Justin: 1 more week

The weeks have been going by faster and faster and they just won't slow down. They have been good though. So some updates

Amos Study
This past weekend, which was Friday and Saturday, we did a manuscript study on the book of Amos. It was a good study and I really enjoyed it. We only had time to go through about half the book, but there was a lot. I'm not going to talk about it on here, so if you want to talk about it we can talk about it later or e-mail me.

Chapel Service
This past Thursday, our group had the privilege of leading the chapel service that is held every night at 7 in the shelter. They would either have a speaker or play a Christian movie to hold them over before they are served dinner at 8. The group of guys in the shelter are the homeless who need a place to stay and it is $3 to stay a night. It was a great team effort in that our team collectively divided up some of the night. Casey, one of our staff leads from Saint Mary's College, led to worship through song in the beginning. D-Train was our MC. Jeff, Peggy, and John led the worship at the end. Irene did a corporate prayer. And me, well I got the job to preach that night, my first time too. It was an interesting experience, but it went well. The text was from Joshua 21: 43 - 45, so check that out if you got time. We were going to try to do chapel sometime this coming week, either Tuesday or Thursday, but those were taken and we decided to do it last Thursday, which gave me a couple days to prep. So praise God for what He can do through a wretch like me. Hopefully Dillon or Peggy will write more on the chapel service.

Church
Today, we are going to worship with East Hills Community Church at 11 am. Afterwards, the men in the recovery program and we have been invited to a pool party and bbq. God has blessed us here so much because this will be another bbq that we have been able to attend and everything here has been provided through donations.

Donations and Volunteers
God is so good in that most of everything here is from donations. One of the dinners was all from a donation because a group bbq'd too much and gave it to City Team. And on most nights, there are groups that come in to cook for the shelter. There are a lot of volunteers and different groups of people that come in to help with whatever may need to be done.

Funny Story
So, we were supposed to go out and have our sabbath at 8 am last Friday, but we weren't able to leave the building. Someone called the police because there was a suspicious brief case on the corner of the street next to the police station. So it was thought to be a bomb threat. This wasn't that funny because we were less than a block away from it. The police did a great job in keeping the area secure and following procedures to try to minimize it, but in the end, it was a homeless guys briefcase with a broken dvd player inside. After we heard that it was this homeless guys briefcase, it was hilarious. But in all seriousness, I thank God for the police and the actions that they took to be safe. They did what they were supposed to do and even though we were locked inside for most of the morning, I appreciate them and what they did.

Sad Story
One of the guys, whom I have really enjoyed while I have been here, was asked to leave yesterday. He was here on a court order, but didn't want to be here. It's sad, but this program wouldn't be able to help him because it can only really help those who want the help to rehab from alcohol addiction. We sat in on one of the AA meetings this week and throughout the nation, it is only a 2% success rate. At CityTeam, it is a 10% success rate. The recovery program manager says that the person wants to have a desire to rehab if they want to be successful in the process.

Prayer Requests
* Continue to pray for our relationships with them men. For deeper relationships and deeper conversations.
* Pray for focus, since we only have a week left, I don't want to be looking forward to leaving. Pray that as long as I am here, that my focus will be on the men here and our mission.
* Pray for the bible studies. Pray that we may continue to draw deeper into God's Word and have a greater desire for His Word.
* Pray for the men to have a genuine desire to rehab. Whether they are here because they want to be or not, pray that God will give them the desire for Him and through that to desire to rehab.

Thanks for all your prayers and support, and if you would like to hear any other details or other things, then feel free to comment or e-mail me and I would love to get back to you.

Grace and peace,
Justin