Our High School Mission teams will be going to Memphis, TN this summer. We will be partnering with LeaderTreks and work with Open Door Bible Church and Streets Ministries in Tennessee. Our work will consist of local projects within the community designed around strengthening the influence of the Church in the community. In addition to our projects, we will host a 3-day VBS for the children in this community, designed to communicate the love of Christ to these children. The community is very impoverished, so we are looking forward to the opportunity to serve them in the name of Christ.
JULY 14-22, 2018
BLOG UPDATES
July 14, 2018
Memphis Round 2, Day 1: Tucson to Abilene, TX. Somehow we shaved 15 mins off of a 750 mile commute. We’re settled in at the KOA for the night. Tomorrow we’ll finish the leg to Memphis. This team is awesome, and ready to go. Anticipating great things this week!
July 15, 2018
Memphis Trip 2, Day 2: We finished the second leg of the trip from Abilene to Memphis. We were greeted in Memphis by a pretty wicked thunderstorm, which necessitated our introductory meeting happen in the McDonald’s lobby. $1100 of groceries from Walmart, and we are now settled in for the week. Tomorrow we hit the work site, followed by a visit to Streets Ministry in the afternoon. We’ve been forewarned about the intensity of the heat and humidity. We appreciate your prayers as we get our week started!
July 16, 2018
Today was our first day on the work site. Our team is building a fence for “Miss Irene” (pictured in the first photo). Irene lives in a very impoverished neighborhood, and she shared with us that on a recent trip out of town, her house was burglarized. It was incredible to see her gratitude as our team showed up to begin work on the fence. The afternoon was spent at Streets Ministry, where our students played basketball and dodgeball with kids in their program. It’s a weird feeling to be in a place that is so physically beautiful, yet marked by such brokenness. The two don’t seem compatible, yet they are here in Memphis. We are right where God wants us this week. Thanks for your prayers, we feel them!
July 17, 2018
Our team made incredible progress on the fence today. The afternoon was again spent at Streets Ministry. This evening, we had the incredible privilege to go back to the Calvary Rescue men’s shelter. Between both trips combined this summer, we will have traveled over 5,000 miles to have spent a total of about 3 hours at the mission. I think I speak for both teams when I say we’d do it again to spend even an hour there. It’s one of the most incredible places I’ve ever been. God’s restorative presence is so evident. I’m so incredibly proud of our students...today was about being present in the lives of so many who need hope. They did that so well. Thanks for your continued prayers, we feel so privileged to be here.
July 18, 2018
Our team had a shorter day on the work site, enabling us to spend the afternoon at a local chapter of the Neighborhood Christian Center in a nearby complex. There are too many amazing stories to try and retell them here...but our students did an amazing job of loving these kids. This program is run in 4 different complexes in the area, providing kids with opportunities they otherwise would not have. Moments like today remind me of how easy it is to love others. We tend to complicate Jesus at times...today it seemed easy. Opportunities like this exist everywhere. I’m hopeful it’s something our team will hang on to as we return home in a few days. Thanks for your continued prayers.