Serving Atlanta 2016

Day 1 - The Trip to Atlanta!

I spent my New Year's Eve and the week leading up to it dreading this trip. I was not excited about being the only senior on the trip, and my attitude about this entire trip was not good. I talked to my friends about their experience last year and they assured me that I would also have a great time when I got here. God worked in my heart on the car ride here and I now am both nervous and excited to get to know and pray for the people here in Atlanta. I am excited to see how God will work in and through all of us on this trip. I am excited to see how we will grow and work as a team.

- Tristina Lynch

Day one of the Atlanta trip was a blur at first! We all got to Oostburg and we prayed and asked for God's blessing over our trip. Then we were off in a 15 passenger van with 15 people. The two boys, Matthew and Luke were in the back and my dad (Mr. Hendrikse) was driving, with the girls filling the rest of the seats. It is not always easy to ride in a full car at 2:30 in the morning but we somehow pulled it off. Most of us tried to sleep, but some stayed awake and just talked. We made it to breakfast and then to an amazing lunch at Steak n Shake! Almost everyone got a very tasty shake and a nice big meal. After lunch in Tennessee we had about 7.5 more hours to go. When we got in the car after lunch some of us, including me went back to sleep. We each got a little bit of pizza and made it to 7 Bridges at about 8 and settled in. Nick, one of the men that help out at 7 bridges gave us the shpeel of where everything is and a little about the history of 7 Bridges, and when we get to play with the adorable kids!! Then he told us that when we are asked how we are, we need to respond "Blessed and highly favored". Thinking about this I have realized how very true that is. We have plenty of food to eat, a house, a bed, and a family. We always find time to complain about the things that we don't have, but when we say that we are blessed and highly favored, it is an amazing reminder of what we do have. After we brushed our teeth, we went into the sanctuary and we talked about God's love for us and how he will be protecting us. 1 John 3:1 tells us, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." This verse is clear in telling that we are very blessed and that God loves us more than we could ever know. Today was a long but exciting day and I am looking forward to what God will do in each of our lives this week!

- Emma Hendrikse