See You at the pole was yesterday! My homeschool friends and I met at the city hall flagpole again this year. While we were praying there was some kind of meeting going on inside the city hall. Then a bunch of city workers started filing out of the building. One lady came and asked if she could join us, and even prayed out loud. I think it's awesome that we can be witnesses by doing something as simple as syatp!

A couple months ago our youth group took a missions trip to City on a Hill in inner city Milwaukee. If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know this is my second year going, but this year was as much if not more life changing than last.

We participated in service projects again this year. We split up into groups and each group had a different organization they went and served at. The group I was in went to Family House. Family House is an organization that owns about 6 houses on one block. They house people in need, anyone from kids to the elderly. Part of our group played games with the kids, the other part, including me went and helped at the administration office. We did all sorts of stuff like cleaning and organizing supplies.

On Saturday we hosted a big family BBQ at the City on a Hill grounds. Everyone was invited. We all got to pick our "job" for the day, I chose to serve food. Other people did games and crafts. They had a band come in and do a concert, then it was the short term misisons teams turn to take the stage. We did puppet skits, the wordless book, games, and songs. They had almost 500 people show up throughout the day.

The biggest and most life changing event of the week was the 40 hr poverty simulation. During the 40 hrs we actually lived on how much $ the people in inner city Milwaukee live on. Now I can't tell you all the details because I don't want to ruin it if you ever decide to go (I highly recommend you do), but I can share some of the emotions I was dealing with. I felt somewhat depressed, and totally inferior to the rest of the world. It was disheartening to walk around all day wearing dirty, stinky clothes, begging for food, just trying to get through another day. The one thing I hated the most about being poor and essentially homeless was how people wouldn't even look you in the eye when talking to you, they mostly ignored you. It was so humbling to have nothing and to have to depend on God to provide you with the stuff we usually take for granted like food and shelter. God really messed with me over those 40 hrs. He gave me a new sense of compassion and empathy toward the poor. I lived like that for 40hrs, I can't imagine having to live like that every day of my life. You can never truly understand what being poor is like until you've experienced it for yourself.

During the poverty simulation we also did street witnessing. My group went down to Johnson park to do our outreach. I talked to this one older man named Yanni for quite some time. He told me a story that just broke my heart. About a month before he had been mugged by a group of teenage guys. They broke his right arm in 2 place, he had to have surgery on his other arm, and he was badly bruised and beaten. All for $14 and a watch. After he told us his story we offered to pray with him and he eagerly accepted. That same day we talked to a bunch of kids about Jesus. We even told them how they could have a relationship with him. It was so much easier street witnessing this time around, because we were poor just like them. It was easier to relate to them and understand what their going through.

I will NEVER take anything I have for granted ever again. By going on this trip I've learned not to be judgemental of people, even if it's subconsciously. I have a lot of compassion for the homeless and poor now. This trip has changed my life enormously! I will never forget it or go back to the way I was before it.

If you are considering going on a short term missions trip I would highly recommend going on this one. For more info go to http://www.cityonahillmilwaukee.org/missions/trips/default.asp