My last post in Mobile, AL

So this is bittersweet.  It will be nice to go home but I dont want to leave.  How often do we get to not worry about money and rent and gas and income and food and just get to serve God.  Now lets be honest we could do that all the time but its hard.  But that's what the last 7 weeks of my life were.  No worries just serving God.  It was so amazing.  Our campaign groups this past week have been amazing.  Thursday we went and joined them on their day off for Lamberts and for singing on the beach.  The beach singing was so cool because we had a family come over and just stand there and listen and hold to each other and it was soooo cool to see them do that.  This past group was pretty amazing and i just connected to them so well.  They were very effective in their methods and they had a great love for the kids and the work they were there to do.  This was an older group which was actually a big advantage. 

Friday Julia, Becca, and I along with three Beasley kids went to the beach.  Me and Charleston and Jacoby all got "Fly like a G6" tee shirts.  Its from a song if you don't know.  I got sunburned on my back even though i put on sunscreen.  Its peeling like crazy now but its all good.  That was a really fun day. Me and Julia and Becca went to dinner with Jared and Rachael after we got back and we which was really good.

Saturday was a easy day.  Julia and Rebecca moved.  They were staying at an extended stay motel and they moved to another cheaper but better one.  I worked on my sermon.  Our boys planned their VBS for this coming week.  I'm so proud of them for wanting to take the initiative to do this and they are so excited about it.  I lost the keys to mine and Jared's apartment and after 3 hours and deciding we'd just sleep at the church building for the night i found the keys.  I went then and checked out Becca and Julia's new place.  It was smaller but nicer i felt.  The area was much nicer.

Sunday was AMAZING!!!  I got to preach Sunday morning for my last Sunday here.  We had two ladies respond and were baptized that morning.  I got the privilege and honor to baptize Janet and Catrina who i have spoke so much about!!! I was so excited for her.  4 dunked in one week.  Can't ask for much more.  Sunday afternoon was really cool too.  so Julia and Becca went to Creekwood COC and found a family to take them in so they left the extended stay motel they had moved to and moved in with them.  Hopefully they wont have to move again but I'm confident this will work.  They really like this family.

Today for the fourth I got to do what i have been wanting to do ever since I came down.   Go take loads of photos.  This day could not have been possible without Julia and Becca.  We went to downtown Mobile and took pictures all over.  If your my friend on FB you can check them out.  Otherwise i will put one or two below.  After that we went to Catrina and Delvins for the Fourth and we ate and ate and ate some more. And we swam and played football and volleyball and had a waterballoon fight and played spades.  A great way to spend my last day here.

Leaving will be hard but I will never forget this place or the people i have met.  Its been amazing and life changing and awesome and wild and exciting and fun and that's the way following Jesus should be.  I probably will keep talking about adventures on here so if you wanna keep following that would be cool.  Thank you to everyone who followed and read.  I love you all and I am gonna miss it. 

Love,
Cary

2 more got dunked!!!

So tonight was amazing because we got to dunk two tonight.  One of guys named Orlando that Chuck did a bible study with this afternoon and one of our teen boys named Steven.  It was awesome to witness the two of them put on Christ.  Orlando is such a big guy and we accidentally filled the baptistry so much that when we dunked him the water spilled over the edges.  We didn't have that problem with Stephen because the water got lowered enough.  So keep them in your prayers as they start a new life.

On another note, we had another great day in Birdsville doing the VBS.  We also spent the morning cleaning the building and the buses.  And tonight's teen class was awesome.  We talked about Cain and Able and there are so many interesting points in it.  let me know if you wanna hear some of them!!! See ya

Exploreum!!!

