Tan Day was cool!!!

Hey guys and girls,

So i thought i'd write a post about our service day...."The Tan Day", which ended up being one of my favorite days of the summer so far! Dustin, Jenica, Lindsey D, Sarah and I all went out to a subdivision in Glenwood Oaks; lawn mowers, buckets and soap in tow, and went on a mission to find some houses that would allow us to mow their lawns, and wash their cars....for free, no strings attached.

After trying a couple of houses, we got some wierd looks, angry dogs and suspicious security cameras!! But after about 30 mins of going door to door, we ended up at the house of Bill Story, a professional karaoke singer and married man of 55 and a half years! (to his wife Cookie). When we asked him if he'd like his lawn mowed for free, he was a little skeptical at first. He asked us what our deal was, to which we said "There is no deal, we'd just like to mow your lawn today!". In the background, Dustin and I could hear Cookie listening in, and telling Bill to "Let them at it!!".

So we got to work. Dustin and I started mowing and edging their front yard, and later, Jenica, Lindsey and Sarah came by and washed Bill's car. After we were done with the front yard we did his backyard, and cleaned up a little. Bill was extremely happy to have us wash his car, and do the yard , which he said his son usually does every two weeks. He was very conversational with us after we were done, and even tried to offer us some money. We told him that we wouldn't accept, and that we were just doing it out of the love that God has shown us throughout our lives. He was pretty stunned. He even gave me his card and said he would give us a free show if we ever wanted it. We left for lunch very hungry, and pretty tired since it was a hot day.....which there is only one answer for......Sonic Drinks!!!!

We stopped by Sonic on the way back from the church and got some Route 44's....oh man....way to fix a summer day's heat! I got a strawberry bannana slush, but everyone got something different. Lunch was a good time just to sit down and prepare for the afternoon. We got to talk about our morning a little bit and eat our bag lunches.......mmm sandwhiches!

Once we were done, we went back to the street were we had done Bill's house, and were intent on doing the house next to his, which hadn't had anyone living in it for over a year. We thought it would be a great idea since it would improve the look of the neighbourhood. When we got out there it looked like it was about to rain and thunder, so we thought about just going back to the church.......but not before giving Bill another visit! We thought he might sing a song for us! We knocked on his door and he was really pleased to see us. We asked him if he would sing for us, and although reluctant....he agreed. He sung "What a wonderful world" for us and invited us to sing a song, but we were all kinda shy.

By the time he had sung his song, the weather had cleared, so we got to work on the house next door. We mowed the front lawn, weeded the front garden, cut the overhanging branches on the front path, and cleaned up the sidewalk. But the coolest thing happenned while we were doing all this. There were a couple of boys skateboarding down the street, and had took notice of us cleaning up the yard. But after a while, they came by and asked if they could help too! I was amazed!!! So we said "Yeah sure!" and they came and helped us clean up the yard after we were done.

They hung out with us for a while and we learned their names were Robert and Nick, and they lived around the area. We ended up taking them back to the church so they could skate at our skate park. But by the time we got back it had started to rain! We had to run the mowers inside so they wouldn't get wet, and just as we got done moving them, the heavens opened, and the rain came POURING!! I thought it would be a good idea to go play in it, so we found a flat basketball and ended up kicking it around in the church parking lot......meantime, we were getting drenched, but it was a perfect end to a great day of service to Christ. Those last few moments out in the rain was almost like a thank you from God for the work we had done that day, and it was awesome to be apart of a day in God's creation.

Thanks so much to Dustin, Jenica, Lindsey, Sarah, Bill, Cookie, Robert and Nick for making it such an amazing day! You guys were awesome, and God was sure smiling on us that day!