So I told you guys that I was going to Niagara Falls with youth group for our annual mission trip. What a lot of people don't know is that the town of Niagara Falls is a community in need. They have lost over 50% of their population and for every one house three were boarded up. Many of the community members are under the poverty line. My group left with 86 people in our group which is a lot of people. We left on Saturday and stayed in a hotel over night then headed to Niagara on Sunday. Before we headed to where we would be staying for the week we made a stop at the incredible Niagara Falls. Guys this place is amazing. We did the Maid of the Mist and it was absolutely breathtaking. I also got to walk around and see all the different parts on the falls.
Once we got to our housing site, we got settled in and went to sleep to prepare for one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Monday we were divided into our work groups and we were given our jobs for the week. I was lucky enough to be working in a kids club that worked with under privileged kids. The kids I worked with lived below the poverty line and a lot didn't get to eat as much as they should be able to. The lady that ran this camp has one of the biggest hearts. She runs this camp during the week where free breakfast and lunch are provided and on weekends she goes to as many of the kid's houses as she can to make sure they eat. But these kids are absolutely amazing. They loved on my group as soon as we walked in the door. They loved everything to running around outside to playing with our hair.
Now one things we do with the organization that hosted us is that we would go out into the community and interact with them. So on Monday night we got to go back to the falls and explore some more. Tuesday night we got to go to the power plant that runs all the power in Niagara Falls through hydro-power. This place was super informative and very interactive. On Wednesday our group was fortunate enough to participate in a poverty simulator. This was an experience that I will never forget. We were divided into groups and given family scenarios. We were then given a certain amount of time to try to "break out of poverty". Now let me tell you, it was overwhelming and many people in our group ended up worse than where we started. It was eye opening and life changing experience. Finally on Thursday we hosted a community cookout where members of the community came to eat and we got to hear more of their stories.
One of the things I was so thankful for during this week was the amazing YouthWorks staff. They were there all week to encourage us and just love on us. I grew so close to them all including Erica, Gabby, and Madyson. They really just overflowed with God's love and I am so thankful for them.We left on Friday morning and arrived home on Saturday. It was one of the most life changing weeks of my life. God showed up all over the place and I cannot be more thankful for the opportunity. The community of Niagara really just took my heart, Being in such a welcoming community just made me love being there. God showed up in so many ways that I was so overwhelmed by it all and I will be honest by saying I was in a dry spell in my faith but I this trip reminded me how amazing the Lord is and how much he has blessed us.
I really hope you guys enjoyed this post and I am super happy to be posting again. I really missed writing posts while I was gone. I also can't thank everyone that made this trip possible enough. I really am so thankful! If you have any questions about my trip that are specific please feel free to send me a message on Twitter! I will be back soon with some more posts. I hope you have an awesome morning/night wherever you are and I will talk to you guys soon!
- Megan
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