Sunday - New Year's Eve!

Okay.  I apologize for not having the blog up to date, but yesterday was busy and we didn't get to bed until 1:20 am.  Tonight the guys will be leaving our site and going out on buses to pick up those that are homeless to transport them to a nearby church.  It's forecasted to get down into the low teens tonight, so we are going to come alongside another church and pick up an estimated 100+ people tonight.  Our guys will be helping blow up air mattresses, doing crowd control, being eyes and assisting church volunteers in any way we can.  We will be eating a meal with all we pick up and then spending the night on-duty at the other church.  We should get back early enough tomorrow to prepare to go on route again.  We will update the blog when we are able. Please pray for energy and warmth, open eyes and changed hearts!

Blessings,

Mr. Hendrikse

* I provided a few updates now.  More to come on our day today (Monday).



On Sunday morning we had the church service. It was definitely different from our church services at home, but was a really cool experience. During the service, a few of the kids were allowed to sit with us. I had this crazy little girl named Skylar sit on my lap and two little boys playing with my hair for part of it. Skylar ended up falling asleep on my lap and threatened to put a few of us in jail haha. The church service included a devotional, an interpretive dance, a lady singing, a sermon, and communion. For communion, the women went first. They circled around to the back of the church, dipped a cracker in grape juice and then sat down. When they were done the men followed. After you ate your cracker, a man would give you a fist bump and say, “God Bless!” It was a unique experience and I enjoyed it. Throughout the entire service you could hear numerous “Amens!” and “Hallelujahs!”. Even the kids got into the service and said their share. After the service we all ate lunch together and had fellowship. The whole morning was an amazing experience and I’m glad I got to enjoy it!

~ Natalie Grasse

After church we all went downstairs to eat with everyone. After everyone was done eating, we helped clean the tables and sweep the floors. Then we sat around and rested for a while. The kids were all napping for the afternoon so then we left to go out to the city. We all decided to go to the Coke Museum. We parked and all walked over to the museum, some without coats even though it was very cold. We got to the museum and immediately got a coke and looked at a ton off antiques, and watched a cool video. They then took us into a huge room and we went in our groups and explored the vault, which is where they tell you the history on the Coke recipe. We also watched a 4D movie that told us what coke really is and how we can have experiences and joy and memories with coke. Finishing off we were able to go into the tasting room where you could try over one hundred coke or coke products, even chocolate cherry coke. We then went to the Varsity which is a huge fast food restaurant with burgers, fries, hot dogs, chili dogs, slaw dogs, onion rings, and the whole shebang. We then went back to the church and had a church service about not worrying about tomorrow and trusting in God. We closed the service by going into prayer. Many went down to the front and got on their knees to pray. The pastor then prayed us into the new year. After saying happy New Year to everyone, the women went back to their beds and we had a mini party with sparkling grape juice. We finally went to bed around 1:20 am.


~ Megan Moeller

 

Getting ready for church

Shirts that smell like different flavors of Coke.

We happened to meet up with Nick, his mom and another mom with her two daughters at the Varsity.

I won't say who asked if this was a caution sign for slipping:)

New Year's Eve service:)