This past week I went on a mission trip to Memphis, Tennessee. Needless to say it was quite the experience. The first couple days weren't so great, but it progressively got better. The first day we were there (Sunday), we went to church, and went to buy food for the rest of the week and we hung out at a girls house.
The next day (Monday) was when we were supposed to begin our mission work. We were going to rake leaves at a house and clean it up, and also hand out flyers for the multiple VBS's we were going to host during the week. Well it ended up raining, so we didn't clean up the house, and we didn't hand out flyers. Instead we just went to see where we would be having our VBS's and we cleaned the church a little. After that we went to the Civil Rights Museum in downtown Memphis. It was pretty neat seeing where MLK had been shot, and things like that. Well my friend and I beasted it through the museum so we ended up having like an hour of free time, so we decided to explore the city around the museum. (Don't worry, we didn't go far) We got a little glimpse of the city and Lexi took quite a few pictures. :)
Tuesday was the supposedly the big day. We handed out our flyers to the three different locations and we were done. We passed out flyers at a trailer park not too far from the church, an apartment complex a few blocks down the street, and the neighborhood right next to the church. It was pretty fun, and it was really cold, but we had a good time. After we were finished with that, we went back to Mrs. Judy's house, (where the girls were staying) and we couldn't figure out what we wanted for dinner. We finally decided on Rendevous, which is a BBQ place in downtown. It was AMAZING. lol Granted, we didn't get enough to eat because there was eleven of us trying to eat for cheap, but it was still pretty good.
Wednesday was an interesting day. We handed out our flyers the day before, so we were ready to start our VBS's. We went to the first place, and.... no kids showed up. So we went back to the church had lunch, and went to the next VBS spot. We had quite a few kids there. They were really good. They listened to us, they participated in the singing (which I led), and seemed interested. Finally we went to the last spot, and that was.... entertaining. These kids are the complete opposite of the group before them, but we still had fun. In addition to this, we suspected something was wrong with our van, because the battery gauge was low. So we just kept going all day to see if something was really wrong. Dinner time rolls around and we are on our way to Wendy's. Pretty soon the blinkers stop working and the window won't roll up so we decided to take it to the shop. So our "leader" dropped all of us off at Wendy's to eat, and took the van in. Then eventually some people from church came and picked us up so we wouldn't be stranded. We figured out that the alternator went out, so it costs us about $600.
Thursday. By this time, we were getting worn out, but we still kept going. We went to the first VBS spot, and this time a couple kids showed up. Instead of all of us sitting around though, only four of us stayed and the rest went to go work on the house. We played with the kids and had a good time. After we had stayed there for the time, we went and ate lunch then continued on with the other VBS's. The last one again was quite the adventure. A lot of the little boys were quite rowdy. One of the kids probably about 5 or 6, showed up with plastic guns in his pants thinking he was all that. None of the kids were well-behaved, and it was not something I was used to. There were some girls though that really stole my heart. They weren't interested in playing with the boys and their parents wouldn't let them walk over by themselves. So we played volleyball instead. Basically by the end of the week, Lexi and I had taught them how to play volleyball pretty well, and I hope to see them grow up well despite of where they live.
Friday. The last day. I was very thankful that Friday had finally come. I didn't really have much fun at the beginning of the week, and now I was just plain tired. Instead of going to the first VBS we went to rake and clean at the other house. We had a really good time, and ended up filling 36 bags with leaves. Thats a TON. So then lunch and the other VBS's rolled around and it was a normal day. Friday night we went to eat with the boys house parents and had a great time. We got cupcakes afterwards (which were AMAZING) and we were supposed to go hang out downtown, but everyone was too tired... (lame excuse)
Sorry this is so long, but I hope you made it through. :)
I'll write more about it another day. Don't want you to be too overwhelmed. haha
Song of the day:
Walking in Memphis - Lonestar
(seems fitting right?)
It was stuck in our heads all week. :p
All the pictures were taken by Lexi, I just stole them. :)
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