Today, me and the fellow team members and our new friends (The Bostonians) all went on a tour around Jackson and Mendenhall. This was a great experience seeing how the different communities live and how much help that they really need. It really shocked me seeing how they had to separate the neighborhood by the colored and white people. What I really noticed was that it seemed like the community was missing something. It looked like that they were missing the love from others. They need acceptance of love from others to make them feel significant in this world we all live in. On our journey today, we looked at the Medgar Evers memorial home and saw where he had got shot in front of his family. It really broke my heart learning how they couldn’t even spend time in the front of their house because they weren’t safe. Normally you should feel safe in your home, but for the Ever’s family it was the complete opposite. They weren’t safe, they are to eat dinner and spend time together in the back of their house. While continuing on our tour, it shattered my heart seeing all the poverty around. Seeing most of the house’s burnt down, not fully taken care of makes me feel really blessed for the stuff that I have today. In my life, I have never seen a place so broken and really made me think of how as Christians we can help them. A quote from Dr. John M Perkins popped in my heart seeing all this devastation, “Christianity is all about helping others.” As Christians, We need to use all of our power to help others and to fully serve them. We have to reassure that God’s love is stronger than hatred. We need to embrace others with His love and give it off to others who truly need it. God’s strength is proven in our weakness. Over this trip, I saw many signs of hope from all the foundations Dr. John M. Perkins has offered over the years. He is offering hope for all the children and education that they need in life. Love has to be given, but we also need to give love. As Christians that’s what we need to do, we need to be like John Perkins and offer love to anyone who needs it. If we believe in him and accept him, we can grow in his grace and build each other up in community.


-Kayla Grigsby :)