More from the kids. . .

From Caitlin
A couple of days ago our group went to the subway to hand out lunches to the homeless. I was in a group with RJ and Aaron. We walked around for a little bit but we couldn't find anyone to talk to and give a lunch to. So we went to Brittany our host and she gave us a few places to look. We took one way and we found a dunkin donuts. Aaron, RJ, and I got a soda and RJ wanted a donut. We went up to pay and RJ order the donut he wanted. The cashier asked, "what else do you want?" and RJ said that's it. The cashier said that he was closing and we could have whatever we wanted. But we didn't know what to get so the cashier started grabbing random donuts. He gave us about 10 donuts. We walked out and saw a guy and we walked up to him. Aaron asked if he wanted a donut and he said that he was very hungry so Aaron asked if he wanted the whole bag and the guy said yes. But then I had the idea to give him a bag lunch. He was very grateful. Aaron asked if we could pray for him and if he had any prayer requests.The guy told us his name (Gerald) and asked if we could pray right there. We said of course. We prayed and then Aaron asked Gerald if he wanted a Bible and he said yes.


From Allie
One night we were at the subway and I met this girl named Ella. That night she lost her Bible on the Subway. So I asked her would you like a Bible but at first she hesitated about it. I asked again and she was still not sure if she wanted it. "She asked is the bible big print " I said no its small print. She looked at it. Ella said I am sad I lost my bible. I said would you like to keep the bible? Ella said yes I would love a new bible.


From Douglas
I enjoyed "Ray of Hope". I enjoyed cleaning up the trash in the city mainly because it was fun and it showed them and people that we cared.


From Ella
I had a lot of fun serving others on this trip. I really liked when we helped the kids at Honickman Learning Center and playing games with them.


From Brent
Friday we started the day out with working at the Inglis house which is a wheelchair bound community which was a cool experience and we socialized with the people there and helped set up for a Phillies party which overall was a fun experience for all of us


From Cole
Something that chanllenged me this trip was "talking" to a mute man at St. John's hospice. I sat down trying to be social at the end of our service because most people were filing out after eating. So me, being my social self, went and sat down next to a man. I began to talk and I soon realized that he was mute I had to ask him yes or no questions. It seemed like he was getting more comedy than I was getting answers Our conversation or charades, as you could call it, was interesting and the highlight of my day.

DC 08 Day 5 - March 28

Well, this was our last day. We started early in the morning with our "8 minutes with our Best Friend" devos time and chores around "Star", the CSM facilities that we have stayed in all week. Then it was off to the Capital Area Food Bank to work a 9-12 shift. We packed boxes full of items that will be picked up by area food distribution centers, food pantries and facilities that provide for the needy in the DC area. Many of the places that we worked in the kitchens earlier in the week actually get some of their food from the Capital Area Food Bank! This is true of Food & Friends where we began work on Monday - so in reality we came full circle today. We worked hard packing boxes of like kind products till they were full, taping and labeling them and then placing them on the appropriate palate to be wrapped and taken to the ware house. We prayed over the items that we were packing and the people that will recieve them. After our shift was up, we went back to "Star" to eat a bite for lunch, say goodbye to our CSM hosts and load the vehicles. Next, it was off to see the US White House with cherry blossoms in bloom. And, then the group voted to head back to Union Station - this time with money in hand to do some shopping. We headed out of DC and into Maryland where we arrived for dinner and a show at Medieval Times. We had a group picture taken with "the King" of the castle while we were all wearing our yellow and red crowns. (I haven't scanned this yet to put on the site, but I will.) You could label it the "Kings of Christine" as one of the organizations we worked this week had posted on their bulletin board that listed volunteers for the day. We did also go through the small museum of Medieval Torture devices at Medieval Times. It was a teachable moment for our students as they heard that these were items used on many Christian martyrs during the middle ages and even some still today in places like China. Dispite that sobering thought, the dinner and show was a great entertaining way to end a week of hard work and services to others. We pulled into King's parking lot a little before midnight Friday, dog tired and totally satisfied with great experiences serving others, impacting our world for Christ! Thank you for your faithful prayers, encouraging comments and wonderful support that made this week possible. Please, continue to pray for all of us that God will grow our hearts and spirits through this so that we will keep on serving others now while back at home! Ephesians 3:14-21 We will do at least 2 follow up group sessions and have a chapel reporting service in the coming weeks. Keep checking the blog for posts about these! God bless you, all!

