faith stories...part three
So the final conversion in this series is what was called "conversion to the world" it basically is when you come to realize that as a Christian you need to be reaching out into the world and that it's important. I saved this one for last because I honestly don't know when this happened. I think that has a lot to do with my upbringing. Growing up the way I did spending so much time at work with my father, I never embraced a lot of the world's stereotypes about people in poverty. I cannot remember a time when I wasn't interested in being out there with people in need. I think that's just who I am though and where my gifts are. Over time I've become more deliberate about some things and more focused and disciplined in others, but the idea is still the same. Helping other people and showing people Christ through my actions as opposed to my words.
Street Ministry was good last night. We didn't have a lot of our own volunteers, in fact, our team has been whaning. There was only Mark, Breanne, Crystal, Kim (our cadet), Brent (who left early), and me. Thankfully, we had a young adult group from one of the city churches in to help us. They were a really great group and being young adults rather than youth, which we usually have, were a little better at working and problem solving.
I had a good talk with one of our regular Friday night guests. He's someone whose always been very friendly with me and really helped me feel like I belonged at Weetamah. He's going through a really tough time right now, and its been nice to have time to sit down and talk with him the past couple weeks. It's always hard sitting down and talking to one person. There are SO many people who have SO SO many needs all around you. I talked to this man last week as well, and in debriefing I found out one of our other regulars, who I hadn't had time to talk to, was suicidal. It was hard to know I'd missed out on talking to him. One thing I'm trying to do though is let go of needing to do everything. Obviously someone on our team talked to him or we wouldn't know he was suicidal. I don't have to talk to everyone, it's impossible, especially since having less people means we all have to spend more time cleaning!
The streets were fairly quiet for the most part. I took a few of the guys from the young adult group out around 8:30. It was kind of early, but we were able to give out almost all our hot chocolate and mittens. We first gave to a group of men using inhalants. They were still pretty together so it wasn't too hard. One of the other guys on the street, a younger man who was sober and little less...troubled, was advocating for them. I thought it was really cool. He was making sure we gave them all hot chocolate and that they got the mitts and hats they wanted. After we talked to them we headed past Siloam mission. One of the problems with shelters is that people are often forced to line up outside as is the case with Siloam's new shelter. While I agree it can be very necessary to screen those you are admitting, it's hard watching people have to stand outside in the cold waiting for a bed lined up like school children. We stopped there and gave out hot chocolate and mittens. People were very grateful because it's started to go below freezing... winter's almost here (brrr).
Street Ministry was good last night. We didn't have a lot of our own volunteers, in fact, our team has been whaning. There was only Mark, Breanne, Crystal, Kim (our cadet), Brent (who left early), and me. Thankfully, we had a young adult group from one of the city churches in to help us. They were a really great group and being young adults rather than youth, which we usually have, were a little better at working and problem solving.
I had a good talk with one of our regular Friday night guests. He's someone whose always been very friendly with me and really helped me feel like I belonged at Weetamah. He's going through a really tough time right now, and its been nice to have time to sit down and talk with him the past couple weeks. It's always hard sitting down and talking to one person. There are SO many people who have SO SO many needs all around you. I talked to this man last week as well, and in debriefing I found out one of our other regulars, who I hadn't had time to talk to, was suicidal. It was hard to know I'd missed out on talking to him. One thing I'm trying to do though is let go of needing to do everything. Obviously someone on our team talked to him or we wouldn't know he was suicidal. I don't have to talk to everyone, it's impossible, especially since having less people means we all have to spend more time cleaning!
The streets were fairly quiet for the most part. I took a few of the guys from the young adult group out around 8:30. It was kind of early, but we were able to give out almost all our hot chocolate and mittens. We first gave to a group of men using inhalants. They were still pretty together so it wasn't too hard. One of the other guys on the street, a younger man who was sober and little less...troubled, was advocating for them. I thought it was really cool. He was making sure we gave them all hot chocolate and that they got the mitts and hats they wanted. After we talked to them we headed past Siloam mission. One of the problems with shelters is that people are often forced to line up outside as is the case with Siloam's new shelter. While I agree it can be very necessary to screen those you are admitting, it's hard watching people have to stand outside in the cold waiting for a bed lined up like school children. We stopped there and gave out hot chocolate and mittens. People were very grateful because it's started to go below freezing... winter's almost here (brrr).