The month of March in the life of 2nd Mile Ministries is busy and action-packed. This is usually when we have teams from different colleges across the country come into the heart of Brentwood for their spring breaks and love on and serve this community. Whether it's volunteering at one of our elementary schools or picking up trash and beautifying the streets and sidewalks, these college students come in with an eagerness to work hard, love well, and even learn about the community and God's heart for the poor. This year, we had two teams come--one from Northwestern College in Iowa and the second from Simpson College, also in Iowa. 2nd Mile has had great relationships with both of these colleges as they've served with us multiple times in the past. What was unique about this year was that the Northwestern team came with 19 football players and coaches. It was fun to watch these two colleges spend their lunch breaks getting super competitive, running 5-on-5 basketball games, full-court mind you (this doesn't often occur in Florida's hot weather), four-square matches like they were playing for some sort of world championships. I definitely got sucked into the fun and games and tried my best to resist going all out due to my continuous chest recovery.
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| Looking pretty small in between these beefcakes |
I was very excited this week because I was to lead a group of six of these football players to clean our church's courtyard, measure lines, draw lines, tape lines, and paint lines onto the basketball court. Growing up, I have fond memories of wheeling out our basketball hoop to the street, taking my three-point line measuring device, and drawing my own half court with a full on free throw line and high school and NBA distance three-point lines. To be able to create something semi-permanent on a courtyard that for years just looked like a slab of concrete was very exciting for me. It was my luck that week that three of the six players assigned to me had already had some experience painting lines on playgrounds, parking lots, and soccer fields. In addition to the basketball court lines, the group helped paint a challenge circle in the center. In the past, we had to draw the challenge circle with chalk by hand almost each day due to Florida raining randomly for 20 minutes most days in the summer. A permanent challenge circle allows for more prep time for staff and high school interns for lesson planning. As if my group of six didn't already have a lot on their plate that week, they finished in two and a half days and also knocked out some windows and boarded up those windows on a two-story building in the remaining time. These guys can work! As a result, the court has been used a lot more often, the kids are a lot more excited to have those three-point lines and make up different games with them (as I too enjoyed doing growing up), and different people have been coming around the church to play, which will hopefully result in more interactions with people in the neighborhood. Who knew that some legit painted lines could do all that!
Often, 2nd Mile inquires if there are any education majors coming. There usually are always some and we ask that some or most of those students help us out at our after school program in the afternoon. This gives them a chance to be up close and personal with our kids, give them one-on-one attention that is so crucial to their increased development, and have fun with them along the way. To the left is a picture of me (center of circle) leading our after school program kids and college helpers in a game of challenge circle, the most uproarious game I've ever played. When spring break teams come, we on staff are simultaneously energized and drained and it makes for a very memorable and meaningful time of the year for us, as well as the kids in our ministry. I'm sure some of the children felt like little celebrities for the week, having 30 college students want to play whatever they wanted to play.
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| Last day for brother and sister |
In other news, two of our after school program students have recently moved to Nevada. Daiyona (3rd grade) and Devaric (4th grade) have been with 2nd Mile for almost two full years and we've grown to see more and more of who God made them to uniquely be. Daiyona is always willing and eager to help out and try anything, even if it's something she's never tried before. She's quick with a hug and not afraid to be honest about how she's feeling. Devaric also loves to be helpful, sometimes in the form of cleaning, but mostly in the form of cheering people up and trying to make them laugh. He's a great big brother to his sister. They will truly be missed. Devaric can be hard-headed at times (who isn't), but I'm hoping and praying for God to continue to work on his heart. One day was particularly awesome for him (behavior-wise) and he said he was doing good because that morning he asked God to be with him. The joy he had for his answered prayer was so pure. I'm so blessed to get to witness God's work up close.
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| Max loves standing |
If you have a facebook, check out more of our spring break Urban Exchange pictures. You will not be disappointed. You can help us out simply by checking out 2nd Mile Ministries, liking, commenting, and sharing pictures/posts/etc. with others. This helps perpetuate how often our content gets seen by others in their feed.
Please pray for:
-God to make Daiyona and Devaric's move smooth and that they'd find the right kind of friends quickly.
-God to help Max learn how to eat through his mouth and not a tube.
-God to be abundantly at work in Brentwood.
