On Tuesday, the group broke into smaller groups and did a project called ATL (Ask the Lord). After breakfast, private time and prayer the team came together and wrote down a list of about 20 things the Lord was showing them. It was a list of things like: a soccer field, a water fountain, a Happy Birthday balloon, a dandelion, a silent playground, a soccer field, a lady with a hair bun, and more. We broke into groups of five or so and decided to go to four locations based upon where each person felt led.
My (Becky), group went to the Grandview Court House as there was a water fountain there. I believe many were skeptical of finding any of the items on the list, but there was one young many who felt very unsettled. I told him I understood and it was okay to be skeptical as I was the first time I did an ATL. As we approached the fountain, there was not many people around so we paused moment. We decided to start walking and immediately found an orange balloon lying just a few feet from the fountain. Only later would we discover that it actually said “Happy Birthday”.
We moved on across the street and saw a dandelion, which might seem insignificant but it was the only dandelion I saw on the whole 2-hour journey.
We journeyed on and ran across a soccer field and a silent playground. One of the swings on the playground had a swing broken and Jacob suggested we try and fix the swing. We tried, but realized it was not possible without an s-hook. We looked up the nearest hardware store, but it was quite a distance. We spent a few minutes weeding the playground before moving on.
We headed east again and decided to find a store where we could purchase some bottled water to hand out. We found a gas station and as we started walking up we saw a man trying to put air into the tire on his scooter. We asked if we could help him and he said he thought he had it. He asked what we were doing and we told him. We asked him if we could pray for him and he said for sure. We prayed and he said, “I feel better already”. We went into the station and purchased the waters. At the register we asked the gentleman his name and it was Jacob. We asked where we could find a park. He directed us on where to go. He said it was maybe four blocks away or so.
As we headed that direction, Jacob asked what was the Honda vehicle on the list. We said it was a CRV and someone had mentioned that it was possibly red. We journeyed on a few blocks and saw a couple unloading furniture on a flatbed trailer in their front yard. Immediately, Jacob said we could see if we could help them. We headed towards their yard and one of the girls said, “Look there’s the Red CRV“. Sure enough it was parked in front of their house. They said that had just finished unloading the last of the furniture and told us they were getting married in a few weeks. We prayed for them and they thanked us for offering to help. They were both Christians and were excited to see young people stepping out and being the church.
We walked on to find the park, but it was not accessible by the roads were on, so we started to head back. As we were walking by the back side of the elementary school, we saw a woman with a hair bun. She was walking out of the school. Jada offered her a bottle of water and we told her what she was doing. Her name was Katrina and she said she had just been offered a job at the school. Chloe prayed for her and Katrina said she hopes that she’s able to do the work of the Lord as we were.
We had a few bottles of water left and determined we would hand them all out before returning home. We saw three kids sitting on a step across the street and asked if they wanted some water. Their mom and two other women came out and we handed them water as well. We headed back to the water fountain and ran across a lady getting out of her car. Her name was Sheila and we gave her some water and asked if we could pray for her. She was so blessed and encouraged us to keep doing what we’re doing. While we were praying another team came up behind and joined us. We were close to the fountain and where we were parked. We told them about the balloon and picked it up to see it said “Happy birthday”. We also saw three more things on the list: a clock, a police station, and a flag.
In talked about it we could see how God had directed us all along the way. I asked Jacob how his level of skepticism was and he said he was really a believer in hearing God and Him directing us.
