Day ONE: CityGate

Today we had an awesome day!! We got the opportunity to work at one of the MANY projects in the SE DC area with a group called CityGate. 

CityGate was founded by a baptist preacher not too many years ago as a way to break the poverty cycle. Basically the group pulls teenagers from the local project and pays them to run a 'day camp' for 2-13 year olds. The teenagers are helped with budgeting skills, college applications, job applications, etc and the children are shown that there IS another life besides the one they are raised in.

The culture in the projects is SO different from ours! The kids are very trusting and loving; they each chose a youth and latched onto them for the ENTIRE day (to the point of taking naps in their laps). However, they would make a sailor blush from their language and are VERY physical with one another. While we were there we split the campers up into groups by ages: 2-6, 7-13. We ran rotations for them. One rotation was making play-dough from flour and the other was games, jump rope, football, etc.

A few highlights from CityGate today:
-Travis got told by his new friend that he was his 'new daddy'
- Sarah got cussed out
- We had a water balloon fight
- We saw two little boys have an all out brawl
- We got to play guitars and teach the kids some new camp songs
- We got to talk to the kids about Jesus
- We showed them UNCONDITIONAL love...that some never get to experience in their 
   everyday lives. 


After 'work' we came home, relaxed, ate supper, showered, and had a SUPER moving chapel. Oh yeah, AND our boys played a game of basketball with the local neighborhood boys and WONNNNN!!!! :) We think they should get a ring for that feat in itself! ;)

We just found out that tomorrow we get to deliver 70 lunches in 5 different parks to the homeless. The group is STOKED that they get to do a similar ministry to the one in Atlanta last year!


Now that it's 11:30 and we have to be at breakfast by 7:45, I say it's time to wrap this up!

Prayer:
- TEAMeffort
- The kids at CityGate
- Our group
- The homeless we will come in contact with tomorrow
- The local neighborhoods 
- The other groups that are here with us this week.

-GUMY