Today our team had the opportunity to serve at Center for the Homeless in South Bend.  Maribeth Roncz heads up the center and did a wonderful job leading us there.  We started our day with a tour of the new Veteran's Center, which many of the students helped build on the MOVE trip last year!  It was really neat for them to see the finished project that they worked SO HARD on.  The Veteran's Center houses 24 homeless veteran's at a time.  Did you know that South Bend is the FIRST city in the whole country to open up a center specifically for homeless vets?!  How cool is that!

During the morning, the team divided into different groups and did all kinds of hard work around the center.  We weeded the garden and planted beautiful marigolds, did laundry, cleaned and organized the food pantry, helped served lunch to the residents, and sorted a variety of donations.

After lunch, we got the privilege of hearing from a former resident at the center and a current vet living at the vet's center.  Laura shared with us about how she used to be an alcoholic and addict.  As she touched our hearts with her compelling story, we learned about her recent successes, how she has overcome alcoholism and her addictions, and now finds peace and strength in God.  She recently moved out of the center into her own apartment, has a job, is doing very well, and absolutely loves her life and the people she has met along the way that she calls her "blessings in disguise."

We also got to hear from Don, a current resident who is about to move out on his own as well within the next few weeks.  It was amazing to see Jesus in him as he shared with us his story, his successes, and how he overcame abuse as a younger child (among many other things).  I think he really opened up our eyes and made us take a step back to realize just how much we might take for granted every day, such as family and friends.

The team spent the rest of the afternoon throwing an ice cream party for the residents!  We got to spend some time with them, hear their stories, and play some games.  What an amazing day we had!!

We ended our day with a little team fun night at Hackers!!!  We're finishing off our trip tomorrow by attending the 11:30 church service together at GCC!  Our students are rock stars, and God is so good!!!

Blessings :)