This trip began similarly to the last, just a whole lot earlier. I crawled out of bed at six in the morning, just like any other school morning. However, today was Saturday and I was heading out to my second trip to Shepherd’s Heart. I got to the church around six thirty and was still quite tired. We would be making a breakfast this morning for all of the homeless over at Shepherd’s Heard, but this time we would be cooking the food over at their kitchen. Like last time, we got onto the vans but instead of finished food in it we had all of the ingredients for pancakes and other breakfast foods. The trip to the home was much shorter this time since the city was still waking up. At seven, we all went into the same back entrance as we did last time but with a few less people.

Again, we were all greeted warmly by the staff and directed to the kitchen that I remembered from last time. It had been changed a little bit but the changes had been for the better. We all then got to work mixing pancake mix, frying bacon, cutting up fruit, and flipping pancakes. Less people were expected to attend, so we prepared less food. Once all of the pancakes had been cooked and all the bacon fried, we put them into pans to stay warm and headed up to the familiar chapel.

It was exactly as I remembered it, with just a few less seats. Some of the homeless were already seated and others were still filing into the seats. After everyone seemed to be settled in, the priest began the short morning service, which started right at eight fifteen. He started with a short prayer and then moved onto another short reading. Then the chorus sang a few songs while we followed along with them. This was a special morning service though, because each one of us had prepared a short prayer for all of the people. All of the prayers were unique, but everyone gave words of encouragement and hope. The prayers lasted a few minutes, about thirty seconds each for all fourteen of us. After those prayer, the priest joined all of us in one last prayer before it was time to serve the food.

We headed back down after the service to get the food that was staying warm. The chorus sang songs as we brought the food back up to be served in the same spot as last time. Once all of the food was up, we began to serve the pancakes, bacon and fruit. The line stretched out a long way, but not nearly as long as it did that last night. Like the previous time, I was passing out the food to all of the hungry homeless people. I started out serving the fruit but then moved to serving the bacon. After a half an hour of serving, most of the homeless had left the shelter. Unlike last time, there was hardly any leftovers, for we had made just the right amount. By this time, it was getting close to nine. As some of the last homeless staggered out, we began to take all of the dirty dishes and pans back down to the kitchen. After a quick clean up, we were all ready to go. Just like last time, we exited the same back door out to the parking lot.

As my second time going to Shepherd’s Heart, I didn’t feel as rushed with emotions. I had seen these homeless people the last time I went and wasn’t quite as shocked; however, this time I felt more satisfied leaving the church because I felt I had done more than last time. In the service this time, each of us had prepared a prayer to read to the homeless. This made me feel like I did more than just giving a service but helped brighten their day and give them some hope. The two trips to Shepherd’s Heart were both similar in their ways of giving a service to the homeless and how after it touched me, but I am glad I went back for I felt that I touched the homeless even more this time.