This past week has been full of experiences, wisdom, and information. I don’t want to jump to the most recent, although it would be exciting to write about! Now that I think about it, so much has happened since I last wrote. Let me break it down (now).
Friday June 25th:
This day was busy, but laid-back as well, if that makes any sense. I got up that morning to do laundry which was actually a pretty frustrating experience. After doing laundry, I had some one on one time with my discipler over lunch. I told her a little bit about how my experience had been going and some about my personal life. After about an hour, another girl joined us and we discussed our previous weeks and did a bible study. We talked about what love really is and referenced Romans 12:9-18 to consider love. Love is sincere, full of zeal, rejoice, patience, and many other things. Later that night, the whole project went to the Mets vs. Twins baseball game. It was fun to all be together, to enjoy each other’s company, and to watch some baseball!
That weekend I did many fun things (since weekends are generally free time). On Saturday, I got to visit my dear cousin in the Upper West Side. Getting there took me about an hour from where I am living and I was late! Whoops. She was gracious about it. I enjoyed delicious whole wheat pancakes, peaches, and blueberries with her and some of her friends. After her friends left, we were able to spend a couple hours together before she needed to start studying for her test. It was some sweet time since I rarely see her. Afterwards, I hopped on the train again and headed back home to wait for a friend. My friend and I went to a coffeeshop to journal and talk about our first week and what God has been doing. Then, later that night we went to a woman’s apartment (who had previously been on the same project) to eat dinner.
It was a fun time with some of the other girls; laughing, sitting on the roof and staring at the skyline, and enjoying home cooked food. I really enjoyed the time there and seeing the faith the woman had that God wanted her in New York. The next day (Sunday), we went to a church called Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem. The church service was so joyful, upbeat, and honest. One of the main messages was that God will use my past to reshape me and to bless others. I thought that was a good reminder. Afterwards, a group of us went to a soul food restaurant, Amy Ruth’s, and many of them had chicken and waffles. I enjoyed seeing them experience that for the first time. Sunday nights we have a track meeting where we reflect on the previous week and look forward to our next sites…Speaking of ministry sites, our second site was called Rehoboth Church! It is located in a Caribbean neighborhood of Brooklyn. This was our second week in Brooklyn and it has latched onto my heart—I am fond of Brooklyn now. Our job at this church was to spend time with the children and do a devotional with them. We shared the stories of Jonah, David and Saul, Jesus, and one other. We wanted to share stories about obedience, responding in love and God’s greatest love act for us…Jesus.
Each day proved to be a little easier than the first, but still not without a lot of difficulty. A lot of the children like to run around and there is not a bunch of space. Additionally, most of them are in elementary school (a few are older), yet some of their innocence is gone. They tended to resort to violence, so we had to attempt to break up a lot of fights. Sometimes it was tiring, sometimes it was joyful and full of laughter, and frustrating. However, these kids took a piece of me and it was unfortunate that we did not have more time with them. We got four full days, but that’s not much. The last day we were able to enjoy the park with them. Some of our fellow track members will get the blessing of spending a week with them. It was not just work—it was a great reminder of God’s love not just for people, but for children. I feel like the church blessed us more than we blessed them—they were so good to us. They supplied us with meals every day (sometimes two meals), were concerned about our safety, and gifted us with t-shirts when we left. They were so good to us, but now that I think it about it, this just parallels God’s love for us. God’s love is greater than we deserve; greater than we expect. Besides ministry site time, we had some meetings this week. At our Monday night meeting (MNM), we heard about confession and resolution. More specifically, how keeping sin to yourself creates a barrier between you and God…a barrier which can and has been removed time and time again. Unconfessed sin or problems between individuals can create issues too. It is best to bring it to the forefront and allow God to renew you in Jesus’ blood. Tuesday morning, we had bible study and were reminded that everyone has different types of struggles. However, we can come alongside them and offer hope and try to fulfill their spiritual and social needs. More specifically, we spoke of the financial struggles some have and how much we have the power to help them. We have been blessed, so what can we do in response and thanks?
Thursday and Friday we had a speaker called Sy Rogers who spoke about a MULTITUDE of things. It was great, encouraging, and a lot to take in. I’m still reflecting. Next blog entry, I will talk about what I learned from that.
Please continue to pray for what we do here. We have two weeks of ministry site work left- I don’t want to lose gusto, love, or energy. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Pray for unity on my team, track, and project. We also have a homeless outreach on Monday with the whole project. May we reach out to people without judgment, but with love and understanding. Until next time…which will be soon! Lots of love.
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