Vacation with a Purpose

The vision for the family trip came from Kami. After a weekend visit in winter of 2012, she shared her vision for a trip where families can do mission work and enjoy vacation time. Raoul and Karen ate it up. What a great way to introduce young children into the world of missionaries. But like any new idea or vision, there's always doubt about how it will look once its been set in motion. Well, it's pretty safe to say that it has been a huge success for the three families that took the plunge. We have been able to combine the satisfaction of working hard to help the people of this island, playing hard on the beach and in the pool, and worshipping hard during our evening devotion times in both whole group and family settings. We've split the first four days between working at the feeding center and the village. Work at the feeding center included landscaping and spreading stone for the prayer garden, and scraping and painting the front fence. In the village, we finished painting a house the senior high group started last week and we built a small deck for the shanty house the senior high kids worked on. It was also a great time watching the kids from our group interact and play the village kids. In the afternoons, we've spent plenty of time swimming, snorkeling, and relaxing together. But we've also tried to explore some of other things the island has to offer. Yesterday, we all went to dolphin cove for The Dolphin Experience when we got to get in the water with a dolphin. We even got kissed! Tonight we spent a few hours at the port shopping and having a relaxing dinner at Le Med. and tomorrow some of us will try parasailing or take the glass bottom boat tour. But my favorite part has been the devotion time. With the help of Pastor Gloria, Kami chose some great scripture and wrote thoughtful questions that everybody can answer and share. Some of the things my kids have brought up have been awe-inspiring. These three families have become one large family this week, and I am so happy to have shared this experience with the Outcalts and Mannarinos. I hope that more of you will pray as a family about choosing a "vacation with a purpose" instead of just a vacation next summer.