So here is our last post. The previous ones were written by my gost-writer Emily Wilson (She is a huge blessing). So I will now write the last one so bare with me as writing is not my specialty, especially grammar for those of you that know me.
Day 8 continued...
Well as you read previously we had an amazing Princess night on day 7 as well as some great time with kids from some of the ghetto neighborhoods in at Atlanta (it's called kids day out) we went to the the roller rink, which was an adventure for me since it is the once sport that scares me to death. I only fell hard 3 times and then decided it would be safer for me and everyone at the rink to just watch! The two boys I was assigned to hang out with A.J. and Spencer tried their best to teach me but in the end I took them to the arcade so that I would actually be able to spend time with them since keeping up with them on the rink really was not an option.
On day eight we woke up and worked mainly on words of life after having breakfast and a 30 minutes of worship. Every morning we would spend at least 30 minutes to and hour in worship with the purpose of allowing God to challenge us and fill us up before we ever attempted to minister to others. This included worshiping through song, reading scripture, praying over each other and just listening to God. I know for many of the students this was a new experience for them and my prayer is that they will continue with this habit when they get home.
After we had weeded the neighbors business property we continued with words of life and finished all of them except Rod's which we would finish on day 9. Then at around 8pm we went to do our second compassion night. On compassion nights we go to areas in the city with homeless people an offer them food and prayer as well as a chance to get off the streets and get their life right with the Christ. It is always amazing to hear the different stories of people. Well we drove about 15 minutes away from the Dream Center and ended up near a rehab center for people overcoming drug addictions and financial difficulty. As we pulled up we could see about 20 or so homeless people mainly men outside and in the parking lot we were in. We broke into groups of 5-6 people and headed out in a 2 block radius to encourage and minister to those we would encounter. My group consisted of Emily W., Sage B., Jenna W., Breanna and I. The first man we encountered was hilarious and we spend about 20 minutes with him he told us to pray for a friend that had cancer and then proceeded to give a sermon to us about how God was like the parts of the body, I instantly became his human example. Thankfully he kept it appropriate other than embarrassing me by having me wave my hands in the air and telling me that my forearm represented Jesus , my upper arm God and my hand the Holy Spirit. From their we were able to pray with a man that had lost his job, he didn't appear homeless like the others but was just needing a place to stay for the night as he was trying to get another job at the local trucking company. We gave him some food and the number for the Dream Center he was thankful and said he would contact them soon. We ran into a number of other people and prayed for many of them as well as seeing God give us words of knowledge to pray over them or speak to them. It was a very touching night and a sobering reminder that all of us could be in a similar situation apart from the grace of God in our life. After returning home we prayed and went to bed preparing for our last full day of ministry in Atlanta.
Day 9
We woke up kind of late, tired from the activities and ministry over the last 8 days. We arrived at the Church about 9:15 am and promptly ate some breakfast and spent some time worshiping. When we were done a group of our team left and helped to move some items and clean up some much needed things at the local homeless shelter, right by where we had been the night before. The rest of us myself included went over to the newly acquired office building across the street known as the second warehouse. The first warehouse being the building the church meets in for church and meal preparations for teams. This newest building had allot of renovations being done to it since it was purchased only a few months earlier and all of their offices were moving there as well as their storage for many of their ministries. So we helped finish some drywall, painting projects, moving of items and weeding around the building. In this moment I need to give major thanks to Rod who mudded and taped practically half the entire building and helped to stay late and finish painting all the ceilings of the new construction areas. He used his physical talents to really minster to the Dream Center, it was a joy to watch!
After we finished the homeless shelter projects and the new warehouse ones we took a much needed break and were able to go swimming at a near by apartment complex where our African friend Adille lived with his wife Hannah. It was so refreshing to go swimming since most of the week it was so humid you sweated just thinking. After swimming we headed to the Dream Center to drop off one of the vans and to go out to dinner.
