(no subject)
i apologize for this increadibly long entry in advance. i had to get it down before i forgot it. if you decide to skip around at least read the part about the world dinner...it was increadibly moving...
a pretty crazy weekend...
bus ride there...eh pretty icky...i had to sit shotgun...completely away from everyone. and david was being moody which really wasn't helping anyone. goodness he can be one heck of a pessimist.
we got there and it was cold. they told us we could have four items...sleeping bag, hoodie, toothbrush, hair scrunchie...shoes counted separately and clothes counted also...except all the norms like socks. etc. neways then we got clothes from the "thrift store" a real place where ppl with not very much money buy their clothes in the neighborhood. oh ya we got $40 for the weekend...it cost $6 for a meal, $20 if you wanted to sleep inside. several ppl had to be "homeless" which meant they didn't have any money or items.
the first night was bad...the girls were lacking in sleeping bags because two of us were homeless. i think i got a total of an hour of sleep that night. it was sooo cold and i was sharing a sleeping bag with ashley and we are both pretty tiny girls but my sleeping bag just isn't that wide. urgh it was awful. so i slept for a bit then someone woke up and then someone else and so on and so on until everyone was up. except ashley, who i have no idea how she was sleeping, and erin...who sleeps like a rock and has a broken tailbone. sorta.
neways in the morning, the ppl who bought breakfast got it...chips and coke because that's all that was "lying around" that morning. and the ppl who didn't get breakfast were offered "starbucks" goodness that was the worst thing i have ever drank. at least it had a bit of whipped cream on it.
then we went and worked with some poverished kids...we had to walk around this apartment neighborhood and knock on ppls doors and ask if their kids wanted to come play with us in the park and have a snack. it was really odd. i was getting sad because we knocked on a lot of doors until some kids finally came with us. we played for about half an hour. and reed could barely keep the kids on his back and i was amused. and a little girl asked if david and i were going out and said that we were cute together...at that point i got up and walked away. from playing in the park my socks were literally sopping with water. we went back to the mission waco place and i wrung out my socks and just sat around for a while...this was all before 11am.
around noon the ppl...who were kinda nazis...set us out on a scavenger hunt. several things we had to do were: eat lunch (with what?), find something usable in a dumpster, collect 100 tin cans, interview a homeless person, and borrow a quarter. among a ton of other stuff...
so we set off and ended up knocking on ppls doors to ask if we could get the cans out of their yard...and while we were at it asked for any spare change. it was really embarassing, begging like that. but that's what we had to do. from the beginning of the day our group was like we're getting some money and getting something of the dollar menu somewhere and splitting it. at first we were thinking one thing of fries...because we didn't get much money. some ppl were very courtious and gave us money, others tried to run us over. of course this wasn't exactly a real life thing because we all looked fairly clean and presentable and spoke nicely, unlike a true homeless person who would be much more dirty and probably not as well educated. anyways, it was still hard. we were up to like 7 dollars when we were almost at the churches chicken...the closest thing...and we were all praying that we could get enough money for all of us. and by the grace of God, a very kind man crossed our paths and hallie asked if he could spare anything and he gave us $13! it was a miracle. we were so blessed. we got a 12 pieced mixed and had 9 dollars left over, which we gave to another group who had no money at all.
we prayed a lot during that four hours.
that evening was the hardest for me. we were required to buy dinner and as we walked into the room, we had to draw a stick which told us what table to sit out. i was at the Europe country...as opposed to africa, mexico, china, india and the usa. we were fed in accordance with how much money our country had. a lot of my friends got put in india and i was talking to them and our server would say...don't talk to that trash below you...they didn't get a table...they aren't worthy of your glance. it was very sad. then there was a beggar who wandered from country to country trying to get food. if you gave it to her, you got your food taken away. and the servers would slap the beggar. and it was awful. *of course it was all an act* but the reality hit me very hard. when we were done with our plates, anything extra got scraped into the trash can...completely wasted. and i just broke down...cried through dinner and through our discussion on world poverty. 35,000 children die under five everyday from hunger related issues. 1.4 billion ppl live in absolute poverty. america houses 6% of the worlds population yet we use 25% of the worlds natural resources.
it was a tough night. i am very sensitive and it killed me to listen to the speech. it killed me to see the americans not finsh thier stake and icecream and salad and it get thrown into the trash can. it killed me to see the beggar slapped and treated so horrible. because this is the reality of the world. it killed me.
i hadn't had a nice good cry in a while also.
last night was better. lots of the guys moved inside so we got their sleeping bags. it was still cold tho. in the morning, we went to church...the church under the bridge...exactly what it sounds like. a congregation that holds church under an interstate bridge. that was a very interesting experience. a wonderful experience.
the bus ride home was better i guess. i sat next to david which is stupid. we had mcdonalds on the way.
