Yay for days off! There will not be many this summer so I am sure they will be treasured! Yesterday was our last day of training and the groups get here tomorrow. I am so excited for the groups to start coming. My first group is a junior high youth group and this is their first time with CSM so it should be a lot of fun!! I am co-hosting with Jessie so that will take some of the pressure off.
This week was pretty great. We finished up visiting all the ministry sites we are going to be at this summer. We went to the boys and girls club. They are one of our anchor sites which means we will be going there every day either in the morning or afternoon. So, I am pretty excited about that! We send the kids out on a thing called night exposure while they are here and we did it as a staff this week. We give them $5 each and they have to ride the bus downtown and back home at the end of it. The bus ride there and back cost $3 so then they have to find somewhere to eat for only $2. We mark off boundaries so they cannot go to any fast food places. Usually they are in groups of two or three so they can put their money together if they think about and we do not give them idea of course! While they are downtown, they have find a place they would sleep if they really were homeless. Then they have to lay down in that place for 5 to 10 minutes to get a feel for what it is like to sleep on the streets. It was pretty powerful to do and a huge wake up call for how oblivious people are of their surroundings. Of course, we did not look the part because we still had our clean clothes on and we were clean so we could pretty much walk anywhere but it was really eye opening to see how hard it was if you were not in a group and did not have anyone with you to combine your money.
It really made me excited for this summer. We get to share this experience with these kids and show them how people in America are struggling. Well, I hope everyone is doing great. I miss y'all so much!!
In Him, Breanne
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Week One
Well, its hard to believe we have finished a week of training. Tomorrow is pretty much just driving around the city to learn it or get lost in it!! Today was a crazy day! We went to six ministry sites. We went to Family Life Center which is a shelter for women and children. We also went to Feed The Children which was so awesome to see the "behind the scenes" of that organization. We went to Welcome Home. It is a homeless shelter for men who mostly have come from prison. It is more of a halfway house for them to come for a year to be reintroduced to society. YCAP was of course the one that is near and dear to my heart!! It is a summer program through YMCA for inner city kids. We will be going there every week! We also went to Nashville Cares. It is an organization that offers so many services that surround the issues of HIV. It is an incredible organization. If you have time, you should look it up on the internet. I dont know the website but just google Nashville Cares. It is going to be one of my favorites as well. They do so much for this community.
The last place we went today was the Salvation Army. Every Friday, Salvation Army takes a mobile feeding ministry to a place in Nashville under a bridge and serves supper out the back of the bus. They also serve breakfast at a different location on Tuesday mornings. We went with them tonight to help out. It was incredible. We went down under the bridge to just hang out with the people and talk to them. They have some pretty moving stories and it was a very humbling experience tonight.
It already blows my mind how we overlook these people that are in need of someone that will love on them and finally give them a break. So many times we get so caught up in our own world, that we cant take the blinders off long enough to see the hurt in our own backyard. Another site we went to yesterday was Isaiah 58 which is another feeding ministry. They also have their own bus and as I was sitting with some guys yesterday and we were talking, it was almost overwhelming to be there. One of the guys I was talking to was only 24 and he had been on the streets for 2 years. It was very eye opening to talk to someone my age. God really showed me yesterday that these are sons, daughters, moms, dads, grandparents, etc. More importantly, these are His children that have been forgotten.
Thank you so much for the prayers so far!! We are going to need them for sure and I dont know if I can stress that enough!! I love yall so much.
In Him, Breanne
The last place we went today was the Salvation Army. Every Friday, Salvation Army takes a mobile feeding ministry to a place in Nashville under a bridge and serves supper out the back of the bus. They also serve breakfast at a different location on Tuesday mornings. We went with them tonight to help out. It was incredible. We went down under the bridge to just hang out with the people and talk to them. They have some pretty moving stories and it was a very humbling experience tonight.
It already blows my mind how we overlook these people that are in need of someone that will love on them and finally give them a break. So many times we get so caught up in our own world, that we cant take the blinders off long enough to see the hurt in our own backyard. Another site we went to yesterday was Isaiah 58 which is another feeding ministry. They also have their own bus and as I was sitting with some guys yesterday and we were talking, it was almost overwhelming to be there. One of the guys I was talking to was only 24 and he had been on the streets for 2 years. It was very eye opening to talk to someone my age. God really showed me yesterday that these are sons, daughters, moms, dads, grandparents, etc. More importantly, these are His children that have been forgotten.
Thank you so much for the prayers so far!! We are going to need them for sure and I dont know if I can stress that enough!! I love yall so much.
In Him, Breanne
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Hello Nashville!!!
Today is day two of being in Nashville for the summer. Things are going pretty great so far. There are eight of us working this summer and that is including the director and assistant director. Everyone is from different states for the most part so getting to know everyone has been a lot of fun because I love meeting new people!! It has only been two days but I already love Nashville which I kind of thought would happen!! There is so much culture and diversity here. Its pretty amazing.
We are in staff training right now so we dont have any groups until the first of June. Today we did our prayer tour. It is a two hour tour of the city. We go to different places throughout the city just to get a better feel of the needs of the people and also just to learn more about where we are going to be living for the summer. We get out at certain areas and pray over the city. We take our groups on the tour at the beginning of each week. It is by far one of my favorite parts of everything that we do! Well, I just wanted to start filling everyone in on what has started happening. Please pray for us this summer. It is going to be a very busy and exhausting summer but God is going to be doing some pretty great things!! Pray that we have patience with each other and also our groups. I love yall!!!
In Him,
Breanne
Also, if you want to pray for each of the staff by name, that would be awesome!! Its Jessie, Mary Margaret, Joy, Patrick, Jimmy, and me. Our director is Jes and assistant director is Kristen.
We are in staff training right now so we dont have any groups until the first of June. Today we did our prayer tour. It is a two hour tour of the city. We go to different places throughout the city just to get a better feel of the needs of the people and also just to learn more about where we are going to be living for the summer. We get out at certain areas and pray over the city. We take our groups on the tour at the beginning of each week. It is by far one of my favorite parts of everything that we do! Well, I just wanted to start filling everyone in on what has started happening. Please pray for us this summer. It is going to be a very busy and exhausting summer but God is going to be doing some pretty great things!! Pray that we have patience with each other and also our groups. I love yall!!!
In Him,
Breanne
Also, if you want to pray for each of the staff by name, that would be awesome!! Its Jessie, Mary Margaret, Joy, Patrick, Jimmy, and me. Our director is Jes and assistant director is Kristen.
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