An Unforgettable Summer Family Project

“Living radical isn’t about where you live — it’s about how you love.”

I had to learn this the hard way when I was wrestling with my desires to serve but sitting at home with a toddler and pregnant with my 2nd child.  The Lord quickly showed me that I could make a difference right where I was at in small ways but not only that I could do it with my children.

A picture of our eye doctor doing free eye exams for the families in the community.

I could love simply with small acts of kindness like loving the unloved, the forgotten, the hungry, the poor, the hurting, the cashier who is having a bad day, the teenager who is driving you nuts, the… we don’t have to go far to love much.

A picture of a house we visited in the South of Quito. If you look over on the right side there’s a piece of wood on the floor, under it is a hole, where they use the bathroom.

“It’s about realizing– Love doesn’t happen when you arrive in a certain place. It happens when your heart arrives in a certain place – wherever you are, right where you are, dirt road Africa or side street America.”

“Because it isn’t where we love.

It’s how we love.

It’s who we love.

The reward of loving is in the loving; loving is itself the great outcome of loving. The success of loving is in how we change because we kept on loving – regardless of any thing else changing. The value of loving is in the value of being like Christ.”

 

The kids pictured above and below live in similar conditions of the homes you see on here. Below is a picture of some of the boys in the sports camp. The team worked with these youth teaching them some flag football basics, the dads gave a devotional and sons took turns sharing their testimony. 

“People are starved for Christ everywhere; there are poor too down our streets and down our halls and downs our pews. Radical begins finding them and radically loving them.”

 

“You are doing something great with your life – when you’re doing all the small things with His Great love.”

Above is a picture of my son inside one of the homes of a family we visited. Up over the bed there’s a baby sleeper hanging out of the ceiling, the roof is basically collapsing due to water damage and slowly destroying the inside of the this home.

“You are changing the world – when you are changing one person’s world.”

The picture above is the group of kids we had the joy of working with all week. Some of these girls are teen moms whom I’m hoping to work with–this fall.  During our sports camp these girls had the opportunity to be kids for a couple of hours before heading back to their reality–washing clothes by hand to make some money, feeding their baby, going to school at night…

“You aren’t missing your best life – when you aren’t missing opportunities to love like Christ.”

Above is a picture of one of the families whose home was “remodeled”. These kids get to sleep in a real bed and mattress for the first time. Before they were sleeping on the dirty floor on cots. They were besides themselves.

“These acts of service, this daily work, this is is my worship to You!

Praise!

Joy!

Gratitude!”

One of the fathers on our team was working alongside of the father of  the house to improve their living conditions.

 

The Fathers & Sons Team from Fort Worth, Texas– had the joy of serving and being His hands and feet this past week at the home of this sweet family.  They painted, cleaned, replaced broken windows, fixed electrical wires that were just open and dangling from the ceiling and so much more.  The Father & Son team, is the first group of it’s kind to come down and serve alongside of us–usually it’s a women’s team, college team or youth group. We enjoy all of our groups but our boys had so much fun looking up to this Father & Son team. These fathers are leaving behind such a great legacy to their kids–worshipping our Savior together through their acts of service!

~All quotes above from Ann Voskamp