Welcome to Pittsburgh!by Jess Janicki | June 22, 2014 9:54 PM
We arrived safely in Pittsburgh, and were welcomed by some of the church members of Cornerstone Church, where we will be sleeping and doing the VBS. Cornerstone Church has refugee’s from Burundi, Africa, and they welcomed us with some traditional African food. It was delicious! After dinner, the Burundi Choir gave a performance, and we had the chance to dance and learn some Kirundi and Swahili! It was so much fun to be able to worship with another culture.
We wrapped up the evening by setting up for this week’s VBS. We are so excited to be able to hang out and teach the kids this week. Nda kunda Yesu!
Start of VBSby Jess Janicki | June 23, 2014 10:19 PM
We started our first day of VBS today, and had 21 kids come! We also had four teens from the church come and help us out. It was so much fun to be able to share bible stories and just get to build relationships with the kids. The kids had such a great time, and are so excited to come back tomorrow!
In the afternoon we went into the community of Northview Heights to do some landscaping around the Bethany House and Church of our Savior. We cleared brush, pulled weeds, and built steps. We also got a chance to hang out with some of the neighborhood kids, and even some of the ones from VBS showed up to hang out at the playground on the property. It's been great getting to really know these kids, not only at church, but also in their own community.
For dinner, we had the "sandwich" at Primanti's. It was a lot of fun to try the sandwich with fries and slaw on it. It was so good!
We are all really looking forward to tomorrow, and we can't wait to see what all God has in store for this week!
Incline Adventuresby Jess Janicki | June 24, 2014 10:19 PM
Today was an awesome day! We continued with VBS in the morning and then split into two different groups in the afternoon for work projects. Half of us stayed at the Bethany House doing landscaping and painting, while the other half partnered with Light of Life Missions where they folded clothing and did some cleaning. Both groups had a lot of fun and got a lot accomplished!
Tonight, we went up the Duquesne Incline, in the pouring rain, to the top of Mount Washington. After the rain stopped, we made our way to a grassy overlook and got an amazing view of the city. We had the chance to worship, and pray for and over Pittsburgh, and all the people who live there. We got to watch the city lights come on, and worshiped some more. It was a cool experience, because a lot of people just lingered while we prayed and worshiped the Lord.
Explorationby Jess Janicki | June 25, 2014 7:19 PM
We had our third day of VBS, and after lunch, we headed down to explore the Strip District. It's the cultural district of Pittsburgh where you can eat food from Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mexico, Poland, Italy, and the Middle East. It's so much fun to be able to walk down 2 streets, and feel like you are exploring the world, and seeing new cultures and eating new food.
We had a free night to be able to hang out and play soccer, and just hang out together to recoup for the final push of the week.
Pittsburgh is full of so many other cultures that we didn't expect. It's been a great experience to work in a church that has such a large African culture, and be able to get to know the kids, and learn more about the culture.
Finishing of Work Projectsby Jess Janicki | June 26, 2014 10:24 PM
We had a great time at VBS today, and during bible stories we dressed the kids up like little lambs to follow the Sheppard around, to show how Jesus is the good Sheppard.
After lunch we split and headed to Bethany House and Light of Life Rescue Mission. At Bethany House, we made planters, laid mulch, finished the steps, painted the pillars in front of Church of Our Savior, and played with a few of the neighborhood kids. We got everything accomplished, and we are so happy that our work will now enable Bethany House to be a more welcoming place for the community!
At Light of Life Rescue Mission, some of us went and sorted and folded clothes again, and the rest went raked up leaves and debris from behind the building.
We were able to spend time this evening after dinner playing soccer and just hanging out together.
Coming to a Closeby Jess Janicki | June 27, 2014 11:58 PM
We finished VBS strong, and it was hard to say goodbye to the kids. We saw God really work in the lives of some of these kids, and we were honored to be a part of it. We got a chance to go explore the Carnegie Science Center, and see an Omnimax movie. It was a lot of fun to just relax, explore and play around.
We did affirmations at our closing meeting, and it was so incredible to hear this team encourage each other, and continue to do so around the fire pits even after the meeting was long over. Teens like this are our future! How encouraging is it to know that they are getting ready to step out into the world, and be Lights! What a great way to end a great week! God is so amazingly good, and He has great plans for the city of Pittsburgh!
Thank you to everyone who supported us, and prayed for us!