Finding our purpose

Hello again, faithful readers! Today you’re going to here from several people on the trip—not just me, so enjoy! Samantha, Cara, Megan, Kristy, Vicki and Erin worked at a women’s shelter called N Street Village, and Hannah, Chris, Jessica, Madison, Allison, Kay and Ben worked at a men’s shelter called Central Union Mission.
—Ben


Today has been a very good day. Yesterday was ok, but I didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment that today brought. From the moment we entered the shelter until we left, the people made us feel very welcome. James was in charge of the kitchen. He was helpful, appreciative, and praised every task that was completed. After we finished prep for the noon meal he said we should sit down and take a break. He had gained the respect of our youth by his attitude in the kitchen. He began talking about his life. He had been one of the fortunate ones in terms of family and examples that had been set but he began to tell about the choices he had made that led to his being homeless. We went to the shelter thinking we would be helping them but we were on the receiving end.
He gave more to our youth and us in that short time than we gave the people at the shelter.
—Kay


Hey, everybody it is Allison. Today has been a very enlightgening day. I have been reminded how very BLESSED you and I are in this world. When I have my “poor pitiful me” days, I will be reminded of the individuals I have met here in our National Capital.
Today we worked in a soup kitchen. We each had several different jobs. One of the jobs I had was to make bacon bits for the salad. I was like Paula Dean and making BIG BITES and James the guy in charged told me we had to make the bacon last so I had to finely chopped the bacon. Hopefully I will become less wastefully in the future. I do pray that the youth will take some of the information the homeless are trying to pass on to them about choices.
—Allison


So far this mission trip has been a very humbling experience for me. Today, my group went to N Street Village, which is a homeless shelter for women only. The volunteer coordinator gave us a tour of the facility and explained all the programs and services they offered. They provide dental, chiropractic, massage, and basic healthcare for their clients. It was a very nice and clean facility. After the tour of the building, the volunteer coordinator gave us our project for the day. We (almost) put together two armoires. Vicki, Megan and Kristy completely finished one of the armoires. My group seemed to have a little more difficulty with the instructions. Cara, Samantha, and I worked very hard on the project; we just didn’t catch on as quickly as the other group. We walked to and from the facility. It was very hot and I feel like I have sweat since we got here.
I have to go to bed now. Hope everything is going well in P-Town. I love you: mom, dad, and Evan (you too, Bethany).
—Erin


When asked to come on this mission trip I was really excited about the good times with all of the people going. The really, really, REALLY long train ride was miserable and the conditions of the church we are staying in are kind of (and by kind of I mean REALLY REALLY) old and disgusting. So for the first two days (Sunday and Monday) everyone seemed to complain A LOT , myself included. But, today was the first day I felt a sense on completion and accomplishment not only for myself but towards others. We were sent on a half marathon trek (F street to R street with a few random name streets in between) to an all-men’s shelter, where we were given the opportunity to prepare lunch and dinner for the men staying the shelter. I was given the task of chopping up the onions, celery and green peppers for this odd concoction that appeared to be spaghetti sauce. If you have ever been with me in a kitchen or if you were in my group today you know that I am not exactly the cleanest cook, and poor Jessica had to sweep up my mess 3 different times…thanks again Jessica. So after we helped make the food and heard about the mission of the shelter we trekked on back to the church (but stopping somewhere between here and there for our gourmet lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple sauce) to get ready to cook for the meal we were to prepare for tonight.

So if you have read everyone else’s post on the blog thus far, you can see what we did tonight and how amazing it was…I wont bore you with the same story again. But I will say this, all the complaining that we all did during our trip up to today, I regret because I have seen the other side now. I have a newfound sense of compassion for what I have and don’t want to take advantage of it. So although the showers are still gross and I am still deathly afraid the track running around the circumference of our room may cave in on my head at any moment, I can appreciate the reason I am on this trip. Too bad you all aren’t here to sweat it out with us.

Mom, sorry I haven’t called but I know you are reading this cause you live for this blog and you now know every detail of this trip (love you!) and dad, well the same I guess, if you even know how to get to this on a computer. I hope everything is going well in P-town.
—Hannah


Hey everyone! This is Jessica, Kay’s Granddaughter. This mission trip has been an experience. Today we helped out in the kitchen and did a few cleaning things like sweeping and washing off tables and counter tops but I think my favorite part of the day was when we finished, James or D-Bone sat down with us and just shared a little bit of his story. He told us how he gave into peer pressure when he was younger and was at the wrong place at the wrong time and how slowly but surely bad things just crept into his life. And I think a lot of teens can relate to that because there is so much peer pressure in today’s society. You really have to be focused on what you want to accomplish and go for it.

Later, we fixed dinner for the homeless people and my group was assigned to fix the bread. This entailed cutting it, buttering it, and adding salt and cheese. Well let’s just say we kind of had a hard time with the cooking instructions and it ended up taking twice as long as it should have, as a matter of fact I think we were the last people done. Meeting all the homeless people was very humbling, they are all so happy and to tell you the truth if I was in their position I don’t know if I would be that happy. They were so grateful; every time I asked someone if they would like some more tea or something to eat they would say, “Yes Ma’am” or “No thank you, I’m fine” and then tell me happy they were to be here. It made me really think about some of the things I take for granted and how it could all be gone tomorrow. Overall I was very impressed with everyone and everything. I’m having a pretty good time and all of the kids and adults are awesome, I’m glad I came.
—Jessica


When I was helping prepare lunch at Central Union Mission, I couldn’t believe the quality of the food we had to use. I had to go through a box of rotten, slimy lettuce (I’m not exaggerating) to find edible leaves for BLT sandwiches. This was lettuce that we would never even consider using in our own homes, but toward the center of each lettuce head, I did find a few decent-looking leaves that I washed and dried. We also made a salad that started out with a huge bowl of fresh-looking lettuce, but then we added the chicken and parmesan cheese from about 30 pre-packaged Caesar salads in which the lettuce had gone bad, along with the individually packaged cheese, peppers, black beans and corn that were meant for southwestern omelets. In addition, I grated six pounds of cheese that expired last October, but at least it was Velveeta. My point to all this is that, to me, it seems unfair that if you hardly ever get a decent meal, it should at least be fresh, and not a meal that might make you sick. It also makes me feel bad a bout the times I’ve had a fully stocked fridge and cupboard, but went to Kroger to buy something else, just because I wasn’t in the mood for what I already had at home.
—Ben

Photo 1: Kay was the resident dishwasher at Central Union Mission today.

Photo 2: Chris and Allison prepare the bacon for BLT's at Central Union.

Photo 3: Sam and Cara put together an armoire at the N Street Village.

Photo 4: Rachael Ray's got nothing on Hannah!

Photo 5: Madison helps clean up the kitchen at Central Union.

Photo 6: Sam and Cara play Uno with a man who ate at the dinner we prepared.