Today is a day that will be remembered. Today we went on a night route, which is something that the groups from our school have never done. It was a pretty different experience than the Saturday route for a couple reasons. First it was just our group that went and not also people from the community. Second, we went to places that we needed to seek out the people rather than them come to us. The people that we met on this route were some amazing people. They had great stories to share, but also some were heartbreaking. One person specifically was a man named Abraham. He is going through a great deal right now by not being about to get a job or stay in any shelters due to a problem with his arm. This is weighing him down greatly, but he asked for help from the Ministry Ministry. This was the first time we saw this and it was pretty incredible. A little later some girls and I prayed with a man named Bob and his wife Barb. They also asked the ministry for help. Both of these two experiences were very encouraging that the people we are talking to on our routes can find hope and get out of there situations if the seek God. This was truly and experience that will never be forgotten by any of us.
~ Maddie Zylstra
During some of our down time this afternoon we all went outside to play with the kids. Outside 7 Bridges there is a basketball hoop and then a hill with different play structures on the top. Towards the beginning of our time outside everyone was just playing lightning and trying to “move the puddles.” Since I wasn’t very fond of playing lightning or horse, I took one of three siblings, Faith up the hill to play on the structures. Then we came across a huge stick that she seem infatuated with and which she dragged across the hill - so much joy in such a young little girl. Then her brothers came up the hill along with a few others from our group. Jonathan who is maybe a year or two older than her insisted on playing “polar express.” So all of us lined up and walked up and down the hill collecting more people to add unto the train. (Including Mr. Hendrikse) I think that it is so amazing how God can use children to bring happiness to so many people. After that we went on a night route, which really opened my eyeballs to how blessed we are and how inappropriate it is to complain about small little problems in our lives. The people we passed out food to and prayed for barely have anything and have to live 24/7 on the streets in those conditions. We thankfully have warm houses, live in safe neighborhoods and enough money to buy food.
~ Emilie Ackley
Today we had the first night route our group has ever done, we had to pack lunches for the bridge route. Sam and I started by grabbing the drinks and getting some of the prep work done. We packed snacks and drinks first and we made bologna sandwiches and even though Grace hated bologna the people on the streets enjoyed it. We had to do some clean up work before that and it wasn't as bad as at home cause we did it for others and with some dandy people.
~ Jonathan DuMez
Today was a good day for our group. You can get a glimpse of what it was like by reading the posts above and checking out our pics, but I just wanted to add a couple comments about our night. I know some of us were a little nervous to go on the night route, but it was such a blessing to see how everyone responded to the different people we met along the route. We saw people living in some pretty tough circumstances. Under one of the bridges there was little tent city and the stench of urine was incredibly strong. We all came back sharing names of individuals we prayed with along with stories we heard. Definitely gives us a greater appreciation for what we have and how blessed we are to live where we live and be a part of the Christian community. We had a little downtime to play games and hang out after dinner. We joined all the men in the ministry and all the women who live here for a New Year's Eve service at 11:00 pm. Pastor 7 talked about leaving the past behind, giving it to God and moving forward making God the lord of our lives as we enter the new year. A new year and a new beginning! Everyone came forward after writing down something that was standing between them and God, a sin or a struggle. Everything written down was nailed to the cross in front and then the cross was taken outside and we all took one of the papers off the cross and threw it in the fire. We brought in the new year while on our knees in prayer.
Happy New Year!
~ Mr. Hendrikse
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| Stayed at The Garden this morning and helped with some chores |
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| Digging a ditch for some drain tile |
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| The front of the church |
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| Helpin' out the guys |
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| Starting to count and sort snacks for lunches |
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| Bologna sandwiches... |
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| Putting lunches together |
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| A little journal time |
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| David leads the Bible study before lunch |
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| Jocelyn and Faith |
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| This train stayed together quite a long time as Jonathan (red jacket) directed the Polar Express to the North Pole |
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| Maddie and Gabriel |
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| Adriana and Sabrina |
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| Hang out time before leaving for route |
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| Loading up after prayer for Night Route |
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| The "Bridge to Nowhere" |
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| Joe was adamant we look up when we offered prayer, because "Nothing is down there but dirt and mud." |
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| A group shot with our leaders before heading back |
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| Got back around 7:30 and supper was waiting for our group |
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| A little game time |
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| Jocelyn and Rocky (Raquell) |
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| Pastor 7 led the New Year's Eve service, bringing us into the new year |
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| A pic with Nick and Jess:) |
