by Emily Laster, EM Summer Staff in Atlanta
The first week of July, we had the privilege of hosting mission trip volunteers from North Carolina and Arkansas. Their excitement was contagious.
We started the week with two July 4th block parties, one at a new location, Oakland City, and one at our Kids Club location, Parke Towne North. The team jumped right in with the kids and we had a blast playing in bouncy houses, face painting, and most importantly...water balloon fights!
On Tuesday, we went to our painting location in the morning and had Kids Club scheduled for the afternoon. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain. However, the team decided that it was not going to stop them from loving on the kids at Cleveland Avenue and we went out anyways. The kids had a blast! It inspired our hearts to see the dedication they had to continue the ministry despite the given obstacles.
That evening we went out on the Canteen and once again we were blown away by the people of Atlanta. They are so welcoming and loving. We go to minister to them, but many times it is us who leave with our hearts changed.
On Wednesday, we went to Breakfast Club and since we had an awesome guitar player on the team this week, she played while we sang hymns to the residents there. They loved it! The rest of the morning was spent trying to decipher Mr. Joe's mind tricks/jokes. Let me just say...it took us longer than it should have to figure out how many birds are left when there are 26 (or did he say "20 sick?") birds and one flies away...I'll let you think about it. :)
That afternoon, we had an opening in our schedule, so we went back to Cleveland Avenue since our time was cut short the day before due to weather. And I'm so glad we did. At the time we were so frustrated with the storming weather and the fact that it messed up our schedule that I didn't realize until sometime after that we were definitely supposed to be at Cleveland Ave. on Wednesday. That afternoon a young boy I had become friends with over the past few weeks came up to me and pointed to a woman and told me it was his mother. I said hello and she came straight up to me and said, "I heard this is where I could come to get prayer." That one sentence made my heart jump. I told her of course! Took one look at the team, and in seconds we were all out of the van, laying hands on Jocelyn. We took turns praying for her and her son and I could tell she could feel our prayers. It was then that it hit me—all the lost hours of sleep, all the drops of sweat, and all the craziness that comes with ministry is all worth it because The Spirit is moving. People are feeling it and know that we are different and that we are where they can come to find prayer and refuge. That is what we are supposed to be as a body of believers—a place of refuge, acceptance, love. Not a place of judgement or condemnation. If only we could realize this, this specific kind of encounter would happen more often.
The next day, we went to Hapeville Nursing Home and taught a few of the residents there how to play UNO and it was all fun and games until someone got down to the last card! It was pretty awesome to see how a card game brought about so much joy. That afternoon, we went to Ashby and Parke Towne North Apartments for double the Kids Club, double the fun! The kids loved hearing the story of Joseph and the colorful coat his father bought him, but best of all they got to make their own!
Becca and I look forward to seeing the work this mission team will continue to do back home because we know The Lord is going to great things through each of them! It was amazing to see them all come to the realization that the stuff they did here can easily be done in their hometown. It's the Lord who equips us, we just have to be willing.
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