Today was a day to stop, slow down and reflect on the events of the past few days. We weren’t able to go out on route today because of the rainy forecast, which I was super bummed about at first (especially because it ended up being a pretty nice day). Instead of being able to see God’s work in the streets today, we got to experience Him through being a part of the lives of the women and children here at the Garden. I finally felt like I got to know the kids here and have been extremely blessed by their joy and energy. They are each so friendly and give their love fearlessly. I was astonished to notice their passion and love for Christ that was even greater than their love for us. At Bible Time, many of them stayed and waited excitedly to open their Bibles to the next passage to follow along. Noticing this was a great encouragement. These kids could have a lot of things to complain about or worry about, but instead they choose to have a passion for God’s word. This says a lot about my own life and convicted me to rethink my own priorities. Besides hanging out with the kids, I loved to simply live a day in the life of the women in this ministry. Just like their kids, these women live to praise God despite their circumstances and there’s something really special about that. After dinner, our team, along with volunteers from the community came together to make and pack lunches for tomorrow’s route. The process was surprisingly efficient and fun. We cranked out 400 lunches in 50 minutes. I cannot wait to see how God continues to use this team for His kingdom work tomorrow and the rest of our trip.
~ Elie Steenwyk
Jan 2nd I ate breakfast with a lovely woman who goes by the name of “Sunshine.” She talked to me about what it was like to experience homelessness. She told me the best thing she was ever given by someone was a large blue tarp. She said it was extremely handy for keeping dry and/or warm. She told me she lost her daughter to suicide in May of 2015, she was only 25. She told me she carried around her daughters ashes in her backpack. One night as she was sleeping, both her backpacks were stolen from a random thief. Including the one containing her daughters ashes. She told me the hardest part of her spiritual journey was forgiving that thief. I sat there thinking to myself, “Now if she can forgive someone she has never met, then surely I can forgive anybody who has wronged me.” The best piece of advice she gave me was that people who are experiencing homelessness appreciate it most when you tell them they’re not alone. I used that advice on my routes and I hope to continue to use it on the route tomorrow.
~ Annie Cornette
This morning we were told that our routes would be canceled due to the heavy rain. We were all bummed because that is one of our favorite parts of the day. Today though the girls went down for Bible Studies and we learned about Love and Patience. The woman who was preaching, gave us many bible versus such as John 15:13. It describes how we should put others first and not focus on ourselves. Since God shows that he loves and cares for us we can give that back to others. The past couple of days I was able to go out and pray for others and show how much God loves us and that He will give you comfort in what is to come next in our journeys. Me personally I didn’t realize how much words can impact a persons life. It may not be something we think about but not just our actions are shown. It’s also amazing to see how people are so happy. I complain about so much and I shouldn’t, because seeing how people are so happy for a new pair of socks is amazing. We were able to come back to a hot shower and dry clothes. Others may not have that or even a roof over their heads. I am excited to go back on the routes tomorrow so that I can continue to show God's love!
~ Paige Warmus
We were blessed to be part of the men's and women's Bible studies today. Men met upstairs at 12:15 pm and 5:00 pm and the women met at the same time downstairs. This is a short clip of the guys right before the 5:00 pm Bible study.
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| A friendly game of "Guess Who" |
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| Lots of time with the kids this afternoon:) |
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| These ladies served everyone their meals tonight |
The awesome hour of lunch making, fellowshipping and listening to music is not captured in this short time-lapse video. What a cool operation - making 400 lunches! Tomorrow we will go out with 550 lunches!! So excited:)
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