Detroit Day Two-- Sunday-- March 1st

Day Two

This was an awesome day.  A bunch of firsts for me... and they were some amazing firsts! 

In the morning, we went to an African American church... the same one we were staying in.  The girls in my room and a few boys decided to go to the bible study that was held before the church service.  It was intriguing.  I actually learned a lot from that study... too bad I didn't have the sense to write it down.  Either way, I'm so glad I got up early enough to attend. 

After the study, we ate breakfast in the fellowship hall with church members and the rest of the CCC group.  It was a DELICIOUS breakfast, best one we had all week.  

When the service started, I was so excited.  Truthfully, I felt so at home!  And my heart was overflowing with joy that morning!  The music, which of course is my primary worship method, was beyond fulfilling.  I danced and sang and hopefully made a fool of myself for the Lord.  I have no other words to describe that experience... breathtaking and mindblowing worship... 

Then, the speaker!!!!  Most of the time, I couldn't understand him but WOW was he passionate! I LOVED it!  Talk about inspiring a congregation... 

The offering was another experience alltogether.  The entire church went up the front to give.  Even those of us that didn't have an offering touched the plates and prayed for blessings from God.  That's something I want to continue symbolically in my life... I'll let you know how that comes along.  

A few observations about the church we attended:  

(1) Welcoming visitors is a BIG DEAL!  We were welcomed at least 5 times by at least 4 different people from the pulpit.  

(2) There is a first lady of the church.  Her name was Lady Jay (First Lady Lady Jay).  She was one of the coolest people ever!  The First Lady of the church is the wife of the pastor... and she takes a very active role in the church goings-on.

(3) Everyone who came up to the pulpit to speak was labeled 'minister'.  I'm not sure the reasoning... but I think that labeling is pretty cool, since after all, that's what we all are ;D 

For lunch, we stopped at a chinese place on the way to a Museum.  Justin (another CCC member) did his best to loose me in an attempt to follow his spazed-out GPS system.  It was an interesting ordeal getting to lunch and then the museum... let's just saying, my following skills are definitely up to par! 

The museum was engaging.  There was an Egyptian exhibit with things from King Tut.  However the biggest part of the museum was the African American History exhibit.  We even walked through a slave hold, which was actually kinda scary.  

The most interesting part of the museum for me... was a picture.  It showed a teacher disciplining a child... with other students watching... and a monkey in the background... a live monkey.  I'm still confused on that one.  

After the museum, the group headed to dinner with one stop.  Comerica Park.  The entire group got a picture in front of the giant Tiger out front.  

Dinner was at Pizza Papalis in Greektown.  Parking was an event... I had never been in a spiral parking garage... I was pretty sure I was going to get lost and we would never eat.  Luckily, I'm not that dumb.  And the deep dish pizza was amazing!!!  

At the end of the night, the group got together to bond.  We learned everyone's celebrity look-alike, or act-alike (in only my case...).  And then we played trainwreck... again, a first for me, but I hope it's not a last.  That game was the highlight of my group gaming career.  

Check in later for more!

-Britt

Detroit Day One- 28 February 2009

WHEW! Day one was a LONG DAY!

We pulled out from NC State around 4am. I caravan-ed with Mark John and Dana. My car mates, Alecia and Tara, stayed up with me for about an hour and then dozed off. I drove for the next two hours, fighting sleep, all by myself until we stopped at Mickey D's for breakfast.

After breakfast... my car mates fell asleep... AGAIN! So, for the next couple of hours... I fought sleep some more, listened to some music and talked to myself... I know, strange, but I HAD to stay awake. I made the group stop when I realized I was about to pee my pants!!! After our potty break... guess what happened!?!?

If you guessed that my car mates slept again... you would be correct! I couldn't believe it... am I really that boring?? Anyway... I made it til 12:30pm when we stopped for gas and lunch. After lunch at Wendy's... Alecia took over, THANKFULLY!

