Serving Atlanta 2021: Monday: Serving at the Garden / Night Route

I was very excited about today, and I was not disappointed. We start each day with a prayer that we chant standing in a circle, which I always look forward to. It's a great way to begin the day with a solid reminder of the faith we love and believe. I was kept busy all day, first making hygiene kits, then washing dishes, then sorting clothes. When I was done, I joined some of the others playing with the kids outside, especially Faith and Jeremiah. They were so excited to play and run around and clung onto us when we tried to leave to do the night route. The night route was incredible, if a little scary. One man, named K.R., was standing on a red rug under an overpass and made everyone "touch and agree" before he let let us pray for him. It was a bit discouraging because he didn't seem to be right in the head, but it was also a reminder that God is capable of saving anyone, even if it seems impossible to us. As Ephesians 3:20 tells us, God "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."

~ Anna Perkins

Today I was able to have many different experiences and make new relationships and memories. This morning, before lunch, me and the boys were able to help load two big trucks full of stuff and different things that would eventually go to Africa. The trucks were full to the top, it was fun and good to see how much stuff there was to give to the people they could actually use it and that needed it. Then we had lunch and were able to be involved in packing lunches and making the lunches for the route we would go on at 5 at night. After we got finished putting the lunches together and then bagging them all, the boys and I went outside to go and play with the kids. I met this young girl name Provi (Providence) and she was super sweet and super cute. I had the opportunity to play with her and have a good time with her. I am glad I was able to make a new relationship even though she used me for my phone and the games. It was still fun to get to know what I could about her and have fun playing games with her.

At 5 we went out to the streets and went out to give people food, hats, gloves and more. This was the part of the day I was the most excited for. The other day we went out but it was with another youth group and we didn’t get to do much, but today it was just our group and some workers that helped us. It was a good experience to see how people live and how we can still show Gods love to everyone no matter what they are going through. At this park we went to I was able to meet a man named Tony. This was a very good experience because I was able to hear a little bit of his story and know about him. I gave him a lunch, a couple blankets, gloves, and a couple hats. He was really appreciative of receiving the things I gave him and even a prayer. He was a really nice man and really appreciated what we were doing. We also were able to meet the other end of that and someone that didn’t appreciate what we gave him and we had to leave because he was swearing at us and seemed to be on drugs. It was a overall good experience and fun time to see how people live and try and help them. I hope that we were able to show Gods love and that God can make a change in their hearts and they can find him and see the value that he has.

~ Eli Johnson

Today we started the day off by splitting off into guys and girls. The guys in our group prayed with the men from 7 Bridges and the girls prayed with the women. It was a really good way to start the day because we were able to get our minds set right. Right after that the guys went with the men and we had to go into one of the crates that is on the site that’s filled with random stuff that people donate. We pretty much emptied a whole 50 foot long crate and moved all the stuff into a big truck that would deliver the donations to an organization who would eventually send the donations to Africa. After we finished the crate we went to an old bus that’s on site which was also completely filled with donations. We emptied that one too, into a different truck.

After we finished that we sorted some clothes with the rest of our group and then made the lunches for the routes later in the night. Then, we went outside and played tag with the kids for a while before we left to go on our routes. This one kid, Josiah always comes up to me and he’s always just hanging out with me, Max, Will, Eli, and Kory. He’s pretty funny cuz he gave Max the nickname "toothpick" and started calling Kory "retail" which I have no idea where that one came from.

Tonight was a lot different from our experience going out on Saturday because it was just our group with the men and the men stayed back a little and let us do a lot of the praying and going up to the people. My first time praying with someone actually went a lot better than I thought it would because the lady I asked to pray with seemed really thankful for everything we gave her. But, it was really sad to see some of the living conditions of so many of the people we met. There was one time where we went under a bridge and had to walk pretty far back and we could only see a ton of trash and a few silhouettes of people. We prayed with one lady back there and she seemed very grateful, but then we prayed with another man who at first seemed very eager for us to pray. We had the whole group over by him and he made us all have our arms around each other before he let us pray. When we finished he saw that one of the guys from 7 Bridges was using his camera and he started swearing and yelling at us to leave. When we got back to the vans I found out that he had actually graduated from 7 bridges. So, it was really sad to see that he was now living way back under a bridge and in the mental condition that he was in. But, I was able to see the way God is working when we went to other people who really seemed to have a good relationship with God and were really grateful for what we were doing.

~ Justin Hendrikse

Today was a fun day full of different experiences. We started off the day with the rest of the men from 7 Bridges with their morning prayer and scripture reading. They all are so hyped and they all start hooting and hollering. It was really neat for me. We had the opportunity to help out the people down here by helping them fill up these trucks full of different donations like toys and supplies. These supplies are being sent to people in need in Africa. I was the person in the back of the huge truck squatting and grabbing the stuff at the beginning of the assembly line so I got my share of a workout in. We also sat in on a Bible study which a young guy named Eric led. After a day of helping around the 7 Bridges Recovery grounds I was kind of wiped. I also had a chance to play with a kid named Josiah. He loves playing tag and is a fun kid.

We also got to go on a night route at the end of the day. A “route” is when we go out and give lunches to the homeless who need them and we try praying with them as well. I was a bit nervous about this because it was at night in a big city. It was also a little bit creepy walking up to people in the dark, especially when they’re complete strangers and you don’t know who they are. I had one interesting experience where a man didn’t want anything to do with God and was yelling at me and calling me things which was a bit startling. This was a good experience for me and overall there were a lot of great people I was able to pray with which was really cool. So far it has been a great trip where I have learned a lot and have strengthened my own relationship with God by trying to reach out to others in need of Christ. It has been a great opportunity for all of us to spread the love of God.

~ Will Grasse

Prayer time with the men this morning

A little cleaning...

Transferring donations from crate to truck

We eventually packed this truck completely full of donations

Sorting donations from back home to take out on route

Justin and Josiah

One of the men drove this out on route tonight. Wish I could've ridden shotgun:)

Handing out clothing and blankets

The Bridge to Nowhere

Here you can see us walking over to a group of people that are homeless. We had several opportunities to hand out clothing and food as well as offer prayer.