Tuesday in Columbus-Victory Ministries

It was a total God plan how we ended up doing what we did today.  For those of you that don't know the story of our team getting to Columbus, here it is.  Over a year ago, I had started planning to come to Challenge and do another EFCA youth mission.  This would be my third, but I prayed that God would raise up leaders and youth in our church, Faith Christian Fellowship, to come along this time.  We would be joining 2-3 other EFCA HI churches in attending Challenge 2010 (or C10 as we called it for a while) and doing mission work in Cincinatti.  After months of planning, God led us on another path.  It wasn't meant for the seven of us to go to Cincinatti, but we would stay in Columbus.  I started working with the national EFCA office to identify ministry opportunities that our group could serve in while here.  They were busy getting ready for Challenge, so I googled some of the Christian social service ministries and found 3 that I emailed.  One emailed me back right away, Victory Ministries.

Victory Ministries serves the community with a food pantry, clothes store, hope counseling, medical clinic, and tutoring for 1st and 2nd graders.  All their services are free.  They open the last 15 working days of the month and prepare the rest of the time.  As most non-profit agencies, they have paid staff but heavily rely on volunteers to get the job done.  Our group is very musically talented, but one of the things I've not experienced with our church recently is the ministry of going out and serving in the down and dirty stuff.  Yes, we do it at the school when it's church planned, but other than that, what other ways do we serve in the community with the "other" people.  Our group got to experience that today.  We were tasked with cleaning the reception area, chapel, clothes store, and food pantry.  Everything needed to be done from wiping chairs to mopping to cleaning toilets to restocking the food tables.  Taylor even hung in the freezer to disinfect that!  Yes, it was hard work.  Yes, it was different for them (this is the kind of stuff I do regularly with other churches in Hawaii).  And yes, it was very rewarding and fulfilling! 

At 1:00pm, Mike asked if we were ready to stop.  They had been concerned about the heat for us, but we didn't want to leave our job undone, so we plowed on.  As we wrapped up, took pictures, and prepared to say goodbye, I asked Phyllis (my contact there), if we could gather and pray for them and the ministry that they are doing.  She invited everyone else who was there, and David ran to grab his guitar.  We shared our prayer requests, prayed, and said goodbye amongst some tears.  We had made more new friends today, and our hands will continue to bless those that we may never know.  By the time we left, it was after 2pm, and we were hungry.

A stop at Turkey Hill produced Krispy Kreme donuts.  They're not hot and fresh like the ones at the bakery, but we cleared out their shelves anyway.  Our lunch stop was at White Castle.  Burgers, onion chips, chicken rings, and more made up our order.  If you've never been to White Castle, it's one of those places that you've got to try once.  The onion chips are a version of onion rings, the chicken rings a version of chicken nuggets or tenders but in a ring, and the burgers are mini burgers that's perfect if you're feeding little kids.  The bun is so soft!  The girls didn't like it.  Oh well...