Would you like some pine with those needles...?

So tonight, Emily, Stephanie and I went out to Fenchtown to help a couple from our church rake up pine needles and pinecones from their yard as a fundraiser for Denver. It was cloudy and looking like it might rain, but we had already canceled and rescheduled the job so we decided to go for it.
The drive out there was pretty exciting, we definitely got lost several times over and by the time we found their house (in the middle of nowhere) I think we had seen every single part of Frenchtown that there is to see.
The part of their yard that we were supposed to rake was only a ½ an acre, so we were done in about thirty minutes. Just kidding. It took us a good couple of hours to rake up all the pine needles and cones; I’ve never seen so many in a pile before! It was crazy. I think my muscles are already bigger than they were before. And I’m pretty confident in my raking skills right about now too.
So about an hour and half into the job, Joe (the guy we were working for) says, “Keys are in the truck if you want to back it up here to load the needles.”
I assumed he was talking to his wife but I looked up and saw him looking at me.
“Uh…me?”
“Yeah go ahead.”
This truck was a brand new Dodge Ram. I couldn’t believe he wanted me to drive it.
“You can drive an automatic right?”
“Yes…?”
Before I knew it was driving this brand new truck over, under, around and through trees backwards to load up pine needles! As we were getting ready to back it down into their backyard to drop the needles I passed the job of driver off to his wife, despite her saying, “You can practice I don’t mind.” Yeah, practice my driving in the woods with their brand new truck. Very trusting people. I mean I’m confident in my driving skills but there is a limit.
Eight pick up loads later we were finished with the job, but the fun was just beginning. We went inside and had dinner with them, and they showed us around and talked about the 8 different foreign exchange students they’ve had come through their house, along with three kids.
Then Joe showed us his hobby, a room full of history. Autographs from every athlete, every celebrity, every president and music artist you can think of! Not only that, but personal letters and pictures from tons of them! I can’t even begin to describe what that room held, except to say that any collector of anything would appreciate the greatness of what that room possessed.
As we left, I was struck with the thought of how nice these people were. I loved them, and they went to our church even though I had never seen them before. It opened my eyes to the size of our church, and all the people it holds. There are amazing people out there everywhere, and so much closer than we ever expect. Brothers and sisters in Christ are all around us, and I think of the possibilities of unity and fellowship we often miss out on because we just don’t know. I think it’s an awesome thing to meet people who I share such a connection with.
Tonight was a lot of fun, and I hope just the beginning of great things to happen for our team this year.