Hamramck Rewind

Our final days in Hamtramck as a team were very impactful as we take a look at where God has brought us to broken ness over a city that is fighting through deeper struggles that I have ever faced in my entire life. We have had some time to digest what God is speaking to us and where we will never be the same because of God's work in the last week. Below is some of my thoughts but I encourage you to ask e in person.

Thursday and Friday I went with a part of the team working to Finnish a house project and this mean that we had to travel across the city to get there. Honestly, I have never seen so many abandon houses and large buildings in my life. In minnesota, even in the worst parts it doesn't compare. Entire blocks vacant and when I asked Andrew, on of the leaders, he informed me that the trend is that streets tend to survive or crumble together. Although we may seem self sustaining in our individual driven society its clear that if a street or neighborhood doesn't unify there is very little hope. Another thought that hit me pretty hard as i noticed some of them were nice brick houses that seemed very salvageable and some were even big, and at one time beautiful, apartments and schools. This brought me back to Psalm 127 where David says that if a house is not built in the lord, those who labor, labor in vain.

Friday night after work all day we got a chance to go into Detroit to learn and be tourists. There was a place called the Heidelberg Project where an artist took a broken down and abandoned area of Detroit, his neighborhood, and made a statement of it after he had returned from the army. Mostly its colorful dots painted over abandon houses and stuffed ani also nailed to trees but there were also statements against war, poverty, commercialism, drugs and violence. All in all it was unfiltered and somewhat disturbing. Then we explored the down town where there were many sculptures and statues commemorating Detroit as an auto empire and historical landmark. We finished the night relaxing and worshiping in the rain at Bell Isle which was very beautiful.

Saturday we had debrief but before that many of us worked a community garden threat was just getting started, there we met the chief of police and many community members. One of the most powerful times before we left was saying goodbye to those we had sever. The people were so grateful, they spoke highly of Acts 29 for showing them love and we got to pray with them. After many hugs from grateful hearts we went out as a team the last night at Royal Kabob which was an awesome time of fellowship with the Acts 29 staff that could come. As we conclude our 13 hour van ride we can only thank God for what he has done in the things that we can and cannot see. Some fruit from this trip may not be known until we see Jesus. The greatest thing I learned from the time there was that serving Jesus will cost you everything, and is entirely worth it.

Keep praying for their perseverance and our focus as we return to school. We cannot thank Sharon, Brad, Jonathan, Andrew & Abby and Shawn enough for their example and love.