DC 08 Day 4, March 27

Today was a little different. After an 8 minutes with our best friend and a prayer time that started with reading Jesus' prayer for us from John 17:6-9 and 20-29, we headed out from "Star" at about 9:00 and arrived at the DC Downtown Clusters Senior Adult Day Care Center. This was formed through a group of several area downtown churches. It is a program for lower income seniors and Alzhiemer's seniors to come and have interaction and stimulation during the day when their families are away from home at work. First, we helped unload the buses as they arrived and then we sat at tables and visited with the participants. Soon it was time to feed one group that was heading back out to attend a movie. We each got to hear all kinds of stories from these wonderful seniors. Some of them had been college professors and others professional musicians. Many of them had been hard working people. They were originally from all over the US and even one man from India. There were even two that through coming to the program had gotten to know each other well and become sweethearts. The man gave the lady a piece of jewelry today in a velvet jewelry box and she was just beaming! Many of them told us about their church experiences and faith. We were able to give them company and encouraging words. After the movie goers loaded bus, we went back and joined the rest of the group (most of whom had dementia or Alzhiemers) for a drummer's presentation & rhythm session. It was so wonderful to see how music could perk some that had been very lathargic earlier. They got to play tamborines, marrocos, and bongo drums all together. Some of us even joined in. Then it was time to help this group to the dining room and serve them their lunch. We left and headed on to the Pravilion (the old DC Post Office Building) for ours. After lunch, we arrived at our ROJA sites for our last day with these precious children. We help them with their homework and they wrestle, run, play, laugh and wear us out in the best of ways! What a pleasure to be able to tell these children that Jesus loves them and that we will be praying for them! For many of the them, the snack that we helped serve them will be all the food that they get this evening. For most, without the program, their homework would never get done. This program exists with very little funding or supplies. It has room for improvement, but is so much better than the alternative of nothing constructive or safe for these children. Tonight we ate at Ben's Chili Bowl - everyone loved this experience! Ben's is Bill Cosby's favorite restraunt in DC. It's been around since the 40s and 50s. Most of us ate the famous "half smoke" chili dog. It is actually a cross between an Italian Sausage and a braut split down the middle and covered with chili and toppings. We also had chili/cheese fries. Last week there was a new Russel Crow movie filming here at Ben's which is also the site in a scene in the movie the Pelican Brief. On the wall were all kinds of stars' pictures and autographs. We came back to "Star" and had our final debriefing....we wrote poetry to express our experiences and encouraged each other by writing comments on our name papers for each other. We are all thinking about what kind of changes we might make in our lives to be able to serve others on a more regular basis while at home.

DC 08 Day 3 - Wednesday, March 26

Wow! Wednesday - again - we packed it in! This day we started out early and arrived at SOME (So Others May Eat) to work their breakfast shift. SOME is a ministry in downtown that provides many services to the homeless. They provide two hot meals a day, showers, job training, medical services, low-income housing and much, much more. They strive to offer all services with dignity. The tables are set with flower arrangements, food served off of printed table cloths, and each person greeted with a handshake and smile as they enter. Marines were volunteering the same shift that we volunteered to serve. We set tables, poured drinks, dished up food, and washed dishes for three or four different groups this morning. One group would file in and eat. Then we would clear and clean and reset the tables and the next group would arrive. It was good to get to see the people that we were serving face to face! We stopped at Starbucks and then headed on to St. Thomas More - a low income nursing home. We spent an hour and a half visiting the resident's rooms and just giving them some company. Yeoi Bin brought her flute and played for some of the residents. We met many people and heard many stories. We prayed with most of them prior to leaving. One, Mr. Jackson, had both feet bandaged up and wore only a hospital gown because he had been robbed and attacked prior to coming to this facility and owned nothing else! Then it was lunch and off to ROJA, the two afterschool programs to work with the kids. There we helped with homework, talked to them and played a bunch! The evening was filled with dinner at Wok -n- Roll in China Town. We had our leftovers boxed up and went out in the streets to find a homeless person to bless with the packages. Next we went on to the Lincoln Memorial where we debriefed for the day. What a place to debrief after a day of serving the underprivileged all day - the place that honors the man in leadership at the time of immancipation and the spot where Martin Luther King, Jr gave his "I have a dream" speech! Kristin challenged us to think about that even with the diversity and dichotomy of society - all people are equal in God's eyes. We are all equal in our sin and we are all equal in our opportunity to have a right relationship with God! This focus helps in serving the people and the city that we are learning to love. Next we walked by the Vietnam Memorial - 58,200 + names of men and women who lost their lives in this war are on that wall! How sobering! We also walked through the Korean War Memorial and the WWII Memorial. The views were beautiful and the night was a perfect temperature. All in all it was a great day to grow in Jesus! Thanks for your prayers and thanks for the comments they are all so encouraging!

