Encourage the soul

Ministries who do more than just put band-aids on the problem impress me.

This week we worked at Café 458, a restaurant for men involved in the drug and alcohol recovery program. Working as a waitress, it was really fun to know the regulars at my tables because by the end of the week they became my friends. Since meeting them, I’ve been thinking about this ministry and trying to imagine myself in their shoes. They’ve lost jobs, homes, and sometimes even families because of these addictions. Their lives spun out of control, they hit rock bottom, and now their daily highlight is coming into this small, dimly lit café to choose what they eat. Getting to order your meal—something that seems so trivial but, when never typically done, is actually quite empowering.

The café serves so much more than food, it serves respect…possibly the most important item those who have nearly given up on life need. The more weeks we serve the more apparent this is becoming to me… Nourishing the body is beneficial but encouraging the soul is crucial.

Kelly

Show and Tell

This past Tuesday we attended a singles worship service called 7:22. It is based off 2 Samual 7:22, "How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears." This is an amazing ministry that reaches 2,000-3,000 individuals here in Atlanta, as well as thousands over their web broadcasting! The nights message was based off a rudimentary game called "Show and Tell".

The message was simple: Show others Jesus. By showing, people will naturally ask questions. Answer the questions. This will lead into a conversation. A real, relational conversation.

When I think back to kindergarden, I remember when I was the VIP (very important person) for the week. This was my opportunity to bring everything that I loved...to SHOW who I was. I brought pictures of my family, my blanket, my favorite doll and even brought my 2 cats to school one day! All week long, other kids were asking me questions about the objects I was so proud to be displaying for them. I eagerly answered their questions. Naturally, they learned more about who I was, what I thought was important and who I loved.

We have the opportunity to SHOW others Jesus everyday of our lives. How exciting is this! We do not have to wait for a specific time or week to share about Jesus. When we love something, we want to share it with everyone and talk about it everytime the possibility arises. The heart of Christianity is Love: Jesus's love for us, our love for Him, and our love for others.

St. Francis of Assisi captured this message perfectly with one, powerful statement, "Preach the Gospel at all times...if necessary, use words."

Stephanie

"What can I offer?"

We have stuck out like sore thumbs in the Martin Luther King Jr. district this week. As we have walked through the neighborhood from the MARTA stop to Café 458 I am reminded that I have little to offer. There are women sitting on the street shaking from drug withdrawal, men who are drunk, children who are dirty, families who are homeless and yet I walk by. As I walk I have been thinking, “what could I offer?”

I have had four different chances to offer “something” this week. On Monday, Kelly and I were walking from the Café to the MARTA station and a women stopped us…well actually yelled to us across the street to stop and listen to her. She told us that she was homeless and hungry, we offered to buy her lunch. We walked into a little restaurant and the wait staff recognized her and reminded her that she should not beg for food. Although she had a full stomach and someone to listen to her, we just perpetuated the cycle. We offered very little.

Tuesday, the three of us girls spent the afternoon learning about Martin Luther King Jr., visiting a museum, his grave and the Baptist church the he and his father co-pastored together. On our way back to the van a man stopped us, told us that he was homeless and needed some money for food. We tried to engage in conversation with him, yet he seemed disinterested, we gave him money. We offered him very little.

As we walked to the MARTA on Wednesday, we walked past a woman shaking and weeping. She was sitting in a door alcove with her face buried in her hands. I looked at her and something called me too her, but I kept walking, trying to erase the image from my head and justify not stopping. We offered her nothing.

Thursday, Stephanie, Josh and I were walking on the same street on the way back to the MARTA station and we were stopped by a women who told us that her grandchild had just been killed in a fire. She was asking for money and trying to sell us Jinco jeans. She was pushy and wasn’t going to let us go without giving her something. I had no cash, Stephanie and I looked at each other, Josh was across the street, so we offered a prayer. We offered the only thing that we could think of. Jesus. As we prayed I was reminded that nothing I could offer, except for Jesus could heal her pain and the loss she felt. We offered her all that we had.

