The evening went like this:
3:30pm -Text from Hannah "hey wanna go hand out oatmeal in the projects around 7?"
Me: - sure why not. I just have a few places I need to go in Hagerstown.
We met at Lowe's and to our astonishment the oatmeal we were handing out was in a MASSIVE skid. The size was what watermelons are in in the store. You know, those big cardboard things? Yeah, one of those...filled to the top with packets of instant oatmeal. We put handfulls of packets into plastic bags and filled up the trunks of vehicles. Then we drove to the projects.
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| A trunk full of oatmeal bags |
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| That's me..cheesing while bagging oatmeal(*photos credited to Molly Lake) |
My first thought when I heard projects was rundown houses and trash everywhere.... That's not what we saw.
Actually the houses were in a little better shape then my grandma's neighborhood in California. Basically it's a development of townhouses/apartments set up into courts. We arrived at the first one and went around to the houses and handed out oatmeal, potatoes and spinach. It was actually a lot of fun! I was apprehensive at first, being all the stories and movies you see about the projects, but it ended up being pretty amazing. When I got out at the first court, I felt like I was in Africa or the Dominican. There were children running around outside, dressed kinda shabby. They were so cute! I just wanted to hug them! I loved seeing the expressions and reactions when we told the people that the food was free. :) It was WAY more rewarding than going shopping!
My favorite story was of this little colored girl, maybe 5 of 6. She came up to the trailer and got a 5lb bag of potatoes. She took off, hugging the bag and yelling "Momma! We got potatoes!!!!!!" while skipping back to her house. It was so precious! And the thought crossed my mind of whether she actually had food to eat...? Seeing the smile on her face made the whole night worth it. :)
Half way through our trip, we needed to bag more oatmeal. I hopped in the back of the pickup and bagged and bagged oatmeal. When we started it seemed like God just kept multiplying as we went....meaning we weren't making a dent in the box. I did find the bottom and we DID run out of oatmeal at the last court! Praise God!
I got to ride around in the back of the pickup too. That was fun! :P
By the end of the night I was covered in oats(from the packets that were ripped) and smelled like rotting potatoes(since the food was from a food bank the potatoes were getting a little old). Natalie said we smelled like the towns in Africa.
We all agreed that it was so awesome to be able to go on mini missions trips in our own back yards. They're cheap too, just costs the gas to get there. While I would love love love to have tons of money so I could go all over the world, I am learning to look for the mission fields in this area, until I have the funds and opportunity to go international. In Mark16:15 says "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.." Hagerstown...and even where you live is part of "all the world"....and they need the Love of Jesus just like starving people in Africa.
My challenge to you as I look back on last night and look ahead til the next time is to look for the "mini mission trips" around you. You never know when God is going to use you to bless someone. :)
God's Blessings to all of you!
♥
