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Leila Fortner led our gathering at the bus this morning and also led our morning creed. We left the hotel at 7:15 to be sure we got there in time to start our shift at the Houston Food Bank at 8 AM. Our group agreed to fill 48 volunteer positions at the Houston Food Bank this morning.

Once we arrived at the food bank, our group was given some instruction and divided up to fill several different positions. Some of us worked in the kitchen, while some worked in the warehouse preparing food deliveries that would be taken out to people across the city. To see this operation in full swing is truly amazing! Hundreds of volunteers and employees preparing thousands of meals each day to be carried out to people in the city of Houston. Some of the work was difficult and hot, but knowing that we were making a difference in the lives of so hungry families made it well worth our effort.

Once we finished our shift at noon, we had our picture made with some of the volunteer supervisors and sang a couple of songs for them in the visitors welcome Center.

Having finished our work at the food bank, we prepared for a visit to the Houston Space Center. We ate lunch at McDonald’s close to the space center and got there in time for our tour. We all took the tram tour of the facility and were able to go into several buildings and see Mission control for the Apollo launches as well as the enormous Saturn V rocket that cared the Apollo astronauts all the way to the moon.

We rushed back to the hotel in order to change for our worship service at In His Presence Fellowship. What a blessing this small church was to our group. The Chief of Police in Deer Park Texas is a good friend of Chris Clark‘s and helped us make contact with this church. The church prepared several crockpots of delicious Texas chili which we enjoyed before our program.

We were all thrilled to see Jim and Judy Frost arrive in time for our worship service at 7 PM. It felt like the choir sang especially well tonight because the Frosts were there. We had a wonderful visit with Jim and Judy after the program and had our picture made together. Jim and Judy are visiting their sons family in Houston for a month. It was so good to see them again. In fact, they followed us to Dairy Queen for a surprise birthday party for Adam and Addison Ballew. Today is their birthday and we wanted to do something special for them.

Incidentally, Rhonda Woods had her friend’s family there for the service as well. They had a handsome pair of twins who were at the program. We introduced Adam and Addison to them and had their pictures made together. It seemed to thrill the little boys.

Our day ended with a nice devotion led by Chloe Clark. She talked about her decision to attend the University of South Carolina and how she believed God opened the right doors to get her where she needed to be. She also challenged each of us to follow God‘s direction day by day.

Here is an aside that you might appreciate. Chris Clark employed the staff here at our hotel to do laundry for us while we were at our program tonight. When we got back, just before our devotions, our laundry was done and shirts were re-distributed to our students. Now that is smart thinking!