Blessed to be a Blessing

I've been bad. I haven't updated my blog in what? Like two weeks? The thing is, I have stuff to say. I just know it's going to take a while to type.

My Mission Trip Experience

By: Anna-Kate
(I thought this was appropriate since this post is like a mini novel)

This past week I went on a mission trip.

But wait! It's not what you think.

Instead of leaving the country or driving to another state, I went on a mission trip right here in Birmingham.  Trust me, it felt like I was not in Alabama. Having grown up right outside of the city, I never really thought much about downtown except it was where I occasionally took a trip to see a show, go to the Mcwane Center or something along those lines. Oh, and I hated going down there at night, the bars on all the store windows made me nervous and all the homeless people sort of freaked me out.

I am proud to say that my perspective has changed entirely.

I spent the night in not exactly the best part of town for half a week. The bars on the windows are to keep people from breaking in. People who have nothing and are desperate for something. Homeless people aren't scary, they're people. They have the same fears and dreams as me and you and are desperately in need of hope.

Every night during the trip we had the opportunity to share with the group things had taught us during the day. Here are some of the things I shared.

Story #1: Jackpot
On Saturday, we had the opportunity to be paired up with women from The Foundry, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, while they were working at the thrift store. A couple of my friends and I got paired up with a girl named Sarah and her job was to write sizes on clothes and throw them into the mens, womens, or childrens boxes. While Sarah was taking her break, we decided to continue sorting the clothing and I came upon this sort of silky shirt. While I was looking for the shirt's tag, I saw what looked like a piece of paper someone had rolled up and stitched inside the shirt. As I looked at it closer, I freaked out. There was money rolled up in it. A LOT of money. My friend Ashley took the shirt to one of our youth ministers and he starts pulling dollar bills out of it. HUNDRED dollar bills. FIFTEEN HUNDRED dollar bills to be exact. Needless to say, I was the trip celebrity for the rest of the day. People from all over the store were coming up to our table and I'm pretty sure I had some variation of this conversation with the same guy about three times.

"Who found the money??????"
"I did."
"You turned that in???"
"Yep."
"Well, next time you find it, you should divvy it out to us! We work for free you know."
"Ha....yeah."
"So, you really turned all of it in??"
"Yeeeeeep."
"Well.....thats good.......I might have done that too."

The thing is, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have. Sadly enough, most of them wouldn't have. That's why it was such a God thing. The temptation of money is a big one and $1500 could have easily sent someone at The Foundry back to their old lifestyle once they got a weekend pass. Not only am I glad it was in the right hands when we left but it was also a great witnessing opportunity. Most of the workers there were shocked that I had chosen to turn it in. Hopefully by hearing about us turning it in, it made some of the people rethink what they would have done in the situation.

Story #2: Blessed
On Saturday and Sunday, we were able to serve the homeless downtown through a ministry called Urban Purpose. As I normally do on these types of trips, I worked with the food. It was such a blessing though! It was unbelievable how cheerful most of the people were. People who have hardly anything at all! One instance that really touched my heart was a short conversation we had with a man after we gave him lunch. It went something like this:

Homeless man: "So it's pretty bad what happened in Japan isn't it?"
Us: "Yeah, it is."
Homeless man: "Yeah...we are just so blessed."

Woah woah woah. Stop it right there. A homeless man just said he was blessed....whaaaaat?

Ok, this proved to me right then and there that we have absolutely nothing to complain about. Here is a man who is probably going to sleep in the woods or under a bridge tonight and doesn't know where he's going to get his next meal and is thankful for what he has. Wow. I think all of that just speaks for itself.

Story #3: Not just for now.
Again on Saturday while I was serving food, I was able to talk to one of the main leaders of the ministry's wife. She asked about where I was going to go to school and what I was going to major in and after I told her graphic design she said "Ok, cool.....you should come back and work with Urban Purpose!" WOAH! Ok no matter how much I love that idea, I know I shouldn't get my hopes up because that job will most likely be filled by the time I get out of school. Anyways, whether I can ever work for them or not, I began thinking. What we have going here downtown is not just for now. After we graduate, we have our whole lives ahead of us! No matter where we end up, we need to constantly be looking for ways to use our talents or really anything we have to offer to help serve others and help shine the light of Christ.