"Greater things have yet to come, Greater things are still to be done in this city"

Well, another week has passed here in Memphis. God is still doing great things here and I’m still just as amazed at his awesomeness and his strength. This last week I think I learned more on what it means to be fully reliant on God, and how to trust in Him to provide strength and encouragement. It was a very rough week for me and I was ready to just quit and go home. But through God’s strength and His promises I was able to pull through. This week I felt like I was starting to fully understand what James means in chapter one when he talks about considering it pure joy when we face trials of any kind. This week my dad was admitted to the hospital for reasons that are still unknown. It is very hard for me to be here in Memphis while I know he is struggling and suffering in the hospital and that my family is going through all this. But I know that God has called me here in Memphis and that He has great things planned for me. I have also been able to see how God uses the struggles and trials that I am going through to stretch and grow my faith. I’m thankful for that because I know that I will be a stronger Christian because of it and that it will be a testament of His faithfulness. 

This last week I also learned a lot about my passions. I love Jr. High students and have a passion to see them grow and learn more about Jesus and deepen their faith. I got the amazing chance to learn about leadership and how it can benefit even younger students. I cannot wait to apply what I am learning back home in RUSH. It’s exciting to feel God changing my heart and preparing me for the great things he has planned for me. 

The worksite is going well and a lot of work is getting done. With only two weeks left of the summer it’s down to crunch time. Erin is very pleased with how the house is looking and that of course is encouraging for me and our team. 

I just want to end this blog post with requesting for a lot of prayer. I need the strength to continue to pour into students and teach truth into their lives. Also for my dad and family that the doctors would have the wisdom to figure out what is wrong with him and for comfort for my family. It is hard for them to see him like this, and it’s hard for me to be so far away. I really appreciate all the prayers and support. I will update this again next weekend and let y’all know what else is going down in Memphis.

Maybe it was Memphis

Wow, another week has gone by and the summer is more than half over. It’s hard to believe that there are only 3 teams left. I am continually amazed at how much work these teams can get done on Erin’s house. This last team got a lot of our bigger outside projects done, which is great because now we can focus on the roof and the dry wall. With only 3 teams left I am starting to feel a greater sense of urgency to get the house completed. I want to be sure that Erin will have a place to live in this neighborhood soon after school begins. Her house is going to be such a ministry tool and I cannot wait to hear what all happens there!

The place where we did VBS this last week was a community center that had a day camp or something similar, there did not seem like there was much structure to it, or enough staff. They welcomed us in with open arms and let the students take full control. And I mean they sat in the staff room while our students ran the program. Guess we gave them a nice 2 hour break during the day. The students did such a great job jumping right in and taking the lead at VBS. These kids are pretty rough and they seemed to always be getting into fights, but our students jumped in and even started breaking up fights and trying to get the kids to do other things. Some of the students were able to build great relationships with the kids and one girl student ended up spending everyday with the same girl at VBS. That was cool to see because this girl kept asking questions about God and just trying to figure out why we were there to play with them. The student was able to answer all the questions and eventually even helped lead the girl to Christ. It was awesome to watch the interactions between students and kids even if it was just a simple piggy back ride the kids felt very loved by the students. 

During our break week we found out that a boy who lives here in Memphis was shot and killed. He was friends with the boys we hang out with and also was a great student who kept himself out of trouble. It turns out that he was mistaken as someone else and was killed by a gang. We got to hang out with some of his friends after the fact and their reactions are what I found interesting and also sad. One boy said that it just didn’t feel real because good kids like that shouldn’t die because of gangs. But at the same time, all the guys said that it is common to hear gun shots or to see on the news that another person has died in a gun fight. This really breaks my heart because no one should become that used to death. Especially high school students, death should break the heart. Hearing about all of this opened my eyes even more to what life in Memphis is really like. I ask that everyone would pray for Memphis and the people living here. These young kids see and hear more than they should and it is just not always a safe place. I am often praying for more light and good influence to come to these neighborhoods. 

