We had a great time yesterday! The day was pretty normal when we were with the kids at Shepherd. We did our Adam and Eve skit for the kids during worship. They all loved it! I think Ellie or Nathan has a video if you want to see it, just ask them 🙂 After working with the kids, Officer Adam, who is also a pastor, came to talk to us about the problems with poverty in the neighborhood we are serving in. Before dinner, we played basketball out in the 90-degree weather. We all had a blast, but at the same time felt as if we were dying from the sun XD. After dinner, we had a surprise event, of which was spoiled by Mike, who works at Shepherd. The event was a cooking contest! We were split into teams of five and were given certain ingredients. We had to use all the ingredients except for two. Unfortunately, my team didn’t win, but we still had a great time! It was definitely the highlight of my day!

I’m working with fifth grade this week. I love all of them! I think they are all special and need attention. Some of them have discipline issues, which is most likely due to their life at home. Even if there are some troublemakers in the class, there are most definitely some really good kids and I think that all the kids do have a good side. They can be so sweet at times and did a great job at welcoming Marc, Elliot, Timmy, and I! There was one kid that I immediately connected with. He’s pretty calm and reserved, but also extremely smart! I enjoy my class very much, even though they get a bit rowdy sometimes. Overall, I have really enjoyed my time in class five, and I continue to pray for all of them!

The week has gone by so fast! Thank y’all so much for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for energy and patience!

Our volunteer group was blessed with the presence of Officer Adam this week, happening on Wednesday, to be exact. While that name most likely will not ring a bell with any readers of this newsletter, Officer Adam is an integral part of Shepherd and the community in which Shepherd resides. He is a police officer who works specifically for the area of Indianapolis around Shepherd and shared an incredible testimony. Officer Adam told of sorrowful dispatches that he was sent to help with, and how every time he gets a call, he tries to establish relationships. Officer Adam built relationships with people, has brought people to God and continues to do so as a part of his police work. His work of bringing people to Christ through patrolling the neighborhoods of a crime hot-spot is inspiring and I cannot do his story justice through text.

After Officer Adam spoke to us, we played some basketball outdoors for forty-five minutes, ate dinner, then partook in an incredible activity.

Sixteen, (I think), cooks. Four teams. Three dishes. This newsletter, and the teaching kitchen, just got serious. Each team competes from a basket of mystery items to craft an entree, an appetizer and a dessert. Whose dishes will stand out among the crowd, and who will be chopped?

For those confused that was a reference to the show Chopped, where a team is eliminated each round of a competition while cooking from a mystery set of items.

No actual chopping occurred, other than the dicing of vegetables and chicken when the Shepherd volunteers from Faith Student Ministries engaged in a culinary battle over an hour and a half. The Nathan Kingsley method of chopped involved no eliminations, but a panel of esteemed judges harshly criticizing each meal. These judges included the honorable Maggie, the savage critic known only as Marc, the bravest bite taker Adam Daulton, and valiant Libby, regardless of if dishes were tasteless or made one wish it had no taste. (I pray none were that bad, but I didn’t taste every dish). None of the judges cried, only Ellie Preston did after tasting one team’s dish.

Teamwork was essential as four volunteers worked in a tiny kitchen with limited supplies and utensils to craft their three dishes. What emerged from the quagmire of smoke and “caramelized, not burnt” items was a total of twelve dishes, needing to be tasted. Nathan filmed a video of the whole judging process, which hopefully he can send out because I have not the memory nor time to write about every dish. In the end team four consisting Allana, Sadie, Linnea, Timmy and I won the tournament. (Slight brag). All in all, it was very enjoyable and a great way to spend an evening.

Throughout this week we have helped on a service project, given out food to those in need of it, tried to force as many tomato plants upon passerby as we can (Gabe says we need to get rid of them all). We also have helped in classrooms, told our faith stories, drunk a lot of water, (I swear I’ve peed like six hundred times this week, hydrate or die-drate, I guess) and much, much more. I truly feel that I have grown in Christ and changed my thinking on numerous topics while serving at Shepherd, and it is an experience that I have not felt anything similar to in recent memory. I would highly recommend this trip to any younglings reading this and I will definitely be intending to partake in serving here again. Thank you for any prayers and support, thank you to the parents who brought us food, we couldn’t do this without you.