The Upper Peninsula!!

Hello everyone!! I can't believe it...I'm actually going to do something that Kelly asked me to do by putting a little message on here following the week that I spent with the troops in the "Land of Go Blue". I wanted to make sure I got this up here right away because after a couple days back at work my mind has already started to be overwhelmed by the "to do" list.

What can I say...the week was wonderful. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a beautiful area and we were fortunate enough to spend the majority of the week outdoors. We spent a couple mornings hanging out with toilets, mops, and sponges but the majority of the service work was done on the camp trails and the beaches of Lake Huron. We spent a good portion of time hauling logs off the trails from fallen or cut down trees to create more space for snow to fall for the snowmobiles and cross country skiers that use the trails throughout the winter. Damen, Kelly, and I also were given the task of removing, or downsizing in a number of cases, large rocks that were impediments for trail users. Our work on the beach was pretty simple...remove the beach grass. Simple, but at times, very frustrating.

On my trip home and even after being home for a couple of days, I was thinking about the week and what I learned from it. I thought about service work in general and how service trips are often so complicated and difficult to put together. However, the one thing that Latreia demonstrates every day is how simple things are. "This job needs done...we'll do it." Pretty simple. Without their complaining or questioning why, the Lord has used them to flat out get things done. The location, type of service, and who they're serving with doesn't matter to Latreia as long as it's done in the Lord's name. God has asked them to do something so they do it. I hope that's what I am able to take away from my time spent there. Too often I question why and never get beyond that question. Therefore, whatever I was asked to do doesn't get done. May I do acts of service every day at work, in the community, and with my neighbors that are done simply as a result of the love that I have in Jesus Christ.

Austin Robertson