The sleep deprivation caught up to me, and I woke up late... really late. I ended up eating breakfast in the morning meeting, with wet hair...
We headed out to Hope Community Church, despite the flurries that freaked us NC drivers out, to hear Kevin Butler speak. Mr. Butler is the lead pastor of Hope Community Church in Detroit, and he is INTENSE! It kinda reminded me of church the day before, that was some passionate speaking. He talked about unity in the body of Christ, or more specifically, the lack there of. He specifically mentioned that no where in the Bible does it say we should segregate pragmatically. I think that message really hit home with a lot of us. To think of the things God could do if His followers would just get over their "ideal churches" and join the body of Christ.
We had a singing/prayer session after the message. Hearing the voices of our team singing praises to God was an experience I will never forget. It was beautiful, to hear the individual yet united voice of God's children... wow! While praying, we broke up into groups to pray specifically on the Armor of God passage. (Ephesians 6:11-18)
[Ministry Site name on the Etch A Sketch]
Today was the first day we worked at ministry sites all throughout Detroit. I somehow got stuck with a group of all guys... figures! And we headed out to Highland Park Community Outreach. This center is housed in a 3 story house in Highland Park which is pretty much the poorest area of Detroit. One of the ministry workers told our guys that you could buy a house in this area for about $7000. The guys said they were really struck with the financial situation then because their cars cost more than that.
[Caleb and I relaxing after hauling stuff up from the basement]
We spent the majority of our time cleaning, organizing and overhauling the house/center. Some of the guys went to homes in the community to set up computers for those families. We worked up a sweat down in the basement, attempting to clean out all the stuff that was damaged during a "flood." Turns out the copper piping had been stolen a while back and the water just poured into the basement. We did get a relief from the hard sweaty work when we stepped outside to haul trash in the 10 degree Detroit weather... without our coats on ;D.
[proof we did work...these were in the basement]
[the group that worked at HPCO]
That night before dinner we played Catchphrase... or attempted to play... when you get that many college students together, playing a civilized game without screaming and shouting is nigh impossible.
We had Chinese food for dinner before an amazing impromptu worship session. Those who brought instruments were practicing and team members stopped in to sing and worship alongside the musicians. Powerful!
There were some interesting videos shown at our night session, but I don't remember much of them because I was so focused on the news I had just gotten about my brother. I found out that my brother Ray was in the hospital... and I was extremely upset. I left the session and a few girls came out to pray with me.
We ended the night with a crazy game of signs!!! Again, college students are ridiculous!!! But it was a lot of fun!
-Britt
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