Half-way Mark

I cannot believe that it has been seven weeks. It does not feel like it at all. We did not have an anchor site this week so that was kind of different for me. We have been to Project C.U.R.E. It is a huge warehouse that receives medical equipment and medical supplies that are still good but that a hospital might throw out and they repackage them to send to third world countries. It is such an amazing cause and it has become on of my favorite sites. We help fill boxes and go through stuff that can be used. We have also been to East Nashville Co-op this week. It is an organization that has been started by over 20 churches in east Nashville to help the people in the surrounding area. They have a food bank, clothing store, and a garden so they have a chance to get fresh produce. I got to take the kids back to Samaritan so that is always a great time! Tomorrow we are going to do Picnic in the Park at the park across from the Library downtown. We will take lunches down there with us but also take extra so we can ask people to have lunch with us. It should be a good time.

This summer has been an incredible time of growth for me. I have had some time to reflect on the past few years and deal with some stuff that I have tried to forget. It has not been easy but it has been a very healing time for me. This past Sunday when I was sitting in church, the girl leading worship told a story about how she has been having health problems. She and her husband have really been searching for answers from God and been praying for healing. In the midst of all the praying, she felt God telling her that He has heard her prayers but there was not a time that she just seek after Him just to be in His presence. I felt like she was speaking straight to me! I have been doing this for a long time. I feel like I only go to God when I am struggling with something or I need something. I have forgotten to seek Him just because He is. I find myself no longer desiring to just be still and let God speak to me.

I have so many decisions to make in the next few months and I am trying not to stress out about it. I honestly have no idea what I am going to do at the end of the summer and I am learning to be okay with that. God is showing me that I do not have to have it figured out and I do not have to be on this 40 year plan so that my life is laid out. It is kind of scary to think about because it is not the normal way that I do things but it is also making me rely so much more on God now. Which is where I need to be anyway.

I just wanted to thank everyone that has been praying for us this summer. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we begin to grow weary and try to make sure this does not become routine. We want to have a fresh start every week because we owe the new groups that but it gets hard sometimes to be excited when days are long and exhausting. My parents are coming tomorrow and I am so excited about that! I cannot wait to see them and spend three days with them! This is a much needed trip for me. I miss them so much! It will be a nice break for me to get away from the housing site and spend time with them. I hope everyone is doing great. I miss and love y'all so much!!

Week Seven

I cant believe that this is the seventh week! Time is flying by so fast. I also did not realize I haven't written in two weeks! My last two groups have been really great. I cant even really write all about two groups in one post. It would be forever long! I am having a great time though and I really like it here! The family is coming this week so that is exciting and I get the 4th off. It will be a good time. My group this week is from FL so I will write more about them throughout the week!! I hope all is well! love y'all!!

Breanne

Happy Father's Day!!

Hey everyone!! I hope y'all had a great weekend. I enjoyed the time off. It was nice. Today was kind of hard. I really missed not being able to be with my family this weekend for father's day. It is pretty rare to miss a holiday with the family. So, I hope everyone had a great day with their daddy today! I know I miss mine along with everyone else in my family!!!

We got our third group today. Mine is from Illinois. They are in junior high and it is an all girl group . I am pretty excited about it. They love to talk so that will make things go pretty great! Our anchor site is Andrew Jackson Boys and Girls Club so it should be a lot of fun!!! I hope everyone has a great week. Y'all need to start coming to visit this summer!! Please keep praying for us as a staff! Thanks for all the praying so far. We truly appreciate it! love y'all!

Breanne

Week Two

My group this week was pretty incredible! I had so much fun with them. Our schedule consisted of going to Y-Cap which is a summer program kind of like the Boys and Girls Club. We also went to Campus for Human Development where we served dinner to the men that lived there. We went to Welcome Home which is a halfway house for men that are trying to be get reintroduced to society. We did several things there for them. We cleaned the house, worked in the flower beds, and the boys got to use sledge hammers to break up concrete for a drain. Something about high school boys with sledge hammers made me a little nervous!! They did great though. We also went to the Next Door. It is a place for women that are coming out of prison or crisis situations to come and begin to rehabilitate their life. We did some office work for them and we also got to cook them dinner so that was a real neat experience.

This group was so hilarious. It was a really great week. They had some bumps a long the way but it did not phase them one bit! Two leaders got sick, one of which ended up having to get her appendix out, and one of their vans broke down!! It was one thing after the other but they took everything in stride and let us handle all the details so it did not make things stressful at all. They handled everything very well. I was so impressed and it will be a group I remember for a long time! The kids were so responsive and had no problem jumping right in to work and help out at all the sites. I felt like a lot of them were getting it so I feel like it was a very successful week! I hope everyone is doing great. I love y'all!!

Breanne

First Week of Groups

We finished training and this was our first week of groups. It was nice to finally get started. Our anchor site (a site we go to every day that week) was Vinehill Boys and Girls Club so that was so much fun!! Those kids were pretty amazing. We played many games of kickball, jump rope, and four square!! It really made me miss the boys and girls club. We also went to Samaritan Ministries which is a soup kitchen. We got to hang out with Ms Jean. I don't know if I have talked about her previously but she is pretty incredible!! Her heart for this city is inspiring and contagious! She is doing some pretty great things for the people of Nashville. Her soup kitchen is the only one in the city that serves lunch every day of the week except Sunday so it is a huge commitment.

The group was only here till Thursday morning so we only went to those two sites. We also did the prayer tour and urban exposure. During urban exposure, we drop the groups off downtown and they have already packed a lunch. They also pack an extra lunch. One of their goals is to ask someone to eat lunch with them. It doesn't have to be someone who is homeless. Also, there are a list of things we want them to accomplish while they are there. It is kind of like night exposure but without the bus ride. So, each week a group will either do a night exposure or an urban exposure. We want them to find a homeless person, a tourist, and a native of Nashville to ask question about the city and to see if they think there is a homeless problem in Nashville. Also, it is a chance to strike up a conversation with someone they don't know. It is a stretching time for them and it can put the groups in some pretty uncomfortable situations because talking to people you don't know is not always the easiest!! It is definitely a growing experience for them.

We have the rest of the weekend off so that will be nice. Patrick, Jimmy, Jessie, and I went to the Science Center today so that was fun. It is nice to hang out with each other. We all get along so well so this summer should be a pretty incredible experience! I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for reading and keeping in touch!! love y'all!!

Breanne

Day Off!!

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

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