Loving People by Serving

I've hardly had any time to blog these past few days. I've been very busy, constantly shuttling our London team around NYC and Long Island doing outreaches. On Tuesday the team worked on a farm that grows food to give to the poor. In the afternoon we went out east and did yard work for a woman who was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Her children were absolutely in shock and blown away that we would come out and do such a thing. The daughter commented to me, "I can't believe how hard they are working. They are really hustling!" When we were done we had removed tons of garbage, branches, bags of leaves, etc. They said they have never seen their property so nice. Before leaving we prayed with the children. We later found out that some ladies had gone in to meet with the woman while we were cleaning, and that she had accepted the Lord. Wow! And to think that it all happened because we were willing to go and do yard work!

Today we partnered with the Lighthouse Mission and worked in Central Islip unloading and distributing a truck of food and clothing to the needy. The students from London shared testimonies and prayed with people, and we ministered to approximately 150 people. This afternoon they helped move three pallets of bricks for one of our pastors who recently moved, and also prepared bags of candy to be distributed to local businesses. At 5:30 p.m. we joined up with over 60 kids from our youth ministry for our August Serve & Swim, and hit the streets going from business to business giving away the bags of candy. I also made a contact in Waldbaums and he allowed us to set up tables and give away free bottles of water to people. As they were doing that others collected shopping carts from the parking lot and picked up trash. Several people stopped and asked us what we were doing and why, and we just told them that the love of Jesus compels us. In the end we gave away about 150 bags of candy and 175 water bottles. That's over 300 people who were touched with simple kindness and the love of Jesus in our town today! Of course, when we were finished serving, we went to Lily's home and ended the night swimming, eating, sharing, and praying. So fun!