Well Done (except the burger)
Well today was our third and final day as a part of YSOP. Per usual, we split up into three groups. The first one went to the Capitol Area food bank and happened to work with a group of foreign exchange students while volunteering. A lot of kids went into depth during our reflection time on the overwhelming size of the building and how many people this particular food bank serves. They filled bags with necessities for a hearty meal. This group worked behind the scenes today and learned about all of the various preparation steps. Group two was more on the front lines. They went to the Father McKenna Center today. It is a day shelter for men. Not only does this particular shelter provide meals for homeless men but many other things are provided such as case management, clothing, hot showers, and more. The youth served the meals and had the opportunity to chat with them. Hearing their stories and the advice they so openly gave was life changing. I personally heard a success story from a gentleman I talked to at the shelter and the happiness appeared to radiate off of him. In simpler words, when he talked about the bright future ahead of him he was glowing. Now for our last group of youth. Today they went to A Wider Circle. According to them, they had an extremely busy day. They moved furniture from the storage area onto the staging area and then further into peoples cars. Everyone had a task and everyone took something away from their time there. “Something I observed today was how much A Wider Circle was integrated with the community. One of their locations is on one of the most dangerous street in DC. Just looking around today you could really see how much everyone respected each other and it was refreshing.” All of these ideas and thoughts about our activities today were jumbled together in our reflection time. It was an emotional day as well as an enlightening one. Before we ate dinner, we briefly went through the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Then we met up with one of our PUMC youth group alumni, Beth Hieronymus. She joined us for dinner at The Gorden Biersch. After this we visited the Washington monument, the Department of Justice, the White house, the Jefferson monument (from afar), and also witnessed Thomas get in trouble by a police officer for not using the sidewalk. When we finally got back to The Church of Epiphany, we settled down and most of us hit the hay early considering the tiring day behind us. Tomorrow we will leave early in the AM and take our luggage, along with the many memories and life lessons we collected from this trip. We couldn't be more thankful for the opportunities we were offered over the past three days and the people that surrounded us. This was most certainly a successful mission trip.
"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God"
Micah 6:8
"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God"
Micah 6:8