#CoCMidAtlantic, Day 1

Our first day was exhausting yet rewarding. We started the morning before sunrise at 4:15 a.m. to prepare for spring break trip. Our first event together was going on a 6-hour plane ride together to New York. Then we drove to the Church in Nutley. The saints were so joyful and welcoming and prepared a love feast for all of us to eat! After multiple rounds of grubbing, we had the chance to blend with the young people in the Northern New Jersey region. Seeing young people (middle and high schoolers) enjoying the Lord through singing and praising was so encouraging. And to end the night, we went through a reading on shepherding and how the Lord is the shepherd of our soul. I was impressed with the shepherding. We need mutual shepherding. Finally, after an exhausting day of traveling, we drove to Piscataway and met our hospitalities. Mark, Thomas, and I are currently in the brother’s house (a house where college students live together) bout to sleep. Going to have a great slumber tonight!

— Josh L.

“Lord, I've seen Thy preciousness,

Thy worth, Thy reality;

Now, my Lord, I must confess,

My heart is only for Thee.” 

After a long day of traveling to the East Coast, I was freshly appreciating this stanza of a song we sang in our dinner and fellowship time with the Church in Nutley. As excited as I am to meet new saints, visit Philly again, and eat some good food, I’m reminded that the Lord is the One my heart is truly for. And He is faithful not just to supply us spiritually, but also shepherd our souls! He cares about how our persons are doing, and He is able to comfort and lead us in every situation. I pray that this spring break trip, I would open to Him more and allow Christ to continue to make His home in my heart. 

I also met a brother from Millburn, New Jersey and we had some really good fellowship about his time in New Jersey.  I was very encouraged by the number of young people and the proximity of these local churches making it easy to come together more often. It’s really cool to see how saints in other places with very different backgrounds compared to Berkeley are enjoying the Lord and running this Christian race.

— Alex G.

It was a long and tiring day today and originally all I could think about was complaining to myself about wanting to go to sleep. This started to change for me though when we blended with some of the saints in the Church in Nutley. I felt very closed off in engaging in conversations with them in the beginning  even though they were very friendly and welcoming to me. When it was time to eat and I saw all the food laid out for us to eat, I was very touched at how much time it must’ve taken to prepare all that food. I suddenly felt bad at how closed off I was to the saints in Nutley in just talking with them when they gave us so much more. After that realization I decided I should be more open to talking with them and when I was I enjoyed them asking about me and me in return asking about them. I just remember the conversations being sweet and enjoyable to me. Even when the meeting was done and we were driving to our hospitality I found myself yet again complaining about just wanting to sleep. And as I was thinking this the students in the car I was with started singing some hymns and the one that stood out to me was a song called “Fallen, that’s the way we all begin.” What touched me in that song were the lines “Then times, we just live by how we feel. / Is there some way we could ever deal / with self? / Just by calling, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” / Every moment, each day! / Calling on the name of Jesus— / We’re finding is the way.” In that moment those lines were how I felt and the chorus was the solution to how I felt. After that I felt very watered by that song and the time in general. Overall I would say what I enjoyed was the amount of cherishing I got from the saints and the timely watering I got from the Lord through your the day even when I was out of it.

— Ebenezer M.

Bonus Post

Spanish Gospel Meeting

After a long flight, we were warmly received by the saints in Nutley! All of our fatigue was left at the door as we joined a great feast full of not only an abundance of food but also with the saints and Spanish-speaking saints. To our surprise there was a Spanish Gospel Meeting happening after dinner and we were invited to come. There was such a sweet fellowship about how the Lord Jesus made himself so accessible through being broken into pieces for the sake our eating. Four people received the Lord and one was baptized that same day. The Berkeley Spanish-speaking sisters that went to the gospel meeting were so refreshed by the Lord’s want for us to eat of Him!

— Natalie A.