I have not found a way to explain the condition of this trailer park. Some of the trailers literally had cardboard as their doors. On most of them are signs posted that read no trespassing. I thought who would want to trespass? Then I realized the type of area we were in. Many are using those posted signs to try to protect their kids from what comes in. I do not have pictures of the trailers to post. We did not want to walk around taking pictures of peoples homes and make them feel bad or like we were invading.
Jeff E. ( our youth group minister) was asked to go down to this trailer park for our mission trip. They told us no other group wanted to go in. Jeff's response was "then that is where we want to go." None of us knew what to expect. I can say I was not prepared for all of the small children running around this place.
A man named Whiskers greeted us. I wish I had the video of his testimony to put up, because I am sure I will get some of the details wrong. Here is a picture of Whiskers.
He did not come to know Jesus until he was 65 years old. He is now 71. He was one of the biggest drug dealers in the area. Someone donated a trailer for them to use as a church in the trailer park. The preacher started by going around the area asking people to church on Sundays. He stopped Whiskers and asked him to church. Whiskers told him he would never see him step foot in that place. The preacher kept praying and just visiting with him. They studied the book of Job for two years before he accepted Christ. Now Whiskers is the one who organizes a lot of the activities and looks after those kids like a couple of the other women we met at the Church.
This is the church.
It was a donated double wide. As you can see, they have worked very hard on the inside. We saw their weekly offering on the wall and it was $76. They only have about 6 adults attend, and the rest are the kids.
It was a donated double wide. As you can see, they have worked very hard on the inside. We saw their weekly offering on the wall and it was $76. They only have about 6 adults attend, and the rest are the kids.
Some of the families are there because they do not have anything. The highest paying job in the area is a factory job that the top out pay is $9.25 an hour. So there were these single moms with little kids trying to live on that. Some told us how blessed they were to have a home there. I cannot imagine what they moved from. Many though are just into the drugs. We kept the kids that were with us close. What amazed me were many of the kids that lived there just running around. I would be terrified to let my kids out of sight. Most of them did not have shoes on. One church group had gone in and brought flip flops for each child and that might be the only shoes that they had.
We were shown one area of the park that has a bridge that homeless live under. They said that is where the child molesters stay. Many of the parents work, so these kids are left unsupervised. It makes me sick to think about it. I can say though, not once did I feel like we were in any type of danger. For one we were very careful, but we knew God was with us and that is where he wanted us to be. We were warned to be out by dark though because that is when the drug dealers came.
I fell in love with the kids! I think it was an eye opener for our kids. Many have worked to help feed the homeless, but I think it is different when they see kids their age and smaller that have a life like this.
One of the ones we connected with was a 17 year old named Matt. He came the second day with his brother. He was quiet and kind of to himself. The first day we went we decided to serve lunch there. We thought if we had lunch at the park a few people might come. We had no idea it would be kids and adults. So after the second day, Matt came back the third. He and his brother Brandon had 5 chili dogs each. In a joking way, I said you guys must be hungry. Brandon (like a kid would) piped up and said" yes mam. We have not had anything to eat since you fed us yesterday." My heart broke into a million pieces. I asked Matt if they had any food in their house. He said no, and asked if he could take our leftovers. We went down to talk to his Dad and told him we would be leaving the next day and had a lot left overs where we were staying, would they like to have it. He said he would take anything they could get. So that evening we packed up the food and took it to his family. We started helping the boys put stuff away and opened their fridge. In the fridge there was literally a pan full of old spaghetti. That was it. No ketchup, mustard, milk, nothing! And not one thing in the cabinets. I do not know their parents circumstance. I do not know if they fell on hard times, or if the parents have made bad choices. I did not even care. All I could think of was Jesus words in Matthew 25:35. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.
