We set out on Friday morning with similar purpose as the days before. This was the smallest group we would be bringing. On Wednesday and Thursday we had nine people and this day we had only 5. Ryan had been the first two days with myself, and Amy (one of our newest leaders) had come on Thursday, and the other two guys Brian and Chris were new.
We arrived and almost immediately it was different. It was different because we were greeted by my friend Keith (who I'll blog about tomorrow). He asked if we would want Carlton to share his story with us. I didn't know Carlton, but I'm always game for hearing someone's story. We sat in a private room and heard an amazing story from Carlton and his life journey from being picked on and rejected as a kid to seeking acceptance as a teenager and college student to eventually becoming an addict to cocaine, and then his amazing recovery.
We then went downstairs to serve lunch to the residents and then to the public. With only having five people, some of us had double duty on serving, but everyone was fed, so it was all good! After lunch we helped stock their shelves that people are allowed to take 2 or 3 items from. When this was over we had Emily (the public relations coordinator) give our group a tour of the house since we didn't get to do it the day before.
After the tour we headed over the warehouse and once again bagged clothes, sorted shoes, and separated belts and bags! There was a large pile already being worked on by three of the residents of the mission and they looked relieved when we walked in. Just as we were making a dent, another truck arrived and the dumped alot more clothes into the pile! Some of our students were clearly getting tired so I just said "Ask God for some extra strength". I guess I kind of said that because I just wanted to take away any excuses to work, but a few of them did ask God for some extra help, and they told me that God did give them energy to finish! And we finished all of the clothes that were set before us!
We made our way back to the Mission, ate with the residents, said our goodbye's and came home. What a great experience we all had. It was different each day, and God moved in our students differently each day. Thanks to all of you who were praying and keeping us on the forefront of your minds! Have a great day!
Ron Foster
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Mission Day 2
We set out once again for the Frederick Rescue Mission on Thursday morning. From the beginning, it just seemed different than Wednesday. For one, it was all new people except one that we would be bringing. Then when we got in our cars, one of them wouldn't start right away. We waited for about 10 minutes to be able to leave.
The first thing we did upon arrival was serve the meals. Our students jumped right in there with smiles, talking with everyone coming through and good attitudes all around! After serving the meals, and then eating ourselves, we stocked the shelves of the pantry. That went pretty quick. We headed from there over to the warehouse to bag clothes (just like yesterday). We had a little more time than the day before, but it seemed like there weren't as many clothes to bag. We were done within an hour (with 2 more hours we could have been there). Just as we finish a truckload of more clothes arrives. We were actually excited to see all the clothes so we would have some more work to do! We mowed through the clothes and bagged up everything that came in, with a half hour to spare!
We headed from there back to the mission to serve dinner to the residents. We got there and the cook (Scott) told us that there was only 2 items really to serve and that they were all impressed with how we worked in the warehouse, so they wanted us to just eat with them, and we did. It was a hard working day followed by a good meal with the residents of the mission.
This has been a great experience for our students as they get out of their comfort zone a little bit, and put others needs before their own. Continue to pray for us as we head out again on Friday with a different group! Have a great day!
Ron Foster
The first thing we did upon arrival was serve the meals. Our students jumped right in there with smiles, talking with everyone coming through and good attitudes all around! After serving the meals, and then eating ourselves, we stocked the shelves of the pantry. That went pretty quick. We headed from there over to the warehouse to bag clothes (just like yesterday). We had a little more time than the day before, but it seemed like there weren't as many clothes to bag. We were done within an hour (with 2 more hours we could have been there). Just as we finish a truckload of more clothes arrives. We were actually excited to see all the clothes so we would have some more work to do! We mowed through the clothes and bagged up everything that came in, with a half hour to spare!
We headed from there back to the mission to serve dinner to the residents. We got there and the cook (Scott) told us that there was only 2 items really to serve and that they were all impressed with how we worked in the warehouse, so they wanted us to just eat with them, and we did. It was a hard working day followed by a good meal with the residents of the mission.
This has been a great experience for our students as they get out of their comfort zone a little bit, and put others needs before their own. Continue to pray for us as we head out again on Friday with a different group! Have a great day!
