The final D.C. 2012 post

Thursday morning we slept in an extra hour since we had been up late the night before. 

We joined the YWAM team at 9:00 a.m.; breakfast was available for whoever wanted it whenever they wanted to get some for themselves.  I have to this point forgotten to mention the delicious Panera bread on which we feasted most mornings.  The Gatepost Center was given the end of the day bread from a local Panera’s – by the box.  The 1 Voice team enjoyed a variety of delicious bagels, pastries and breads. 

During the worship and prayer/devotion time, we made many declarations about who God is.  Jason read to us Dr. Seuss’s “Horton Hears a Who,” drawing parallels to the unborn and to our role to protect them and to speak for them.  Today’s event would be in partnership with Kids Konnection and sort schooling supplies and filling bags with them for distribution to local kids plus the guys did yard work. Afterward we and some of the YWAM staff plowed our way through most of the leftover food from the week as our lunches. 

Eventually we loaded the vans for the Holocaust Museum.  Some of our team had toured the HolocaustMuseum located north of Chicago a couple of years ago.  That was a sad and “sickening” experience.  The D.C. museum experience was worse.  I pray that I will never forget the horror and evil of the Holocaust.  I came away from both museums with deep compassion and with incredulity that Hitler was so successful.

When we arrived back at the Gatepost, we began cooking supper.  Our menu was garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs, green beans and salad.  Two of our staff members ran out to buy the fixings for ice cream sundaes.  This night was to be a quiet in-house night, with time for hanging out, for showering and for packing up our personal belongings as much as possible.  Some of the YWAM staff joined us for the meal and some later for the hanging out time. 

I had some time to catch up my journal that evening and wrote, “Leaving somewhere is sometimes pure sorrow, sometimes pure joy and sometimes bittersweet.  I am sad to leave the Washington House of Prayer because share a love for many of the things they love and focus upon.  The creative, worshipful, intercessory flavor of their team is wonderfully rich.  They are safe, safe people, too!”

08.10.12, Friday

Early Friday morning, between 6:30 – 7:00 a.m., I had a dream that seemed significant.  In the dream our 1 Voice Team was participating in some type of training in which we were learning to battle a variety of enemies.  We were running through a part of the course where we encountered a new kind of enemies.  I could not remember having heard the instructions for how to fight these specific enemies, so I shouted over to my son, “I didn’t hear the instructions; how do we fight these guys?”

“We fly, and we bob and weave,” he replied.

As soon as the words left his mouth, I began to fly and to bob and weave.  It was so much fun!  I did not want the dream to end.

Our Friday morning breakfast was once again leisurely.  The 1 Voice Team worship team was slated to lead worship again; we would depart for the first leg of our return trip after worship and packing the vans.  As usual the morning devotion time was fabulous.  On this morning a number of new-to-us people wandered into the meeting throughout our time.  Before we parted from the group, the YWAM staff and their friends prayed for us.  Jason prayed for the 1 Voice Team that God would continue to expand our team in new ways, just like this outreach trip was very different from what we usually do.  He and the YWAM staff also spoke prophetic words over most of the 1 Voice teens and young people.  It was a sweet, sweet time.

After some waiting time and some packing-the-van time, we said our final goodbyes and pulled out of the Gatepost Center parking lot.  This was a sad moment – much in contrast to the overwhelmed feeling I experienced on the day of our arrival. 

Friday was our longest day on the road – 7.5 hours of actual driving time, which expanded into 11 hours on the road due to stops for breaks plus a couple of traffic issues.  Never before was I so relieved to arrive at our very lovely hotel!  After a very late supper of delicious pizza and salad, I collapsed into bed. 

Saturday was our shortest day of actual driving time – 4 hours.  We managed to accomplish the final leg in approximately 5 hours.  This was most definitely a record for us on our trip!

I know that I am forever changed because of this trip.  I want to never be the same and to never forget.  We prayed for God to seal everything He has done, is doing and will do as a result of this trip.  And He is good and faithful.

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