At the end of June, I traveled with a group from St. Andrew made up of 6 teens and 3 leaders (including myself) to Wesley Chapel, about 45 minutes outside of Tampa, FL. Our mission: help Citrus Grove Church reach and serve families and residents of Wesley Chapel through community events.
Bright and early on Thursday morning, our team boarded the Van Galder bus to Chicago and as we pulled out of the Dutch Mill Park & Ride leaving Madison behind us, none of us knew the plans God had in store for us: connections made with those in Florida, relationships built with our fellow team members, faith strengthened, new adventures experienced, and countless memories made.
When we arrived at O’Hare, we grabbed some lunch at the airport and then kicked things off with a group devotion. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours due to some weather concerns, but eventually we were on the plane and in the air! There was quite a bit of turbulence (to the point that I crashed into the wall inside the bathroom when I got up to use it and the pilot even ordered all the flight attendants to stay seated) which was frightening, but one of the other trip leaders is also a pilot and he told me, “if turbulence could take a plane out of the sky, we wouldn’t be in the air.” Interpret that how you will.
Thankfully, he was right and we landed safely in Tampa where we spotted this huge flamingo installation and had to stop for a quick photo op.
Once we collected our bags and picked up our rental cars, we drove the group to Zaxby’s for a late dinner. The food was pretty good but we quickly got a taste of the Florida heat because the A/C was out in the restaurant!
After everyone had eaten, we drove to our gracious host families’ homes and crashed for the night soon after arriving. In the morning, we got up early to head to Wesley Chapel District Park to set up for a free family event in the park. It was really rainy so we set up snacks, games, a bounce house, and other activities under the park shelter. Our team also helped act out some Bible stories and sing songs with the kids. The weather cleared up mid morning, but unfortunately the rainy start to the day affected the event turn out. A handful of families still came out though, so we were hopefully able to reach a few new people in the community.
Pastor Phil told us a little about the culture of the Wesley Chapel community and surrounding areas, and how little trust and trustworthiness people feel toward others due to the high frequency of scams. Apparently random strangers will approach you in places like the grocery store and act like they want to be your friend, but when you meet up with them for coffee or a hang out later, they will start asking you for personal information or try to sell you something. It sounds like for people in this part of the country, when you hear that something is free or sounds too good to be true, it sounds the alarm bells and tends to scare people off, even if it is a true act of kindness.
Around noon, we tore down and packed up all the food, games, and supplies and headed to KRATE for lunch. It’s a collection of shipping containers-turned-restaurants with just about every type of food you can imagine! We walked around a while just taking it all in, but eventually I landed on a taco place and ordered a carnitas taco salad.
Once everyone had made their selections, we found a spot in the shade to eat together and talk through our midday devotion.
It was extremely hot and humid (though that’s to be expected from Florida in late June), so after lunch we drove to Sunset Beach in Tarpon Springs and put our feet in the water. Someone said they felt something touch their foot and we looked down and there was a big horseshoe crab swimming by!
We hung out in the water for a half hour or so and then met up with Pastor Phil and his family at Mykonos, a Greek restaurant in town. They ordered the saganaki (fried cheese that came out flaming!) for the table, and I had the Greek salad. I enjoyed sitting with Phil’s kiddos and watching their adorable antics.
After dinner, the boys’ host family took us out on a sunset dolphin and shelling cruise! We rode out across the ocean to a little island to collect shells. On the way, the air got cooler as a dark storm cloud rolled over and the winds picked up. I really enjoyed just sitting on the boat and taking it in – the cool air on my skin, the vastness of the ocean, my own feeling of smallness among it all.
When we got out to the island, we spent 20-30 minutes looking for the best shells to bring home. We hoped to find a sand dollar, but they are so fragile and all of them were broken. We did find lots of other shells though and even one that still had a creature living inside (we obviously put that one back in the ocean)!
