First Day of Big A

From the heart of Ashley Embree

      Today was a great day. We started off the day with service projects.  My group got in the car and just asked God to show up where he needed us to help someone out.  Not even 5 minutes after we left, we saw a car literally in the middle of the road with the tired unattached.  We got out of the car and asked the man if he needed help, and he did.  So we got in the car and got supplies for what we needed to fix the car.  When we got back Noah Ben and Adam help fix the car, and Lilly and I sat with the man’s wife and baby.  We had a great conversation and grew a relationship with her.  I really saw God working there and helping fix the tire and growing that relationship.  Then the second half of the day we went to Big A, or also know as VBS.  If was very fun to play with all the kids and start growing a relationship with my group so I can pour into their lives.  Today went a lot smoother then I thought it would, and I believe that is because God was there and gave us control over the kids.  I also saw that God gave me words to say to these kids when I didn’t know what to say.  To wrap this all up, I really saw God working today more then I ever have.

From the heart of C.J. Borleis

- Today was an eye opener for some of us in different ways that we didn’t expect.  A prayer walking group helped a couple that had a one month old baby with their car in the middle of the street because it was broken down. My group encountered a man was apprehensive to engage with us or let us pray for him. After engaging with him a bit more, he prayed with us and he ended up, telling us that he’s involved in his own church a lot..  It was just amazing to see God work in mysterious ways in these situations. At VBS today I was very excited to find out that I ended up with my same group as last year. It was nice to be able to talk with them again and be able to reconnect. It was great to see the power of God in them to allow them to be able to come back. I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Today was our second day in Detroit. After breakfast, we started out our morning with a daily devotional based on the book of James. We learned about trials, temptations, and tests. Next, we headed to the People's Missionary Baptist Church for a three hour, passionate service. The people welcomed us with open arms and warm smiles :) The sermon was called "All Lives Matter" because of the recent events concerning law enforcement. It was extremely interesting to hear their perspective of the situation. Once we arrived back at Detroit Love, we ate lunch and did our daily chores. After a short nap, we drove to downtown Detroit and familiarized ourself with the city. We noticed many things, including socioeconomic and racial differences throughout the city. We also visited several landmarks such as the Canadian border and General Motors headquarters. Once we were done, we headed back to Detroit Love where we ate dinner, prepared for VBS, and prepared our hearts through worship.

Written by Emily
Published by Ben


:)

Made it to Detroit!

We left from the hotel at 6:30 to start our 6 and a half hour car ride to Detroit. After getting settled into our bunks in the Detroit Love building we went for a walking tour of the Heidelberg Project which displayed street art. After interacting with the people of the community we went on a driving tour of downtown Detroit looking at the different projects where the VBS kids live and some of the major landmarks. We came back to the building for supper, time in worship, working on devotionals, and some relaxation before tomorrow.

From,

Kyle and Lilli

Detroit 2016: In Chicago!

Today we left Timberwood Church and headed out for Schaumburg, IL. We started our journey at about 7:00am and after a couple fuel stops and a quick lunch stop we arrived in Schaumburg at the Americinn around 4:30. The team got a chance to recharge and get a quick swim followed by some delicious Chicago Style pizza. Now we are winding down for the night and will hit the hay early to wake up at 6:00am to finish our drive to Detroit, MI. We are all very excited to make it to the Detroit Love facility and start prepping for the children to come for VBS. The team already feels very unified and we believe that will only grow as the trip continues.

                                    Sincerely from room 218,

                                                                        C.J. V. & Noah K.

From the heart of Allison

After being in Detroit for just about a week, I didn’t even come close to imagining all the things I’ve seen, and how eye opening each and every day has been for me. With all of the poverty, mental illness, and drug abuse going on in the city I’ve witnessed, there was never a time that I wasn’t feeling slightly sad about how fortunate my life is compared to the lives here, and how in reality I should only be thankful for all of the beautiful things I have going for me.

            For the past week my team and I have been staying and working with Detroit Love, a church group from Florida. We’ve been prayer walker, doing some evangelism work by helping people out, and prepping for the VBS we’ve been doing every day this week. Though it was pretty stressful and tiring at times, I’ve had more fun in these past eight days than I have in a long time.

            Though Friday was our last real day staying in Detroit, I felt it was actually one of the calmer days with not a lot going on. I picked a few green beans for a local garden, made a few more little friends at the Vacation Bible School the Timberwood team was helping lead, and grew even closer to a majority of the Detroit Love interns.

            Overall, I’ve met some pretty incredible people that I wasn’t aware even existed, and I’m so glad God managed to drag me here.

Detroit from the perspective of Will Just

Hi, Will here from another day at Detroit.

 Today was great. We ate breakfast then sprung into our devotions. Whoever wrote them (Kevin) had the great idea to include an explanation of what circumcision is, woo. (If you're curious, check out Philippians 3:1-33) Then my group went prayer walking in which we met this man then we prayed for people to stop stealing his things. Then, I thought was one of the more cool things, right before we got into the car we were praying and this man who was a believer, walked up and asked to pray with us.  Then we went to The Big A (VBS) tonight, it was the night where we talked about how Jesus died for our sins. It was amazing all of my kids were already believers or so they told me, but out of all the kids at Big A (around 80), we had 31 kids accept Jesus into their hearts. From what Kevin said, that is by far the most kids he has ever seen make decisions to follow Christ in one week of VBS ever (which I thought was amazing). I have often thought of the lyrics from the song “Build your Kingdom Here”, “heal our streets and land,” which I have came to live by in the past couple days. So, our time here is coming to a close, which makes me both sad and happy.  But alas it is upon us and I will hope to continue to forward the kingdom at home.