundry, just like I did the day before when people heard we were cleaning. But in the end, I heard one of my favorite stories so far. Some of the guys working on the laundry team were with some men from Discipleship, and this was their description of the day.

"Well, at first, we weren't very excited. It's just laundry, who wants to come to California to do that? But then, we made it a competition. And when we were hanging out with ________ (I can't remember his name) he started telling us about his life. They really aren't supposed to tell anyone, so he told us not to say anything, but it was SO COOL! I mean, we all have it so easy compared to these people. And I can't really say what he told us, but it was just amazing to see that God is powerful enough to bring a simple man out of a lifestyle that he chose. It's so much evidence that when God grabs on to someone, there is nothing they can do to stop it, no matter how much they want to!"

Laundry. Washing clothes on earth, building souls in the kingdom of Heaven. I will never do laundry the same. I don't think these kids will ever eat the same...It's a different world here, and we are learning so much from these people.

For crying out loud, it's just laundry, right? Wrong.