So today was a greeeeeaaaaaaatttt day.  We took our kids from to this science museum thing in downtown called the Exploreum.  They have a black hole and space exhibit, a mechanics physics and sound exhibit, a body exhibit, and we watched and IMAX movie on space and Hubble Telescope which was very interesting.  The Mobile Housing Board has a deal worked out where kids can come with a non-profit group for free to see the exhibits and learn some stuff.  All the kids really liked the exhibits and they were all really interactive.  you got to pull levers and ride bikes and learn how blood moves through the body and watch a movie on bypass surgery and it was just wicked.  All the kids were pretty well behaved and we had over 70 come.  I tried to lead some songs on the bus but i might have forgotten some lines. But it is all good. I did also take a small nap during the movie.  It was like almost an hour long and one of the girls sitting next to me said she was tired so i asked her if she wanted to sit in my lap and she did and curled up in a ball and we both fell asleep for at least 10 minutes.i had to carry her out of the theater.  Her name is Maya and she was soooooo cute.  Just making it harder to leave.

This afternoon we had the second day of VBS in birdsville.  We didnt have as many kids as yesterday but we still had a great time.  We made prayer rocks and played duck duck goose and had bible lessons and puppet shows.  All in all an awesome day.  I think i convinced a dad to come to church on sunday with his kids as we were dropping him off.  Especially once i told him i was preaching!!  We got to have dinner with our campaign groups and then devo and then we went to watch one of our girl's basketball game.  She didnt play her best but even so did really well.  I am so excited for tomorrow!!!

So sorry about the last week and a half

SOOOO i am really really sorry that i dont post as often as i would like, but the hours are crazy and im so tired some nights.  I'm gonna try to post more for the last week and half im here.  We had Hamilton and Highland with us last week.  They put on a Vacation Bible School for kids in the area.  We did a lot of canvassing and we had a large number of kids.  The first night was only about 35 but the second and and third night had 60 and 85 kids.  It was wild.  It was amazing to have that many kids but they were slightly out of control.  Over all they seemed to have loads of fun.  We had some issues with a few of them but we got past them.  The groups were some interesting groups.  Ryan and Barry, the two youth leaders, were absolutely hilarious guys. They had a passion for their work and worked hard to plan this VBS.  This past weekend i flew to Virginia for a Wedding.  My friends Dan and Lauren got married last Saturday.  It was a gorgeous wedding.  It was at a farm just south of Roanoke.  One of our past campus ministers Seth performed the wedding and it was just great to see him and he did awesome for them on their day.  It was good to see everyone and to be honored to share the day with Dan and Lauren.  They are such amazing people.  Sunday I drove with my friends Julia and Becca to Mobile.  They started their internship here yesterday.  They are both so excited and i wish i could be here to rest of the summer to work with them but i gotta do what i gotta do and im sure they will have an amazing time. 

This week has started off great. We have a group from Scottsboro and Mt. Dora and they are really ready for this.  They are doing a Vacation Bible School too but in Birdsville.  It went well today with crafts puppet shows games and lessons.  We had only about 30 some kids today but as past history has shown we very well could have 60 some tomorrow.  This is a much bigger group than last week so hopefully they will be able to help more with controlling the kids a bit.  And the way we are setting it up outside we can split the groups up more and so that helps stuff a lot. This group is especially cool for me because there are a couple of college students that go to Harding and Freed in this group so its cool to have people my age again.   Their leaders are awesome.  Eddie and Chris have been great and they are good good goooooood leaders.  This last week is gonna be busy.  Im gonna write tomorrow about this cool trip we are taking the kids on in the morning and then of course day two of VBS in birdsville.  This last week is gonna have a lot of interesting turns so im really excited. I'll write soon!!!

Hey Bellvue.....See what had happen was

So we just finished an absolutely 100% amazing week with a group from the Bellvue Church of Christ in Nashville, TN.  This was their first campaign with the Inner City church and they did amazing.  They arrived Sunday evening and me and Rachael and Jared went to see them that evening.  We explained some of the things they would be seeing and doing and what they needed to know.  We got them in early on monday morning.  We got 4 of our boys (charleston, rayshone, walter, steven) and myself leading groups door knocking through RV Taylor.  I had a really cool group which consisted of Sam and Becca and Maggie, and Amy, Jake, Sarah and Kyle.  I threw them pretty much right into knocking and talking to people themselves and they did awesome!! Then after lunch we all went out to RV where we set up a clothing give away and we played games with the kids from the area.  The main game of the week was kickball.  We had some pretty serious games going with it. Monday was their only real "short" day.  Tuesday we did door knocking and a clothing give away again.  We also did another movie night which was amazing because we had twice as many kids as last week and we did it later in the evening so the showing was way better.  I had to implore my emt skills when i had to get a massive splinter out from a underneath a guys fingernail.  It was gross.  Wednesday we did canvassing for VBS which is this week.  Then we did the clothing giveaway and another rousing game of kickball.  My team lost sadly.  But thats ok.  We were very good losers.  Wed. church was good but kinda hard.  me and Rachael teach wed class and trying to teach to like 20 some extra people im not use to and yelling over the fans and talking only worked so well. But the coloring was good. Thursday we had a massive storm.  We had planned to do just a little bit of cleanup around the building and then bible studies in the community.  Well the storm knocked out power at one point and it was crazy wicked raining.  So we just stayed at the church and went and got Catrina and Devon and did a Bible study at the church building.  If you wanna hear something interesting about the bible study let me know. Thursday night me and Charleston went out to Creekwood COC where they were staying and played around for a while.  I learned how to play Mow or Maww or i dunno how you spell it buts its like covert operation Uno.  I finally started to get it.  But we had crazy dodgeball wars and nerf gun wars and wrestling matches through out the week which were pretty awesome and i got a nice rug burn on my knee.  I had so much fun with well as far as the guys go Jake Logan Jonah and Jacob. These were some of the older guys that i talked to and got to know pretty well throughout the week.  They were all really excited and you could just tell they all had a love for God.  They were definitely leaders as they should be.  As far as the girls go Alison, Alyson, and Allyson were awesome. And Sarah and Kelsey and Momma Laura and Becca and Maggie and Mackinzie and Emily the two Amy's!  Me and Charleston got go hang out with them on both thursday and friday night and Jake even cried when we left which was hard for us all.  He was such a cool kid.  Monty and Lee and Bobby did great leading the groups down here.  Sorry if yall read this and i forget to mention your name.  But everyone this week did so well and everyone jumped right into it and we just had so much fun.  But i think i have most everyone's name on the shirt that they all signed for me.  Its so awesome.  I'm just never gonna wash it. Thanks for an amazing week guys.  You all had a passion that many dont and an excitement that many dont and its what the inner city needs.  I hope many of you can come back and maybe one day intern here too!!!  Miss you guys so much already!!!

Now we are getting ready for Hamilton and Highland.  Hopefully they arent as crazy Alabama fans as Bellvue.

Sorry its taking me so long

So i love working out at this gym that we joined.  Its never crowded.  And there is a Smoothie King near by and their smoothies are great for lunch and they just taste amazing.  So we do that after working out.  But on to the good stuff.

So this coming Sunday me and Rachael are gonna be teaching the guys and girls teen class to get them ready for their bible bowl deal at the end of the quarter.  Last Sunday Jared did a background of the book of Luke for both classes and this week me and Rachael are getting our lessons planned so the kids are taught the same stuff.  Sunday night we went to the Azalea Church where both me and Rachael's host family go to and afterwards at Sonic we ran into our first experience of racial hostility.  The interesting part is it wasn't in the projects. The sonic is near the "wealthier side of town".  And i guess you have to almost expect it at some point but well it was just interesting. 

Then Monday we had a meeting with the Housing Board for RV Taylor to make sure we could show a movie there.  And then the three of us got Charleston, Antonio, and Keyana and we canvassed RV Taylor telling people about the Tuesday night movie night.  We also went around and visited some people.  We went and purchased the movie to show for Tuesday and did some other work. 

Tuesday was movie day!!! we took Tuesday morning off from the gym.  We came in the building did work, ate lunch then we went to buy popcorn and a sheet to show the movie on.  Then we went and visited a few more people before we went to pick up Charleston from basketball practice and then we went back to the church to start making the popcorn.  We had a fun time doing it even though we made a few small fires, the building is still standing. 

Then i drove Jared's truck out to RV while he picked up kids and me and Big Tony and Charleston set everything up.  We had the movie ready, the popcorn ready, and the sound set up. Only one problem.  And this problem was ok since this was our test run, but when we started it was way to bright outside so you could barely see the picture. So we had to keep about 20-30 kids entertained which is not an easy task.  Thank God for Catrina because she got them rounded up and playing games while we waited for it to get a bit darker. We finally got to watch the movie which was......VEGGIE TALES!!!! Daniel and the Lions Den... oh yAAAA.  Some of the older kids weren't as interested but the younger ones loved it. 

After the movie and we got everything back to the church and unloaded, me and Rachael and Charleston and Jared along with Ben Big Tony and Tina went to dinner.  Literally one of the funniest nights of my life.  It was absolute hilarious being with them all.  All of us were dying laughing before the night was over.  They are great!!This picture is Rachael with Ben (left) and Charleston (right).

Wednesday me and Rachael brainstormed for class that night.  Christina, the secretary had just finished teaching the week before on creation so we picked up from there talking about how woman was made from man and what the purpose of it was.  It was so cool cuz we got operation which was ridiculous because no place that had operation came with any bones.  All of them were random objects. So Rachael made ribs and we had the kids try to get them out. Eventually they all got it without being buzzed.  All in all the class went really well.  I can't wait for this weekend!!!

Gods an interesting guy

So i think me and Rachael and Jared are in love with this lady named Catrina.  She is an amazing lady.  I have talked about her in my earlier blogs and every time i meet her she just amazes me even more.  So i truly and fully believe God sent the three of us to her because she told us that she has been praying to God for weeks that she needed someone to explain the bible to her because her church that she attends now was not helping her in the way she needed.  I think of Phillip and the eunuch and how he said to Phillip "how can i understand unless someone explains it to me?"  the only difference is, is we haven't baptized Catrina yet but i doubt it will be long.  She said she wanted to pray about it and so as much as we would have loved to baptized her Thursday when we met with her it of course has to be her decision we just encouraged her not to put it off too long.  But what me and Rachael told her the funny part of it all was, is that God didn't just send us to her.  He sent us to her from Colorado and from Virginia. Guess he really wanted her to hear his word. She is so on fire that she read Proverbs and John and Ruth and Ester end to end because she just couldn't stop reading.  We also got to meet her boyfriend Devin for the first time Thursday.  He is a very devoted man not only to Catrina but to following what God wants for them both.  That relationship will be a successful one which is scarce in the inner city. 

Wednesday was a good day.  We did a lot of in house work like doing camp lesson plans and such.  But church was really good.  I learned the sign language sign for "froggy" like feeling froggy.  It may have just been the sign for frog but either way i learned it.  After church we took 5 kids out with us to get ice cream at this awesome place called the Cammie's Old Dutch Ice Cream.  It is soooooooooo good.   So that was an awesome day

Also on Thursday morning one of the local churches hosted a grocery give away and i got to teach the lesson we do afterwards.  It was pretty awesome.  I spoke about Ruth and the purpose of of kinsmen redeemer and how Jesus is our kinsman redeemer.  I am still assimilating to how you teach to this culture so i saw some points where i could have done a bit better but all in all it went really well i think. I get to teach the boys class with Jared in the coming Sundays so I am really excited about that.

Friday was our day off so me and Rachael joined this awesome gym that Jared is a part of that they let you pay month to month and its only $10!!! So we have all been working out and running these past few days.  I feel great because of it too.  Then we killed the whole work out with BWW. Well not the whole thing but a good part of it. 

Also one last thing.  I got a web cam so if anyone who reads this wants to Skype me or something let me know.  My hours are crazy but i'll try to find time to make it work.  Thanks for the prayers!!!

Memorial Day!!

So we worked a half  day yesterday for memorial day. We did some lesson planning and such and worked on camp ideas.  Sadly i wont be able to go to camp here because i have to be back in VA by then but it will still be awesome despite me not being able to go. 

So afterwards the three of us went to pick up Charleston.  One of our trustees, Jeff, is a district manager for Foot Locker and he is in charge of all of them from Florida to Mississippi.  So everyone goes there for shoes.  Me and Charleston and Rachael got shoes on Saturday.  On Sunday Jared went by himself to get shoes and because we weren't there to tell him the shoes he was buying looked like old man orthopedic shoes, we had to return his shoes yesterday and get him better ones. Then Grant came into town.  For those of you who dont know Grant, he is a VT Hokie that I go to Church with up in Blacksburg. He is doing this thing this summer called Bike and Build.  It's part of Habitat for Humanity.  He's biking from Florida to California and they stop along the way in different places and work on houses that are already in progress by Habitat for Humanity.  They biked in yesterday afternoon and since he had the evening off the four of us went and picked him up and we went to Lamberts.  Lamberts is this awesome restaurant that's on the way to the Gulf Shores. Its called the house of Throwed Rolls because they have a guy that walks around with a cart of rolls and throws them to you when you yell to him.  The food is pretty good too.  But the atmosphere is the main attraction.  A great day all in all.

I'm excited about this evening because i will be going back to Waffle House to James again and hopefully talk with him some more.  Pray for me!!!

So some background information.

So I had some people that don't know much about the Inner City work, wondering about some of the other people I work and interact with and just information about the church so i figured the easiest thing is just to blog about it.  I'm gonna talk about some of the people from the past and then people i just met this year.

The Inner City Church in Mobile was started by the Inner City Church in Nashville, TN.  They got the ministry off and running and got most of the support the church needed.  Two years ago the Nashville group pulled out their support which caused the church to have to move locations but at the same time they were now under their own governance.  The church has no elders yet, but they do have three trustees who take care of financial decisions.  They are Plese Evens, Morris Bembry, and Jefferson Moore.  Jefferson is one that i interact with the most.  His wife is Christina, our secretary. They have two of the cutest twin kids i have ever met. Their names are Jamal and Julia.  The minister Chuck "Big Chuck" Griffis has been here since before I ever came on my first spring break trip here in my freshman year.  I believe he has been here close to ten years.  He is a very passionate man who is perfect for this ministry.  Jared Kelly is who me and Rachael work with.  Jared is their evangelist.  He just started back in January but he is another amazing guy.  He's 25 and  just so ready and energetic and in love with the work he gets to do for God.  When we met him back in March, i was kinda skeptical of how much his heart was in it but he has had such an amazing change and seeing him now, you cannot find a man who loves this as much as him. 

There are so many members here who i have gotten close to over the past 4 years.  Ms. Mattie and Ms. Gail live across the street from each other and they are some of the sweetest, most beautiful, old ladies you will ever know.  They will talk with you all day long.  Ms. Matti especially.  She may be in her 70's but she acts like she is in her 20's.  The Beasley family is another i've gotten to know over the past few years.  Charleston, Jacoby and Yasmine are the three youngest and they are amazing people.  They are just great to be around.  The youngest, Jacoby, is 14 and even he will make you smile every time you see him.  No with Yasmine I have to speak about Jeronica.  This is the first time I have really got to talk with Jeronica but her and Yasmine are best friends and they are just inseparable. Jeronica is the one that just got baptized.  The Cooley Family is one that i have really just gotten to know in the last two weeks.  The 5 that are still in mobile are Ben, Tina, Sharron, and Big Tony.  Their mother is Mary.  The 4 of them take care of their mom and they are just some of the coolest people to know. They are so much fun to be around and talk with.  Any conversation ends up with you dying laughing.  Then there is Walter.  Walter is the laziest kid you will ever meet but you cannot help but love him.  He is never sad, or angry, or upset.  That man is always all smiles.  He's the one that taught us all the potato chip song. Awesome song!  And this year we met Nehemiah, Moses and Dee.  These three boys live in an area called Birdsville.  The are so funny and Nehemiah is especially amazing.  He is so interested and so glad to be at church and you can just tell that he has the heart of a servant.  All three of these boys are from the ages of 11-13 so i really hope they keep coming.  There are so many others here that i could talk about but these are the ones that I'm closest to. 

