On a mission..

Wow, its been awhile since I've blogged. Ever since coming back from Spring Break it seems there was something always going on.

This year on Spring Break; Deon, Savannah and myself went on a mission trip with our church, Grace Community Church. Deon drove the church bus, and three more adults (Gaye, Bro Billy and Julie) and the youth. (Which I cannot remember how many total, I believe 16 or 19 counting adults) We left on a Saturday afternoon, and drove to Chattanooga TN. We arrived that evening to this place called Inner City for Hope. While driving to the place we could tell by the surroundings that it was a rough neighborhood. The place we stayed at was surrounded by barb wire, and the gates were locked at night. We arrived to meet Robert who was going to be telling us what we were going to be doing the 4 days we were there. After having a short talk with him, we went to our room. The guys on one side and the girls on the other. Their was a gym so the kids usually went and played basketball, or we sat in our rooms and chatted. We also found this first night there, that there was NO HOT water, that's right we were going to have to take COLD showers!!

Sunday, we got up and ate breakfast and then had training sessions before we went to church. We had to be TRAINED before going and doing the mission. There were things we couldn't wear and couldn't say. We also learned what Inner City did for the people in the neighborhood. We then went to church, and came back to have lunch. After lunch we had a few more training sessions we did. Then we had free time till supper.

Monday, we ate breakfast, would do a devotion and we would then have a praise and worship. Then we went to help clean a church building that was being sold. The man who opened church had passed away and the wife was selling the building. We made our sandwiches for lunch before we left so we ate lunch at the church. After that we came back, and free time before our next meeting with Robert. After meeting with Robert he then took us into the neighborhood, where we walked through a very rough neighborhood that people like to call it "the hood". We were walking to pick some children from the Boys and Girls Club, to bring them back to the Inner City building to do a bible club, where our youth taught the kids about the bible, they did some dances and did a skit for the children, and after that the kids got cookies and juice. These kids were wild and ran all over the place, and were hard to keep still for short time, but over all they did very well. We then had to walk the kids back to the Boys and Girls Club to drop them off. It was a very interesting experience for all. We got back and had to meet with Robert, and the youth talked to him about how they thought it all went. We then had free time before supper.

Tuesday, same routine for the morning, this time our mission was to clean up the outside of the Inner City lawn. The youth raked grass, weeded, trimmed bushes. Deon found out their was a van they had that had been sitting in the parking lot for a year. He figured out it needed a water pump, so he fixed that for them. We ate lunch and went back outside (which the weather was absolutely beautiful while we were there) and we finished up the outside. We had started at the front of the building which is right by the road, most of the kids had moved to the side and started raking etc. Gaye and myself and couple of the girls were sitting on the front step resting and talking. We all the sudden heard these LOUD nosies, which sounded like fire crackers at first, but then its like it us all at once, that NO that wasn't fire crackers. Gaye looked at me while jumping up from the step and said "That aint good" and took off running to the side and tucked in and followed along with the girls. We then knew that there had been a SHOOTING! We all stood around and talked about what we experienced. Everyone very shocked! Robert comes out later to check on our progress and we tell him what had happened. He at that point knew nothing about it, went in to find out the details. Later on during the day, he finds out there was a shooting and it was a half a block away from us!!! He then decides of course it isn't safe for us to walk in the neighborhood that day. So the kids are getting stir crazy and want to get out and go into Chattanooga but we then agree that we would go get a movie and some popcorn. They all liked that. So Deon, Gaye and myself go find a K Mart and buy a movie, popcorn and drinks. They all piled up in one of the rooms where were doing our meetings which had a TV, and watched a movie.

Wednesday, same routine in the morning, this was our last day taking COLD showers at Inner City because this was the day we were leaving. We met with Robert one last time, and he spoke with the youth about what all happened during the week. The adults met with a man (cannot remember his name) about youth activities that we could be doing. We then left Inner City and went to Covenant College which in on top of Look Out Mountain. Gorgeous school! We got a tour of the school, and ate lunch at the school. Everyone had good time there. After leaving there we were headed home. We made home safely and was so happy to be back home so we could take a HOT shower!! This was my first mission trip and I'll never forget it. : )