This week, I have the opportunity to do one of my favorite things! Early this morning, I joined Trinity’s high schoolers on their service & mission trip in Detroit.
They are such a great group! And today was a great day.
I am going to post a daily update, so the congregation has a sense of what our group is up to.
Looking back over this past weekend: The group left Trinity early Friday morning and drove to Chicago, where they stayed at a Lutheran church there. They drove downtown and did all the tourist things: the bean, the fountains, and (of course) deep dish pizza.
They also went to a place called “Shot of Art,” where they dressed themselves in protective clothing and literally did “splatter art.” And in the process, completely covered themselves in paint. It was…completely awesome…and the group had a blast doing it.
Saturday, they got up, hung out for a bit, and then drove the rest of the way to Detroit. Here, they are staying at Northline church, which is graciously hosting our group during the week.
On Sunday, they worshipped at Northline, and then one of the congregation members invited the whole group over to their home to go swimming in their pool. On an especially hot day, this was deeply appreciated. Our group really has experienced remarkable hospitality here.
Today, they were up early for breakfast and morning devotions, focusing on Philippians chapter 1, and then left for their first work site.
They went to work today at an organization called Gleaners. Gleaners is the equivalent here to Channel One, or Second Harvest Food Bank back in Minnesota. They are a depot for distributing food to local food shelves. They spent the morning subdividing a pallet of plums into smaller bags to be distributed. The whole time they did it, great music played, good conversation and laughter happened around the work tables, and there were opportunities to get to know the staff and the local volunteers who were there with us.
After lunch, the group divided into two teams and went to two different work sites. One team went to Metro Church, farther into the city, where they helped clean up the property.
The other team went to Downriver Foster Closet, a non-profit that provides clothing and basic supplies to kids who are entering into, or living in, foster care. The team spent the afternoon sorting and organizing the donations that have come in.
We returned to Northline Church around 4:30 pm, had time to shower and clean up, feasted on spaghetti for dinner, had time to hang out, and then met for devotions and debriefing the day.
The kids have about an hour to hang out before lights out at 10:30 pm. They are sitting around, talking and telling stories. Liam and Thore are currently teaching a whole group of them how to play Texas Hold ’em…so there’s that.
It was a great day, and an amazing group. We can be really proud of the way that they are representing Trinity.
At devotions tonight, we talked about the power of community and how sometimes it is within challenging times that we can experience God’s presence in the most powerful ways.
Please continue to keep our group in your prayers as we continue our week. Every day, we are seeing new ways that God is at work.
God’s peace,
Pastor Todd
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