Day 5 of the National Youth Gathering for us was "Proclaim Community Day"!
We started our morning by walking to Eastern Market. Eastern Market was a large farmers market with locally grown flowers, fruits, veggies, and other goods. There were t shirts and hats bought by the students as well.
We purchased some Michigan grown cherries, peaches, and plums for breakfast tomorrow.
After the market, we went to Cobo for interactive learning and games. Tori Maish waited in line for 4 hours to donate blood. Mara Weaver and Katie Amdahl donated over 8 inches of their hair to "Children with Hair Loss".
Our students also donated $600 to Walk for Water, an effort to make clean water accessible to all people. Our students $600 donation was matched for a grand total of $1,200! That brings the gathering to a total of $321,143 raised in just 3 days!
We also took a group photo! (Tori was not able to be photographed because she was in line to give blood.
After the photo, we had a group dinner at Drive, a ping pong social club. Our group overwhelmed the small restaurant so some had to wait over 90 minutes for their food. Good thing ping pong helped pass the time.
Tonight at Ford Field we heard from speakers who reminded us that Jesus can break the chains that hold us back in life. Chains like addiction, money, fear, can all be broken by Jesus.
One of our speakers told us, "Do something now. Don't wait. You never know whose life you could change."
The rock band Skillet rocked the house to finish the night. We were also lucky to have Bishop Jon sit by us tonight!
After Ford Field, some of us went to the local grocery store for snacks. Two homeless guys asked me for a sandwich to share on the way to the store. I decided to buy them each a sandwich and Katie Amdahl and Allison Seehusen handed them each a sandwich. The two men were so grateful they gave the girls a kiss on the hand (they washed their hands before eating). We then heard some of their stories. It was a small moment that those two guys will remember for a long time.
Tomorrow morning we have our closing worship with Bishop Eaton presiding. Then we get our bags and head home!
We can't wait to see our families and tell them our stories from Rising Up in Detroit.
Until then, no mountain too tall and good luck to all.
-Anders