Smile Seats??

I know that the title of this post might be a little odd and confusing, but for van number 1 today...it was rather funny.

Let me back track a bit. I know that many of you reading this we are several hours behind you and that you'll probably read this tomorrow, unless you are uber excited and can't sleep until you read the latest installment from Mission: Seattle.

Today was a good day. I let the students sleep in a bit. Christa and I ventured out with Greg (one of the church planters for Connect Church) to grab some quick breakfast items. We returned and called on the students and adults to come to our room for a "grab and go" breakfast. We all got ready and met the Connect staff for an orientation and lunch.

So, Smile Seats you ask? As we begin to load into the van (all guys except for Christa and Ashley Black) my lovely wife wanted to get a quick photo shot from inside the van. Rather than saying the typical "smile" or "say cheese," Christa shouts to the van, "Smile Seats!" I believe it was a combo of "in your seats and smile," however sleep deprivation took over and "smile seats" arrived. Our guys got a great kick out of it and it quickly became an instant catch phrase.

We met up with the Connect staff (Dale Braswell - lead pastor, Greg Fuller - mission pastor, Alena - summer intern, and Jonathan - missionary volunteer). It was great to hear their heart for Seattle and the pupose of Connect Church. We got a great feel for what they are trying to accomplish in the Name of Jesus.

This afternoon provided some downtime. Some, however, embarked on a journey with Andy and Cheryl to buy groceries for the week. Stop 1 - Sam's Club. Stop 2 - unload at hotel. Stop 3 - Albertson's Grocery. Stop 4 - unload at hotel. We then seperated the food and distributed amongst the rooms.

We all had dinner. Then a team meeting. Then another quick run out to Target. It was a good day to get acclamated to the time change and hangout. Tomorrow is going to be a good day. We have the opportunity to clean! We are cleaning the location that Connect Church meets. Part of the agreement of the rental facility is to give a good cleaning every now and again. Then it's off to a local nursing facility. We are going to serve them by cleaning their place too. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Continue to pray!

Talk to you later.

Pressing On,
Dale

On another note, our intern Joran is uploading a video blog on YouTube. You can follow it at www.youtube.com/user/JoranBraughton