Ron Foster
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Mission Day 1
This morning a handful of us set out from the church to Frederick, Maryland. It seemed like an unlikely place to be heading to serve meals to the homeless and recovering addicts, but away we went. After getting oriented with the facility (the former Frederick County Prison dating back to the late 1800's), we began stocking the pantry shelves with lots of baked items such as cakes, loaves of bread, pies, potato chips, and cookies. Almost every shelf was filled. There was so much food! This was going to be food that as those receiving meals would come in, they would be allowed to pick several items from the shelves to take with them as they left. I couldn't imagine that much of it would get taken, but we stocked them full just the same.
We began serving meals to the approximately 25 residents of the mission, and then we opened the doors to feed the homeless. The numbers were staggering. They kept coming and coming. They told us that there were between 150 to 200 people that came through! When it was all over, we walked down the pantry aisle that we had stocked so full and to our shock, discovered that it was vacant of most of the food we had just put on these shelves. I mean, they were bare!
We headed to the Mission's warehouse after lunch to help bag and sort clothes. We made our way through piles of clothes and were able to finish up all of the clothes that were there for that day. It gave our students a real sense of accomplishment to be able to finish out all of the clothes in there. To close the day we headed back to the mission and served dinner to the residents. Needless to say, our students were wiped out on the way home, but the experiences and conversations they had today were priceless. I can't wait to bring the new crew of students in the morning to allow them to experience it all over again! Keep praying for us this week!
Ron Foster
We began serving meals to the approximately 25 residents of the mission, and then we opened the doors to feed the homeless. The numbers were staggering. They kept coming and coming. They told us that there were between 150 to 200 people that came through! When it was all over, we walked down the pantry aisle that we had stocked so full and to our shock, discovered that it was vacant of most of the food we had just put on these shelves. I mean, they were bare!
We headed to the Mission's warehouse after lunch to help bag and sort clothes. We made our way through piles of clothes and were able to finish up all of the clothes that were there for that day. It gave our students a real sense of accomplishment to be able to finish out all of the clothes in there. To close the day we headed back to the mission and served dinner to the residents. Needless to say, our students were wiped out on the way home, but the experiences and conversations they had today were priceless. I can't wait to bring the new crew of students in the morning to allow them to experience it all over again! Keep praying for us this week!
Ron Foster
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Parting Shot
So we had a full day on Thursday! After our morning game times, devotions with each other, morning service, and lunch we started getting ready for the day. Some of the group headed out for some paintball (the whole group originally was going to go, but then got scared when they realized they might get shot) and the rest of the group started prepping for our flour fight! That's right, I said flour fight. In case you don't know, a flour fight is when everyone gets soaked, then gets their own bag of flour. We say go, and it's every man for himself reaching in the bag pulling out heaps of flour and throwing it at everyone else. Don't worry, I captured alot of this on tape, so you'll get to see some of it.
After dinner we got ready for the evening service which was very powerful and went an incredible 4 hours! Our students were ready to keep singing at the end even! It just goes to show you that teenagers will listen and participate! We had a great time as a church sharing decisions and burdens. For some of these students, they were able to get some stuff off of their chest that had been burdening them for years and hadn't spoken out loud. What a great thing to share the load of your burdens with Jesus and with other Christians!
After our car ride home, we made it safe. This camp proved to be what we hoped it would...a catalyst for our students to begin taking their relationship with God for real! Now they're ready to put it into practice! Let's make sure as a church to come alongside of them and help them along with their journey! Thanks for praying! Thanks for supporting!
Ron Foster
After dinner we got ready for the evening service which was very powerful and went an incredible 4 hours! Our students were ready to keep singing at the end even! It just goes to show you that teenagers will listen and participate! We had a great time as a church sharing decisions and burdens. For some of these students, they were able to get some stuff off of their chest that had been burdening them for years and hadn't spoken out loud. What a great thing to share the load of your burdens with Jesus and with other Christians!
After our car ride home, we made it safe. This camp proved to be what we hoped it would...a catalyst for our students to begin taking their relationship with God for real! Now they're ready to put it into practice! Let's make sure as a church to come alongside of them and help them along with their journey! Thanks for praying! Thanks for supporting!
Ron Foster
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