Saturday Route

 
Today is our first full day in Atlanta. We woke up and ate breakfast, and then we made the lunches for the day, 350 to be exact. This was actually perfect because we gave the last trailer we visited our last 2  lunches. Making the lunches was a very fun part of the day as our whole group was together and it was actually pretty intense because we made all the lunches in less than an hour. We stopped at four different places on our route and each one was very impactful. It was eye opening to see the amount of poverty that so so many people live in, but being able to put a smile on their faces and bring prayer to them was something that I will never forget. We had a fantastic meal for dinner and ended our night with a great Bible study with just our group.

~ Caleb Hendrikse

Today our group visited a trailer park. It was the last stop on our route and, to me, the most impactful.  The beginning of our route consisted mainly of us dropping lunches off at tents under bridges to men. However, when we got to the trailer park, kids came running out to meet us with huge smiles. They brought energy and confidence to our group. We played with them and chatted, it was a simple and comfortable way to share the gospel. The eagerness of the kids to talk and grab lunches brought a lot of hope and joy to me. The living conditions we witnessed were terrible but the children had a joy enviable by everyone in our group. After route, we reflected on what we experienced during the day. There was a large number of people who noted the conditions the people were living in compared to their attitudes.  To us, it didn’t make sense. The joy of the people was completely independent of their circumstances, which was an inspiration to us all.

~ Amelia DuMez

We woke up this morning around 8 and ate breakfast before having personal devotions. After a little bit of free time, the boys and girls split into two groups. The guys met the men that lead the mission work in the city. It was crazy to me how young some of them are, especially after hearing that many of them had been in similar situations as the people we are helping and ministering to on this trip. We gathered in the sanctuary with them and one of them led a bunch of Scripture readings and prayers that we repeated out loud. This was super cool to me because it involved everyone and I could tell they were all excited to go out and spread God’s love throughout the day with the purpose of glorifying God through it. This rubbed off on me and got me really eager to go out and share the gospel and help those in need. We then met back up with the girls and spent about an hour preparing lunches that consisted off water, chips, sandwiches, cookies, and sometimes muffins. We got them all ready to be packed in the van so we could hand them out to the people we interacted with throughout the day. Soon after, we were all crammed into the van and began heading to our first destination, which was the house of a family. Teresa, a lady that lived there, was super excited to see us. It was her birthday so we sang her happy birthday and then a fun song about Jesus that we danced to. We also were able to give her family lunches and play basketball and football with the two youngest boys, Chosen and BJ. We then headed to an apartment building, filled with many families that were pretty young. We gave out lunches and prayed with many of them. I was able to pray with and get to know two boys that were a little bit younger than me, which was cool. Many of the kids there seemed super excited to have new people to play and run around with as well. We then got into the van and went to an area by and even underneath the highway that was filled with tents and sleeping areas. Our group gave lunches to many people and prayed with them as well as leaving lunches by many tents and praying for the people that live in them, although we weren’t able to meet them. We made our way across a few highways to different areas that were all similar. We even passed a spot that ran underneath a highway that had a few sleeping bags and clothes laying around. It was dirty and a rat even ran out through our group, which just humbled me once again and showed me some of the terrible living spaces that some people sleep in. I prayed with a man and woman in this area. It was sad to hear that the woman was worried about the weather because she didn’t have a sweater or jacket she could use in the future, which one of the men of 7 Bridges assured her they would bring next time. Many of the people I met in this area were very grateful and friendly. Lastly, we stopped at a trailer park. We gave meals to almost every family there and prayed with many of them. Many kids joined us as we went through the park and we played with them a bit as well. We also stopped into the woods and prayed, as a group, with some men who were living in a fort they built in the woods. Mr. Charles lived there and he was very appreciative of the meals we brought for him and his friends. After this stop, we headed back to the church, where we were able to shower before eating dinner with some of the families and ladies that live here in the church and we finished off our night with games and devotions. Overall, it was a great day full of new experiences. It really opened my eyes to how blessed I am and opened my heart more to the people that are less fortunate than me. I’m excited to get back out there on Monday and spread God’s love through different areas in Atlanta. God has also blessed us so far with great weather around 70 degrees, which we all appreciate coming from the freezing temps in Wisconsin. 

~ Andrew Grasse

The guys had the opportunity to join the men in the ministry up in the sanctuary to start the day.  The girls joined the ladies downstairs to do the same thing.

A time laps of our group joining the men in making 350 lunches for our route today.

Ready to start making lunches

300 + sandwiches coming right up!

Plenty of bologna

Bagging lunches

Getting ready to leave

Kim, Caleb and Ashley praying at our first stop

It was Teresa's birthday today, so we all sang Happy Birthday to her

A little hang out time with some of the kids who lived in the house

The shell of a car in the parking lot of an apartment complex (our 2nd stop)

Charlie, Nate and Kenneth praying over our next stop

We were able to hand out lunches and clothing

Praying with a couple high school students that lived at the complex

Maggie and Andrew

Praying over someone's sleeping area after dropping off a lunch

The "tent city" was temporarily displaces when the city came in, confiscated everything and then laid down large rocks everywhere.  People returned and were able to move the rocks. Some people built rock walls around their tents.  There were a lot of people living here.

Enjoying our time together

The trailer park was our final stop. We spent quite a bit of time here handing out lunches, talking with people and offering prayer.

This little guy thought he was pretty funny when he stole Mr. Hendrikse's hat

               This tent city / fort was off in the middle of some woods

The man on the left lived here. His name is Charles. He was a very pleasant person. He enjoyed talking to us and was very thankful for the food and prayer.  He thought it was pretty cool we came all the way from Wisconsin.

Back at 7 Bridges. Right before supper there is a Bible study each night. Tonight, some students from our team read the 7 Bridges (scriptures) that are foundational to the ministry.

Kim was asked to pray for our meal

Clean-up time