Mission Atlanta (7 Bridges)

Click Here for News to familiarize yourself with the Bluff

Click Here for A Tour of the Garden (Where we stayed)

“Nothing is by chance. God has a plan for it all.” This is a quote by our friend Nick who is one of the leaders at 7 Bridges. When thinking about this quote, it puts everything into a new perspective after being at the Garden, and being God’s hands and feet in the Bluff area of Atlanta. It wasn’t by chance that Carissa, Mike, and I got the opportunity to pray for a man named Bashir, who was looking for lunches for his kids, and then asked about 7 Bridges and if he could become apart of the ministry. It wasn’t by chance that a group of us were able to give lunches and pray for a lady who was bed ridden. It wasn’t by chance that we prayed with people in front of a prostitute’s house. God had a purpose for us yesterday to be there. We weren’t the ones who helped these people. It was God working through us.

I learned on this trip that I am not the one that is helping the people whether in Atlanta or in Oostburg. It is God who is working through me. We are simply his vessels. Yesterday, there was a group of us girls who gave lunch to a lady that had a learning disability. We asked her what her name was (It was Stephanie) and then what we could pray for, for her. Right as I was about to pray, one of the 7 Bridges guys came past and said that we should have her pray. She blessed me more than I could possibly imagine. She not only prayed for herself, and for our lives, and us but also was praising God for his greatness, and how we are all sinners and need forgiveness.

Lately, I’ve been lacking in my prayer life. I could blame it on the busyness of my life, but that is no excuse. Stephanie encouraged me to become closer to God through prayer. Another way yesterday that I saw God working was the last man I handed a lunch to. We were debriefing in a park, and I saw him walking and went over and prayed and gave him a lunch. He took it to a park bench and ate it. Terrance (7 Bridges Guy) told me that I could give the rest of the lunches that we had left to him. So I went over and said “Here are some more…you’ll be set for a while!” He looked at me with love in his eyes and said “I won’t be keeping these, I’m going to hand them to the people sitting across the park.” This is the true love of God. He could have easily kept the food for himself, and he would have had food for a couple of days. Instead, he showed the love of God, and was giving them away. God is great.

Back at the garden, we were always able to play with the kids that lived there. There was a little boy named Amir (nicknamed “Yum Yum”J), who is about one and a half. He is usually a ball of energy, but he had a fever. He was just standing in the middle of the fellowship hall looking around, and when he saw me, he reached up his arms. On Monday and Tuesday, he slept in my arms. When I had to put him down, he bawled. I realized that this is kind of like us. When everything is going swell, and your healthy, you don’t really “need” God. But, when there are hard times, we tend to pray, asking God to help us through the situation. When we let go of God, we are lost without him (the crying by Amir.) The difference though, is God never lets us go. (If I could take Amir back to Wisconsin, I would.)

You know those pastors that everything that they say, you want to write down? Well that is Pastor 7. On Sunday, he preached about Psalm 40, and had so many grand points. The one that really stuck out to me was about James 4:7, and how we need to surrender ALL. What am I holding onto that is keeping me from being a fully devoted servant to God?

I learned I need to give my whole self to God, not just parts, when I want to. This trip really helped me understand that I am not better than the people on the streets, or in poorer situations. Some of them have faith stronger than mine, even though I have been a Christian longer. We talked about how a lot of these people have problems, but sometimes, our problems are that everything on this earth is going fine and dandy. We have no time for God then. The people at the Garden are immersed in the Bible and talking to God all the time. I am going to strive to work harder at having my whole life be devoted to God. This trip also confirmed my desire to go into social work, and my dream is to start a place like 7 Bridges someday. If this is God’s plan, I look forward to being able to be God’s hands and feet, and minister to the people who are searching for their heavenly Father.

~ Allison Gartman

The blessing of innocence is one of the things I learned to appreciate on this trip. I am so glad that my eyes were opened to the amount of poverty that goes on in just this one area of the world. What I am grateful for is the life I have been given and that I have always been aware of God in my life and that I have never been without a meal or warmth.

While we were walking through the Bluff, our guides/bodyguards informed us that there was so much going on around us and we were totally unaware. One of the 7 Bridges men picked up some bullet shells just lying on the road and gave some to various members of our group, so that we could pray over them as a physical reminder of what these people are going through. Many of the prayer requests from the people we met, were for their friends and family to have faith in God through the violence and addiction going on around them. It was amazing to me how strong some of the people’s faith was in their situations. This trip has allowed me to see outside of “My Own Little World” and to know better what to pray for when thinking of homelessness. I want to help out in my own community and go on other missions trips if possible and be a working tool for Christ.

