Monday

Bob Here on Monday evening

Today our group (Nancy, Bob, Ben, Matt, Elizabeth, Brandon, & Lindsey) worked at a St. Vincent DePaul Thirft Store. It was a short ride out of downtown to the store. We worked there for over 5 hours and did pretty much everything. As the store manager told us: If it isn't on the floor, it isn't making money! Some of us sorted and tagged incoming donations. Others organized the racks and pulled some of the older clothes out that haven't sold and made room for the newer items. We worked together with the store's regular volunteers, who were very happy to have us there helping them out.

The other group (Thea, John, Bruce, David, Kacie, Gabe, and Steven) worked at Emmaus Center, a cummunity center not far from where we're staying. They walked to the worksite. First they had a Peoplestown neighborhood tour and cleaned up an immense amount of trash an litter. Then they played The Game of Life, a poverty simulation game (David couldn't get out of the homeless shelter and Steven was a millionaire, compared to everyone else.) After lunch, they trimmed bushes, pulled weeds, and cleaned up the property. After that they joined the children at their youth center and played games and read together.

Our devotions tonight were from Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 about the year of Jubilee. We discussed how we can free the oppressed, bring sight to the blind, and set the prisoner free.

It might be hot outside, but it's amazingly frigid in the AC'd gym-that's-not-a-gym where we're staying (it's our dining room and our bedroom). We didn't bring enough warm clothes.