It feels so real from the outside lookin' in

So many awesome things have happened this weekend, and I really want to share them with you! Every Saturday we do some type of outreach in the city. Yesterday, we split into five small groups. Each group went to a different park throughout the city. From there we split off into pairs and did evangelism. We (the outreach committee) decided it would be cool to let the pairs decide which method of sharing they wanted to use. Usually we have a specific tool we use each time, for instance, the Knowing God Personally booklet, Soularium, Backstory, etc. My group included Alesha, David, and Anna, and we went out to Dineen Park on the west side which is predominantly African-American. Alesha and I went out together, and during the first conversation I heard one of the coolest stories. One of the questions we asked Sherry (and her daughter) was if she had ever experienced God, and if so, how? She replied, “Ohhh yes”, and this is her story: In the recent past she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. She said she couldn’t handle the medication they put her on. I think the side effects were pretty harsh. She was supposed to take the medication for a year before it could heal her. She prayed and asked the Lord to heal her in three months. Three months later from the day she prayed, the doctors told her they couldn’t find anything and had no explanation. She had no doubt in her mind that it was God’s doing. =) It was so awesome to hear her testimony and just spend time talking with her. Later on, we talked to another older woman named Cassandra. The first question we asked her was to give three words that describe her life right now, and her response was “not very good”…just the look on her face when she said that broke my heart. She said the only thing she wanted to accomplish in life was to take good care of her grandson, and her dream is to one day provide a house for them to live in. She said she wasn’t trying to live life to the fullest…she’s trying to live life for survival. The conversation we had hit me really hard. In the culture I grew up in, the goal seems to be to live life to fullest and it’s often done so by how high you can climb through society and in the workplace…how much money you make…what kind of house you live in…the car you drive…sending your children to college, etc. I’ve lived in a house my entire life and never once worried about ever losing it, unlike Cassandra and many other families… Our conversation really showed me the differences between our cultures, and something just isn’t right about that!

When we got back to City on a Hill, all of the teams got together and talked about the day’s events. Throughout the day, four people accepted Christ! and many seeds were planted! Which leads into another really cool story...Two girls on my team went to Cherry Park and shared the Gospel with an older lady in a wheelchair and two of her daughters. My teammates felt pretty discouraged with the conversation and felt like nothing had gotten through, but today we went to Broken Chains Ministry for church and the lady in the wheelchair showed up! Near the end of the service, the bishop’s daughter sang a song, and I noticed there were four people standing around the older lady, holding her up in a standing position. The bishop later told us that she has been in a wheelchair for so long and just wanted to be able to stand and praise Jesus! It was such a beautiful scene…she also told the bishop that she had no idea why she went to Broken Chains, but she felt like the Lord wanted her to go there this morning. It was just another awesome opportunity to see God working in the lives of the people here. Oh! And another quick story that I thought was really cool: the bishop’s son is an ex-gang member and two weeks ago he just got his license to become a minister. Isn’t that awesome?! God takes what seems like the impossible and makes it happen. Ahhhh so cool!

Phew, okay, I think that’s all I had to share! =) I would really appreciate continued prayers for our project and the people of this city. Pray that God would open doors and break down walls.

Always with love,
E