Hope4Philly!

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for joining me!

Well, the past several days have revolved around a whirlwind of circumstances, but overall, it's been wonderful! We just got back from Philadelphia for our stateside outreach. In one word: incredible. But first, let me backtrack a little...

So, last Tuesday, we spent the day training with the Disaster Response team at Convoy of Hope, and this was truly a unique experience! Our team trained first-hand and toured the Convoy mobile semi-truck (basically the command center and over-night accomodations taking the team to these disasters). We also practiced setting up an outreach tent ourselves and ate some delicious M.R.E.s! (If you've had an M.R.E., you know what I'm talking about! haha!..although, actually, I didn't think my tortellini was too bad ;) During an intense training session, we sat in a room where we pretended that we would be stuck for the next three days with only the items we had in our backpacks at the moment...this was extremely eye-opening! To think of what some people in sudden disasters experience and the conditions they must attempt to survive in is overwhelming. What a day!

On Wednesday, we began our journey to Philadelphia, stopping halfway in Columbus, Ohio to stay at a former intern's church. Our roadtrip resumed on Thursday, and we made it to Philly. Keep in mind that there were 15 of us in a 15-passenger van...so it was a little squished; however, we had a great time chatting and listening to tunes! :) We also got the chance to visit Dustin, who was supposed to be on our team this term, at the rehab hospital in St. Louis. Sadly, he was in a horrible car accident and not doing great; however, we are continuing to pray and believe for miracles!

On Friday, we spent the day touring the sites of Philly, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I'm a self-proclaimed history nerd, so all of this was fascinating to me! We were able to tour Independence Hall and see where the Declaration of Independence was signed, as well as tour the locations of the first Senate and Congress. Our tour guides were amazing! We were shown where certain presidents sat during the Declaration's signing, such as George Washington and John Adams. Many of the original pieces of furniture were still sitting in the same spots, and the architecture was incredible! I love being in places where life-changing history occurred throughout the world. We stood in Independence Square (where the Declaration was first read to the people, as well as serving as the meeting place for the riot on the eve of the American Revolution) and prayed for our nation-a powerful moment....We were also able to see the Liberty Bell first hand, which was incredible!

After touring the primary historical sites, we headed to Tony Luke's (winner of the Food Network challenge) for some authentic Philly cheesesteaks (made with cheese wiz and all!). I must say-delicious! After our stomachs were full, we decided to head to the Philly Museum of Art, where we ran the Rocky steps to the top. This was so much fun (and really not as hard as it looks...!) I enjoyed looking over the city from the top of the steps and saying a prayer for the people in Philly who are desperately in need...

That night we headed to the Convoy rally at a local church. It was inspiring to see so many people gathered together for one purpose: to reach the people of Philadelphia. A Christian rapper was there who called our team down to the front to dance with him-this was awesome! After the rally, we worked to pass out T-shirts to some of the volunteers.

On Saturday, the outreach began, spread over 8 different locations throughout Philly. We worked in the Hunting Park location, where we had everything set up from groceries to prayer ministry to kids zone to food and music to health and legal services. I felt that I needed to work in the prayer tent all day, which was not my original intention for this particular outreach; however, I truly felt this was where God had me for the day. As people came in to receive free groceries, we would stop them and ask if we could pray with them. It was amazing to see how many people actually would allow us to pray with them, even non-believers. I was honored for the opportunity to pray with so many people in need. It hurts my heart to see such a number of broken people in desperate need of Jesus. I was able to tell one Muslim guy about Jesus. He wasn't ready to convert but said that he was interested in going to church and finding out more info about Christ. This makes me happy. :) Philly is truly a broken city in need of God's love and hope. Seeing the smiles on the faces of those receiving everyday basic needs was overwhelming. I continue to pray that we planted some everlasting seeds. In total, over 13,000 people showed up at these outreaches-Praise God!! :)

Later that evening, we got to chill at Bobby Flay's burger place in West Philly, which was a lot of fun! We were intending on heading back on Sunday and doing the half-way drive again. Unfortunately, my good friend, Sara (another team member) became very ill and had to go to the hospital, so we stayed in Philly an extra night. Even though it was a long and trying day in some ways, in other ways it taught us some important lessons and turned out to be a good experience. We were able to stay that night on some air-mattresses at a carriage house attached to Otto Wagner's church, the 2nd oldest A/G church in the world. This facility is located in a historic section of Philly, one block from the spot where Ben Franklin supposedly flew his kite and was hit by lightening! Kind of cool! And of course we were very glad to wait for Sara to get better...thankfully, she is doing great! :) This was obviously the most important aspect of the day! Matt also taught a great devotional that night on God being the God of the everyday moments as well as the God of the the big moments. Awesome!

So, yesterday we got up at about 5 a.m. and left from Philly to make the entire drive back to Springfield. This took about 21 hours total, and we didn't get back until early this morning. However, I really enjoyed the drive back...getting the chance to chat with Matt and the girls, as well as listen to some good music was cool. Not to say there weren't some restless moments...but, overall, I enjoyed it!

Thankfully, we had a chance today to kind of recuperate, do laundry, spend alone time, etc. We are actually roadtripping to Dallas in the morning (about 8 hrs!), so we are getting ready to be back in the van! haha! However, I'm excited! Two simultaneous conferences are being held in Dallas this weekend-the A/G National Women's Conference as well as Momentum, the National Youth Leaders Conference (Matt is teaching a session on ways that a youth ministry can show compassion). We will hopefully get to attend a little of both conferences-yay!

I can't stress enough how thankful I am to be part of this team. We are learning so much and getting the opportunity to reach people's lives...incredible. Throughout this time in Philly, we truly began to see how God intricately orchestrated this group of girls (and Matt!) to work together for this season. Many of us have amazingly similar testimonies and stories...we are truly sisters, helping each other grow in those areas that we are experiencing and working through together. As always, God reveals that He knows what He's doing!

"I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us."-John Mark McMillan