Gilpin & more

Life in the urban public housing community of Gilpin Court (Richmond, VA) caused all 14 members of our suburban West End mission team to experience culture shock. Amidst the shock the Lord worked purposefully & quickly to softened our hearts toward this neighborhood and all of its residents.

Our first step into Gilpin led us to a daycare where we completed a work project consisting mostly of spreading heaps & heaps of mulch on a playground. Later, members from Victory Life Fellowship (our partner church for the week) & STEP guided us door to door to follow up with families who had children registered for GI Jesus Boot Camp. This gave us our first real sense of life there: people were typically outside, the vast majority were African American, children ran around unsupervised sometimes poorly clothed or without shoes, dirt and smoke filled the air - our hearts broke. People were generally friendly but seemed to have a subtle suspicion of us. The next day we were able to get some further background and history of the neighborhood. We spent time at the Maggie Walker house and enjoyed good eats at Croaker's Spot. Our visit to Fay Towers, a seniors' home in Gilpin, was unquestionably a highlight of the trip. We delivered gift bags, called bingo, laughed, listened to their stories, and encouraged them through God's word, "neither death nor life... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 8:38 & 39. In these first few days the Lord opened our eyes & hearts, strengthened the bonds within our team, and challenged us to pray before he sent us off to camp......

Camp was a culture shock in and of itself, definitely more intense than stepping into the community. The kids were generally defiant & stubborn and some were downright unruly, but they were and are children, made in God's image, loved by Him. Our team seemed unprepared, off guard, uncomfortable, lost; it was obvious that this would be much harder than expected and that any attempts at self-sufficiency would fail miserably. We needed to lean fully on Jesus because he's really all we have to offer anyway.

There were 70 elementary aged children at camp mostly from the Gilpin Court area, and they were all divided up by age into 6 groups. Each group consisted of 8-12 kids, 4-5 leaders, a name, a team color (displayed through bandannas), and a chant, of course. The Lord had me lead the youngest girls, ages 7 & 8; we were the Daughters of the King. Steve had the privilege of leading the 9 & 10 year old boys, the Chosen Ones, who happened to be the rowdiest & most rebellious bunch, yet they provided a vital reminder that we all can be rebellious little children toward God. At camp we participated in numerous activities from archery to field games to nature tours to the ever so popular, pool time! As counselors we spent a lot of time loving (sometimes struggling to love), teaching, redirecting and playing alongside the kids. Learning how to biblically and effectively discipline was a constant challenge and required constant adjustment and especially patience; this task proved to be relentless for the male leaders, but God met us in our weakness here and in many other instances. Regardless of how utterly drained we were, knowing, at the end of week, the kids had a blast and heard the saving gospel of Jesus Christ filled us with irreplaceable joy. And we can honestly say, we love those kids. For more personal testimonies from myself & Steve about the trip, specifically camp, please click on the links below. I apologize in advance for being rather verbose, but this is the out pour of my heart....

Helene

Steve

.:Thanks for reading:.