So far, I have given you a break down of our daily schedule and told you a little about the hurdles some of our students faced. I've told you about our bad Monday morning with the broken window. I've told you about the ugly heat we faced and the ugly stereotypes some of our kids had. So now for the good (there is so much, where do I start!).
Let's start with a funny thing... One morning we were at Brinkley Heights preparing for send off and a family them some tricks. Labardo, the little boy, flips over onto his hands and starts walking. He challenged Jon, one of our students, to walk on his hands also. Jon flipped over onto his hands and walked about a foot before he fell over. Labardo immediately pointed right in Jon's face and said, "ha ha, you suck!" Everyone around was laughing hysterically. Jon is our biggest jokester, so this was classic. He is usually the one laughing at everybody else. Many funny things were said over the course of the week, but I can't remember them all. One thing that we can always count on is a lot of laughter with our students.
One afternoon we were driving and the girls started talking about their families. We had a girl van and a boy bus. No we don't think it is bad for them to mix, but we learned last year, that it is a lot easier to keep them focused this way. It proved to be a great idea. This group was comprised of about half of our 30-40 core students. We spend a good bit of time with these kids and thought we knew a lot about them. I had no idea the struggles these girls were facing at home. Of the 5 one has divorced parents, one has parents getting divorced (we knew about both of these), one has a parent that is often absent and struggles with drugs, one has parents with huge financial issues who are on the verge of divorce, and the other has a parent with anger issues and they have been on the verge of divorce also. We had no clue. I truly believe that these girls would never have shared this in a larger group or in front of the boys. This proved to me, that God was allowing them to bond on this trip.
We also saw students abandon their fears and embrace Christ. He really moved in these students and taught them a lot about themselves and loving others. Before we left, we asked the kids to write about what they experienced and learned. Here are some things that they had to say:
So I came to Street Reach as someone who looked down on poverty and blacks. I have a problem with racism and knew that we were working with little kids. ... I knew I had a problem and knew that it was wrong. After the trip I learned not to look down on people who have nothing, no one, and no money. ...Learned that race should not matter. -17 y/o male
...I first saw Courtney on Tuesday. ...We played together all day and as I walked her home, on my shoulders of course, she said a sentence to me that I will never forget, "This is the best day of my life." -16 y/o girl
So, there you have it...The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. We, and our students, can't wait for Street Reach 09!
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