The best moment on this last trip, in my opinion, was Thursday night when we had a really bad storm during team time and then later the power went out. Now I am pretty scared of darkness, especially in a church that is very large and I’m still not 100% comfortable in, but having the lights go out and seeing how the students responded was very cool to me. We were able to get a bunch of flashlights into the room we were in and sang some worship songs and did our encouragement circle. After that we split off into small groups and had a prayer time. What I realized during that time is it only takes one light to brighten up a room. And I thought of it in a Christian sense. We are called lights of the world and we are called to go out into darkness. While sitting in a room with a single flashlight pointed up to the ceiling I realized that I could see the entire room, and realized that this is what we are doing right here in Memphis. We are going out into a dark place and we are bringing the light. And even though it might be a smaller group we still bring a great light. This was a cool moment for me to realize this and I think it got me back on fire to be here and to be working in the neighborhood. 

My prayer requests for this week are that I can continue to be excited and energetic on the worksite, even if my job isn’t the most fun job. Also to keep pouring into students and to dig deeper into their lives so I can challenge them in their leadership. God is doing great things in my life and also here in Memphis, and I’m so glad that I can share them with everyone else.

Ohhh We're half way there...

Ohhhh. Living on a prayer. 

I feel like that part of the song very appropriately fits to this point in my summer. The whole summer I have been focusing on how prayer can shape and change things. And I’ll be the first to tell anyone that prayer is very powerful. It has been the thing that I look forward to every morning during my quiet time, and also the first thing I do when I can tell my attitude is getting bad. The summer is half over, and it sure has flown by! It’s hard to believe that 4 teams have already come through Memphis and have left such an impact not only on the city, but also in my heart. Watching students give up a week of their summer to come somewhere so hot and humid to work continues to blow my mind. I know I did it as a student, but to see so many be willing is just unbelievable. There is so much that has happened since my last update so I guess I’ll just get started in sharing. 

Like I said earlier, this whole summer has been focused on prayer and it has been so cool to see how through the prayers that we have said prior to the trips and the prayers during the trip students lives have been changed. I have had so many conversations with students where they have said that they have felt closer to God during the trip because of prayer and how prayer has become something that is fun for them. That makes my heart so happy to hear. Who wouldn’t love to talk to their Father in heaven? Also, watching students who are only in jr. high make such deep connections with the Bible and grow so much makes me realize how wrong society is to judge younger people. God is going to do great things through people who society looks down upon, or who society thinks isn’t good enough. I’m realizing now that these jr high and high school students are the people God is going to start using. I think of the song Hosanna by HillSong, it says “I see a generation rising up to take their place, with selfless faith, selfless faith. I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek, we’re on our knees, and we’re on our knees.” A generation is rising up and they are coming strong! To know that all over the country and in some other countries there are students serving God and helping those who have less than them is a clear sign that these students get it! And they are going to go back to their schools and they have the ability to start something huge. And I have full faith in them that they will. 

These past two weeks the students have been working very hard on a house for an elderly lady, since we hit a few bumps in the road with the original house. It’s been cool to watch because this lady just lost her husband about a month ago and we are studying James and in James chapter 1 verse 27 it says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and too keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Being able to live out such a verse is amazing and to point that out to students is even better. We not only got to help a widow but the kids we do VBS with usually come from single parent homes and do not get a lot of attention, some might call them almost an orphan. It’s been a very rewarding experience getting to help these people and to see the looks of gratitude in their eyes, and to see how much the kids love the attention and just love that we are around, fills my heart with such a great joy. 

I’m fairly sure we have also been able to experience a miracle as great as when Jesus fed the 5,000. One team got to do their own food shopping and we gave them a budget. They did not spend even half of the budget and when we calculated it they spent $11 per person for the week. That’s less than $2 a day (which is like a third world country).  We were all expecting the students to be hungry or for there to not be enough food, but through God alone everyone ate enough and food did not run out! Pretty amazing to me and I know that it was all God, because I have done the food shopping and there was not enough food in their carts to feed all of us. But, that is why God is good! 

We’ve had a break week this week and it has been great to just relax and enjoy time with just Julie and Colton. We have been able to see different things in Memphis and also hang out with Steve and Victoria and Erin. Since we have been hanging out with people from Memphis so much, y’all has become a part of my everyday language. J Our next team comes in Sunday then before we know it; it’ll be time to leave Memphis and head back home. It is crazy to me how quickly this summer has gone by but yet how long ago the first week seems. 

I hope everyone is having a great summer. Please continue praying for me and the team as we rest and prepare for the next group. Pray for safe travels as they drive to Memphis Sunday. Also, just pray for Memphis, God is at work here but there is still darkness. Thanks for the prayers, I greatly appreciate them!