Thursday was definitely a huge learning experience. The girls and guys split up for the day, and the girls worked with Hope House in Kingsport. It’s a great organization and resource for pregnant women in need- they can attend educational classes and earn necessities like diapers and wipes, and there’s a home that moms can stay in for up to two years after they have their child so that they can get back on their feet. We spent a while getting to know Angie Morgan at first, the awesome program director at the facility.We did a diaper drive first at the Food City until lunchtime, and we collected tons of diapers, wipes, baby food, and money. It was kind of a stretch for me to approach people in that context, but it went really well.
After lunch, we attended a support group designed for the Hope House recent and expecting moms, that was led by quite a whirlwind of a woman. She was tough, and all of the girls that were in there with her (except for Brittney)pretty much failed our test at loving her and listening to what she had to say. That was really convicting. Here were all of these huge things that God was showing us throughout the week, and the first chance we got to test them out, we failed. Ouch.
We got back to the church and prepared for the Acts 1:8 panel that happened that evening: it was really great. It was a panel on mission both abroad and at home, and how things learned on trips and abroad should impact the way that we view our everyday missional lives at home. Here’s Acts 1:8:
“ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
The panel was lead by Tommy, and consisted of Pastor Steve from U-Turn, Ross, Bill Havens, and Jason and Jeff from GFC’s Global Outreach Team. They all had fantastic things to say and stories to share, but I think the biggest take-home was what someone said about mission in everyday life: that the best person to minister to and share the gospel to the Aborigines is a believing Aborigine- an insider to that culture, not an outsider. Who better to minister to collegians than collegians? Etc.
The U-Turners were able to attend the panel, and it was really great to see them one last time. We had some time to really converse with the women and get to know them more than we had earlier in the week, and I got to hear Christine’s story from start to finish. I had been with her Monday and Wednesday visiting people, but we’d never really delved to get to know each other. I also met a girl named Crystal, who’s about to graduate and go home in 2 weeks- it’ll be the first time her parents see her sober in 6 years, she is so excited about the transformation that Christ has done in her life. She may actually be moving to Denton soon, which would be crazy.
After we said our final goodbyes and they left the church, we had the last of our team testimonies, wrapped up the trip in the context of Matthew 17:1-13: the Transfiguration and our quite literal mountaintop experience. It was a huge blessing of a trip overall, I’m so thankful to have been involved in it and to have had the lessons that I had (however un-fun they might have been at the time.)
~Erica Sheets
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