Today was our travel day, and we are grateful for answered prayers. Everyone is healthy, and we arrived safely in Atlanta at around 6:30 PM (EST). With no traffic and mostly cloudy skies, the journey was smooth and pleasant. The ride itself was quiet, as much of our team had stayed up late celebrating the New Year:)
After arriving at the church, we unloaded all of our gear, settled in and then sat down together to have some pizza and talk through basic rules, our plan for tonight and a little bit what Thursday will look like. After we were done eating we spent some time sorting all of our donations and bagging everything so we can be prepared for our route tomorrow. We are very thankful for all of the donations this year. Having clothing to hand out along with lunches always makes it easier to connect with people we meet and start up conversations. As you can see from our pics, we enjoyed going through and sorting the donations.
After we got everything cleaned up, we got together and spent a little time in scripture looking at parts of Psalm 51 and spending a little time in Ezekiel 34. To summarize, God is not looking for us to go through the motions and do "Christian things", he is after our heart. We then spent some time talking about what the looks like and why we are down here on this mission trip.
After spending time sharing thoughts, questions, and concerns about tomorrow, we closed the evening in prayer. Before heading to bed, we enjoyed a few games together.
Over the next couple of days, students will take turns reflecting on their experiences—what they did, what they learned, and how it impacted them. I'll do my best to capture these moments in pictures. We’d love for you to follow along and see what we’re up to. Please keep our team in your prayers as we head out on the streets of Atlanta tomorrow. It's going to be a great day!
~ Chris Hendrikse
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| After a short prayer, our team left the Bethel OPC parking lot at 3:00 AM to head to Atlanta. |
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| Nashville |
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| Steak 'n Shake for lunch |
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| Group photo after lunch |
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| Grabbing a few supplies |
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| Thank you to everyone who contributed donations. We have lots to hand out! |
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| Getting settled in... |
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| Time for Papa Johns |
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| Organizing the donations |
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| Removing tags, plastic and any wrapping |
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| Sorting socks |
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| After reflecting on a few scriptures and having some reflection time on why we are down here, we had some time to hang out and play games. |
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| Time for bed! |
