August 11th, 2016 Last day of South Dakota on July 10th, 2016.

This is for the last day of South Dakota missions trip on July 10^th, 2016.

My meal team and I set out cereals, toast etc. which was so hard! Ha ha! I’m just kidding. ;) After breakfast we all got ready, and drove 30 miles to go to a church where Mrs. Porter’s close friends were playing worship for that morning. Their name is Charlie and Jill LeBlanc if you want to check them out on YouTube. They have performed with some really famous Christian artists and they played really powerful wonderful worship songs themselves. I was really encouraged and blessed by them, I am so thankful we were able to go and see them play as well as hear the message that morning in church. Our choir sang Amazing Grace during the offering time (spontaneously) and Mr. LeBlanc gave the message.

The message was SO good, uplifting and encouraging. The message was about loving people and after the message it really made me realize that sometimes I wasn’t the most loving towards my choir “family.” Sometimes I can get a little controlling and when I do, I can tell some people don’t like what I am saying; I then start holding a grudge towards someone for a little while… which I am working on getting better. Here were my notes from the message, sorry if they seem a little scatter brain. “Life isn’t over when you go through a tragedy. You only go through this day once, don’t spend it all on being mad or sad. Keep your heart in the right direction, guard your heart and follow the ways of the Spirit. We sometimes don’t want to move forward and dig deeper into His word and prayer. But He is calling us to thrive for Him and dig deeper each day in an even more personal way. When we draw closer to Him it helps us to press through the pain and move forward. Let God hold you up even when you want to give up. Run to Him instead of running away from Him.

If a brother or sister in Christ is going through a hard time, be there for them. Don’t tell them, ‘well if you had done this differently’, ‘I knew this was going to happen’ or even telling them ‘it’ll be ok, you’ll get through it.’ Our words can be like sharp daggers, instead of throwing words at them just have love towards them. When people are hurting all they need is love. Sometimes they don’t even need words to comfort them, just love. Whenever people are going through something we are all so quick to judge. But let God be the judge. He knows all that is going on in their life and how to handle it. Encourage each other even though you might be struggling with something too. Don’t focus on yourself, but focus on others and on Yeshua. Be a beam of light for the people around you. We are like light sabers (from Star Wars) shinning our way through the darkness. Be the arms of Yeshua when people are hurting around you. Turn around and give someone a smile offering. J Smiles bless and help people; they also can change the world.”

The LeBlanc’s prayed over our team and then we headed on home. Our family plus Addie (she was driving home with us) got ice-cream for our 6 ½ hour drive home and once we got into Colorado we stopped for dinner with some of the other choir members. Even though South Dakota wasn’t over seas like Vienna, we still did a lot and had a powerful time there. I am very thankful we had this opportunity to be able to go and be a light. Exciting news… I am going to Africa next year with my choir and I will definitely be blogging about my experience there and taking pictures. It has always been my dream to go there and severe at an orphanage, and now it is finally coming true!

Blessings and Shalom ,

Kaila