Telling people about Jesus is hard for me, showing people Jesus is my goal. Offer those around you something HUGE. Offer them Jesus.

Laura

Handing it over

Last Thursday night we attended a Haitian worship service in Vero Beach, FL. Because the members of the church were expecting us, part of the service consisted of songs that both the children in the church and the adults had prepared for our visit. As I was sitting there listening to three women sing a beautiful gospel hymn for us in a language that is not their own (English), a young 3 year-old Haitian girl came and sat on my lap.

She began playing with my hand, first putting her own in mine, trying to get my large hands to intertwine with her own. After she realized they wouldn’t quite fit, she had me wrap my entire hand around her own. Again, my hand was too big and hers too tiny. Next she grabbed my hand and had me hold her elbow. Nope, my hand wrapped around her thin arm with an inch to spare. Now both elbows. This time my hand wasn’t big enough. Finally she looked up at me with her big brown eyes, sighed and just leaned her entire body back and tucked her head underneath my chin. It seemed that if she couldn’t get my hand to fit with hers, she gave in to have her whole self ‘fit.’

I’ve been thinking of how many times I have done that with God. I try to get him to take over just one part of my life, get him to hold my hand. And when that doesn’t fit, I try to give him a different part. I resist handing over everything because it is hard to let go. Yet, it isn’t until I just surrender my whole self as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) that I can be truly at peace, that I can lean back and rest my head under His chin, knowing that He is in control. I still struggle with this daily, but it is little girls like my Haitian friend who remind me to let go…

Kelly

In His image

Who do you look like? What do you look like? How do you perceive yourself? How do others perceive you? Since we are all created in God's image, how is God perceived through you?

Last night we attended the college ministry outreach at Christ United Methodist Church in Mobile, AL. During the message, Brenda Davis, the head of college ministry, posed these questions. And I am still chewing on them, especially the last question! I started to think of individuals in my life and asked myself this question: If I could only spend one day with him or her, and by the end of the day I had to list some of God's traits/describe His image, how would I characterize God?

One individual stands out in my mind, Mother Theresa. Earlier in the day, we met this amazing man who's God-given talent is his artistic ability, more specifically, his ability to portray an image through his paintings. One of his most recent works is a portrait of Mother Theresa. Her image is so extremely powerful that it will soon be hanging in the Vatican! By looking at her life, her servanthood and humility, her devotion and love for all...a beautiful image of God came to mind.

At one of her meetings with the political leader of India, this man stated, "If all Christians were more like you, then no Hindus would exist!"

I am still left pondering the question, "If others could spend one day with me, and by the end of the day would have to attempt to characterize God's image, what would they say?"

stephanie

Live the questions now

"...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
-Rainer Maria Rilke

Being in yet another place where there seems to be no answers to my questions I am excited to hear that someone thinks that it is ok to “live the questions” instead of answering the questions. As I reflect over the last few years of my life, and the last four months specifically I have seen how I have “lived my way into the answers” -how God has answered prayer after prayer…most of the time when I have forgotten that I was even so worried about it the first place.

This week I have been able to see God do just that. I had forgotten how many questions I had about Latreia’s future…and on some random Tuesday in Alabama, we hear about non-profit status. I still have questions about the long road, and as questions about life after Latreia keep surfacing, I am more convinced then ever that this is where I am suppose to be today. I figure if I keep “living the questions”, soon I will live my way into some answers.

Laura

Education from the South

There are lots of things that could be said about our week in Mississippi. We were in one of the poorest counties of our country and we saw first hand how horribly many people live. We drove through small towns where there were dozens of one-room homes with porches that were falling apart and stairs that were missing lined up along the highway. We were in dozens of trailer homes which smelled like urine, cats, or a combination of the two. It was a stark contrast from our small towns in Iowa which we often take for granted. We also heard statistics that were devastating: one in every three babies there is aborted, only 49% of adult males are functionally literate, and recently the casino business has boomed in the area, causing many who had little money to lose it to an uncontrollable addiction. It was an educational week for us.

