Saturday, April 5, 2008

Visitors

***  I apologize profusely for the enormous length of time between my last post and now.  ***

From the front, I just need to let everyone know that the community at the Boston Rescue Mission is the most stable it has been in more than two months.  Praise be, praise be.  

The months of February and March witnessed two different visiting groups to the Mission, one from Furman University in South Carolina, and the other from Northwestern University in Minnesota.  

The group from Furman came with wide eyes and bushy tails, extremely excited to learn about ministering to men and women struggling with addiction, but also excited to see what giving one's life away looks like in a context outside of the college campus.  It was great to have this group at the Mish, particularly because two of my best friends, Thomas and Sarah Camp, were leading the trip.  It was wonderful to reunite with them and fellowship with the group, as well, and recount how God was working amongst the community at the Mission through conversations these students were able to have on a daily basis.

The group from Northwestern also arrived psyched up and ready to go.  They were led by some other close friends, Charlie and Jennifer Brooks.  (I graduated a year ahead of Jennifer's sister, Laura, at PC, and Charlie was the Summer Beach Project Director when I was a Team Leader).  These students, too, were able to have a tremendous impact on our residents, and they left the Mission having impacted our men and women deeply with the beauty of the gospel.  

Hosting these groups is a special time, since it was through my exposure to the Mission on a trip like this that I decided to move to Boston and live at the Mission in the first place.  It is always very exciting for me to spend time with these students and share my vision for the poor and homeless of the Greater Boston area, and see the ways that God works on their hearts, revealing sin, increasing their compassion, and sends them back to their respective college campuses with deeper desire to see the gospel impact their communities.  

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