Sunday, April 29, 2012

Mission Arlington

HEY!!! 


So I HAVE to tell you about my weekend!! This weekend has been planned since January and I have looked forward to it all semester!! We even started a bible study in January for it! This weekend = Amazing-ness! 




So why was it so amazing?? Well let me tell you!


Myself and five of my girlfriends loaded up two cars with food, water, work clothes, church clothes, and  bibles! We left San Angelo at 1 on Friday and drove to Mineral Wells. We hung out with my family and prepared for the next day (that's when my excitement kicks in) but before I can tell you about Saturday, I have to finish Friday. I haven't felt my life so complete before. I had Jesus (duh!), my family, plus my amazing beautiful best friends with me all in one house!!! PERFECTION! okay now moving on......




SATURDAY!!


We woke up at 5:00a.m. (if you aren't familiar with this time of day, it's still dark outside and many places are still closed) We were on the road by 5:45 on our way to Arlington, TX. We went to downtown Arlington and went to a place called Mission Arlington. We got there around 7 and were put to work by 7:15. We weren't sure what we were going to do, we just knew we were there to be the hands and feet of Christ. We were hoping for lots of interaction and getting to "preach" the gospel. Well.....


We got put in a clothes room.  We were given instructions to pack up winter clothes and load them on the truck and then hang the clothes that needed to be hung....easy right?!? WRONG! the clothes just kept coming in full force, we could never catch up and it was a bit overwhelming and discouraging. I could tell my girls were getting frustrated. 6 girls plus some of the girls assigned to mission Arlington to complete their community service in one room that wasn't well ventilated was a tad exhausting.... so around 11:30 we decided to go find a place downtown to have a picnic and regain our composser..... 
side note, thank you to Wynell and Kelli for providing our food! It was delicious and a huge stress taken off of us, and it also enabled us to do more work and not search or go out and buy food!!
Hey girls it's almost lunchtime which means you're about halfway done! Keep it up! Remember to work as though you're working for God not man! YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!! Keep up the good work ladies! Remember the harvest is great but the workers are few!!
Ms. Tillie is probably in her late seventies early eighties. She founded Mission Arlington. It started off as an apartment complex, but people kept coming to her in need, so she opened up a food pantry, and clothes closet, and drop off. It has now grown to have medical center, dental center, child care, a church building, furniture barn, Christmas store, and so much more! She and her son run it. They said on average every day 1,000 people walk through the doors for help plus during Christmas time they serve 3,000 people and share Luke 2 (Christmas story) in six different languages!!! Ms. Tillie, is still just as active, hoping into big semi trailers and unloading and loading like she was twenty! Amazing woman and STRONG!
Each of the 130 kids had a bible and highlighted, wrote a note, and then gave it to a stranger. One girl gave me her bible she had been studying out of! WHAT A BLESSING! Kara and Kayla also received one. 



So as we were sitting at lunch, I asked what the girls thought.... many said they weren't expecting this and that we were actually going to be "preaching" the gospel. Well at that time one of our friends, who couldn't go on the trip due to health issues last minute sent us this text message....


So reading that, it hit us, we might not be "preaching" the gospel but we are helping someone else do it.... If we weren't folding and hanging clothes then that would take someone out from the front lines and maybe lose an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus..... So we were prepared to spend the rest of the day in that room working like it was the last job on the planet....


We got back to find a few more girls in there assigned from the courts, and it was tight quarters. The clothes had quadrupled and it was miserable..... I finally just prayed, and asked God if I should go talk to Ms. Tillie about a new job. (He said yes as clear as day)....... I walked into her office, and before the words could come out of my mouth, she said "I've been waiting for yall, ready for a new job? Go get the girls!"




SO back to our day.... She told us 130 fourth and fifth graders were about to walk through the door and they needed group leaders, to help lead them in working....... Can you say God's timing is perfect?!?!
We are all education majors and really wanted to hang out with kids..... So Ms. Tillie told us to take them to a parking lot and split them up into groups, then we were each given jobs.....Emily's and my group of 30 kids were taken back to the clothes closet -_-. lol i was like REALLY??!?! lol. but the kids worked HARD!!!


I loved seeing them work so hard to get a job done, they only worked for an hour but they worked hard. You could see sweat and concentration trying to complete a job.


Taylor and Jill's group organized school supplies and bagged candy.
Kayla's group cleaned the church building.
Kara's group had to lug water to a storage building. 


When it was all done and the kids were pooped they were still saying scripture! The two they kept saying were "Acts 1:18" and "Micah 6:8". 




When we were done with the kiddos we were put out to unload the cars of stuff coming in for donations. We were working with the the kids and adults serving community service hours. These folks were rough. They have had a hard life and chose not so smart lifestyles. Hearing their stories broke my heart, but i told the girls work with a big smile on your face and show Jesus to them.....


Well sure enough the first reaction wasn't positive but during our two and half hours out there, they came around and we were able to work aside them. They were shocked people would drive five hours to come and serve because they just wanted to!




When we left we headed to the Texas Rangers game and had a blast!!! (Jill, Kara, Taylor, and I were on the jumbo scream dancing like dorks)




We got home around midnight and were finally in bed by 1:00 (that's being up, working, no sleep, in the heat for 20 hours)


But we weren't too grouchy or tired. I really think we were just totally pumped to be serving the Lord!!




Sunday (today)
We went to my dad's church and then made it back to Angelo around 4:30!


It was an amazing weekend! I have learned so much about these girls and myself! It was amazing to serve the Lord with the most amazing best friends I have ever had!!




SO real quick here is what the Lord taught me::


Our verse was "Where you go I'll go" -Ruth 1:16. 


1. If you have read this blog before, you'll know I really don't like San Angelo but I know this is where God has put me, so I will go and be here for he next eight months serving Christ here in San Angelo (good thing I have my girls here)
2. After planning this mission trip and executing it, I have a love for doing this stuff, and i realized I can't wait to work with my husband doing stuff like this, but it will be God's timing.
3. I am called to Arlington, Texas (this weekend was just a confirmation)
4. God has grown me a lot, even when I wasn't a big fan of him.... I am 21 now and almost out on my own (no more college). He has big things in store for me and this weekend just showed it!




SO i hope you enjoyed this blog (if you read all of it). Sorry it was long, I got excited! Thank you for your prayers. Love to all!! Enjoy some pics from our trip!

In Front of Mission Arlington!
the clothes closet. 


Group of kiddos! 
Ms. Tillie!


A few of my sweet girls in my group!

the sweet girl who gave me her bible!


At Brazos Pointe Church









 Thank you Jill, Kara, Taylor, Kayla, and Emily for loving Jesus, for being amazing friends, and serving Jesus this weekend!!! I love yall!! 

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