There was one other aspect I was educated on last week--a great reminder of why Latreia exists in the first place. On the eve of our recent announcement of our new non-profit status, I have been pondering why I am so thrilled with this news. There are several reasons, but I've decided that I am most excited not because we worked on that application for hundreds of hours over the summer, nor because it is something that will help us to bring in grant money, nor because we can join the national network of non-profit orgs, but principally because it will bring us one step closer to helping change even more lives. Last week I got to witness again how people's lives can be changed through the service trip experience. The Tyler and Jake Henkle that came down with us to MS were not the same Tyler and Jake Henkle who returned to IA, and I think that is what Latreia is all about. I got goosebumps watching their transformation during the week and now I am just itching for others to join us... Those two reminded me of why we are out here on the road paving the way for others to follow.
Kelly

We Got 501c3 status!!!!

We just found out today that Latreia has received our exemption letter from the IRS saying we are officially a non-profit organization! Needless to say, we are VERY excited! And, to all of our donors out there, this also means that if you donated over $75 (if less than $75, you don't need proof) you will receive a letter from us which you can use to write off the donation on your taxes! Whoopee! Letters will be mailed by January 25th...

Thanks to all of our faithful supporters out there who believed it would come through!
Latreia crew

Ole Miss revisited

This past week was something else... I believe in the power of mission trips and have hoped that one day my younger brothers would have the opportunity to take one. That happened this past week when my two youngest brothers and I met up with the rest of Latreia in southeast Iowa last Monday. Together again after the break and now seven strong braving the warnings of ice on the roads we set course for Mississippi to arrive with no problems.

Our immediate task for the week was to help build relationships on behalf of a church in a manufactured home park (trailer park). There was a new pastor at the church who wanted to reach out to the folks in the area via a survey that he would have us hand out. We would break into teams of 2 and 3 moving door to door visiting with the residents about the church and inviting them to attend. I must admit that the idea, though an awesome experience, made me feel a little ackward - I have some sort of wierd feeling about knocking on doors...

Back to my brothers... Tyler and Jake went with Laura to form a group of three. I don't know if I am over protective or a nervous-nelly, but I was a little apprehensive about them saying the wrong thing or somehow getting themselves into trouble (they can be pretty darn good at the trouble thing). They went beyond what I thought they could. As I expressed to my knocking partner (Stephanie) that I felt more comfortable doing this as a pair, Laura let the boys approach homes as individuals. 26 years old and 26 week-long mission trips, I was nervous. 17 and 19 years old and one day of mission trip experience and the boys did great. It was all that I could have expected from any youth in their position. Youth are amazing... have faith in them and they can do great things.

So thanks to Mississippi for a great service experience... thanks to the rest of Latreia for treating my brothers as their own... thanks to all of us (especially Laura) for having faith in youth. When it all boils down I believe in mission trips because mission trips are where as a youth I realized the power of God. I was pulled from my comfort zone for different reasons this past week having my brothers along... as Josh said... it was beyond my expectations.

Jesse

Better Than Expected

Hello from Mobile, AL,

Ya know, expectations always change. I expected, yet was not quite sure, what was all going to be involved when joining Latreia. I expect one thing, but get the next. Yet vice versa, I don't expect this, but then this happens. Latreia has been better than expected.

Last week in Mississippi was my first full-week with the team. Since Jesse and his brothers, Tyler and Jake, came along, I had the chance to gain life-long friendships. I sure didnt expect that. The ministry was challenging, yet rewarding. Which brings up another topic. It's really hard to stay at a site for just a week. You work so hard to gain relationships with the people, then the end of the week rolls around and you have to leave to friendships you've just gained.

Expectations are "way" stunning. They can make you mad, sad, happy, glad, cool and just about every adjective you can think of. Which is why you can expect the unexpected.

As 3/4ths (Kelly) once said, "God provides, don't doubt it!"

Josh