Sun:
On Sunday we left the Lima Trinity parking lot about 9:15am after being comissioned by the 8:30am church service. Two adults, two college students, and four high school students, and two middle school students embarked on a 6 hr journey to Nashville, TN. Our group was made up of youth and adults from four different congregations in the Lima area. It's hard to believe that we didn't all know each other 1 week ago. We ate lunch at Taco bell and had many laughs. Before finally arriving at our CSM housing center we stopped at Wal-Mart. We were the last group to arrive at CSM and shortly after arrival we had a leaders meeting and then we met our host for the week, Meredith. That night we went to dinner at Swett's which a southern soul food restaurant.
Mon:
On Monday we woke up at the crack of dawn (7:30am) and showered and had breakfast and then Ethan and I lead our group's devos. Our scripture was Romans 12:9-13 and we talked about our expectations for the week and what we were hoping to get out of the week. Ethan and I also talked about the fact that we have a lot more stuff than most people do and that we needed to serve with an open heart/mind and be grateful.
Our first location that we were serving at was an Adult Day Service. We got to interact with a lot of people and hear a lot of great stories. We met a guy named Wilbur who was 102 yrs old, but he didnt look a day over 80. He told a lot of stories and even played the harmonica. We also met a lady named Tonya who shared her story with us. She said she had been coming to ADS for 11 years because she had 3 brain anerisms and her daughter did not want her to sit around at home all day and do nothing. We also met a guy named Joe Pickett who was pretty ornry. We ate lunch there and after lunch we provided some entertainment by singing some of our favorite songs. Before we left Joe Pickett prayed for our group.
I'll admit I was a bit nervous at first but I absolutely had a ball that day.
In the afternoon we went and served at Feed the Children. This is an organiztion similar to the West Ohio Food Bank here in town. Feed the children provides food and general hygeine products to people in need. While we were there we sorted boxes, cleaned, and taped boxes.
For our evening activity we went on a prayer tour of Nashville. We prayed for different areas of the city and this is when God slowly started to soften my heart and my heart began to break.
*Northern Nashville is mostly African Americans
*50% of metro students qualify for free or reduced lunches
*Over 2000 students in the metro area are homeless
*In 2004 15% of students were suspended
*Nashville=Music City USA
*Music Industry makes $6.4 billion
*13% of Nashville's population lives below the povery line
*4000 people a night experience homelessness in Nashville
*Room at the Inn and Nashville Rescue are just two of the shelters in Nashville
*1/3 of the homeless in Nashville have jobs, however min wage is $7.25 an hr, so its hard to save money and live off that
*Nashville has over 700 churches
*"Tent City" flooded last year
While we were on this tour we got to pray for many different things. We stopped at the capitold building, got out and got to pray for the city and our country. Matt pointed out that in some countries we wouldn't have been able to do that. We also got out and prayed and laid face down on the sidewalk. When we did that on one side of the street was a stadium and on the other side was JDC. We were praying and closing the gap.
Tues:
Tuesday morning we went and helped at a soup kitchen. It made me sad to know that these people were either homeless or they didn't have enough food at home to make them a meal. But at the same time it made me happy knowing that there was a place in Nashville that people could come and get a warm meal and they had a place to stay out of the heat for a short time. It reminded me of ODB here in Lima and being there made me realize that I need to get out of my comfort zone and I need to serve here in Lima.
After eating lunch at Sonic and taking a quick tour of the Parthanon replica we headed to NICE which is an organization that teaches English as a second language to immigrant/refugee children. While there we administered end of the summer reading assessments to the kids and then we got to hang out and play with the kids for a while. It was so much fun!
For dinner that night we were supposed to eat at an ethiopian restaurant but that fell through so we ate at a turkish restaurant. I was a little nervous but actually the food was good and I even ate LAMB!
Wed:
This morning our plans fell through but we ended up back at Adult Day Service. That allowed us the opportunity to get to know more of the people there. I meant Walter and Anna and we made coin purses with them, colored, and we just got to fellowship with them.
