First of all, we want to say thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for our Memphis team and to those who have supported us through our preparation and our journey out here. We have been having an amazing time here in Memphis, TN. We only have about 24 hours left here with Impact Ministries and we know God is going to work in incredible ways in between now and the moment we leave here, as He already has.
We've already posted a couple of updates since we've been here, but I'll quickly recap.
We started VBS on Monday morning and then got to spend the afternoon at a local nursing home, which you can read about here. Then on Tuesday we had our second day of VBS in the morning and then worked in the thrift shop here at Impact Ministries in the afternoon, as well as did a car wash out in the parking lot... stay tuned for some great pictures! :)
So now to update you on yesterday. Now, while all of the trip has been amazing, I must say that for me personally yesterday may have been my favorite day. Why? Because our students were AMAZING! We had our third day of VBS in the morning... and it just seemed different. The kids have really warmed up to our students and you can tell that there are some amazing relationships being built. During every session I stepped into I was able to see students connecting with the kids and the kids really understanding the gospel. Our mission is to plant seeds here, which is exactly what our students are doing and I am so proud of them. They are all such blessings.
Speaking of seed planting, yesterday afternoon we were able to go and spend time working in the Bellevue Loves Memphis garden. Bellevue Loves Memphis is Bellevue Baptist Church's community outreach program and they have a garden where they produce several different foods to donate to local food shelters. We were there for three hours... pulling weeds, driving stakes into the ground, mowing, weed-eating, tilling, etc... and about 30 minutes of that was spent in the POURING rain... but our kids never stopped. They just kept working. I had a moment while I was pushing the mower (in the rain) and I stopped and looked up at all of our students... and it was just beautiful. Everyone was so determined to get all of the work done that needed to be done. God has blessed us with energy throughout this entire trip, which has been wonderful. But more importantly, He blessed us (the staff) with amazing students, parents, and interns who have such a desire and passion to truly serve Lord and impact God's Kingdom.
Last, but not least, we were able to spend yesterday evening at Impact's Wednesday night bible study. The way it was structured is definitely not something our students are used to, but I think they did amazing. There was a time to share things that we are thankful to God for, and a number of our students stood up and shared beautiful stories of thankfulness. Then at the end of the bible study two of our students raised their hands and asked the pastor if we (Ridgecrest) could circle around the people of Impact Ministries and pray over them. The pastor then split the room into about four different circles. Each group was about half people from Ridgecrest and half from Impact. We all held hands and went around the circle and prayed together... The presence of the Holy Spirit was absolutely overwhelming. I could go on and on about the work that God has done so far this week, but I'll leave it at that.
Please continue to pray for our team. We're almost done here, but I know God has more in store for us and the people we are coming in contact with.
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