Jefferson School PLUNGE

Our PLUNGE was at Jefferson 2-3 Focus School. It was a great day of fellowship, and excitement from my perspective. I saw such high enthusiasm, and love go into this effort. A few comments I heard from those participating were: "Wow is this cool"; "We need to do more of this"; and "What fun!." A couple of God moments for me personally was how God provided the bark at the last minute from the school system that earlier told me they had no money to do so, and how a friend came through with a front-end loader to move the mountain of bark so it could be spread by the volunteers. The other one was watching a mom and her 2 1/2 year old pray at classrooms before hanging up a little May Day gift bag on the door. When asked what he did, the 2 year old said "Pray for kids!"

Probably the best story came to me by letter from the principal at Jefferson. I've included the main comments she made.

"On Saturday morning, April 29, my husband and I pulled up to Jefferson School and found a large group of people gathering around the flag pole to pray. What a beautiful sight that was! As the principal, I treasure your prayers. Thank you for praying for me, for our staff and for our students. Your prayers enable us to keep on, keeping on. Staff members commented appreciatively about the beautiful May Day bags placed on each door. These bags reminded us that our friends at Central were holding us up in prayer, providing encouragement for us as we complete this school year."

"Thank you also for the gift of your time and labor. Wayne and I visited the school around 10:00 on Friday evening. We were overwhelmed by the size of the woodchip pile, it was huge. The kids would have had a ball climbing to the top of the swings from the mountain of mulch. The plunge volunteers were unbelievable. They conquered that mountain in no time. Within two hours, ALL the woodchips had been spread, weeds had been pulled, lawn had been raked, flower beds had been cleaned up, Jefferson's grounds looked incredible. Although, several attempts [were made] to invite those within our extended school family to join us on Saturday, I'm not aware of any takers. However, later I found out that many of our families watched this plunge activity from a distance as their children played soccer. They were so "wowed" by all that was accomplished. Many had difficulty understanding why a group of people, such as yourselves, would give up your Saturday to do something like this. It is hard, sometimes, to understand the love of Jesus, isn't it?" Thank you. On behalf of the staff, students and families of Jefferson 2-3 Focus School, please know that we are grateful for the many volunteers who participated on Saturday."

I believe this is only one of many stories we will hear from this PLUNGE. But even if we hear no other word, we can be confident that Matthew 5:16 came true in Holland on April 29, 2006.

Steve Whitney

4theKids<><
Steve

"Let the little children come..."