A few pictures from the past couple of days

Unfortunately, we do not have good internet service here in Jackson so it is hard to post photos. We look forward to adding more photos to the blog once we are home, and sharing them with you on July 29 following the 9:00 Unity Service! 

Wednesday and Thursday Update!

Wednesday

Hi from Sophie, Adam and Jessie!

Yesterday we volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club in the morning. We struggled in the begging because the teacher of each age group had a set task and we were not sure how we were supposed to help. We decided to play games we learned in youth group with some of the kids, which was really fun!

During lunch, we listened to Miss Debbie’s testimony. She is running the STEAM program for kids at Voice of Calvary. She emphasized how good God has been in her life and how she realized that God has a plan for everyone. It encouraged us to hear how God is working in our lives.

Then, some of us worked on inventory in the VOCM shop while the others stayed to paint a mural of the Fruit of the Spirit. The girls have been working on painting a mural which will be displayed on one of the windows of the Voice of Calvary Office. They are planning on having every mission group paint a mural, and we are the first ones to do it. We are so excited to share a picture of it with you when it is done.

                Gateway is an organization that helps people with homelessness and addictions. Half of our team visited Gateway on Wednesday to serve them dinner and the second team will visit tomorrow. After they were served dinner, we sat down and connected with some of them. We gave dinner to a total of three groups and then we cleaned the area. We returned to the house after we finished.

We had the pleasure of hearing a lesson from Sam Pollard, who was volunteer coordinator in the past trips. He gave the seniors, Micah, Evan, Jessie, and Marcel, a blessing and encouragement using his past history and Bible verses.

Thursday

This morning, some of us went do yardwork in an elderly woman’s house, and the other half of the group stayed behind to pant walls in a  classroom in VOC and work on the mural. During lunch we heard Miss Barbara’s testimony and her message about staying close to your siblings and always forgiving each other.

Tonight, we went to Hip-Hop Night in Claibrone Park which was hosted by Common Ground Church who is associated with VOC. After a short downpour, we ate hotdogs and beans and listened to live music by kids and adults from the community. We got to interact with the kids and play a thrilling game of ultimate frisbee.  

Thank you for your prayers for our team. Please continue to pray for us as we have our last day of work tomorrow and then travel home on Saturday.

Tuesday Update from Virginia!

Good afternoon from Jackson!

                These few days so far in Mississippi have been filled with God and so much fun! So far, we have worked on gutting a house for an InterVarsity Program, cleaning and setting up classrooms at Common Grounds Church for a kindergarten readiness program, scraping poles, window frames, and doors so that they can be painted, packing boxes for a local food pantry, painting a mural for Voice of Calvary, and yard work for a handicapped woman. In all of these tasks I have seen God at work in our team. He has chosen a great team to do His work and impact the lives of the people of West Jackson. On Monday during lunch, Phil Reed, the president of Voice of Calvary, spoke to us about the history of their organization and the various programs they have to benefit the people of West Jackson. Through his presentation I could sense that their programs truly benefit not just the Christian minority of Jackson, but the entire community of Jackson. They have been put in a position where God has allowed them to impact and be a vital part of the community. An example of a program they have is for homeless people. They are building a Housing First community by partnering with other organizations in Jackson, to provide the homeless population, that may be alcoholics or a drug addicts, with a home. The only rules for this complex are that they aren’t bothering their neighbors, and they are taking care of their things. Once they are following these rules, most will end their addiction and seek help with it out of their own desires. Today, we packed boxes of food at the Mississippi Food Network for distribution all over Mississippi. We packed over fifty 30lb boxes of canned goods and food. Also, Voice of Calvary asked us to paint a mural to go over one of their windows. Sophie, Caitlin, Jessie, Kerry, and I painted a dove with the Fruit of the Spirit inside of it, while the others helped the handicapped lady maintain her yard. This trip has been so much fun and I have seen God at work keeping us safe! Thank you all so much for your prayers and your continued support. I am looking forward to all of the things God has planned for us this week!

-Virginia Betts

Monday Update from Evan!

We did lots of different stuff today at Common Ground Church in West Jackson. To start off the day the group worked with welcoming and working with the new kids at Voice of Calvary’s new camp to help educate kids for a kindergarten readiness program from the ages 4-6 years old in the city. Some of the group cheered the kids into the building while the rest were inside testing the kid's knowledge on some basic spelling, colors, and numbers. After we finished welcoming and testing the kids, we brought them down the hall to start their classes with some local teachers from the area and moved outside. Once outside we needed to paint some iron poles that were supporting a roof up on a walk way. Before we could begin painting we needed to scrape the old paint that was chipping off the poles from erosion. After we had finished that, we went inside to eat the lunch that the volunteer cook for the week at VOC had prepared for us. While eating the president of VOC Phil Reed gave us a speech about how their programs work and stuff they had done over the past years with the community. After lunch we then painted the poles and scraped and painted some doors that needed to be redone as well. While some of the group focused on that others went and began preparing the background for a mural they will be painting later in the week. At the end of the day we cleaned up all the supplies we had used. Tonight we will be making a trip to WalMart for some supplies for the rest of our time here. We are having a great week so far!

Thanks for your continued prayers,

Evan Locke

Sunday evening update from Caitlin!

Hello from Mississippi,

                These past two full days have been full of fun and new experiences! Yesterday we were taking down walls in a house that will be re-modeled and finished into four units for people to live in. I had never taken down walls before so it was new, and very fun! Today, we went to church at Common Ground Church and it was cool to see how passionate the people are about God and Him working in their communities. Specifically, the sermon today was about how to change the community. This was important to the people who live here especially, because they lost a young kid to gun violence a few days ago and they want to see change in their community so violence and other bad things stop. The Pastor used Leviticus 19: 1-18, which states laws which we can refer to in our daily lives to become better disciples of God to improve the community. Then in the afternoon we went back to Common Ground and helped clean and set up classrooms for the program they will be having for kids. We will be cheering on the kids as they walk in throughout the week. The program is to make sure kids are ready for kindergarden they are going into next year so it helps determine what level they are at and teaches the kids what they need to know to be successful in the coming year. We met Barbara and Deb, who are the main people in charge of the program and we all told them something about us, and they were so excited to hear what we want to do in the future. I am looking forward to all of the things we have planned for the coming week!

Thank you for your prayers,

Caitlin Reale

A great first day in Jackson!

After arriving safely in Jackson last night, and a good night sleep, we were up early this morning for a full day of work. Our friend, Sam Pollard, is helping on a home rehab project for the local InterVarsity chapter here. We were able to spend the day doing demo on the house together. Tonight we will look forward to having dinner and a trip to WalMart! Thanks for your continued prayers for our team.

Our Savior Lutheran Church Jackson, MS 2018 Team