On the ride back to Tarpon Springs, we got to watch a beautiful sunset and we spotted a couple of dolphins that swam along with the boat for awhile! It was such an incredible evening – I could have stayed out on the water forever.
The next day was Saturday and we headed back to Wesley Chapel District Park for a men’s basketball tournament where we helped keep score of the games and handed out water, Gatorade, and snacks. The players and their friends and family who were there to watch were so surprised that we weren’t charging anything for the food and drinks which goes back to the whole lack of trust and belief that any act of kindness is too good to be true. Everyone was so appreciative – the players were grateful for the bananas when they started cramping up and parents were thrilled to see the healthy snacks we had for kids.
We also handed out flyers for another community event Citrus Grove was hosting the following weekend and let people know that the church is there to serve them and the community. If nothing else, we were able to share some kindness and generosity and be a light to brighten these peoples’ days.
After the tournament, we cleaned up the remaining food and headed to Pinecrest Academy to set up for church the next day. Citrus Grove worships in a school cafeteria so they have to flip the space from lunch tables to pews, and bring in the altar, the pulpit, the piano, speakers, TV screens, banners, a cross, and other altar decorations.
Once the cafeteria was transformed into a place of worship, we drove to one of the host family’s houses for our afternoon devotion and then jumped in the pool to cool off. I had an interesting discussion with the other leaders about the way we perceive color and whether or not we all see colors the same. For example, maybe what you call purple, I see as green. You’d never know because I’ve learned to call that color the same word you call it, even if it looks different to me. The sky is blue, but what actually is blue besides a word that we’ve used to identify it? The idea is a little flawed because we agreed that everyone must perceive light and darkness the same way, but it’s interesting to think about.
After our impromptu pool party, we went to the boys’ host family’s house for dinner (BBQ chicken and ribs off the grill) and a HUGE bonfire. We all sat and talked for an hour or two, tried to scare each other with stories about the Florida dog man legend, and I got more than 30 mosquito bites, but it was a great night.
On Sunday morning, we drove back to Pinecrest for church. Upon arrival, Phil asked me to run to the grocery store down the street to pick up some oranges to make fresh-squeezed orange for the congregation after church. As I was walking back in, I saw a snake slithering along the sidewalk!
The service was really nice – a few of the kids in our group played instruments for the songs and all of the members were super friendly and welcoming. The congregation is an older population and because there aren’t other young families, the children’s devotion was actually just Phil having a family devotion with his kids. It was so precious. After the service, the high schoolers squeezed oranges and we had some time to mingle and eat lunch with the members of Citrus Grove.
Then we had our afternoon devotion in the Pinecrest teacher’s lounge before heading to Lettuce Lake to spot some wild Florida gators! The park has a boardwalk and observation deck built above and along the water which is probably both for safety and visibility between humans and the gators. We heard a lot of them grunting nearby and managed to spot two smaller ones.
It was so so hot and humid at the lake so we didn’t spend a ton of time there. I drank two whole water bottles trying to keep up with how much I was losing to sweat!
When we got back to the car, we cranked up the A/C (and the music) and drove to St. Pete Beach to beat the heat. On the drive there I enjoyed the company of the students, the songs they queued, and the tropical views out the window. (I might have been enjoying myself too much since I missed my exit when we got close to the beach!)
It had been a few years since I’d swam in the ocean and it felt so amazing. Moving with the waves and being humbled when they are much stronger than you. We all got a healthy dose of Vitamin D, a few people got a dose of seagull poop (yuck), and somehow we all managed to not get sunburned.
We grabbed dinner at a beach bar and grill nearby and then headed back to Wesley Chapel. I wasn’t ready for the trip to end, but I had known it would go fast. There were so many moments of awe that I experienced whether through members of our mission team or the beauty of God’s creation. I made an effort to consciously acknowledge those moments so that I could really to soak everything in and enjoy and appreciate every moment.
I invite you to pray for the ministry in Wesley Chapel and I hope to get the opportunity to serve on another mission team soon!
Exploren with Lauren 