Serving in South Bend

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to help lead a FaithX trip through the Church of the Brethren in South Bend, Indiana. Soon I will be starting my BVS position as the FaithX assistant, and Marissa (who I will be working with) asked if I wanted to get some experience this summer.

Monday

The trip started out with a bit more excitement than I anticipated. I was flying out of Harrisburg to Charlotte, and then to South Bend. My first flight got delayed and I was going to have a really quick connection in Charlotte, but I was prepared to run. Well, my flight kept getting more and more delayed, and would have caused me to miss my connection. However, there was this kind gate agent at Harrisburg that helped me get on standby for a flight that was hopefully leaving soon (this flight was already delayed about 6 hours). I ended up getting on that flight and just prayed that my bag was going to make it to South Bend with all the last minute changes. I made it to Charlotte with about 45 minutes until my next flight, which was taking off at the gate next to the gate I had just landed at. I also practically walked off the plane and straight into Marissa who I was meeting for the last flight to South Bend. We made it to South Bend around 11:30 and drove off to the church we were staying at.

Tuesday

The next morning we slept in, went grocery shopping, and got all ready for the FaithX participants to show up. We picked them up from the airport, welcomed them to the church and got all settled. We ate some dinner, did some get to know you games and then it was bed time. But Marissa and I had some grocery shopping to finish, so it ended up being a late night.

Wednesday

The next morning was an early morning then as well so we could go buy one last minute item we needed for breakfast. There wasn't a whole lot of sleep that night, but the anticipation for the day certainly helped with the motivation to wake up. The first morning I stayed with half the group at the church to do some work in their gardens. It was a lot of weeding and digging out some bulbs that had overtaken the garden. Most of the day was cloudy so it kept the heat away, but towards the end of the morning the sun was out.

We met with the other half of the group at a community garden for lunch. We then learned about the garden. The garden is a completely free garden for anyone to come and pick fruits and vegetables they may need, and serves as a bit of a community center where there are some classes and activities. We spent most of our time there squishing bugs on plants because they do not use weed and bug killer on their plants.

This afternoon was also a bit of a rough afternoon as I found out my grandfather had passed away. We knew it was coming, so I was able to be a little prepared, but it is still difficult news to hear. Though I could not have thought of a better place to hear the news than working in a garden, serving others, and aiding in feeding the community. My grandfather was always serving others in the community by helping them in any way possible, and he was a farmer, so it felt like a great place to be serving when I heard the news.

After we finished our time serving in the garden, we went to a lake where the youth had some time to swim, eat pizza for dinner, and shower before heading back to the church. It was a great evening for them to hang out and have some fun after spending almost the entire day in the sun.

Thursday

This morning we went to a local food pantry where we spent the morning sorting donations. It was a lesson in math for the youth (and myself!) because they are able to give food away after the expiration date. However, there is a different amount of time beyond the expiration date for each different type of food. By the end of the morning we were all experts on how long after the expiration date each type of food could be used.

In the afternoon we went back to the garden and spent our whole time weeding different garden beds. Some of the weeds were pretty big and difficult to get out of the ground, plus we had to be very careful not to pull out the actually vegetable plants or the weeds they keep because they are natural pollinators, so the weeding took a bit of time. By the end of the afternoon the sun was out full force, so our showers that afternoon were much needed.

In the evening we did our devotions, and did a foot washing service with the youth. For many of them it was the first time they did foot washing. If you haven't grown up in the Church of the Brethren or have never done foot washing before it can be a little awkward at first. Though the youth thought it was meaningful.

Friday

This morning we were also split into two groups, and my group went to a soup kitchen out of a local church. We spent the morning making a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cutting onions, cutting peppers, and setting up for them to be open. The youth helped to serve the meal and then we were off to the food pantry for the afternoon to continue sorting donations.

In the evening we went to the South Bend Cubs baseball game. Because we went as a group, we were able to get free hats, so we all had our matching hats at the game. Marissa and I also kind of got hit by a foul ball, after saying that probably most of the foul balls would go in the other direction. I ended up with a pretty nice bruise and a great story...though I don't think I recommend getting hit by a baseball.

Saturday

Today was our rec day, so we went off to the Michigan State Park Dunes. Most of the day was spent relaxing. A bunch of us went to the mud pit behind the dunes and played in it for a bit. Then a few of us decided to go back to the beach over the dunes instead of walking the whole way around. This seemed like a great idea in the moment, but the sand was super hot, and our feet were pretty sore after that. I would say it was worth it for the experience and the memories, but I am not sure I would do it again.

Sunday

We had an early morning to get ready for church since most of the youth were helping to lead worship. It was a great service, we packed up and then made a few trips to drop people off at the airport. Somehow all of us that were flying ended up on the same flight to Charlotte to catch our second flights back home. So that was really fun to be able to spend a bit more time with some participants.