Brooklife Church

We have arrived and are all settled in for the night after a long travel day! 

This morning we attended church at Parkway Baptist Church! It was a lively service with many hymns and songs. Pastor Lawrence preached on the 10 commandments. This will be one of our mission sites this week! 

This afternoon we had fun at Wynwood Walls seeing some of the culture and flare of the Miami art district. 

This morning we split into two groups and our group had the opportunity to serve at Broward Homeless Outreach. We helped prep the tables, serve lunch and dinner, talk with the residents, and clean up. We had a great time, although it was hard to muster up the courage to just go and talk to people. Cole even made a new friend, a veteran, who was working on finding a home. Lauren had the chance to pray for someone with cancer, as well as chat with other women. 

Our comfort zones were stretched and grown today!

The second group went to Parkway Baptist Church today to complete some projects around the church. Pastor Lawrence was very impressed by our work ethic and the amount of projects we completed today! We painted the benches (one pictured below) for a new outdoor seating area at Parkway!

The group at Parkway today worked very hard to finish up some projects around the church. We painted the fence in front of the church that had been discolored!

What a day! We went to Broward Outreach, a nursing home, a park, and back to the shelter! It was a full day full of unexpected turns and incredible encounters. God was incredible present with our group as he guided our conversations- especially at the park where we passed out water bottles. We were able to hand out lots of water, but only prayed for one man, his name was Sean. Sean had a powerful story of what God is doing in his life and how important just one act of kindness is. He explained that our kindness, from just handing him a bottle of water and offering to pray for him, made an eternal impact. It was such a cool experience.

The nursing home was another incredible experience. You will have to ask our group all about it when we return. We each have some cool stories to share. 

Ready. Set. Serve. 

Today we took on the task of transforming sister Trudell's house. She is a member of Parkway Baptist Church and has been waiting for her yard to be worked on for over a year. She was very excited and thankful for all of the work we were able to do. This is a picture of her house at the beginning of the day. 

The transformation was incredible and pictures don't even do it justice. Every person on the team today worked unbelievably hard and we were able to finish our goal for the day! We stripped the paint on her house and painted a fresh color with trim. We completely landscaped her pathway so that she can now walk on it. We cleared grass and created flower beds all around the house complete with mulch and planting of many many plants that had been waiting to be planted. We even borrowed a lawnmower from her neighbor to mow her front and back yard. We worked through the heat, rain, dirt, mud, and paint and were able to complete this amazing project for sister Trudell!