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.
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