Mission Waco - our final day!

Day 4

Home sweet home! We are now all home safe and sound, but before we made the journey back, we had a fun and final morning here at Mission Waco. Our main thing today was to attend Church Under the Bridge. We met underneath I-35 with hundreds from the Waco community. A lot of the kids were in shock to see how they do church. There were no projectors with the music lyrics, there were no walls, there was only people from all walks of life worshiping our God together. Before service we spent some time mingling and talking with some of the homeless that we had met over the past few days. It is amazing how excited the kids would get when they saw someone again and couldn't wait to go up and talk to them and ask them how their day had been. When we arrived only a few short days ago, I saw a group of eager yet nervous kids unsure of what they were in for. As I looked around at the kids at church today it was like a different group. They couldn't wait to see their new friends at church. They knew their name and bits of their story. They were seeing the homeless as people and fellow believers. Often something that most adults don't see. Church was such a blessing to be a part of. After some worship we heard a message from a lady that runs a non-profit called Jesus Said Love that deals with stopping human trafficking in Waco and just started branches in Dallas and Bryan/ College Station. Here's their website-  http://www.jesussaidlove.com. She had a wonderful message about calling out  us Christians to be the ones to change things in the world and not just sit idly by. We even had communion before singing a final song and saying goodbye to our new friends. 

Thank you to everyone that prayed for us while we were gone. I pray that these kids, and adults, come back changed from the things they have seen. I can only hope we come back and continue to see the needs around and take action. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from our final day! We took a few group pictures, but sadly we didn't get everyone in it. There were a few people that were either taking pictures or not there at the time of the picture. 


Also, in some of the pictures you will notice a man in a yellow shirt. His name is Patrick. Patrick is a rockstar at Church Under the Bridge. Patrick has been living on the streets for years now and loves spending his Sundays at church with friends, new and old. He makes sure to go around and shake everyone's hand, give them a hug or smile, or offer them something of his. Patrick has very few things to his name, yet every time I have been around I have seen him give everything he owns. Today he offered some kids gum, a book, and even at one point started passing out the pages of his newspaper. Nothing is more humbling to watch. He also likes to go on the stage and play his guitar and sing worship songs as loud as he can. I feel like we could learn a few things from Patrick.

-Angela Platt