Day 2: The sun is bright and Detroit is not

 7/25/2021

    Sleeping at the top of a triple bunk bed is cool and everything; however, I wish I had paid more attention to the window right next to my face. As you might imagine, the sun woke me up at 5 am this morning. Fortunately, I fell back asleep.

     Later in the morning we attended a church service inside of a beautiful cathedral. The pastor discussed the importance of knowing our purpose, as well as the danger of putting our purpose in worldly things. After the service we spent some time admiring the details of the building - painted ceilings, elaborately tiled floors, fancy furniture - and then we headed back to Detroit Love's building. Something that stood out to our missions team about the church we attended: contrary to our own church, the majority of the congregation were young people. 

    Detroit is smaller than I thought it would be. I'm not sure what I was expecting - clusters of sky scrapers, perhaps? Maybe hundreds of people crowding the streets, and stores extending off the main street everywhere you look? If that's what you've been picturing, you should know that it's not like that at all. Today our team took a walk through Downtown Detroit for about 2.5 hours. One thing we walked past was the baseball stadium, which had huge statues of tigers in front of it. We also walked down the main street with all the fancy shops. Down that street we went to the river, where you could look south into Canada, or to the huge General Motors building on the left. All of that was cool, but compared to other major cities with large populations, there was very little people on the sidewalks, in the parks, and driving on the highway. Furthermore, there is only one tourist street. That street was cool, but if you were to look down the streets coming off of it, the modern, fancy look of the tourist street almost immediately collapses, revealing an all-too-familiar narrative of Detroit's history that may be hard to believe. 

    I'm struggling to believe how our team has only been away for three days. We're always doing so many things, whether it be worship together, cleaning up a meal, or playing a makeshift game of wiffle ball before bed. The days are long, but every moment has value and is cherished as we grow closer as a team, to the community, and with God. 

    I've been having an amazing time serving here, though I hope things are all good at home. Please continue to be praying for unity and health within our team! 

Tabitha