Raul's Group
Written by Miles Foster with help from Sam Strub and Raul
Today, we went to the project concern food pantry. We needed to stack up empty boxes to get them ready for school supplies for the children when they come to the food pantry. We were playing basketball with the empty boxes while trying to stack them. The girls sorted through jewelry so it can be displayed in the pantry area. After a while the boys in this group, Miles, Sam and Andrew, we went to the dollar tree and picked up 25 cases of dish soap. Raul sat in the store and enjoyed the AC while looking at the boys trying to figure out how we were going to fit these 25 cases. After seeing the boys struggle for ten minutes on how to load the boxes, I, Raul stepped outside and gave them a hand and figured it out. The boys did angriest job of loading the dishsoap. After we brought them to the pantry we had fun sliding them down the stairs using the food delivery chute. After the stacking of dishsoap we disinfected the medical equipment that the pantry distributed to anyone who is in need for simple medical equipment. (Crutches, walkers, wheel chairs, etc...) after which we ate lunch. It was alot easier to work there today because we knew the ins and outs of the place.
Next, we went to help serve the community at the local soup kitchen called The Gathering. We carried in supplies and then we had delicious soup. The ingredients were generously donated by the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. There is one instance where Jim, soup kitchen supervisor, let someone in the soup kitchen early for him to eat his dinner before he called 911 because he had just gotten beat up by someone pretty badly. He needed his dinner before going to get checked out. It felt good that we helped so many people but it was also humbling to realize that we have it super easy compared to other people who are just so thankful to have just this one meal.
Stacey's Group:
Written by Stacey Haas
Today Amber, Breanna, Mia, Kelsey, and I went back to Wil-O-Way at Grant Park. Aaron, the assistant director of the adult day services at Wil-O-Way, greeted us when we got there to give us direction about small projects that need to get done both in the garden Wil-O-Way and at the neighboring Boy Scouts lodge. We started the day with watering all of the plants in the garden. It was hot today, so the girls were sure to give the plants plenty of water. We then made our way over to the Boy Scouts lodge to begin clearing of another brick walkway. This brick walkway was buried under 3-4 inches of dirt and grass, so it took some time to determine where the walkway was located. We started revealing bricks a little at a time and came to realize that the bricks extended much further into the property than we originally thought. We knew the walkway extended along the side of the lodge, pretty much connecting the main and back doors. We know now, though, that there are bricks that go out away from the lodge. Since we weren't sure where exactly the walkway was located or where it led, we decided to make sure that the part of the walkway we had already uncovered was cleared and presentable. We then explained to Aaron what we discovered and he plans to have future groups work on clearing more of the walkway.
At lunch (and during later reflection), we talked about how we felt about what we had accomplished that morning. The girls all felt more accomplished today than on Monday, when we did essentially the same task but in another area of the property. The difference today was in the purpose. The girls felt like this path had a purpose and was going to get used and were also curious about where the rest of the path led. I think there was a little disappointment in leaving without ever knowing, but some satisfaction in knowing they had a part in helping to bring a piece of the property's history back to life. Upon leaving, Aaron expressed his appreciation for what the girls had done and it made them feel good to have helped and pleased another person.
After lunch, we worked on a variety of smaller projects; moving some dirt around the foundation, moving cement blocks for a drainage run off, taking apart a bench, and re-watering the garden. We were done a little early so Aaron encouraged us to visit Grant Park Beach and enjoy some frozen custard. It was hot today, so we decided to go. It was a great day and felt amazing to end a day of hard work by putting our feet in Lake Michigan and enjoying a chocolate/vanilla swirl cone. Mine even had sprinkles! :-)
After our two groups served at two separate soup kitchens we had a community worship at Unity Lutheran and Raul helped lead the worship music. It was a great service that the churches puts on after the soup kitchen closes and people come to worship and have communion after. It was amazing worshipping all of us together.
After worship we had our large group time and then our church group time. Large group was fantastic and talked about race and some of the tensions there are in society. In church group we had and have been great discussions about faith, life, and everything in between. Of course, we sing worship music during our church group time. This has been an amazing week for all of us. Keep the emails coming raul@fogchurch.org I love reading them out loud to all the group. So if you have good embarrassing stories of anyone on the trip you'd like to share that would be awesome.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. Y'all are all amazing.
Peace and Love,
2016 Milwaukee Mission Trippers
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