Mission Trip Debrief

As I said earlier, the mission trip was beyond belief wonderful! I had not been expecting much, but let me tell you, it delivered! Here's the break down day by day:
Saturday, February 20
We were scheduled to leave Lexington at 10. I got out to the quad at 10:02, thinking I was late, to only find 2 other people there. Thus, Lauren and I took a brief trip to McDonald's to get some breakfast and then by the time we got back, everyone was ready to leave by 10:30. We stopped in Winchester at noon for lunch, which was when I discovered I had left my entire purse with wallet, camera, and glasses in my car in Lexington. great. But, crazy enough, the Lord calmed my heart and I didn't worry about it too much. Thankfully, I had my phone,my W&L ID, and my phone, so at least I had something. Saturday, we move in to the CSM (Center for Student Missions) headquarters at a church in DC, go for Thai food at the Thaitanic (haha). Then, we just hung out, played mafia (best game ever especially with ridiculous characters), jammed out to Levi on the guitar, and just talked. Great low key night.
Sunday, February 21
We had the opportunity to go to the National Cathedral for church, which was awesome! They even introduced us in the service and the place was incredibly beautiful! It was cool to just be in a totally different kind of service than I'm used to. We then went for Mexican (which is actually the best Mexican I've had outside of Texas) with Chris and Hilary, W&L alums. Again, just a great time of fellowship. That afternoon, they just introduced the CSM program, rules, etc. and then we went on a prayer tour of the city that night. As part of the tour, we went to this breathtaking view where you could see the whole city, and just prayed for a city that looked so beautiful on the exterior, but was hurting so much on the interior. This night, we went for Ethiopian food! Not my taste, but I'm still so glad that I tried it. Then, back to the headquarters for more mafia and hanging out before going to sleep earlyish (12:30) because we had to get up at 5:30 for our service the next day.
Monday, February 22
Arose at 5:45 after apparently my watch had gone off and I told Abby I wasn't waking up. haha.. I don't remember that at all. Anyways, we then left for SOME (So Others Might Eat), a soup kitchen in downtown DC to serve breakfast and lunch. My serving group was so legit and Steve truly did a great job in picking the groups to serve the specific people each would serve. Mine included Eric, Luke, Will, Abigail, Lauren, me with our fearless leader Steve. For breakfast, Luke and I served as dishwashing dominators. We had so much fun and needless to say, those dishes were completely dominated! We served over 300 people for breakfast and I loved the way the SOME workers were just incredibly joyful and really treated the people they served incredibly well. Everything was incredibly clean with floral arrangements on tables, and it basically just felt like a really nice cafeteria. Then, we had a Bible Study at 9:30 followed by most of us crashing with our heads on the table for an hour nap before we served lunch. For lunch, we all served on the serving line, which was so fun and took a lot of teamwork. This is when I met Michelle, who has one of the most joyful spirits I have ever seen. She was the supervisor of SOME and probably knew at least 50% of the people we served by name. They all loved her and she loved them. By the end of the day, she knew all of our names and even teased us like we were her own nieces and nephews. She called me T-Mobile girl because I talked so fast! haha.. Also, side fact is that this is the same soup kitchen that the Obamas served at on MLK day in January. Then, in the afternoon, we went to the Fishing School, which is an after school program for inner-city schools. We went to their headquarters, which has just been redone by Extreme Makeover in August and it was absolutely beautiful! After an introduction to the program, we headed for an elementary school where we were divided into 2s and sent into classrooms with about 15 kids. I had a 4th grade class and I absolutely loved loving on these kids! They were incredible kids, who really just desired affection and attention, and I was there to give it to them. We ran games about multiplication, homonyms, and fractions and just helped with homework. Then, that night we went out to the Vietnamese hub of all of the East Coast. There were over 120 shops, restaurants, etc. and I loved the Vietnamese food! And of course, then back to the church for more hanging out and mafia!
Tuesday, February 23
We got to sleep in all the way 'til 7:15! haha.. then, we had a morning Bible study and headed for DC Central Kitchen, which is a program that takes leftover food from restaurants, grocery stores, etc. and makes it into meals for area homeless shelters, school programs, etc. It truly taught me what service is. At SOME, we saw the faces of the people we were serving, which was so rewarding. Here, we were just making food for people we would never see. Steve, a CSM leader and I literally made over 400 croissant sandwiches, prepared pasta for over 400 people, and carved turkeys. I realized just how hard straight service is. I'm glad I got to do that though as it definitely checked where my heart for service was. In the afternoon, we were back at the Fishing School, where the kids ran up to us as soon as they saw us and it was really hard to leave. I was already attached to my 4th graders. That night, we took the Urban plunge, which was where we were each given 2 dollars, left in Union Station, and told among our group of 3 to feed ourselves, a homeless person, and find out where we would find medical care, eat, sleep, etc. if we were homeless in DC. My group, which was Will, Kate, and I, worked out perfectly, because Will was willing to barter with food places for lower prices, while Kate and I went up and initiated conversation with different homeless people. The first woman, that we talked to, we found digging through a trash can near the food court. Her name was Deborah, and she was so helpful! She just talked and talked and talked to us. She even offered her own change to us even though she had so little! She truly showed me what it means to give selflessly! After bartering, we got a plate of Indian rice with curry sauce, 2 chicken soft tacos, and a beef taco. Upon advice from Deborah, we found a homeless shelter and started talking to Jackie, a homeless woman probably in her 60s. As soon as we started talking to her, she gave us her seat and stood up without even thinking about it. Again, she gave selflessly of what little she had. She was a character, I tell you. We're pretty sure she had dementia, but I loved listening to her tell us that she was about to go to Princeton, how great her kids were, and how I shouldn't get married until I was 50.. haha.. probably some good advice. At the end, we even got the chance to ask her if she wanted us to pray for anything. She said she wasn't that kind of religious, but still it was cool that we got to witness to her in that way. We then prayed for her and all of the homeless people in DC as we walked back to Union Station.
Wednesday, February 24
We debriefed on the whole trip and headed off for the rest of our Feb breaks.

Things I'm taking from the trip:
1.) A different perspective of the homeless- Will I give money to homeless people on the street now? No. What I will do though is stop and talk to them. I learned that every person has a story and needs to be heard and loved no matter who you are.
2.) The realization of just how blessed I am- We hear it every day that we're blessed, but I now take every meal I eat and truly thank the Lord I have it. I also thank the Lord for people that listen to me and love me.
3.) Closer friends- The Lord definitely had His hand in who would come on this trip. I became closer to every single person on the trip and admire all of their hearts for service. I especially think it was great that none of my best friends came on the trip because it forced me to get to know other people, and now I'm so thankful for the close friendships I have from the trip that I would have never had.

Lord, thank you for this amazing trip. Let the things I learned not be something I take with me for just these next few weeks, but something that translates into my entire life.