Wagon Wheel: Southern Love
Our fifth week with teams here in Chicago came with tunes of Southern love and even sweet tea! We got a large group from South Carolina/Georgia all from the same church, just different locations of the church.
The group was phenomenal and jumped right in with everything asked of them from handing out water bottles to prayer walking and street cleaning, as well as the consistent help we need every week with Safe Haven.
A few twists came along the way.
One of the twists, Brittany felt I should be at the Maranatha Church location for Safe Haven, which I graciously accepted and went with. The team who went with me was phenomenal and saw it's efforts rewarded with by the end of the week with kids hanging on tight not wanting them to leave and go home.
Soccer time
They played sports well, taught the kids well with story time and such (even with the struggles), and above all LOVED well! By the end of the week I was so sad to see them go and super proud of them. Actually, I was super proud of the entire group and how they just opened their hearts to what we had to share, especially about listening to the Lord's voice. Awesome!
Checkers anyone?
Arm graffitti!
Leavin' love behind!
One night we also felt led as a team to shake things up with the group. We had a Wednesday evening Spirit-fest of worship in the parking lot, after we had everyone (including ourselves) write down all the sins and struggles they were dealing with and placed those in a tin can to set them ablaze! It was a moving, touching evening and I am super proud of the whole group willing to dive all in with everything asked of them!
They were full of life and definitely Southern charm! They would sing the song 'Wagon Wheel' all the time (see the video below–all for fun!!).
They served one another well.
Oooo…shiny!!!! 😀 (Love ya Tyler)
Our group of Southerners!
Either way it was sad to see them go, but super excited to see where God leads them all next. It's going to be an amazing journey for sure!
~By: AJ Wagoner
P.S.~Carolina (and Georgia) crew…thank you for your love and willingness to serve the week you were here! Love ya'll to pieces and we all miss you!! Now, you can go find a lime tree… 😉
