Baby Giraffe Sighting – Hilton Head, SC (7/11/21-7/16/21)
What an exciting day here in Hilton Head Island, SC! This week we have a great group of 52 (youth and leaders) who traveled over 15 hours from Holland, Michigan to spend a week of their summer serving and meeting the needs here in SC.
Today was a full day of ministry in the hot, humid weather. We saw an alligator this morning in the church pond, along with far more bugs than anyone would want to encounter. Walking in front of the retreat center, there is a constant lingering smell of Deet. But despite the elements, the team has been in great spirits ready to serve the Lord and meet the felt needs here.
The morning began with a devotional time where we focused on teaching the group about Listening Prayer and hearing the Lord’s voice. After the large group time, youth and leaders split off into their small groups to put into practice what they just learned. Each small group was given a blank poster that only said, “When God shows up” – the theme of the summer. The youth were then invited to sit and listen and pray and record what came to mind during this time. They were told that some of these things may not make any sense just yet, but to write them down. So when they see God move this week, they will be able to tangibly see where their listening prayers showed up. Well, one guy in one of the small group’s said that he saw a baby giraffe and wrote that on the board (stay tuned until the end for how God showed up!).
So this morning for ministry, all of the team was here at Providence Presbyterian Church doing some clean up from the aftermath of Tropical Storm Elsa last week. After lunch, the team split into three groups to serve at the Boys & Girls Club, the Children’s Center, and the Neighborhood Outreach Connection. The teams at Boys & Girl’s Club and Neighborhood Outreach Connection were helping with cleaning and organizing projects while the team at Children’s Center was helping assist in classrooms with children from 0-2nd grade.
At the end of the day, the team gathered in a large group to debrief the day with their leaders and discussed how they saw God show up (among other things). Well, the guy from this morning who wrote baby giraffe on the listening prayer board said he saw God show up in Ms. Sally, the classroom teacher he was helping at the Children’s Center. While he was in the classroom with the kids, Ms. Sally showed him a picture she found of a baby giraffe. So God showed up and affirmed for these youth and leaders that, even when it doesn’t make sense, God is speaking to us, we just have to be willing to listen. That guy could have ended up at one of the other ministries or in one of the other classrooms, but God showed up and he was in Ms. Sally’s classroom with the picture of the baby giraffe.
We are so excited to see God continue to show up this week in Hilton Head so stay tuned for more updates on how God is moving here this week!
Prayer Requests:
– Team to continue to see the Lord moving throughout the week
– Opportunities for relationships to be built within the team, with the hosts at the ministry sites, and with everyone the team will meet throughout the week while serving
– Boldness for the team in speaking to/praying for people they meet/encounter
– Hilton Head & the aftermath of Tropical Storm Elsa that came through last week