~ Liz Smies

When we were getting ready to go on this trip, I was kind of scared of praying over people. I can walk up to a stranger and talk to him but praying over someone is a totally different thing. This trip was a great learning experience for me in many ways, I found out that praying over someone is not hard if you are willing to do it. We sometimes overlook what we have and do not appreciate how blessed we are. This trip revealed the truth of God’s love and how much he is blessing us. God has given us so much - this life, a family, friends and people who care about us... Not everyone gets all of this. This trip made me able to see it and appreciate it. It also was a great experience to work with the “7 Bridges” ministry down in Atlanta. Seeing God’s work down there in bad situations showed me that God is greater than any evil situation in our lives. He always comes through to help. “WE ARE IN WISCONSIN YEAAA”, I just heard everyone shouting that in the van. We all are happy to be home but there is this wish in our hearts that we could’ve stayed for longer.

~ THE MOOSE... UNCLE MUZII… BUZII… JAPAN… UNCLE MOOSE… MUZII... I got quite a few names now.. ;)

Packing the lunches...

Getting ready to pray before heading out on the route

We met Lebron James! Yeah, according to the men in the parking lot Lebron James was the name of the cat:)

Following the 7 Bridges bus on the route

A corner notorious for drug trafficking - especially heroin

Tim, one of our leaders, brings left over lunches to the men sitting outside a store

A look from the Bluff towards the stadium where the Falcons play

The city of Atlanta, just down the street from the Bluff

Debriefing in the park

As Allison mentioned in her post, she is handing some extra lunches to a man that came up to us while we were debriefing.

Back at the Garden playing with the kids

A group shot with some of the kids

A picture with Eddie Windsor - We were able to catch a basketball game at his new home school, Landmark Christian Academy.

A stop at Sonic - Snacks for some and a 2nd meal for others:)

Allison "droppin' the beat"

Play time at the Garden

We found where they kept the cookies, but I don't think many of us had an appetite for cookies anymore.

Alycia, Noah, Michael and Sawyer with David. David was one of our leaders. He was rescued from the streets two years ago. He is a gentle man with a kind heart. I sure hope we meet again someday in the near future. We need to continue to pray for the men at the mission as many of them are young in their faith. In addition to facing their past, they continue to work on the streets day after day. What they give of themselves is amazing.

This is Livi, this week I’ve been reading and re-reading Romans 5. In this passage it’s written that not only we should glorify God in the good times, but also in our sufferings. Suffering leads to perseverance, perseverance builds character, and character gives hope. When we have hope that means we are filled with the spirit, and it only takes a little hope, to give reason for life. I have learned these past days that without Christ, there is no life, and therefore, no reason to live. Being able to give this hope is only a small part of the trip that gives me joy, knowing that people are still accepting this hope just gives me more of a reason to spread it. We all struggle and no one can know the pain their neighbors have gone through, but we can all come together knowing we have the same hope. When we unite with this hope, we are filled with an overwhelming livelihood that grows with community.

~ Livi Otte

This morning we woke up and got dressed and joined the families down stairs in the Dining Hall for breakfast. After breakfast we helped clean up and put together 500 lunches that were going to be past out later that afternoon. After making the lunches we cleaned the area again and gathered the stuff together that we wanted to take on the route. At 12:00 we left for the Bridges Route in our van and stopped first at a parking lot where the men who would lead us on our route were waiting for us.

After praying with and handing out lunches we left but stopped and handed a lunch to this grateful man walking along the road. As we started going again he held up the lunch and waved to us until we were out of sight in respect and thanks that we stopped for him individually. Our next stop was at an apartment complex where we played with the kids and gave rides on ours shoulders. We then went to another apartment and went to doors asking people if they wanted jackets, prayer, and a lunch. Before we left a woman named Barbra had us all circle up and she sang us a song called “Jesus on that Main Line.” From there we visited an area with a couple bridges and we met some amazing people including “Georgia Boy”, Monica, and “Too Tall”. “Too Tall” talked and blessed us while we were there. From these bridges we stopped by another bridge where we met some more people including David, Jimmy, and Marcus. From here we went to a park to debrief the day.

At the park we ate some of our lunches that we made and listened to Terrance (one of our leaders) give his testimony and how he ended up at 7 Bridges. After the park we went back to the church and took a shower and had a half hour for personal quite time (this was time set aside for us to read the Bible, pray or journal quietly). After quiet time we rushed outside to play with the kids for a couple hours. During the couple hours we played soccer, tea party, house or whatever the kids wanted to do. At 5:00 we went inside for devotions with the residents and had the opportunity to watch a man graduate from the one year commitment program that 7 Bridges offers to homeless that need help. After the graduation ceremony we had a Dinner consisting of pizza and salad. After Dinner we made a trip to Walmart but got distracted on the way by the big orange “Hot Now” sign at Krispy Kreame and stopped there first. From Walmart we came back to the church and Naomi, Michaela and I had the privilege of playing with a little boy named Dominique and watched his Ninja Turtle grow in water. We then went into the sanctuary for devotions and after devotions Dominique was still up and wanted us to go down stairs to give him good night hugs. By then it was 11:00 and I started writing the blog and now here I am just finishing at midnight.

~ Sawyer Mentink