While Alecia was driving... she had to save our lives! Some crazy lady decided that the entire road belonged to her... and tried to take us down! Thank the Lord Alecia has quick reflexes!
On our next stop... Alecia took down something of her own... a trashcan!! After running into it... she hugged it. Now, according to her, she thought it was a person... but I think she was just apologizing to the trash can.

Alecia drove the rest of the way to Detroit and since I couldn't sleep, we all played the Alphabet game. Very fun... until Alecia won... that ruined the whole thing ;D Just kidding, just kidding!
When we got to Detroit... our caravan got lost. So, Alecia took off! We followed Alecia's GPS and made it to the church only about 20 minutes before the rest of our convoy.

We had an excellent dinner in the fellowship hall and headed to an informal meeting after bringing our stuff inside.

In the meeting, Terry Robinson (from Here's Life Inner City) provided us with an observation about Detroit: When the rest of the world gets a financial cold... Detroit gets pneumonia. That was some food for thought... I chewed on it for the rest of the week.

My prayer that night before I went to bed:
Lord,
Open my eyes, arms and heart to the unknown and unimaginable this week. Manifest
yourself in unexpected places. Give me a personal mission for the week so I can grow
and learn more about your children.


Check in later for more...

-Britt

Detroit!!!

Hey everybody!!!

I would appreciate prayer for the next couple of days... because I will be in Detroit working with a couple of ministries out there.

I will be posting pictures and a blog when I get back!

I appreciate the prayers!!!

-Britt

Workin' Girl!!!

A few weeks ago, I applied for a job at Family Christian Bookstore. I had walked in to purchase something and saw the now hiring sign on the door, so I decided to pick up an application figuring it wouldn't hurt to try, especially in this economy.

So, last week, I went in for an interview. The assistant manager interviewed me, and was evidently impressed, because I got a call for a second interview. She had interviewed 20+ people and only recommended 2 for the second interview.

The second interview was tonight, and like the title implies, I got the job. His exact words were, "I'm either hiring you, or you and the other person..." He also told me that the purpose of hiring me is to promote me to a key associate position (like a floor manager). Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked! I now have a source of income to pay for all that work still to be done on my mouth!

When I got home and informed my family, I then went out for a celebratory dinner at Cook-out... yeah, I know... but I'm only getting minimum wage...

-Britt

Why is the mouth so expensive?

It's a good question... is it not? Recently, I had some trouble with my back upper right teeth... anytime I put pressure on them, they screamed in pain. So, I decided it was time to go to the dentist.

Now, as a college student, I haven't been to the dentist in an extremely long time. I think the last time I had a cleaning, I was a sophomore in highschool... sad, I know. Anyway, I had my teeth cleaned, which went well but then the dentist came in.

Turns out, I have 4 cavities, a broken composite from a previous filling, and I desperately need a night guard. I believed him because he looked so worried. He told me "if you don't get a night guard, by the time you are 30, you will be chewing on nubs." When I smiled... he said "it's not funny..." with a serious look on his face. I was convinced.

Needless to say, I don't have the money for all of that. Approximate cost: $550 (after insurance of course, thank you Dad for keeping me on your plan!!!).

So, I go in to fix the broken composite that is causing me so much pain.... and evidently I have a cavity underneath that and the dentist basically has to give me a new tooth back there. So the one visit =$300.
He informs me that since I have barely any REAL tooth in the back of my mouth it might start to ache on it's own (i.e. without pressure as before). If that happens, I need a root canal.

Guess what!?!?! I'm in pain, lots of pain. I called the dentist this morning and changed my appointment from a night guard fitting to a root canal... big direction shift.

LUCKILY and THANKFULLY, my father is willing to pay for my root canal. He has no idea how grateful I am... because if I had to pay, I wouldn't have any money to make it in Detroit next week... hopefully he will read this and find out just how much I appreciate his checkbook and his generosity ;D

So, root canal at 11am on Wednesday. Then after returning from Detroit... four cavity fillings and a night guard fitting. I'm in desperate need of a steady source of income...

-Britt