Scripture for the day: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a, 13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends...And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
The Report:
We had an amazing day. Today was the day we went to Give Kids the World ( http://www.gktw.org) to volunteer at the village. Our group was split up into five areas - The Gingerbread House, the Ice Cream Palace and Katie's Kitchen (food service locations) and Amberville and the Castle (community interaction areas). It was an honor for our group to be able to serve and hear the stories from families who are dealing with such serious illnesses.
It was moving to hear the youth share storeis of interactions they had with the Wish families, because many of the families would visit the different areas in which we were serving, so as one group would share a moving moment, another group would join in, sharing about their interactions with the same family in a different area of the villiage.
Some of us also had a chance to connect with other volunteers as we worked together. It was amazing the number of people who had travelled to volunteer there. In the Gingerbread house, some of us worked alongside volunteers from Maryland and Oklahoma, and got to share our volunteer stories with them.
Make sure, next time you see them, to ask the youth specifically about their GKTW experience. They have some pretty incredible stories to share.
P.S. - Interesting trivia - Part of the film "Letters to God" was shot at GKTW.
- One of the youth was talking with one of the returning families who had a child who was originally given a very grim prognosis. The family was returning after many years to see the star that he had placed in the village during his original visit, when he was not expected to live.
- A group of us helped to serve supper at Give Kids the World. One father approached one of our group bussing tables, and asked if there was any way his child could get a different food, as with her illness she wasn't eating much. Our group member was able to get that particular item, for which the father was greatful. Later on, swinging by the table while bussing, the child was eating, and the look of joy on the father's face was incredible. He expressed such gratefulness to our group member for fulfilling that request - it was a moment of "When you give a cup of water to these little ones..." and an example of how big an impact simple acts can have.
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Pictures:
One half of the bussing/dish scraping team in the Gingerbread House
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