Weekend Update

Yesterday went really well. Most of the kids went to the front of the room after we shared the Gospel message with them. It was beautiful. I talked to one of the girls in my group after. Her name is Leshia and she is amazing. She is 6 years old. She fully understands that her decision is to follow Jesus. Hearing that was so encouraging. If a 6 year old can have that kind of faith anyone can!

Last night we went to First Church for their end of VBS ceremony. So we went and they brought us interns on stage. For their service project the kids collected money for Hartford City Mission and donated 3 soccer balls to our camp! They raised almost 300 dollars! Wow!

After we went out to dinner with Todd and Tegan. It was so good to see them. It was so good to catch up with them. As good as the day was yesterday it was also really hard. My emotions were all over the place. I think a big reason for that was thinking about leaving and thinking that my time here is almost over...

Today was interesting...We went to prison. ahh! Actually we just went as visitors. One sunday a month this prison holds this event for guests to perform their poetry or raps/freestyles. Today Leah was one of the readers along with one of the high school volunteers.

One of Leah's poems was soooo powerful. She introduced us and then told the inmates what we were doing and where we were doing it. She then asked them how many of them were from the Northend of Hartford. An overwhelming amount of arms went up in the air. She then read her poem about us being with their children. It was so powerful. I just thought about the kids at camp and how some of their fathers are in prison. It was overwhelming to make that connection.

Curtis got up a little bit later and did a rap he just wrote. Curtis grew up and still lives in the northend. He shared that he was scared to be there. He shared that some of the dreadful things he has seen in his life. He related to them. He did such a good job. I knew that he could lead silly songs at camp and I knew that he could get the kids super excited but I never knew until today what he actually has lived through. It gave me a real life glimpse at what it is like to live here. I mean yes I have lived here for almost two months but it's a completly different situation.

We were talking later and Leah made a great point. Curtis beat the odds for this community. She said the first time Curtis ever went to prison he was not in shackles but he was empowering the inmates, he was proclaiming what God has done in his life. It was absolutley amazing.

Tonight I witnessed a real life fight outside of our house. I can honestly say that I am surpised that this was the first that I have seen. I am also very blessed to say that. God has surley protected us from danger this summer!