By: Jocelyne Wijaya<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although once known as the place where everybody could rise, the city of Detroit has gone from
a booming metropolis to a shrinking city. Physically, economically, and socially devastated by a
wave of gentrification, rampant crime, corrupt leadership, failing school systems, and swaths of
vacant land, the city has been in constant decline. But fellow Foundation Research Lesem
Puerto and her fellow friends at the Calvary Chapel Downey Church were able to spread some
light and love to the city this Summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspired by the vision and calling of Pastor Issac, (Calvary Chapel Downey Church), Ms. Puerto
engaged in a seven-day mission to the city of Detroit, MI to spread the love and word of God to
those in need. Braving the Summer\u2019s sweltering heat waves, Ms. Puerto and her fellow
community held different outreach events each day, ranging from hot-dog cookouts to street
evangelism with one goal in mind: spread hope and faith for Detroit\u2019s community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tons of preparation and fellowship meetings were held, and Ms. Puerto has shared that she
feared she would not be able to \u201clive up to the significance of the work [that her team was] going
to do.\u201d Despite these anxieties, Ms. Puerto realized that \u201coffering a prayer seemed to go a long
way\u201d and that the dedication and time she committed for this mission paid off as it helped foster
a great sense of joy among the residents of Detroit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms. Puerto has shared her sentiments of feeling extremely \u201cblessed that [she was] called to be
part of such an interesting group of individuals.\u201d The experiences of being able to meet new
people, hear different stories, and relate to other individuals through their faith has led her to
become \u201cmore transparent with [herself], with those around [her], and most importantly with
God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lessons she learned and the memories she created are something that Ms. Puerto will
forever cherish. From sharing a mobile home with Angela, Ruby, Lucero, and Gloria (Fellow
Friends), to the CCD to the \u201cHope Rally,\u201d for Detroit’s community and remembering the
forgotten, Ms. Puerto\u2019s experience has truly been a transformative part of her life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more glimpses of Ms. Puerto and the Calvary Chapel Downey\u2019s work, head on over to
@lesemelizabeth on Instagram!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Jocelyne Wijaya Although once known as the place where everybody could rise, the city of Detroit has gone froma booming metropolis to a shrinking city. Physically, economically, and socially devastated by awave of gentrification, rampant crime, corrupt leadership, failing school systems, and swaths ofvacant land, the city has been in constant decline. But fellow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}