When we dropped the food off, I have never seen smiles like that in my life. We were the ones that came in strangers and I feel like we all left friends. Earlier that day Matt and I had been talking about God. He wanted to accept Christ. So I took him over to Jeff E. and he accepted Jesus as his savior. He came hungry for food and left the same day with the best gift you could ever receive. The first words he said when we walked into his trailer were "I have had a good day with Jesus." I did not get a good picture of Matt to share, but his smiling face will be forever etched in my mind.
Then there was Derek. He accepted Christ as his savior. This kid stole our heart the minute he walked in.
We have already signed up to go back next year. We are trying to raise $5000 when we go back down to feed these kids! The church there has what they call Souper Saturday when they feed the children. This past Saturday was the last one they would be able to hold it because they were out of food. If any of you would save your aluminum cans this year we will come and pick them up! Or any type of scrap. Colton will go and cash it in. We are also collecting bikes of all sizes to take back down. We will be taking them back down by the end of this summer. Even if they are broken down a little let us know. Colton and Gary will fix them right up.
Our kids also served at a ministry called Servolution. I was not part of that so I will save it for another post and let the kids share more about it. When we came back to church the kids led our service . What amazed me was that the kids forgot to tell about Servolution. Not that it was not an amazing ministry! What amazed me is that they worked HARD!!!!! Yet, when they told about their trip to the church they talked about the kids in the trailer park. Not one of them told how they had to move an industrial freezer, or paint and sort clothes, or scrape glue off of the floor. Here are a few pics from the work they did there.
Besides the two salvation's, one of our own youth accepted Christ! Taylor was baptized when we returned. The kids were all cheering on Sunday.
I attended youth group in this same church many years ago. It seems like yesterday. For years I have said I wish my kids could have a group like that. Any of us that were part of that group would all say we had a special group. Looking back, I believe it was because God was always in the center of it. Our kids have been blessed with amazing leaders!!!! Jeff, Laura, Gary and Julie are a gift from God! They love these kids. I cannot put into words what our church service was like Sunday. Shawn ( our Pastor) stood up at the end and said there is your message. Nothing else needed to be said! I realized at that moment that I was looking at the future leaders of the church. You can't always say that in the church. Our kids did not even need us to be there. They took over. God was all over that place! Our kids were supposed to say a few words, and it lasted the entire service. I am beyond proud of them. They get it! They had so much fun together serving this trip. It was not just a fun little trip. They worked and not one person complained!
I volunteered to go and do the cooking. For anyone that knows me this is comical. As I stated before, no one died and we did not have one single case of food poisoning! My kids had warned everyone to start praying.
Breakfast is served!
I could not have done it without Wendy and Karen and Andrew. I am thankful for the morning we overslept and Julie and Gary already had the biscuits and gravy going! This entire trip was a team effort.
I could not have done it without Wendy and Karen and Andrew. I am thankful for the morning we overslept and Julie and Gary already had the biscuits and gravy going! This entire trip was a team effort.
There were only a few mishaps. I will say there was a small fire and a flood. And we might have forgot a few waffles in the oven one morning. All in all it was amazing! The kids and adults had a blast and we laughed a lot! Shawn decided to wake everyone up in the morning with an organ that was in the house we stayed in turned to the french horn tone. He had figured out it irritated Jeff ( his brother) so that was just an added bonus. We can just say the only time bodily harm was threatened during this trip was when he was doing this at 6 in the morning. His new nickname is phantom of the opera.
I will post a lot of our pics below. I just want to say, if you are looking for a place to belong, we have a place for you at Bridgeport. If you have a church, but your kids need a youth group, we want them!! We will love them! Bring them on Wednesday nights. This group of kids are amazing!
If you stuck with me reading for this long, thank you! I still did not give justice to how God works in this post. Then again, I could write forever and never be able to convey that!
Our awesome kitchen and kids!
Craft Time
Water fight day. I stayed inside for this one!
The Habitat for Humanity Home that was built for mission
groups that we were blessed to stay in!
Our awesome kitchen and kids!
groups that we were blessed to stay in!
