Awesome day of service !!

Today we had an incredible day of Service. We traveled today to Saddleback Church in Irvine California. We were scheduled to spend a few hours working in the warehouse at the food pantry ministry. We opened with prayer and went to work sorting food and other jobs assigned to us. We were amazed at the amount of food that comes in from so many places and then dispersed to those in need. The warehouse is quite large and pallets and boxes fill most of the open spaces.

We had a great time working together and we were ready to head home for the day, but The Lord had other plans.  

Near the end of our time at the warehouse, we were asked if we wanted to stop by the peace center resource store and see what happens with the final products.  Saddleback has a pantry on its campus where those in need can come for food and other daily items.  We thought this would be a nice learning experience for us.  Not only was it a learning experience for us, but we soon realized how powerful our God can be.

We have been praying in our devotions for God to use us in a very significant way. Today we were fortunate to get a glimpse of God's power. 

The pantry was (unexpectantly) extremely busy today. As the leaders were praying for everything to work out somehow, they received a call from the warehouse about a high school basketball team that was from Illinois and looking to serve in any way possible. 

Upon arrival at the pantry, there was a very large crowd waiting patiently for their turn in the pantry to get their items. Our guys were quickly trained and then jumped right in by interacting and assisting the people as they picked out their items from the shelves. 

After the items were collected, some guys also went with a leader from Saddleback to assist the people with their bags, talk, and also pray with them. 

We initially thought we were just stopping by to see how the process worked, but stayed until all were served and the store closed around 3-1/2 hours later. We assisted with clean up, prayed together, and then were treated to food at the Refinery (a recreation establishment on saddlebacks campus with food and games)

As we processed things at home in our devotions, we truly realized how special this was today. We were receiving our praise for being there to help out, but it truly was the other way around.  We were the ones who were blessed today being able to see Our Lord's power in the way everything unfolded. We fully understand that if we earnestly pray, and are ready to listen and obey, then God can and will do amazing things.

We didn't take too many pictures while at the pantry but we really don't need to as we will have strong memories of today's activities. Thank you to Saddleback church for the opportunity to serve others.