Hi Church! This is Christian (Junior), Aden (Junior) and Brian (adult leader) here. We’re here to tell you about our day today – Tuesday, July 23rd.
This year we are spending the week serving in Milwaukee. Next Step Ministries organizes the mission trip (www.nextstepministries.com), setting up our work projects, housing, food, and worship experiences.
What surprised you?
(Christian) We’re working on re-doing a garage, and have been installing a door, putting up siding and painting. I’ve been surprised by how long it takes to put up the siding. The siding boards are super hard to nail through and it takes a long time to attach each board to the garage side. Also, the weather has been perfect – it hasn’t been hot or rainy or humid – really great for working outside!
(Aden) I’ve been surprised by how close we are working to the other group from our church, just a few houses down they are rebuilding a back porch. It’s been nice to see them during the day. Also, it was surprising how quickly our group painted 3 sides of the garage.
(Brian) The passion of the Bridge Builders group that we are partnering with here has been so amazing, and it’s exciting to see how much they love their community and want to make it a better place to live.
What did you enjoy?
(Christian) I’ve enjoyed our lunch time, when we get to take a break, eat, and share a group devotion along the theme of the week, which is “Beyond the Shadows”.
(Aden) I’ve enjoyed seeing the progress on our garage project, seeing how nice it looks with fresh paint and new siding.
(Brian) I enjoyed today’s lunch, in which got all the guys together (all the girls met together in a different place) and shared scripture and thoughts around Jesus’ revolutionary love. Great to sit on the grass in the shade on a nice day, eat, talk about Jesus and swap ideas.
Where did you see God?
(Christian) Bridge Builders has a “hub house” in the neighborhood where they have their offices and this is also where we go to use the bathroom (we don’t have one at our site). They’ve been very kind and helpful, happy to let us use their house – today we cleaned up really messy paint brushes in their basement sink.
(Aden) The next-door neighbor of the house we are working at, Wally, is very nice, great to talk to, and lets us use his electricity for our job site. And he has a great garden! He loves his neighborhood and is very proud of it.
(Brian) Mike is the Next Step staff member who is leading our construction project. Mike is from Rwanda, came to the US to go to school and recently graduated (Texas) with a degree in Construction Management. Mike has fascinating stories to tell about his country’s history (you recall the 1994 civil war genocide) and how beautiful of a country it is today. He’s great with the students, great with Emily and I, and a real pleasure to be around all day. He loves Jesus and loves to share his faith with us. And he’s really good at teasing the kids, actually quite funny (in a loving way!)
Each night of the mission trip, Emily is going to ask a few other people from the mission trip team to share some reflections. Stop back to hear how God is continuing to teach us and shape us this week. Also, you can check out the Church’s facebook page for pictures and other updates. You can also leave your questions and comments for the mission trip team here.
