Sunday

This morning we started our day with going to a church service and worshiping with the people in the program and families. The service started with Cantrell  he talked about how God forgives and how abundant grace is, God gives us the power to step away from sin and walk into the light. We then did worship where songs were sang about Gods love and how our lives have ups and downs but through God we are saved. The next preacher came up and talked about how in order to see and accomplish what God wants we need to take a step back from our own life and look to what he is calling us to do for others. This was followed by communion which was different then I am used to, instead of individual cups and crackers we all went up and chose a cracker and dipped it in the cup. Once we did that we would eat it and hug the men standing in the front. The service then ended with people being invited to the alter to kneel down and leave any problems or grudges in 2022. Then there was a group prayer which ended the service and left everyone thinking about what steps we can make to further Gods kingdom and what his calling is for us.

~ Audrey Gordon

After church we went through and separated the donations we brought so we could take them on route with us, then we went downstairs to join the men for New Year's lunch.  Later in the day we had the opportunity to go to the Georgia Aquarium. I enjoyed seeing all of God's underwater creation and I was able to do that just by walking around. During our trip there I was able to take in all of his creation and see the amazing design and intricacies within it. After seeing all of that I feel closer to God and and can see His details in His creation.

~ Cam Ferraino

After spending a couple hours walking through the Georgia Aquarium, we met up to go to the Dolphin show. Once I heard we were going to a live dolphin show I was psyched because I’ve never experienced one before. We all finally sat down, taking up a whole row, after waiting in a long line. The show began with Christmas music and dolphins being introduced. They presented by doing many amazing tricks in and out of water. There were also professional trainers riding on the dolphins back. At the end of the show the dolphins splashed the audience with cold, salty water. I could tell these beautiful creatures brought so much joy to everyone from hearing all the laughs. What I really thought of was how incredible God gave his creations such wonderful gifts. For instance, these trainers can make these animals do tricks from hand gestures and sounds. And God also gave them the gift of memory to comprehend what these movements mean. I’m just really thankful that Mr. Hendrikse gave us the opportunity to experience watching how God’s creation are all beautifully made to do different things. 

~Grace H.

Ready for church!

We were outside enjoying the sun and found a lizard doing the same.  Anna did pretty well while the lizard posed on the side of her head.

Waiting for the service to start.  The men came to set up a little before 9:00, but church didn't start until 10:30 so we had to have our mattresses and bags moved out early.  Seeing as we are living here it was pretty easy to be ready for church long before the service started:)

A selfie as we made our way to the Georgia Aquarium.

Audrey poses for a pic.

Pictures can't do justice to what we saw.

We talked about how cool it was that we could see an amazing piece of God's creation just by walking around inside a big building.  We saw so many amazing creatures during our time at the aquarium.

Ready for the dolphin show.

A group pic outside the Coke Museum.

A meal at The Varsity before heading back to 7 Bridges for evening devotion time followed by games.

Kim and I (Mr. Hendrikse) met Nick Jones 10 years ago when we first started coming to 7 Bridges. Now we are good friends with Nick and his wife Jess. Nick called 7 Bridges home for several years and used to be heavily involved in leading routes and leading the men's ministry.  Now he has a job and lives nearby. We look forward to seeing Nick and Jess each time we come down to Atlanta.