In the afternoon we participated in Urban Exposure. We broke up into two smaller groups and this meant that we were "homeless" for 4 hrs. We each were given a waterbottle for ourselves, one to give away to someone else, and $1.00 to live off of for lunch. If we wanted to we could get creative within our group and combine our money and get something to eat. During our 4 hrs we had to talk to a police officer, tourist and nashville resident and get there take on homelessness in the city, as well as talk to a homeless person selling the contributer newspaper. Our police officer that we spoke with was very enlightening and he told us that we had to be careful about enabling the homeless, but instead of enabling them we should really try and help them. We met a guy selling the contributer and he told us that he didnt know if he would make enough money to be able to afford a hotel that night. It made me sad to think that thats how he had to live. We also went to the library which was air conditioned. While in there we noticed a lot of homeless people just sitting at the tables and some were even sleeping sitting up. The library was a safe/cool place where they could come and get out of the heat for a couple hours w/o being kicked out. Even though it was extrememly hot that day I'm glad I got to experience Urban Exposure. It made me really thankful for the roof over my head and food i have. My group ended up buying two snicker bars and splitting them for lunch
We ate mexican food back at the housing site and then we enjoyed worship night together. God totally rocked my world that night!
Thurs:
We woke pretty early again and an organization called End Slavery came and talked to us about the different forms of slavery that still exist in our world today. We were informed about human traficking and the fact that some kids are still sold into slavery today and forced to work. We walked around Nashville and asked different businesses if they would be willing to post flyers in there businesses.
We ate lunch at taco bell/pizza hut and then we went back to the housing site for a little bit. While there we wrote notes to people that we had met over the week and we lifted them up in prayer. Then we made care packages before heading off to another day at NICE.
While at NICE we adminastered reading assessments to another group of kids and then we got to play with them for a little bit. They seemed to speak English a little bit better than the group of kids we worked with on Tuesday. The kids were so cute and they broke our hearts when we told them we had to leave and they didn't want us to leave. It was so cool to be a part of something like this and something so much bigger than myself!
For dinner we ate at an Indian restaurant. After dinner we went and got Fro-Yo (kinda near downtown) at a place that Taylor Swift goes and we were hoping to run into her but that didn't happen=(
Fri:
Friday was our last day working with CSM. We were supposed to work at a soup kitchen but that fell through so went to McDonalds for breakfast. We were each given $3 and told that we were to buy ourselves breakfast and with any change left over we were to buy someone else breakfast. We weren't allowed to sit with our entire group because we had to mingle with other people and hear there stories. At first Lauren and I really struggled with this because we felt like we were invading on peoples space and this was not something we would normally do. however, we did step outta our little boxes we gave a sandwhich to a homeless man outside Mcdonalds and then we bought a lady a hashbrown, and finally we got to sit and talk with 3 different people before leaving.
Our next stop was younglife. But before the lady in charge arrived, we did some ZUMBA in the parking lot. While at young life we did some cleaning. We ate lunch at a park and then headed to operation stand down which is a place that helps Veterans. While there we sorted clothes and food.
Friday evening was our night off and we went to dinner at SATCO and then we headed downtown. All 6 of our girls bought cowboy boots! It was cool to see downtown Nashville at night and unfortantly we saw a lot of homeless people and musicians playing for money. It just really broke my heart.
Sat:
We woke up early and cleaned CSM housing before heading out. before leaving we said goodbye to Meredith our city host and gave her a gift. We left about 8:30am and drove for about an hour and then stopped at Mammoth Cave, where we spent the morning. We went on a tour of the cave and then we went on a few trails and even saw a butterfly garden. For lunch we ate at Cheddars and then headed to our hotel. After a long week we just needed a day to relax and bond with each other. We swam for a little bit before eating pizza for dinner and then finishing up the trip with awesome devos!
It's different being home and I already miss nashville, but at the same time I know that there are so many things that I can be doing here in Lima. Lima is a broken city just like Nashville and I want to serve. I miss everyone already but the cool thing is that we are all from Lima so we have the ability to stay in touch! Thanks CSM(and God) for allowing me to experience this! and thanks Lima Trinity for making me feel like a part of your group and for loving me for who I am! God truly rocked my world this past week!!
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