Saturday: Bluff Route and Garden

The first full day in Atlanta was definitely an experience that will never be forgotten! More specifically, the kids were really eye opening, both at the Garden and the ones we met on the streets. The kids at the Garden are so much fun, and they are always looking for someome to play with. They open up to anyone right away, and immediately become attached. The faith of these kids struck all of us. They are constantly in Gods Word, and know many more verses than us. This definitely encouraged us and even put us to shame. These kids have new people coming every week, but yet have to say goodbye. This hurt is seen as they become attached right away, but yet care more about others than themselves. The children we met on the routes opened our eyes to a whole new world. They sang songs and prayed with us before they were given a lunch. They all had a constant smile on their face, and were so grateful. We were amazed at how a single pair of socks could make so happy! We were able to pray with them, give them lunches, hats, socks, coats, mittens, and play with them for a bit. Despite the hurt and pain, these kids were so happy and a smile never leaves their faces. It was truly a joy to be able to talk about God with them! We all had a blast with all the kids and are excited for the days ahead to spends with the them. Please continue to pray for the children, both in the Garden and those we meet on our routes!

~ Jocelyn Gartman

Atlanta's Environment: I honestly didn't expect what I saw today. I knew that this big city was going to look like there was a lot of poverty in it but I didn't think it was going to look like there was this much. As we all were in the van going to our first stop on route I was surprised by how much graffiti, boarded doors, barbed wire, warning signs, & metal bars were on the buildings there. Almost every house or building we saw had one or more of those things on them. I felt like I was in a movie, a daze, or a horrible nightmare. Sometimes we could even see some entrances to the houses & all I could see was loads of trash, dirty ripped carpet, & broken boards. Everywhere you'd look on the ground, there was trash. Mostly empty alcohol bottles & pill packets. The most trash was by people's houses in huge piles.

Right as we got into this part of the city my heart dropped. I felt so bad for the people who have to deal with all of this all the time. It made me come to a huge realization of how much we are GREATLY blessed. I knew we had better houses & materials than them but this experience hit me hard. It changed me in a way to really see for my own self that I could've been born in that part of a city, or in that household, or in that much poverty. A lot of the time I think I have hard tough struggles in life but now when I feel like I'm going through a rough time I can think of what I saw today & how they are in such a worse position than me & that I should continuously pray for God to provide & bless every one of them through their hard times.

~ Adriana Frank


Today I was super blessed when I was able to see pray with people I handed out lunches too. God opened my eyes to see how blessed and highly favored I am and how I should be grateful for everything i have. One person in specific I was thankful for was a woman named Tiana, who I helped pick our little girl children’s books for. She was very interested in seven bridges and asked me to pray for her to have strength to beat her addiction. To me, she already had so much more strength then I have and it touched me when she prayed for me as well. I am so blessed to be on this trip and I know God purposely had a plan in mind for when he put me on this trip.

~ Elliana Gonzalez

A little down time after breakfast.

A big thank you to Thrivent, Wigwam and all our family and friends that donated clothing and blankets.  We brought a lot!

Men from the ministry bagging up everything we brought.  Some of the socks and blankets were handed out today on route.

Yes, Robert fell on his back in a puddle while playing basketball:)

Some of the people that joined us for the day.

Going through orientation before going on route.

Nick went through the rules and told us what to expect.

Our van to the right. We went on the Bluff route.  The line on the left went on the Bridge route.

Our leaders praying us out.

One of the local Salvation Armies.

We had close to 50 people in our group today,

Prayer

Sam joined a few others in the middle to pray over this location and the people we would be serving

Prayer

These kids were super excited to receive lunches.

Adriana and Aidan prayed over this location before we handed out lunches and prayed with people.

In back of the Garden (church). Pastor 7 lives in the house on the right and the dormitory where the women and children live is the white building to the left of the church.

A peek on one of the floors. Each cubicle is a living space.

Playing games before devo time upstairs