Monday, March 7, 2016

Day 3: Here is our God!

Hello to anyone reading this!! Today we woke up to a lovely and generous breakfast of all sorts of stuff like blueberry pancakes prepared by our new friends Ara and Alina! Then Pastor Danny gave us a little pep talk on ministry and work ("Ya know how you spell ministry? W-O-R-K!"). I really appreciated all that Solution church had done for us and felt this need to give back. Then we were commissioned to help out around the church (the "work" part!)
These are my sweet friends, the cousin duo Sarah and Nina looking super cute...
so of course I had to snap some pics! (I'm the mom of the group).
 I was a part of the outside crew and we had a lot of fun together cleaning up trash around the church property and a little  retention pond on the side of the building. It was such a joy to be outside, even when it was rainy and windy because it was such a nice day!
When we finished picking up garbage around the church, we were still really determined to 
clean as much of the trash around the pond as possible, so we kept going! A few minutes in, I found a styrofoam cup that had in it an $100 bill in perfect condition! I prayed about what to do with it and I decided that I wanted to give it to the church as an offering from the choir. It felt good to have some way to give back to the church and I praised God for that miracle!




 
                   
 Then we had a delicious lunch prepared for us and we headed out! But not before UNCLE JEFF showed up!! We were all overjoyed to see him again and excited to worship with him! After that, we finally went into the city to Uptown Baptist Church to sing for the praise time at their Monday night meal ministry. The sanctuary was beautiful and had great acoustics! Many of the people there were coming for the meal because many were homeless or in transitional housing and as they came in, I just felt this wave of love for them and a tenderness for those labeled "the least of these". As we sang and danced with all our might, tears streamed down my face and I smiled so hard I could barely see!  
After dinner there, we drove out to the hostel we are staying at tonight and on the way took a detour to take pictures of the nighttime skyline!
 
A verse I found for this trip (along with many others :)) that inspired me was Isaiah 40:9.
You who bring good news to Zion, you who go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" We are singing Gospel, which means good news, to declare who God is and what he has done and continues to do for all of us! This involves caring for everyone around us from those who feed us and give us a place to stay to those who come to worship. All need to be reminded that our God is here! He's the God of this city! Today was a beautiful illustration of that. 
Thanks for reading, fam! See our Facebook page to see more pictures of our adventures! 
Love, Steph :) <3 XOXO 
P.S. We started our step ministry rehearsals tonight and I was deemed "most animated"!!! #ICanDoIt(X3) #YesICanYesICanYesICan #IfIFollowJesusAndIPutMyMindToIt

2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful testimony, Steph, of how God is working through WCGC! We thank Him for providing these amazing opportunities to praise and glorify His holy name. We are covering you all with many prayers. Thanks for sharing and for wholeheartedly embracing His call. "I will exalt you my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever..so that all men may know of your might acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom." Psalm 145:1-2,12 Much love to you from us! :)

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    1. Thank you mom! So encouraged to hear! Yes it is incredible just how much God is doing and can do through us! Thank you for your prayers and I love you too. :)

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