Day 4: The READ Commission & Clayton Homes Boys/Girls Club

Today was a bit about flexibility. We arrived at the Bread of Life Center that serves breakfast daily where we were going to unload the weekly produce truck to give to the clients only to find out that the produce truck had been cancelled so there was no work for us at that site. With a few phone calls, our host, Kelli, got us redirected to work with the Houston READ Commission. We were divided up into various classrooms to serve as tutors for the adult students in each class: GED preparation classes, Math, ESL, and Basic Learning Skills. It was an eye opening experience for many in the group to be tutoring someone twice their age. We then returned to our housing site for lunch and after a brief break, headed to the Clayton Homes Branch of the Houston Boys & Girls Club. This branch is located on the corner of a huge "projects" neighborhood called Clayton Homes. Ask a youth on the trip about the story behind Clayton Homes getting renovated when the city built the new stadium for the Houston Astros a few years ago. At Clayton Homes, we were simply to play with the children. Easy....and crazy all at the same time. We brought some of the crafts from our VBS to do with the children (the sunglasses & sand art crosses), played games, and just loved on the kids....

The pictures say it all....

We ate Indian food for dinner and this was the only place that I was nervous about......I have never really liked Indian food....however, I really enjoyed the buffet tonight....AND everyone seemed to REALLY enjoy it! We had a great dinner together and then headed to the Houston Water Wall to debrief where I managed to surprise the group when Ryan Hambley showed up! It was good to see him for a few moments and hear about the ministry that he is beginning with Teach for America.

Then (as if the day wasn't complete already....) we got to go to the Salvation Army Harbor Light Center and hear their AMAZING Choir.....all of us at different points got to join them on stage as they sang great, energizing, spirit-filled gospel music. THIS was an incredible night....definitely filled with God's Spirit! (Photos are in the mission trip photo album, here's a video...)

We received quite the thunderstorm in the middle of the night last night and it's been lightly raining on and off all day. I think it might be raining some as I type this.....we have had the children of Brownsville on our minds and in our prayers today......wondering how all of our little VBS friends are doing through this storm. Keep them in your prayers (and my parents who are in Port Aransas).The group is really building as a community, too. It's great to see how you'd never know that some of these youth have only been hanging out together for a few weeks....."we are family....."

God is good....all the time.
All the time....God is good.

Oh....don't forget to check out the link to the upper right for even MORE photos! Keep the comments coming...we're loving "hearing" from friends and family!