Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

So....it's been awhile since I updated this blog. I need to remind myself what I've done the past week. I can remember as far back as July 6th, because I have a schedule sitting next to me, hah.
-Last Tuesday, we interns prepared and served food at McKemie Place, which is a shelter for homeless women in a rough area of Mobile. My team was responsible for making banana pudding for dessert, and each team cooked a different part of the meal. The experience of serving these women was rich with blessings, and I enjoyed every moment of spending time with them.

-On Thursday of last week, the Quad W Foundation, who provides the funds for 3.0 interns to be paid, visited the sites and had dinner with the interns and Whistler UMC, and it was really nice to meet them. My teammate Jessica and I worked with the Whistler UMC ladies to prepare all of the food and set up the tables and everything right after our kids' camp was over and we had cleaned, so it was a long day, but so worth it to spend time with the women here at this church and get to know them better.

-Friday was a remarkable day. Each of the teams in 3.0 have a mentor with whom we meet once a week, and the mentor for my team is Reverend Fail. Reverend Fail is an amazing man, with so much love for people in his heart, and he is always busy doing something to help people. He's also a chaplain at the jail here in Mobile, and we finally persuaded him to take us on a tour of the jail. 19 of the interns went, and we split up into groups of 3 or 4 so we could each visit a different area of the jail at the same time. My group had Sergeant Love directing us around the jail, which was awesome, because he was so kindhearted and wanted us to learn so much from the experience that he took us to areas that weren't even on the list for touring. He has been working at the jail for 21 years, so everyone knows him, respects him, and loves him. I was fascinated by the inner-workings of the jail. I’ve read books and seen shows about people in jail, but I’ve never actually stepped inside of one before. There are so many different things happening at one time, such as people being brought in from the street, court, cleaning, religious services, and educational services. Then there are the women behind it all in the control room. They have to watch so many different screens and control all of the doors and elevators, and I found it really interesting to see how that system works and to watch what was going on around the jail. We watched a bit of a court session also, and I actually really wanted to stay and see a few more cases, because it was just cool to see how things such as unpaid traffic tickets and whatnot are handled. I know that some of the interns were freaked out by the inmates, especially the women inmates who were just as vulgar as the men probably would have been (the girl interns were only taken to the female sections of the jail), but I wasn’t really scared. I didn’t see them as vulgar scum who deserved to be there for their crimes, but as people who need love and ministry more than anyone. The visit to the jail reinforced that every person is a child of God, regardless of their race, gender, or past transgressions. Anyone can see the talent hidden behind those bars and bad lifestyles, especially through the pictures that had been drawn in the chaplain’s office and the mural in the work-out room in the barracks. If we, as Christians, spent more time loving these people and trying to improve their lives from the beginning (such as we’re attempting to do with the kids’ camp), maybe we could allow their talents to flourish in the real world instead of being held captive behind bars. We met one inmate in the minimum security building who gave us a speech about always listening to our parents and staying in school, because she would never have the chances that we have to get an education, and it's something she regrets so much. She's been in and out of that jail since she was 15 years old, all for petty crimes. She knows that what she does is wrong, but she's a career criminal. This time, she's already been in for 3 months. Everyone should go to a jail and meet an inmate, because half of the time, they can tell you what's really important in life.

-Now that my long section about the jail is over,I'll move on to this week. This morning, 5 of us met with Tonny Allgood, who works at McKemie Place and the Mission. the Mission has wonderful programs, including breakfast for people who are food-poor or living on the streets, which is accompanied by a worship service or a little devotional, since that may be the only word of worship they hear, ever. During the day, there's a program for senior citizens, which consists of providing food for them, picking them up, taking them to doctor appointments, or taking them to go grocery shopping. At night, dinner is served for the women staying at McKemie Place. (McKemie Place is the upstairs area of the Mission.) Tonny told us so many stories that made it absolutely impossible for anyone to deny God. You can call things coincidence as much as you'd like, but even I, with my somewhat cynical mind on occasion, cannot deny the power of God's hand in the success behind the Mission. Tonny is a complete man of God, and he may be the most loving, giving, and honest person I've ever met. He would give anything to help anybody, and he has so many things that he still wants to do to help the people in this area. Next on his list is a gang intervention program, since that's a huge problem around here, even though that would be an incredibly difficult ministry. He has spoken with a 15-year-old boy who got jumped into a gang (which basically means he was beaten into the gang), another who was "blessed" into a gang, and, a really horrifying one--a 12 year old girl who was gang-raped by 7 or 8 members in order to be initiated. They all wanted out, but it's impossible to leave gangs...blood in, blood out. The only way to leave the FOLKS (Followers of Lord King Satan) gang is to be beaten by 6 members for 6 minutes with 6 sticks. Yeah, you're not going to make it out of that alive. Tonny had so many stories that touched my heart. He's so humble though. His main point at the end of the discussion was that this is not his mission, not his ministry, but God's mission and God's ministry. He was just allowing himself to be used by God, and God is definitely looking out for him and the Mission and McKemie Place. I hadn't been in the best of moods this morning prior to this discussion, but afterward, I left with assurance of God's power and love in my heart, and with amazement of all the things Tonny is doing, and with the strive to let God move through me and do things to help this world.

-In regards to Kids' Camp, we're doing VBS this week! The youth group from Spanish Fort United Methodist is helping us, and they brought all of their materials from their VBS to us. Their youth are the ones who actually do the snack, games, crafts, and story time, and we do the opening and closing and moving around between groups. Today was a little challenging though, because it was kind of more of a trouble to have them here than a help. Our kids just got so excited about having sooo many new, energetic people with us, and the youth didn't lend a big hand in helping to discipline them or clean up after them. I'm sure it will work out better though once we talk to them about it and describe how our kids need to be handled. Tomorrow will be pretty awesome though, because we're taking the kids on a field trip to Camp Baldwin! We'll leave around 8:30 a.m. and get back around 4:30 p.m., and the kids will get to enjoy a day of swimming, SAILING, and an estuary walk. They've been begging to go swimming all summer, so I'm excited that we get to do this for them. It will be crazy though, because right when we get back and all the kids are gone, we have to run to the bank if we have time before it closes, shower (because I'm sure we'll be nasty after a day in the sun), dress up, and then go to this fish dinner at Dumas Wesley. Then we have to go to a book study that night. We'll be so tired by the end of the day, but it will be worth it.

-On a random note, somehow the Emmaus community caught wind of the 3.0 program, because today after work, there were little gifts on everyone's beds that came from various reunion groups! I knew it was from them as soon as I saw the word Decolores on a sticker. That seriously made my day so much, because I truly love the Emmaus/Chrysalis community. One girl was complaining because all she got was a toothpick and a quote or bible verse with it, and I seriously wanted to shake her and make her realize that it's not about what you get, but about the love and blessings that are being shared from complete strangers. At any rate, it's amazing to see how the Emmaus community follows me and uplifts me without even realizing it. What an awesome gift to have an entire community looking out for us! :)

-I realize how long this blog was, so major props to anyone who actually got through it, haha. I'll end with a picture of me and Levonta, one of the sweetest and most talented kids I've met here. He has a really rough home situation, so please pray that he and his sisters, cousins, brothers, and whoever else lives in that house can make it through life surrounded by love and be allowed the opportunities that many kids in this community don't ever receive. All he needs is a chance.