I am a sk8r boy -- Spring Break 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

My spring break mission trip week in the south Texas town of Edinburg went really well. Everyday while we were in Edinburg or different surrounding cities, churches, and parks where we put on a "set" with one portable big speaker with a mic and ipod/music attached. We invite everyone in the park to our "set" at XX:XX time. The set actually consists of a dance, a person's testimony, a voice-less drama (epic music only), and then the gospel. So we did one of these everyday.

The trip was filled with hundreds of other stories. Dozens of encouraging conversations with Christians we found there. A few with lost people that wrestled with their belief. Prayers and encouragement for everyone we encountered. Dozens and dozens of children and a few whole families coming to accept Jesus as their Savior. It was an adventure to be a part of what God is doing in the city.

Well now I have one long story for you. So sit in tight if you want to. Sunday afternoon we did our set in a park and there was also an outdoor skate park a couple 100 yards away. So a few of us go over there to the skater dudes and we're talking with them. After a while one of them offers to give me a chance to try. I really want to so I take the board and go up and down the park on the flat parts just feeling it out before I go down anything crazy. They want me to try to go down the little half pipe they have. They show me how it's done and how you must step down hard until your body is at a 90* angle facing the ground face first. That's just how it works. You have to get there or else you don't go down the scooped ramp. The back wheel will come out forward from behind you. So I try. And I fall. HARD. On my left elbow and hip. I get up and assess the pain. No scrapes or anything. Just bruises for sure. It was a hard fall but the skater guys and my friends really enjoyed it. They thought it was amazing that I was trying. They said no one ever even tries. So I try again after they reinforce what I needed to be doing. Trying again, I fall again. Not so hard this time. I fall on the same places on my body though. After this I skate around and do a non-curved ramp just to feel it out more and get some confidence. Then I go back to the half-pipe. I try real hard to get my balance right and step down hard but...again I fall REALLY HARD. Same left hip. Same left elbow. But also my left shoulder and back (sorta angel wing area) is all wrong in the muscles. It got pushed back weird and I couldn't lift my arm without extraordinary pain. That was it for my skateboarding. Hip and elbow throbbing. Arm and shoulder barely movable.

The skaters loved it. I told the kid whose skateboard I borrowed that Jesus loved him and that He would do anything for him, even crazier than going down the half-pipe 3 times for him. haha. I was laughing at myself the whole time and still am today that all this happened.

My main problem the rest of the week was that I was on the drama team. We portrayed the gospel without words but only movements, interactions, and facial expressions. I played the part of God, and I had some very strong movements with to do including lifting my arms. So the next day when I was doing the drama, I was doing those moves wincing in so much pain on the inside but smiling on the outside trying to show them God.

I had probably a dozen people pray over me over the next 2-3 days. Hour by hour I felt less pain in my shoulder. I would say it was through lots of those prayers I was quickly healed. I was really amazed by the whole recovery experience. The most incredible sight over the next days to see was what happened to my hip. Each night when i went to take a shower I got to see how this bruise grew and MORPHED into different colors and shapes. It got to be about 10 inches long down my leg and 5 inches wide. Purple and blue and yellow and deep red. I had to check WebMD.com to make sure that this is normal (it is for leg bruises). It is today about half that original size haha! It truly was/is a sight to see. A battle wound that you would have to see to believe.

Love you all,

Andrew

P.S.- Little baby Smith is gonna be coming someday soon! Yay!

1st picture- This is Robin and Jon. Good friends that are getting married in May.

Last picture- This is the only picture Becca and I took on my normal camera (not iPhone) in Shreveport

This is the only picture Becca and I took on my normal camera (not iPhone) in Shreveport (: