In the words of Jesse and Daniel...I owe it to my readers to be updating? haha...right.. i suppose it is time to move on from my outrageous fantasies of "if women ruled the world." I would be watching the academy awards, but I decided it would be more productive of me to finish up my homework. I began my homework, but I was in desperate need of a break. I thought maybe i should write about my weekend at CSM.

Center For Student Missions
We headed off to inner city Houston friday night. Arriving there, the group of us had the chance to experience some cultural foods from Jamaica. That night, we went on a prayer tour and had the opportunity to pray for communities suffering from the cycle of poverty, shelters housing runaways, and AID striken communities. Being there actually felt like a place far from home, but surprisingly we were only at a place 40 minutes away. It's pretty eye-opening to see the contrast one city holds.

The following day, team two headed off to Medical Bridges in the morning. Here, we sorted medical supplies and hunted for boxes that were to be sent to third world countries. It's amazing how wasteful and blessed the US is. The warehouse was literally filled to the top with medical supplies which hadnt been used. I remember Sarah and I complaining about the 874 swabsticks we counted and having to recount them for expiration dates. And how awesome it is to be able to share our abundance with those who have nothing.

Later that afternoon, team 2 went to the Star of Hope men's shelter. We got to serve food and interact with some of the guys in the rehab program. Stephanie and I had the chance to talk with a man named Lester. It was really awesome talking to him because it was so obvious that he preached to us for an hour because he was passionate about getting better from the mistakes of the past and at the same time desperately not wanting us to fall for the traps that he had fallen for in his life. A lot of what he had to say really related to the struggles faced by myself and the people around me. It's true when Grace said that the people at the shelter would be a greater blessing to us than we would be for them.

Serving God can be a tiresome experience, but the rich blessings of that fatigue far outweigh the weary feelings from a long day of school. I'm really glad i went to CSM. I remember at the training we had before we went, John reminded us to be receivers and not simply givers. In a way my mentality to want to give to others made me feel selfish thinking I should have the attitude of a receiver. And although, I had every intention of serving the community, I dont think I really did that much. But at the same time, I feel really blessed. The whole experience itself was great. While serving food to the homeless, and indirectly helping third world countries was definitely an awesome feeling, I thought that meeting new people in my own youth group, and getting to know others whom i really hadnt gotten the chance to know AND seeing how God impacted them was just as rewarding. God works in mysterious ways through the most unexpected people.

oh and if u want a tiny taste of CSM, i have new pics up. so yeah...check em out.