Brockton - March 9, 2025

Here is an update from the team that was serving on Sunday in Brockton. There were people from Church of Emmanuel, St. Mary's Foxboro, Beacon Covenant Church, Attleboro, Grace Chapel Foxboro, Waters Church, South Shore Community Church serving on the team

Today our team served with very heavy hearts because a dear friend and fellow LYNN volunteer died this past week. We are all thankful for the opportunity to know her and work alongside her. We will miss her terribly. We dedicated our service today in memory of her.

We also carried deep sorrow for the death of "Big Dave" Silva one of our regular guests who would do a little dance as he waited for us to prepare his meal. While we all felt the weight of these two tragedies, we joined together in our shared mission to shine with the light of Christ in Brockton today.

Through offering our friends a smile, conversation, prayer and a hot and generous serving of baked chicken and rice pilaf, we tried to remind our guests, and ourselves, that no matter what sorrows and hardships we may face, we are not alone. We care and God cares. We may not understand these tragedies and many others that unfold on the streets of Brockton, but we remember that if we accept His help and love, God will meet us in every time of trial. He is with us and for us.

We may have felt a little shaky at first but as the sun came out, our friends streamed to Perkins Park and greeted us with smiles. We served over 94 guests. Our newest volunteer, Nancy commented on how appreciative and polite our guests were and we enjoyed many little conversations and a few more in-depth ones. Eric, Jairah and Joann prayed with many of our friends.

We served a lot of people in the Park and many more who were huddled under one of the bridges downtown.

- Guillermo was grieving the loss of his two fishing buddies. He continues to ask for prayer to get an apartment rather than live in a rooming house.

- Jimmy was asking for lots of stuff but wouldn't accept prayer.

- Ernesto is living outside and has been beaten up and robbed. He was happy to receive a bag of special requests, but wouldn't leave without being prayed for. Pray that Ernesto gets established and connected with good people so that he can help others.

- Donnie was experiencing severe back pain despite several back surgeries. Today he couldn't stand still. We pray for pain relief and healing.

- Tia asked for prayers to help her to make the right decisions. She believes God is there.

- Chris, asked for prayers regarding some legal issues he's dealing with.

- Luis' sister Yolanda is depressed and has health issues. He also has a friend named Noel who didn’t want prayers but Luis wanted us to pray over him.

- We pray for Kenny is feeling emotionally drained

- We rejoice with Amanda who is getting her apartment for her son Kaden.

- We pray for Enoch who needs a job

- Eric and Sandra (who is healing from an operation) asked for prayers of healing and for their relationship

- We pray for Trevor needs a job

- We rejoice with Loraine who is getting an apartment April 1st, she just needs to get a couple of documents in place. We pray that everything will go smoothly for her.

- Sev feels unsafe in the shelter and prays for a place to live.

- Laurie is going to detox. We pray for her to have hope and healing from saying goodbye to Big Dave.

- Angela prays for safety.

We also pray for all those who are deeply saddened by death that comes far too early.

Thank you to all the supporters who make LYNN Ministries possible.