Day 6: Reflections / Heading home...

Overall going on the routes was my favorite part. I remember thinking after our second or third stop that this is so fun. I remember being really nervous when I first agreed to go on this trip, and I didn't really think again about how nervous I really was until we got out of the van at our first route. The second stop we went on I got to pray with two girls a little older than us and it was eye opening to see someone our age out there. After praying a couple times I noticed this was easier than I expected and that was relieving. I felt the Holy Spirit giving me the words to say when I had no idea how to pray for some people, usually because I hadn't gone through what they are. The first time I walked up to someone, I just had to trust God and go out of my comfort zone. I had to remember not to care what people thought. I soon found that the brothers and sisters we prayed for weren't judging us on how we prayed or anything, so I didn't have anything to worry about. When we went to the bridges we saw how some people live and it stuck out to me that they live like that every day and a lot goes down right where we were.

I don't want to leave the Garden, but at the same time I want to go home and do the same thing we did here. We did a little brainstorming so see what we could so back home to show love to people. I remembered that my aunt and uncle keep a bag with socks, granola bars, and other necessities in their car in case they see someone who may need it. I would like to do the same thing once we get home. That is so easy to say and not do, but one of the devotions mentioned a singer who talked about how were don't just keep going to faith school, but we graduate and do what it prepared us for.

~ Erin Hendricks


Words from Will coming soon:)

All packed up and ready to go!

One last group pic out in front of the Garden:)

Beautiful Tennessee... Praise God for safe traveling mercies the entire way

Obviously had to hit a Chick-fil-A on the way home.  This one was in Bowling Green, KY.

Day 5: The Bridge Route

Today really made me notice how endlessly blessed we are by Our Savior. We started off the day by waking up at 7:30 and grabbing some breakfast and eating and playing with the kids. We did that until about 8:30 and headed back upstairs to get ready for the busy day ahead of us. Once we were ready we went back downstairs and were getting ready to make the lunches for the route. We started off with prayer, then we had six people make bologna sandwiches and the others of us started putting all the candy, water, chips, and slim jims in the lunch bags. Once we were finished putting all of those together we had 175 lunches total to hand out on the route. We packed all the lunches and we all hopped in the vans and we were off to go on the bridge route. We drove about 15 minutes from here to where we would start. The van stopped and we got out and walked for about 45 minutes around the  not so good parts of Atlanta and handed out lunches. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was going under the bridge. When we arrived at the bridge so many things stuck out to me such as, its stench, and the fact that there were probably 8-10 people total under one bridge which is absolutely insane. It really hit me and I realized how abundantly blessed we are to have a warm house, food in our fridge, and most importantly christian family and friends and most importantly a christian education. We went to a couple more stops and we observed that the people were a lot more hyped up and not really with it. It was very hard today seeing how many people were out today because you could notice that many of them were alcoholics and addicts and that they really wanted The Lord but they just didn't know how they could do that. Our goal when we came here was to spread the word just as we are told to do and I think we accomplished that. It is going to be so hard to leave and I wish I could stay longer and impact more peoples lives with the power of prayer but unfortunately its time for us to go. The memories that I made on this trip will be unforgettable and I will carry each and every memory with me. Now that I am more experienced with prayer and talking about my faith with others i cannot wait to see how God will use me when I get back to Sheboygan. I am so thankful that I got to go on this trip and spend time with my christian friends. God is going to keep working through each and every one of us and I cannot wait to watch Him do that. We are truly blessed and highly favored.

~Emily Pockat

Today is the last full day at 7 Bridges and I'm so sad that this week had gone by so fast. Our time here has been truly amazing especially seeing how Gods working through these people who stay here. I think we all have made pretty strong relationships with the kids, single moms, and the guys here. For me personally I had always had a struggle praying in front of people but now its easier and I want to do it all the time. This trip had got me to step out of my comfort zone as well as most of the group. We started off today by just getting up and spending time downstairs with the kids and women. We always get to have our own journal time in the morning after breakfast so thats what we did when most of us our done with our journal we take a short nap because we're so tired. We got to make lunches today and the one thing that was different then yesterday was that we got to make the sandwiches, we got half our group to make the sandwiches while the others bag the lunches. Right after that we left to go on to our route, it was a route that we have never gone on before so we didn't know what to expect. Before we went on the Bridge route we went on a couple that we have been on before. We went on like 3 or 4 that we have already gone on then the Bridge route then a couple after that that we've gone on. Each place we went to today was crowded, our "bodyguards" were very close to each one of us making sure none of the people did anything to us. At every stop we circle up to pray before we hand out the lunches and today we just couldn't do that because there were so many people rushing to the van. When we go to the Bridge route we just got out of the vans, got some lunches, and walked around handing out lunches to anyone that we would encounter. When we finally got to the bridge part we had to be really careful, making sure that we wouldn't fall. Almost everyone that was under the bridge we went to were sleeping so we kinda just placed a lunch next to them. It's unbelievable that some of these people are in these conditions. There were quite a few times during our route where people wanted us to pray with them but without them there, so we usually got a group of 3 or 4 people a just prayed for them right then and there. After our route we went to a park with everyone and had lunch while we debriefed about the route. One thing that I learned from one of the men was when you go up to someone and pray for them ask "may I pray with you" instead of saying "may I pray for you" because many of the people we encounter already know the Lord. I'm so grateful for the men at 7 bridges and their willingness to come with us on route and protect us. I am so thankful that I decided to go on the trip, it has taught me so much and I can't wait to see how God uses me and the others who were on this trip when we get back home. We are all Blessed and Highly favored.

~ Darya Wolniak