Hey guys. So going into the fall, I’ve been put in charge of Yard Teams – an outreach into the community where we visit people who have unkempt yards and offer to clean up, mow, trim and weed their place as an act of love in community.

We had to do a little promotion at church to get our team together. Cheryl and I built this nifty little video to run during announcements on Sunday morning. I thought you might enjoy it.

Our first day was Wednesday, and it went well. We served three houses with one team in 2.5 hours, which doesn’t sound like a lot but the people we worked for were very grateful. The first lady, her name was Fatma, and she was a Muslim woman, was extremely grateful and called the next day to thank me and the team again for our service. We may go back to visit again on Saturday to help with a bit of her backyard too.

Another young woman later that night tried to offer us money for our work. I actually half wonder if this sense of expectation of a “catch” is what held back so many people from saying yes to us. We just told her we are doing this as a service to the community, to show Christ’s love. In retrospect, I thought more about it and in the future I will offer this analogy – when someone gives you a hug, you don’t feel obligated to pay, right? Think of it as a hug for your yard.

Now, coming up on Saturday which will be our second service day, the skies are clear right now. But it is forecast to rain tomorrow. Pray that we get a window of dry weather, otherwise we could be challenged tomorrow. And also pray for our park ministries that are running this week, that we would bear fruit in our community!