Atlanta, GA 1 - Urban Issues (Post 1)

The first two days of my ASB trip have been both exhausting and exhilarating. A straight 8 hours on Sunday and another straight 9 hours today with only about 6 hours of sleep each night culminate in half-asleep, incoherent Breakers. But the experience of service, cheesy as it sounds, overrides all the lethargy of the "work". I've always felt that volunteers, much more than people who actually get paid to do the same things, are the people who put the effort into placing a stack of newspapers perfectly straight onto a table or, in my case today, taking the initiative to add spices to a pot of canned green beans thinking it might turn out half-decent. The appreciation expressed by those we serve for the small things we do is completely overwhelming. The amount of spirit and sheer force of will expressed by those same people with regards to their situation is even more inspiring. I've heard that these kinds of extended service trip is life-changing and moving and etc. and never really bought it, but now, who knows? The rest of this week still holds four more days full of hundreds of experiences.