Today after the classes, we helped with a food distribution service with an organization called Gleaners. The original plan was to go down to the parking lot of a grocery store down the street called Save-A-Lot in order to participate in a drive through style food distribution service. Due to extreme heat some changes had to be made. The people from Gleaners ended up coming to Shepherd in order to set up indoors by transporting trucks FULL of palates of food. After separating out tons of sweet potatoes into bags, and assigning volunteers to different stations, it was finally time for our neighbors to start coming through. We helped in a couple different ways. Some of our volunteers were responsible for walking with a neighbor or family around the building, and asking them which items they needed, as well as chatting/getting to know the neighbors. Following that, we helped to load the food into their cars so that they could take it home. There were also several of our volunteers that stood with a designated type of food in order to load it up onto our carts. Some of the things that were being disributed consisted of wet wipes, sausage, spaghetti sauce, peppers, cereal, onions, milk, pasta, lemons…and of course sweet potatoes. One thing that surprised us was that the neighbors did not take any more food than they needed. It shocked us their mindset was so different from ours. For example, on a weekly basis, we buy more than we need, and don’t worry when things go bad, and we have to toss it out. Contrary to the neighbors that showed up today, instead of having a “scarcity mindset” in which they would stockpile food that they may not use, they were taking only what they needed, even though there was more than enough food to go around, and if they did take more food than they expected to use, they were already talking about how and where they can pay it forward. Afterwards, we helped clean the cafeteria and gym area where we had the food distribution. This consisted of lots of brooming, mopping, and breaking down boxes. After all that work, we were so tired, so we took a break to have dinner and talk to a representative from Gleaners to ask questions about their other services. We learned that they have an at home food distribution program as well! Following dinner someone from the Shepherd team who has been working with us gave a short devotional on the Sermon on the Mount. He talked about Matthew 5:38-42 which emphasized going beyond what we are asked in our service. We are so grateful that we had the opportunity to serve with Gleaners, it was a new cultural experience that will stick with us for years to come. 🙂

Today was a rough day in the Grade 3 class. Me, Sadie Choi, and Megan Schuster have been working together in the class for the entire week. It is a very rowdy group of kids, and it can honestly be very taxing on our patience at times. However, we found some fun in the crafts and science lessons we performed for the kids in the morning. We also performed the first of two skits at group worship time this morning, which was a skit based on the entire book of Ruth. We made it up only the night before, but the kids found it entertaining and many of us got compliments for being “great actors” from the kids. I have found working with these kids very culturally enriching, and I can see many similarities between these kids and some that go to my school, which I hope will allow me to be more empathetic in the future. I also shared my faith story on Monday with the kids, and even received a paper plate award from Maggie for it (Always an honor). I’ve also enjoyed connecting with many of the incoming Freshman throughout free time in the week. It’s been fun to get to know them and they’re all great. About half the group had a spirited basketball game on Monday evening, even with a heat index of 105 degrees. Other than that, it has just been fun to connect with others in the group by just spending time with them, and I think many of the upperclassmen have gone out of their way to talk to underclassmen, which is great to see. Morale is still kinda high, so we will continue to do our best to faithfully serve in this community.