My favorite experience in Denver, Colorado was probably when we went and directly served the homeless. I thought it was really cool thing you and Mr. Walker, and Mrs. Barghini thought of. I thought this was my best experience because I could see how all of our warehouse work could really affect the people. It felt really that we gave Bill and Tina somewhere to sleep and some food to eat. It made me feel better and I think, was the best experience I’ve had on a mission trip.

I think my worst experience was when we went to ARC Thrift Store. I had no problem packing and carrying the boxes I just didn’t enjoy that day of work. I think I felt like this because the environment was different and it was kind of weird. I think it also was the fact of how much longer we worked in that one place than any other. I also felt kind of weird about ARC. I know they are non-profit but it felt weird to see that they were actually making a decent profit. This is just how I felt, I don’t know whether it’s the truth or not.

My favorite activity we did was the game of Life, and my favorite place we served was Worldvision. I really enjoyed the game of life because it was fun to play with a friend, but it also let us feel what impoverished people go through, and even our parents. The stress of life, and payment to be made has definitely made me respect my parents that much more. I really liked Worldview because it felt warm and welcoming, and reminded me of home. It reminded me of Matthew25Ministries here in Ohio.

Probably the hardest thing for me to overcome was the exhaustion and uncomfortable cots. We always went to bed late, worked hard in the day, and got up early. This was different than my usual routine in the sense that I would go to sleep earlier and get up later. The cots were uncomfortable, and my blanket would always fall off and I would wake up freezing in the middle of the night.

I learned about homelessness, and how it affects you both mentally, and physically. I’ve always seen the physical effect, but never thought about the mental effect. DENUM really opened my eyes to this and I really want to try to help the homeless in any little way that I can.

I think that I have changed. I say this because today while I was at Taste of Cincinnati I saw a homeless man. Before Denver, I would’ve just walked by or given him a little money. This time though, I stopped what I was doing and went and bought him food. When I gave it to him, he could not have been happier… and was quite shocked! This is one way I think the Denver trip has changed my life.