Day 2 - Tuesday March 25

DC 08 Day 2 - Tuesday March 25

Hi, Prayer Partners, Friends & Family! It was another full day in DC! We headed out at 8:00 to work the 9-12 shift with the DC Central Kitchen. This facility prepares over 4000 meals a day for the poor and needy in DC. It is located in the basement of the largest homeless shelter in DC which houses 1260 men, women and children each night. The DC Kitchen has a chef training and internship program for the homeless. Most of the graduates of the program go on to support themselves with full time culinary employment. Many of the chefs and kitchen staff that we worked with today are either in the program or have graduated from it. We worked with Chef Gregg, Chef Dot, and Chef James. After the shift, the kitchen staff served and fed us with some of the products of our labor. The corn and black-eyed pea salad was delicious. Brian & Jordan had mixed this up! After lunch we went to the Union Station Mall. It is an operating train station all dressed up! We even came face to face with the US Ambassador to India being dropped up by his limo at the train station! In the afternoon, we split up and worked two different ROJA after school program sites. We learned how to improvise and spent time just being with these kids from lower income families. They desparately need something to help them remain interested in school and stick with it. Only 20% of DC students actually graduate from high school in four years. We ate at the Mid-Atlantic Seafood & Soulfood Restraunt and then headed off for a two hour driving PRAYER tour of DC. We started with the Washington Monument, went passed government buildings, including congress and the Supreme Court and through neighborhoods - the rich Capitol Hill and the poorest of poor in Anacostia. We ended by going to hilltop overlooking the city to pray, driving passed foriegn embassys and standing in front of the National Cathedral. Our students have been amazing servants today! You might have noticed a new person in our pictures. This is Sheena - another CSM hostess for our group. Pray for us tomarrow - we will visit one site in the morning that we will have much more direct contact with the people that we are serving. We will need to leave our facility at 6:00am! Pray that as the students see the needs of the city, they will not be bothered so much that they despair - but that they will grieve enough to ask God to show them how he desires them to live in reponse. Pray that we will find the JOY of the LORD to be our strength tomarrow - all day long with others and among ourselves. Pray that we each can directly have a spiritual conversation with someone. If you are able, leave us a comment! Thank you so much!

DC 08 Day 1 - Monday March 24

Happy Day! God is so good inspite of us! What a day - starting with Mrs. Tuley setting the alarm off at school and waking Mr. Staley prior to 5am...to ending with Mr. Garman's birthday, group prayers and everything in between! Such an amazing day! Our parents and the prayer send off - the experience at Food And Friends, some of us bagging individualized custom meals and some of us dishing up fresh made food that will be delivered to over 1000 homes of seriously/terminally ill clients - neglecting to call the phone chain upon our arrival (please forgive us!) - to making our own sack lunches in less than 10 minutes and eating them in the car on the way to our next site, the IONA Senior Citizen Services - loading three huge flats full of canned goods into four vehicles and driving to a low income senior apartment highrise where in the parking lot we sorted, divided and bagged all the day's deliveries midst the traffic of garbage trucks and hospital equipment deliveries and residents out for a stroll and then went in and delivered them to the seniors one knock on a door at time. We were able to talk to and/or pray with many of those to whom we made deliveries...what a joy, shock and experience! We ate at an Indian restraunt and took a ride on the absolutely longest escalader any of us have ever seen. It goes deep down under to Washington's subway. (We didn't take the subway - just the escalator to say that we had done it!) A stop at CVS and setting up the "surprize" birthday party of Mr. Garman. The kids were absolutely marvelous! They worked hard for hours on end and enjoyed it throughly. Kristyn, Chris and Mark are wonderful hosts and guides. Our crew is so pumped up for whatever tommarow holds. And, all had crashed by 11 pm. We head out from "Star" (that is what we call our home base) at 8 am in the morning. Thanks for your prayers! Keep them coming! Ephesians 3:14-21 Love, TKCS DC 08 Team