Tuesday

Day 2! It’s still warm here, but we’re all making sure we are drinking lots of water.

Today our schedules were a bit different than usual. We usually work at our sites till about 3:00 when we stop for showers, then back to the church for free time before dinner. In the evenings after dinner we usually have an offsite evening activity before club time (worship/announcements/message.) Today, our ‘evening activity’ was really an afternoon activity so we only worked till 1:00 today.

The Ones spent the morning at a ministry next door to the church where we are staying. It’s called CAIN , which stands for Churches Active In Northside. (The area where we are staying is called Northside.) This ministry is a huge food pantry that was started by one woman in the late 1970s and now serves about 400 people each month. What’s really great about this food pantry is that instead of just handing bags of food to people in need, those people come in and actually pick out their own food. They are given choices to be able to feed themselves and their families in an empowering way. It was our pleasure to be able to help these people make healthy choices. Along with assisting in picking out and bagging food, we also helped unload the food, worked in their garden and helped in the storage rooms.

The Salts were back at Us Bank Boys and Girls Club. Their day was very similar to yesterday. The kids they worked with were the same as yesterday. They were excited to be back. The girls love Drew and Caitlin’s hair still; braiding Drew’s hair into lots and lots of braids. Jeff even got in the jump rope line and was pretty successful at it! The Salts are really pouring their love out to these boys and girls at the club.  They are practicing patience and understanding.

We went to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for a few hours before dinner. This was an amazing place. We had a great docent who showed us around, explaining many of the exhibits. To me, knowing that all this happened at all, let alone only 150 years ago is very moving. I think our youth also enjoyed this activity. Many of the kids enjoyed that they’d learned about it in school and then got to learn more about it. They said it was a really great experience.

We talked tonight about how we invested our time and talents today. These kids are really jumping out of their normal behavior this week, talking with adults, working with people that are challenging, and finding God in any of the mundane things they were doing.  I know I say this a lot, but I LOVE working with these kids. They are really wonderful disciples. I can’t wait to serve with them again tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers.

(Sorry, no time to upload pictures today…)