man this past week flew by! we were so busy the entire week, so i fell behind on updating this blog, but i'll type an overview of the week & try not to make it too long!

Overview from Boston:
God really broke my heart for Boston and people who don't know Him during this week. One thing we were able to do Monday through Friday was volunteer at the boys & girls club in Medford each afternoon for 3 hours. Because we were there consistently all week we really got to build relationships with the kids. We would spend time with the same kids each day and it was just great & probably my favorite part about our week.

Handing out the bars and gum at the T stops was an amazing experience too. Just seeing people with the world on their shoulders and grief in their eyes... when they accept what we were giving you could just see on their face that it really did brighten their day.
This one lady I got to talk to for a little bit and she just thanked me so much for the bar & shared that she was having a bad week and I told her that I hoped it would get better and her face just lit up and she responded that it would. Stuff like that.. simple enough... just awesome. A few people on our team got to have some in depth conversations at their stops which was a blessing to hear about!

Some of the different days during the week:

On Tuesday night I got the opportunity to help babysit the Millers three children so they could go out on a date night. Their kids are so precious. The little girl is 7, they've only been in Boston for about 9 months, and because she goes to school she's already dropping her R's like crazy. I'm really glad we were able to help the Millers out in that way.

On Wednesday night I went back to the Millers for their community group. I just think it's awesome that Redemption Hill invited us to their small groups during the week. There were about 5 or 6 people there that night from Redemption Hill and 5 people from our team & everyone was just open about questions and vulnerable and genuine about struggling through things, and so I'm really glad we were able to go to the small group. It really made me feel like I was connected to Redemption Hill more, because we met people in the church body instead of just the staff.

On Thursday morning I was in the group that went to Daybreak Pregnancy Center and the guys helped paint the new room for performing ultrasounds and the girls helped with mailouts. We started this pretty intense system and got it done pretty fast. So with our extra time we got to explore Boston a little bit. We walked around in Boston Common and a graveyard across from the center where Samual Adams is buried. That was really neat, I love history, & it was the first time the whole week we got to actually explore. Most everyone got a free night during the week to go downtown and experience Boston, but I ended up doing something every night so this was my first chance to explore the city.

One thing I loved about the way Jon and Tanner approached it was that they said work hard when we're working but play hard when you have free time. They encouraged us to explore the city, go into local ice cream and pastry shops and engage the workers and customers. So we got to experience Boston a lot more than you normally would on a "mission trip" which I absolutely loved because they wanted us to fall in love with Boston. and we did.

On Thursday night most of us went to the Veritas (Truth) Forum at Tufts University. It was....interesting. Very intellectual, but I enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to be involved in something on the campus & interact with some of the Tufts students.

Friday afternoon was our last day at the boys & girls club. It was pretty sad, not gonna lie. When the kids realized we were leaving they got sad too, which made me more sad. A few of the little girls made us a picture saying they loved us. This one girl Jennifer who I spent time with all week made me a necklace during craft time and wrote me a little note saying to come back. Even though it was sad to leave, I'm really glad we got to do the club every day during the week. It was more intentional & we really did get to build those relationships. In a way I'm glad that I saw the kids being sad that we were leaving because it means that we meant something to them & we touched their lives.

Friday night we all went out to eat at PF Changs where Jon works (all the pastors at Redemption Hill are bivocational) as a last night all together (Renewal team & Mt Vernon team) which was also sad. but Christine, one of the staff at boys & girls club, met us there for dinner, so that was really really awesome. Katie and Erin really connected with her so I'm glad she was able to join us for our last night in town.

The Mt Vernon team left early Saturday morning. Even though there was about 10 Renewal team members and 4 Mt Vernon team members, I really do think that the Mt Vernon folks got close to all of us. Our team dynamics as a whole were just perfect. I don't think it could've been a better fit.

So on Saturday we went to Quincy Market & got a few things to remember Boston by (I also got a few things from Tufts while we were on campus) and to remember to pray for the city, Redemption Hill, Tufts, etc. and we walked on the Freedom Trail a little bit. saw Old North Church and Paul Revere's House.

and then we left for the airport ): but I don't think that's gonna be the last time in Boston for any of us!