First Impressions

My first impression of Kansas City was that it is a town just like ours (Rochester), but when we went on a faith walk after lunch my opinion was changed. It was run down and almost every single house was boarded up or abandoned with “For Sale” spray painted on the side of the house. I was shocked because I had never really seen something like that. Then after supper we went to “The Plaza,” which was very high-end, and again my opinion was changed. It was basically a different world. Eventually I just settled on Kansas City being a very unique diverse community with many wonderful people in it. -- Ella N.

My first impression of Kansas City was… WOW! It was amazing people said it was like Rome with the fountains but it was so much how I would’ve imagined it. I was excited to start working. When I got to our ministry site we unloaded about 1000 bottles of pop!!!! I’m so excited to keep working and learning more about the amazing city of Kansas City. -- Sydney L.

First impressions… Well, my first impressions of my work site at Metro Missionary were pretty good, considering my pre-first impressions. My pre-first impressions were not good, seeing as we were driving through what we consider to be a “poor” section of town, putting it lightly. But when we got there, my feelings went WAY up as we entered the teaching area. The students were willing to work with the helpers, and even though it may have gotten repetitive, it was enjoyable teaching the kids. Now, what will tomorrow bring? -- Bennett R.

My first impression of Upper Room (which is an organization that helps kids who have poor reading skills) was that these kids wouldn’t be able to read at all because I was told that we might have to go back to the alphabet and sound out the letters. But I was paired up with a 3^rd grader named Jahbardi. I was surprised that he was very fluent in his reading learned new words very quickly. The second place we went to was Operation Breakthrough. This organization is like a day care for kids whose families can not afford child care. Many of the children have gone through traumatic situations and live in very poor conditions. So we spent our afternoon shelving books in their library. It has really opened my eyes that something as simple as a book is such a big privilege to have. In the world we live in we always need the newer better thing but all these kids want is a book. -- Andrew P.