Houston Mission Trip

Will & the youth in our church embarked on their GO LIVE LOVE Houston Mission Trip this last Thursday & Friday. It helped our students understand what extreme poverty & social injustice are, look like, how organizations are partnering together to battle them, and ultimately how they can help equip those in need. They worked with:
•Crossroads at Park Place
•Katy Cares
•The Mission of Yahweh
•Houston Food Bank

Will said they began picking up trash & cleaning the area around Crossroads:

before going inside to help with lunch and just spend time talking to many of the homeless served there:

Will really took the time to care about these people’s life stories. ❤️ He told me about a nice man named Omar, another named Christmas who used to drive trucks through Atlanta about the same time Will was born there, and one more man - a veteran who lost part of his arm in combat.

At our church, all the kids helped pack bags for distribution to the homeless with water, multiple snacks, socks, chapstick, & sanitizer:

At Katy Cares, Will raked all this:

and helped fill in holes. They also dug up a tree, moved it, and re-planted it. (He was pretty proud of this!)

On Friday at The Mission of Yahweh - a transitional homeless shelter for women & children - Will helped entertain this sweet kid by playing basketball & soccer:

“He kept running off and coming back.” (A taste of parenting! :-P)

At the Houston Food Bank, they sanitized & sorted donations into bins and loaded full bins onto these shelves - Will said it was really fun!

He noted that perishable carb donations (breads, etc.) are actually turned into animal feed! (People donate all sorts of things that aren’t really needed - always check with your food bank, local pantry, or shelter to see what they *really* need. ❤️)

I am sooo thankful he got to have this hands-on experience and pray that not only does all this stay with him, but that he actively continues to pursue meeting needs like these...