The Norfolk team rose this morning with an excited energy that permeated everything we did today! After breakfast, the team loaded up the vehicles and headed to Union Missions Ministries. Union Missions is a local homeless shelter where they feed, clothe and house around 350 men and 120 women and children a day. While there, people get a chance to meet with case workers who help them devise a plan to get them off the streets and back on their feet. The team met with Miss Linda, one of the staff members, who gave us an introduction into homelessness and the goal of Union Missions. After talking with the team and answering questions we had about the work that they do, we took a tour of the facility. The team followed the path of the donations that we brought down, from the drop off point to the warehouse, where they sort all of the donation items and send them to the distribution rooms. Finally, the thrift store that the Mission runs to help not only the homeless but also those in the area that may have homes, but are financially overwhelmed. It was great to see our team engage with the workers at Union Missions and also feel compassion for those that have much greater physical needs than we do.
Afterwards, the team left to go to a park near our next stop, Consulate Health Center, where we ate lunch before heading over to Consulate. Once we arrived at Consulate we met the group of elderly men and women who were waiting for us in another nearby park for a picnic. It was awesome to see the reactions of both the group from Consulate and our own team as we walked up to the pavilion to cheers from the elderly. Our team jumped at the opportunity to engage with them. After the picnic, our team helped our new friends back to the health center across the street. It was such a vision of God working in and through our group as the team helped those that could walk and those in wheel chairs safely get back to their rooms. One of the workers at Consulate commented once we had gotten everyone back that we had saved them at least an hour and a half of transportation time. We said goodbye to our new friends at Consulate and headed to the beach for a few hours of fun and an oceanside dinner.
After dinner, the team headed back to Spring Branch for Porch Time where they had an opportunity to recount some of the days events before listening to a talk from Nick. Tonight Nick talked about faith and why our faith seems to make more sense when we leave our comfort zone. He spoke from John 11, where Martha gets uncomfortable when Jesus asks her to move the stone from Lazarus' tomb. He used the story to talk about the fact that God oftentimes asks us to get out of our comfort zone and trust that God will give us the strength and courage we need. When we are willing to actually live out the things God is asking us to do then we get to experience the glory of God. The team was challenged to actively look for how God shows up in our daily lives as we think about taking what we're learning on the trip and applying it in our daily routines. After the talk, the team split into small groups to discuss this further and then headed to bed excited for out final day of serving tomorrow!
