Jul
9
Our team was blessed to join up with Target Dayton Ministries. It is a ministry that reaches out to the poor and homeless in Dayton by serving them with a church service and hot meals. We got to spend time with Pastor Mark and Cindi to hear them share their hearts for the people in Dayton. We also heard stories of a few people that had been impacted by the ministry. Some were addicted to drugs and really lost in the world, but now have found a purpose and some now live in apartments. They are doing such an amazing thing there!
Kevin Sides, AIA staff at the University of Florida, joined us at this point in our trip to complete our team. He served as our team discipler and we were going to take on Colossians. We also began our second clinic in Lebanon, OH. This time, our team were the main coaches and we were the ones running the show. We didn’t have any wee kiddies like in Zanesville, but the ages ranged from about 8-17. I had a few vaulters to work with. Only one had ever vaulted before and she hadn’t vaulted much. I LOVED it! I had clean slates to work with and the kids were so much fun! I could joke around and yet be serious with them. Some of them should probably pursue other events, but they were such a joy to work with and I loved their willingness to just try.
Our clinic was 3 days long and each day two people from our team got to share their stories with the kids, so everyone had the opportunity to share. Again, I was like a proud mamma watching her kids step out and do their thing (by this time, the team had all started calling me “mom”). It was fun to see them compare their stories to movies like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Titanic to be able to connect and reach the kids. At the end of the week, 21 of the kids accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!
During this week we had more down time and we were able to connect with one another and grow closer as a family. We spent a lot of time playing Nintendo Wii and learning how to do handstands!
Following the clinic was another track meet that we didn’t realize we were going to help out with. I loved how the team stepped up in with no complaints and servant hearts. One of the girls I coached the past three days came up to me and gave me a thank you card. I almsot started crying because impacting young people like this girl is why I do what I do. The meet ended up being cancelled due to a storm rolling in. I was slightly happy about that, because we had to get up early the next morning to head up to Michigan for our third and final clinic.