Monday - On Route

Today, after breakfast and a little down time, we had the opportunity to make the lunches we hand out to the homeless people.  A group of a couple people went to each of the tables which were already set up with all the foods that we needed to pack in the bags. There were peanut butter jelly sandwiches, chips, water, cookies, and small candy canes. Each of these items were packed in separate bags, and once we hit ten bags each we placed them in a bigger bag which we would bring along on the routes to hand out to the homeless. At the end of the routes we gathered outside of the church on benches and debriefed while we ate the lunches we made. During the debrief we blessed the food, then Nick asked us a bunch of questions like, how did your expectations change from the beginning of the route to now, and he asked us how we will carry what we did here back home with us. After all the questions were answered, we closed in prayer and went inside out of the cold.  This impacted me because even the small amount of food we packed had the biggest impact on some of those peoples lives, and some people would take that for granted saying its not enough or not the food they wanted, but the people we met today couldn't have been more thankful for what the received.

~ Amy Scheidt


On the routes today, we passed out lunches, prayed with people and encourages them. When we started passing out the lunches we were getting really cold while the people we gave the lunches to weren't wearing much clothes. As we prayed with them a lot of them didn't want prayer for themselves, but more for there families and friends. These people with hardly anything cared about other people even when they had nothing to eat or wear. We also encouraged them to put there hope in Jesus to get them through this hard time. One man stood out to me and impacted me so much because he was happy. This man named Mark had crutches and was only under one blanket, but was super happy to see us. When we came over he said "Ya'll ready to pray" and it was just so great to hear that instead of just him wanting a lunch. I ended up giving him a lunch but I feel like he was happier to see us there then us bringing him food. This trip has also impacted me to be happy in what I feel like are hard circumstances for me, because there are people out there who have close to nothing and still seem to live everyday with joy.
 
~ Julia Du Mez


After we got back from our route and took showers it was Bible Time. The message was talking about the apocalypse and Jesus' return. One of the verses that was stressed was Revelation 3:10. It states, "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth." The message said that we are put on this earth for God's will and we will go through trials and tribulations because that comes with being followers of Christ. The verse says that since we followed God's command and we waited patiently he will put the earth on trial and test the whole world to see who followed his commands and who did not. This impacted me because even though we go through all of these hard or tough times, we can still seek comfort in God and follow his commands. Also it made me realize that I don't have a reason to be scared when the end comes, because we just have to follow God's plan for our lives.

~ Makayla Pugh

More to come!!

Ready to head out!

Directions before going under the bridges

"The Bridge to Nowhere" (Half of it was torn away.  When you get to that part there is a 30 foot drop off where the bridge ends)

Probably one of the biggest dogs I've seen.  A happy puppy walking around in his shirt:)

Debriefing after our route...  At this time we ate the same lunches we prepared for those we met on the route.