So the site I was placed at for the summer is Steubenville Ohio, believe me, if you are laughing at the name of the city, I did too right away, I thought of about 10 jokes as soon as I heard the name.
Anyhow, we arrived in Ohio at the site and I was a little surprised at how big the city was. It is a lot bigger than I thought and has a lot more poverty than I realized. Steubenville is known as the city of murals, it has a ton of them all over the down town city. The city is also the home town of Dean Martin (they actually have a festival celebrating him every year and it is actually coming up this week I think).
As I said , the city has a high poverty rate and their are a lot of homeless people walking the streets. We were warned that they would come ask us for money and we were not to give them anything but to say that the church has food to feed them if they were hungry, and a pastor that would talk to them if they needed it, but if we were to give them money, they would continue to come back and hassle us for more.
The scary thing about this city is having to keep the doors locked at all times. We were warned that some of the homeless people would sneak inside the church and hide in their so we are to make sure to lock the doors at all times. There is also a lot of prostitution in the city that we were warned about. The city is safe to walk around in during the day, but it is suggested to stay inside at nights. A few things I learned about the city is that it had it's hay day period in the 1940's-1960's where it was known as "Little Chicago." It was notorious for its crime, gambling and corruption. It also has ties to the Wu-tang clan which still exist in parts of the city to this day. The downtown area is almost abandoned now it seems. There was a big factory that was closed down years ago and more than half of the city has left the area. As scary as some of this stuff sounds, this is just some of the history, not what the city is like today. The city has a lot of homeless people, but it is not as unsafe of an atmosphere as it sounds. Their is a fire department just across the street from the church I am staying at that has 24/7 firemen on duty watching over the church at night to make sure things are safe. My staff and I have met them, they are all really awesome guys. They told us not to worry about anything. They said that there are bad people in the area, but many know about Youthworks and respect us for what we are doing and will stay out of our way.
I met my team a week ago and we have been having a good time so far. I am one of four members and we are all very different people. My site director is from Ohio, and the other two are from Alabama and St. Louis Missouri. It is awesome to be working with people that are from all different parts of the country. We all come from different cultures and backgrounds, but our differences are a huge benefit as it will allow us to reach and relate to a larger variety of youth. It has been awesome getting to know them even more over the past few days hearing some of their testimonies. I am so blessed to be in such an awesome group that has such a strong Christ centered mission. I can see God moving in them and their desire to spread the message of Jesus.
So far we have a lot of preparation before the youth arrives for their missions trips here. I have a lot to prepare for my role as a program coordinator, we have lots of inventory to take care of, and organizing to accomplish. So far we have a bit done, but the next two weeks will be devoted to getting everything ready. In three weeks, my team will be joining another Youthworks team stationed in Niagara Falls. There we will be participation in Youthworks Early Bird week which is comprised of a large group of youth so twice the staff is needed. After that week we will be traveling back to Ohio and will be staring our first official week at our site. When the kids get here they will be doing community service throughout the city fixing up houses and painting them.
We met the congregation of the church we are staying at today, everyone is very supportive and thrilled to be having us here which is exciting motivation for my team.
Our theme for this year is "More Jesus, Less Me" (Jesus Must Become Greater, I must become less John 13:30).
Please keep us in your prayers for safety, and for the missionary work that lies ahead. I know God is going to do GREAT things this summer and I am excited to be a part of it all :)
P.S. Below are some photographs that I have taken of the downtown area of the city. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken in the poor parts of the downtown area. The other part of the city is actually very nice, but this is to give you a brief look at how abandoned and poor the area is. The last picture you will see is the church we are staying at...Thanks for taking the time to read my blog! :)
Until my next post, God Bless
-JB
