Needless to say...we're tired!

After a long work day yesterday we started of today a little sluggish to say the least. The kids were hardly even moving before we got some breakfast in them. Our day started of with massive storms in Waco. We were literally driving and watch all the electricity in the buildings flashing on and off. We got to take a tour of My Brother's Keeper, which is the name of Mission Waco's Homeless Shelter. We got to walk around and see how these people live. Kathy, our Mission Waco staffer, talked to the kids about a few of the homeless people that they have had come through their shelters. Some of their stories were successful while others had some sad endings. After our tour we went back to the Children's Building to see a presentation from some people that went to Haiti just a week ago. The video was about 40 minutes long and really made a lot of the kids ready to help the Haitian people. After some lunch we got to take a tour of a theater in the area and the World Cup Cafe, which is a small deli/ cafe that Mission Waco runs and also sells fair trade merchandise from all over the world. It was crazy just to see how some people could make such creative things out of ordinary things. There were vases made out of folded old magazine pages, fun finger puppets made out of string to make every animal imaginable, and even hand painted ornaments. After the tours we once again split into 3 groups to do more work projects. One group cleaned out the youth building and computer lab, one cleaned the theater and World Cup Cafe, and another group went to clean the Meyers Center where they hold clinics, GED class, computer class, worship service, breakfasts for the homeless, among many other things on the weekdays. I warn you know that I took some pictures of at least everyone helping and cleaning so now they can't tell you that they can't, because we have picture proof! After dinner we talked about that night's activities. We split the kids into 2 groups according to what they were comfortable with. We had one group go on a prayer walk (ok they were in a van the whole time, but it still counts). They weren't to some of the surrounding building praying for the people there, the workers, and the people they would be helping. It was a great time for the kids to see some of the buildings in our area that look nothing like we are used to in Rockwall. The other group went to the shelter again to go to a chapel service with some of the homeless people that live there. I was with this group and I tell you what- it was one of the best things I've done in my life. The leader of chapel, Eric Harry, asked the kids to be honest and tell the homeless people around them what they thought about homeless people. The kids were so honest and asked them if they all lived in cardboard boxes, or if they tried to get jobs. Some of the people got to share their stories. Wow. The lives these people have had have been hard. We had a lady that was kicked out of her house at 12, someone who was in the navy, and a truck driver. Our kids got to meet some of the 20+ homeless people there. Each one of them was told to meet one person and then after a while we shared with the group the name of the person we met and one interesting thing about them. It was amazing. The kids came away from that event saying that 45 minute chapel was the best part of their trip. Their eyes were opened. We came back to the hotel and did a trip debriefing. We met in one of the rooms with all of our Bibles and talked about what we have learned. We talked about now becoming the hands and the feet of God. We allowed the kids about an hour at the end of the night to eat pizza and swim before heading to their rooms to pack and get ready for church tomorrow. This trip has shed light on a different part of the world that most of the kids and even us adults hadn't seen before.I'm sorry but we didn't take any pictures at the chapel service tonight. Walking around snapping pictures would have ruined the mood of the moment. Here are a few pictures from the day!