The Big Kahuna!

This week was a total blast! It was the kick off to our summer of Mission Adventures...our summer missions program. We had one team in NYC, one team in Mexico City and the third, here in Monroe, North Carolina! The team that was here was from Discover Church, the church I grew up in, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

I cannot explain to you the JOY that I had in having people from "home" here. It was so great. This team spent the week helping with our "Front Porch" children's ministry. They also worked with local ministries that we partner with. It was a fun, full week.

For "Front Porch", the theme was "Animals of The Kingdom." Each day we shared about a different animal that the Lord had created. Tuesday was fish of the sea.

For this particular day, we rented "The Big Kahuna" from a party rental place. It is a water slide of sorts. Todd knew it would be fun for the MA team, but even more of a crazy, fun time for the kids in the neighborhood. They do not get to go to a pool, or the beach. (They usually are just "hanging" until school starts up again. We are running a few weeks of "Front Porch" during the summer providing a fun, safe place to play and hear about Jesus.)

Well, Todd checked things out online. We picked this particular slide because it went with the day's theme (fish) and we thought it would offer something for BIG kids as well. When the guy pulled up with "Big Kahuna" I saw that it needed it's own trailer. Hmmm...

At first I was a bit worried. It did not appear to be very big. Would this be a bust? Then, the air started to fill "Big Kahuna."
It started to get taller and taller. Oh my...I just had this huge smile on my face. This baby was TALL! Chris, the owner, said, "The picture online does not do it justice, right?" I just knew Todd would freak out when he saw it. The kids would go crazy. I was SO right!

I saw where "Big Kahuna" got it's name. (Kahuna is a Hawaiian name for someone of importance, a "Big" person.) We played on this baby for four hours. Ashley and our little friend Avery practically had to be dragged off with me...well, actually, THEY did have to be dragged off. We ALL slept good that night.

I went to bed wondering if our little friends were dreaming of their afternoon's conquest. (They had to start off brave to go down the first time.) I pray that they see how BIG our God is. How awesome He is. How fun He is! I do know that they saw and felt how much God loves them. This team hugged them, played with them, listened to them. It was wonderful.
Discover Church, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota Mission Adventure Team 2008