Reflecting on Dathouse Trip

In the room where Hannah and I stayed this week, there was a strip of chalkboard paint where people had left messages. Some girls who had stayed there previously had left their names. Someone had written in big bubble letters, "JESUS ES BUENO!" We wrote our names and the following lines from a blessing we have prayed every day this week out of Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, "May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you; may He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors." I can't tell you how much those lines have resonated with our experience this past week of living in an intentional, missional community.



Here's a summary of the "activities" of our week:

• Hanging out with/loving on some amazing kids from the neighborhood (involving a lot of Skipbo!)
• Debriefing with people from the dathouse and Tearing Down the Walls (a homeless ministry) teams to better understand the kind of ministry they do.
• Sitting in on a dathouse team meeting.
• Working on the remodel of a house which will be sold at cost, interest free, to a family we met from the neighborhood. The money they pay will then be used to repeat the process for another family.
• Cleaning bathrooms... like, intensely cleaning bathrooms, and washing dishes. Dathouse welcomes lots of people all the time, and cleaning can be a really overwhelming task.
• Spending time with some local youth groups.
• Vineyard Volleyball. A local Vineyard church opens their gym on Wed. nights for volleyball. It was great--and I have a black and blue nose to prove it! I got smashed in the glasses by a spiked ball.
• Laundry love. We took a grill, hot dogs, chips, drinks, games, and LOTS of quarters. We then did people's laundry for them, fed them lunch, and just loved on them in the name of Jesus.
• Playing curb ball--the coolest game I've learned in a long time. :)
  
• Dumpster diving. That's right. We dove in dumpsters for food and other useful items. This was an eye-opening experience. Everyone should do it.
  

The value of this trip was in way more than what we "did." Hannah and I discussed our greatest "take-away" lessons on the way to the airport. Here they are.

1. A life lived radically for Jesus is satisfying! From the outside, the "sacrifices" of this ministry team might seem hard. And in some ways, they are--but their lives are so satisfying and filled with joy! They are living with kingdom values and kingdom sight.
2. We can experience Jesus in a way we may never have before when we experience Him in close community with both brothers/sisters and with our neighbors.

I feel like this blog isn't enough to cover our experience here, but if I keep writing, no one will read it because it's so long!!! :) CLICK HERE to see all the pictures from the trip.