Help Needed - Levi

Looking back on the week I've realized that this was probably one of the most enjoyable and most spiritual mission trips I've been on. While previous mission trips did show me important ideas about spirituality, this one really hit home.

One of the first impressions that Denver made on me was how similar to Portland it was; however one key difference was that Denver has about three times the number of homeless people of Portland. For one to experience the difference was quite easy, these experiences were all around from the service sites to the streets of Denver on our sightseeing day. One example of this from the week was at The Carpenter's Cupboard (a David Clifton ministry), a food and clothing pantry for the needy. Seeing the number of homeless that came through that building was impressive, and not in a good way. However, even with this depressing sight, it really allowed me to see how God was working during the mission trip through both this amazing ministry site and through our group.

Another way this week has impacted me is that while there are many ministries that offer assitance, many of them suffer from a lack of resources. One such example of this is from The Carpernters Cupborard, where in the clothing pantry (that also supplied hygiene products) a lack of supplies limited the amount of help that could be offered. An example that follows this is from The Carpenters Cupboard future site where a lack of an educated contractor was holding up progress on the new building. Overall, these examples show how while many people and organizations do donate resources, not enough do.

Moreover this week showed me some amazing things, from how beautiful Colorado is to the amount of help is needed in the various parts of Denver. Imprinted in my mind from this trip is how similar 'our' city is to Denver and how much more help is needed for amazing ministries to occur.