I wanna tell you more about the bible studies we do.  Specifically i'm gonna talk about one lady named Catrina.  Catrina lives in RV Taylor, one of the housing projects.  She was so excited when me and Jared and Rachael came to see her and set up a Bible study with her.  She knew some things about the bible but she was still very confused about it and how the old and new testament is set out and such.  And well lets just say i've never heard anyone EVER get excited like her when she realized that most of the books of the new testament were letters written by Paul.  She thought that was absolutely amazing.  But me and Rachael and Jared went out and took this book that Rachael had bough and had color copies of time lines and charts of the the history of the bible.  Also thing that showed when prophecies were made about Jesus in the old testament and how they were fulfilled in the new testament.  She was just ecstatic. Rachael couldn't make it with me and Jared to the bible last bible study we did with her but she wrote Cristina  a note and Cristina was about to cry because she said no one had ever written her a note before. She said she would read it after me and Jared left because she didn't want to cry in front of us.  When she did start to cry we asked her what was upsetting her and she said she realized everything she had been taught before we started studying with her was a lie.  I'm not sure what i would do if i came to that realization.  But she was just so happy that we were studying with her and that things we told her about all were found in the bible and that we would be coming back every week. She said she never realized that people would care about her so much.  That is what we do here.  That is what the inner city ministry is to us.  Its taking the time to show people truth.  Starting from the beginning of Jesus' ministry, using the bible to teach and not just what we say, and returning over and over again.

The Inner City Ministry is unlike any other.  It is a very raw ministry.  It is a very passionate ministry. You can't come here to work, but come here to be.  I'm not sure if that makes sense but its like, you wont really understand it unless you come to be a part of the people and culture here.  You have to understand that many of the people here have been in jail or been and in some cases still are drug addicts and alcoholics.  The people won't always come every Sunday.  But you have to keep ministering and going to them.  And some might say, that you can't be in or part of the inner city ministry on the week campaigns that people do like our college group does, but i don't think that's true.  I think of my friend Matt who came to Mobile for the first time this past March, and he was in the culture.  He was a part of it.  He built relationships and got involved with people.  The ministry is, in some ways, shows me what it is really to be a christian.  The people here have nothing but God to depend on. And shouldn't that be us at all times, whether we have money, or jobs, or anything else to lean on?  In the end they dont matter because they will pass away and God wont. 

If you wanna know more about the inner city just let me know. love yall!!!

Yesterday and Today

We took full advantage of our day off yesterday and went to the beach. There were so many people out there but it was a great day to be at the beach. The water was so amazing compared to when our campaign group from VT was here in March.  It was freezing then. And since our meeting got pushed back a week we didnt have to worry about getting back early.  This morning sadly and joyfully we laid to rest one of our members mother. We are sad that she passed but the service was a very joyful one since she's gone home or as the minister who did she eulogy said  "she's not gone, she's just had a change of address."  I thought that was pretty great. 

Also i wanted to post pictures of Antonio and Jeronica, the two that were baptized Thursday.  We are off to help Ricky with some house work!!

Antonio!!!

Jeronica!!!! 

Baptism!!!!

So this has been an amazing day.  So first of all this guy called Jared (evangelist) and wanted someone to meet with him and maybe do a bible study.  So we go to meet this man named Tommy.  He has had a rough past two years.  He lost his wife to a brain aneurism two years ago and lost his job due to the oil spills.  He has been moving from temp job to temp job.   He responded so well to us being there and he decided he would come to church on Sunday!  Point for the G-O-D.  So we will be meeting with him more.  Then we met up with Antoneo and he decided he was ready to be baptized and we baptized him about an hour ago.  And Rachael, Jared and I, although Rachael gets the credit for getting her really excited and ready, talked with Jeronica and she is going to be baptized in about an hour and half.  It has been a great great great day.  The angels are rejoicing. Two more points for GOD.

No matter where you go there is always a Waffle House.

So last night after we got back, I went out to Waffle House.  Now i know some may say Waffle House food is bad for you and yea it probably is. But all i got was a waffle and coffee so it wasn't that bad.  But if you go in when there is hardly anyone else there besides the workers it is a great ministry opportunity.  I know this first hand.

So I went in last night and I planned on reading Ruth and Ester because we have a bible study with a lady later today named Cristina and we told her to read through at least one or both of those for today and we would talk about them.  So I'm in there and its only me in the diner. As I'm reading, one of the waiters named James asks me about the church I go to and the things i believe.  Then my waitress, DJ, starts to talk with us.  Then the cook, whose name I believe is Andrew came over.  He didn't say anything but was listening.  So we got to sit down and talk for almost and hour as they asked me questions and told me about their past lives.  In the end before i left they were all getting off their shift and a new shift was coming on.  Before James left he came and shook my hand and left a note that he had written on a napkin.  He wrote that he had been living a sinful life and that he needed me to pray for him. That he was afraid of going to Hell and he feels that he is leading his wife and children there. I was absolutely blown away. This man after a hour of knowing me admits his life is sinful and recognizes the need for change.  Needless to say I will be returning to Waffle House and hopefully I can talk with James some more. Pray for him!!!!

Friends and Family Day

So on Sunday we had friends and Family day in the inner city.  The church did amazing in bringing in food and most importantly bringing friends to share God with.  We had a little over 90 people which is great considering we usually have about 65.  We had great food, lots of fun playing volleyball, but most importantly we got to have time to be with God's family.  The church has been so welcoming to me and Rachael both.  I was telling Chuck yesterday, many of them just speak with you as though you had been friends for years.  Next weekend we are going to be honoring our graduates.  Three high schoolers graduated last week: Xavier, Rashawn and T'Michael.  We have been having so much fun and we can already tell the work is going to be exhausting, but i think i speak for me and Rachael both when i say that's what we are looking forward too. 

Yesterday me and Rachael and Jared went out into the community and saw some people that we haven't got to talk to in a while and have set up bible studies with them for this week.  We also spent yesterday planning events for the summer, getting organized and ready for the campaign groups that are coming in.  Yesterday was just a great day in general.  We going on two bible  studies today with two people so pray for us!!!

So what we did is...

Hey!!! so first of all i want to thank everyone who donated to the trip.  I was able to raise over the amount needed and as i stated in my letter everything left over will be donated directly to the Mobile Inner City Church.
Rachael is the other intern down here with me.  We have had a pretty easy first week. Chuck and Jared (the ministers) were gone on a week long conference but we found things to do.  We went and visited some of the members from the church.  We helped the secretary out by keeping her 3 year old twins so she could get some work done.  We helped do pick up in the inner city for church and helped with the teen class.  We also attended the graduation of two of the boys that attend the Inner City Church.  We get to have a meeting today with Chuck and Jared and talk about our plans for the summer and the different thing we will be doing.  Tomorrow is friends and family day so i am hoping to be taking a lot of pictures with my new camera (don't worry i used my own money for this)!  Thanks again everyone!