After dinner the other half of our team went out to princess night those that had not received the chance to go the night before. I believe it was Trevor, Clark, Colton, Chris, Jessica H., Meghan F., Jessica W., Jessica B., Sage, Jenna, Kristi, Jen, Ashley, Mackenzie, Makayla and I. We went to the area opposite of where we had been the night before, the reason being that if you go back to an area right after taking a girl off the street the pimp can get angry and it can lead to unnecessary dangerous situations. So as we entered the neighborhood all of the same heart breaking sights I had seen the night before came right back into view. Drug deals, hotels littered with sings of prostitution, scantly clad ladies walking down the street and perverted young men looking for a quick thrill. My job in our van full of students was to be a physical male presence every time the girls opened the van door and went to pray for a girl. We did this so that no one would think of causing them harm but even more importantly it was to pray and ask for Gods favor and blessing over every lady or pimp we would encounter. The first women we encountered was a long time prostitute, Patrick from the Dream center said they had been ministering to her for a while now and that she had not yet wanted to get off the streets. The girls hugged her, Gave her a beautiful long stem rose and prayed over her after giving her a card with a number to call if she wanted to get out (this is how most girls end up getting off the streets). We then proceeded down the road about a quarter mile and saw another lady on the street corner, she was wearing pink shorts and a skimpy top and was waiting for another Jon to come by. As we approached the girls wrote her a quick encouraging card and grabbed a flower for her after saying a prayer in the van, this time I got out to because their was a man near by. The girls prayed for her and gave her the card and rose and left after she said she was not ready to get off the streets yet. Then we proceeded a few miles down the road as we turned one of the corners Patrick stopped and said go pray for that girl up there in the black dress. Once again the girls quickly wrote the card, grabbed a rose and prayed. This time because we had to walk a little ways both Trevor and I got out and followed about 25 feet behind the girls until the van could catch up. As the girls got about 30 feet away a "John" in a fancy white car pulled up to the prostitute and they began to talk, we prayed fervently that he would leave and not proposition her to get in his car. By the grace of God he left her and she did not get in. Seeing their moment our team of girls quickly went up to her. She seemed hesitant and unsure at first but then welcome them with open arms when she realized they didn't want anything from her but instead desired to give her something no strings attached. As they talked to her it became evident that she wanted out of the lifestyle and that she had been really impacted by the girls prayer and gift to her. Patrick came over and began to explain to her how the process of recovery and getting off the streets would work. She agreed to it and we all quickly jumped in the van and headed back to the dream center rejoicing all the way that another women would be off the streets and out of a painful life of prostitution. When we got back to the Dream Center, Patrick and Jen began the counseling and debriefing with the prostitute who we will call Stacey. As they met with Stacey I took the rest of our team to the back of the church and we prayed and celebrated all that God had miraculously done, we reminded them that if they can be used to get a prostitute off the tough streets of Atlanta that they could do anything for Christ when they got home. We then challenged our boys to never let their lives become a perverted pursuit that would lead to the disgusting industry that we had seen right before our eyes. Then all of our guys took the remaining beautiful roses from the night and gave them to our girls as a reminder that sometimes the hardest person to see as beautiful and valuable in God's sight is themselves. That they should never settle for anything less than God's best, a man of God that will lead them closer to Christ and treat them as the princess they are in God's sight! We prayed for each of our girls it was a powerful moment and the Holy Spirit really encouraged and loved on our girls. After a few worship songs we said goodnight to Stacey. Jen and Sandlin one of the other Dream Center staff went to the safe house that Stacey would be staying at and they remained overnight night with her and minister to her. They found out that Stacey is a very smart and well educated women with her nursing degree she had come out to Atlanta from Texas with the promise of a new job and better salary. When she arrived everything fell apart and she ended up out of money with no way home and fearful for her life. She counted on the goodness of people around her, strangers, but the kindness eventually ran out and after six weeks of living by a thread she turned to prostitution. She had thankfully only been on the streets prostituting for a bout 2 weeks before we had picked her up she said she was praying that God would bring someone to rescue her and He did! This was a miraculous night we had seen 3 girls come off the streets from prostitution in 2 days that had never happened in the 6 year history of the Dream Center. Man God is amazing!
Later that night we finished our words of life for Rod and then for a special guest (if your son or daughter went they will have to tell you about it). We finished packing and cleaning our rooms and then most of us got about 1-2 hours of sleep and then woke up at 4:30am to head to the airport. The trip home went smooth and I think the hardest part for most of us over the next few weeks will be coming home and applying what God did in our hearts and lives in Atlanta. Not forgetting all that he had done but using it to make a huge difference in the culture and city he has placed us in. My prayer this next year for our kids and staff is the prayer of our Savior Jesus found in John 17. That we would be one as He and the father are one and that we would reach all those that have yet to experience him. This will mean using everyday simple ministries or opportunities to impact those that are neglected and disconnected from the love of Christ. This will make some people around us very uncomfortable but the truth is Jesus made many uncomfortable to their names were the Sadducees and Pharisees. Thanks for listening and may God richly bless you as you pursue him.
On the S.O.U.L witness mission,
Jason & the Atlanta Team
