If you are a night owl, Monday started way too early. John met Gary and Susan who headed for the assembly spot and gathered coffee and supplies. The whole group headed from assembly to "staging", set up a table to make the supplies available, and a big urn to make more coffee. Amy, Justin, Megan and Lucy were waiting at the staging area when the rest of the crew arrived @ 0720. This year, there is no group from Lubbock like last year, but there is a group from the Netherlands. I think there was an attempt to "pair" people who have done this before with new folks. I'm not sure how far that went but I'm thinking the experienced ones were outnumbered. That's not a terrible problem. The crew was bright and motivated and caught on quickly.

We ran out of coffee before we ran out of conversations with people. Just as John and Lucy were surprised last year to be greeted with "Oh, you're the Jesus people with coffee", this years crowd was greeted. One team said they heard, "Oh, it's the happy coffee people!" I find neither greeting or title offensive, do you? Susan told of one young man who asked, "If I get coffee, do I have to talk about God?" She of course told him "no". The coffee was free and they were always free to talk or not as they felt comfortable. The young man finished "fixing" a little sugar, a little milk and then said "So about God ..." Susan said they had a great conversation and it was obviously his choice.

Lucy was paired with a young man from the Netherlands. When she asked him at one point how his conversation had gone, he said good and that the young man he'd spoken with was in a homosexual relationship. Lucy told him that most in the area where they were working were also. He seemed a little surprised that she knew that. These conversations are certainly John's "cup of tea". He enjoyed talking with another young man (they seem to find him) who was certain he had "the God thing" all worked out in his head and like most had no need for God so chose not to believe He existed. John walks them through their logical thinking until the logic runs out. Then He asks "What if you're wrong?" They always go away thinking and smiling -- never offended and never quite the same.

Shortly after the coffee serving, the team began preparations for the first cookie distribution. That included sending John to meet the folks from a local church coming with cookies while the rest of the team went to get transportation passes and a bit of brunch. The McDonald's here was open but except for coffee and a chocolate muffin, they really didn't have much "breakfast". Most of the team just got lunch early. They were trying to figure out how to eat and not being starving but also not be full by the evening meal when ribs were on the menu. Such challenges.

The sanitation workers were on the final plein/plaza cleaning as the team waited off to the side. Can you envision vultures waiting to pounce? Our team visited with the church members who had come with their bagged cookies while we waited. One woman expressed concern over the enclosed cards. They had included a Bible verse and the papers have recently told of the "no religion, no politics" policy regarding activities like street theater and such. We've tried to make our gift cards thankful, include the name of the church but not preach. At this point, we are trying to connect a pleasant positive with the name of the church.

As the other crews began to arrive and gather getting ready for lunch, we took our cue and moved out. Lucy had asked one worker earlier (during the coffee serving) if they still planned to meet there for lunch. He was a bit suspicious of this strange woman and her strange question. He was present as we delivered the cookies and was obviously pleasantly surprised. We were able to stay and talk with a couple of the workers for a few minutes, asking about the job, was it hard, how long had they been doing it. The folks from the church, although uncertain about the whole process, were certainly genuine in their thanks as they passed out the cookie bags.

The cookies for the transportation workers were delivered by our team to two different control offices. Our contact there had said he thought they might disappear too quickly in the breakrooms and wanted each person coming by to be handed the sacks. We thought that was great. As the team walked away from the first locale, the control room was full as our controller-friend was talking about the cookies and the reason and and and to his colleagues. He was very excited about this action. He'd called ahead to the other site. They were expecting the team when they arrived. The response has been good. May God be glorified in this and ultimately see His children returned to His flock.

Gotta run. Tuesday is Brussels. This is the equivalent of the US July 4th celebrations. Feest on!