oh and it's sunday...so i said i would have my decision...and i do.
i'm letting it go...i cannot be this involved anymore. and i think that'll help the whole situation...if something happens then fine. if something doesn't that's fine too. i'm a big girl and can handle it.
all in all. a very good weekend. god is good.
a pretty crazy weekend...
bus ride there...eh pretty icky...i had to sit shotgun...completely away from everyone. and david was being moody which really wasn't helping anyone. goodness he can be one heck of a pessimist.
we got there and it was cold. they told us we could have four items...sleeping bag, hoodie, toothbrush, hair scrunchie...shoes counted separately and clothes counted also...except all the norms like socks. etc. neways then we got clothes from the "thrift store" a real place where ppl with not very much money buy their clothes in the neighborhood. oh ya we got $40 for the weekend...it cost $6 for a meal, $20 if you wanted to sleep inside. several ppl had to be "homeless" which meant they didn't have any money or items.
the first night was bad...the girls were lacking in sleeping bags because two of us were homeless. i think i got a total of an hour of sleep that night. it was sooo cold and i was sharing a sleeping bag with ashley and we are both pretty tiny girls but my sleeping bag just isn't that wide. urgh it was awful. so i slept for a bit then someone woke up and then someone else and so on and so on until everyone was up. except ashley, who i have no idea how she was sleeping, and erin...who sleeps like a rock and has a broken tailbone. sorta.
neways in the morning, the ppl who bought breakfast got it...chips and coke because that's all that was "lying around" that morning. and the ppl who didn't get breakfast were offered "starbucks" goodness that was the worst thing i have ever drank. at least it had a bit of whipped cream on it.
then we went and worked with some poverished kids...we had to walk around this apartment neighborhood and knock on ppls doors and ask if their kids wanted to come play with us in the park and have a snack. it was really odd. i was getting sad because we knocked on a lot of doors until some kids finally came with us. we played for about half an hour. and reed could barely keep the kids on his back and i was amused. and a little girl asked if david and i were going out and said that we were cute together...at that point i got up and walked away. from playing in the park my socks were literally sopping with water. we went back to the mission waco place and i wrung out my socks and just sat around for a while...this was all before 11am.
around noon the ppl...who were kinda nazis...set us out on a scavenger hunt. several things we had to do were: eat lunch (with what?), find something usable in a dumpster, collect 100 tin cans, interview a homeless person, and borrow a quarter. among a ton of other stuff...
so we set off and ended up knocking on ppls doors to ask if we could get the cans out of their yard...and while we were at it asked for any spare change. it was really embarassing, begging like that. but that's what we had to do. from the beginning of the day our group was like we're getting some money and getting something of the dollar menu somewhere and splitting it. at first we were thinking one thing of fries...because we didn't get much money. some ppl were very courtious and gave us money, others tried to run us over. of course this wasn't exactly a real life thing because we all looked fairly clean and presentable and spoke nicely, unlike a true homeless person who would be much more dirty and probably not as well educated. anyways, it was still hard. we were up to like 7 dollars when we were almost at the churches chicken...the closest thing...and we were all praying that we could get enough money for all of us. and by the grace of God, a very kind man crossed our paths and hallie asked if he could spare anything and he gave us $13! it was a miracle. we were so blessed. we got a 12 pieced mixed and had 9 dollars left over, which we gave to another group who had no money at all.
we prayed a lot during that four hours.
that evening was the hardest for me. we were required to buy dinner and as we walked into the room, we had to draw a stick which told us what table to sit out. i was at the Europe country...as opposed to africa, mexico, china, india and the usa. we were fed in accordance with how much money our country had. a lot of my friends got put in india and i was talking to them and our server would say...don't talk to that trash below you...they didn't get a table...they aren't worthy of your glance. it was very sad. then there was a beggar who wandered from country to country trying to get food. if you gave it to her, you got your food taken away. and the servers would slap the beggar. and it was awful. *of course it was all an act* but the reality hit me very hard. when we were done with our plates, anything extra got scraped into the trash can...completely wasted. and i just broke down...cried through dinner and through our discussion on world poverty. 35,000 children die under five everyday from hunger related issues. 1.4 billion ppl live in absolute poverty. america houses 6% of the worlds population yet we use 25% of the worlds natural resources.
it was a tough night. i am very sensitive and it killed me to listen to the speech. it killed me to see the americans not finsh thier stake and icecream and salad and it get thrown into the trash can. it killed me to see the beggar slapped and treated so horrible. because this is the reality of the world. it killed me.
i hadn't had a nice good cry in a while also.
last night was better. lots of the guys moved inside so we got their sleeping bags. it was still cold tho. in the morning, we went to church...the church under the bridge...exactly what it sounds like. a congregation that holds church under an interstate bridge. that was a very interesting experience. a wonderful experience.
the bus ride home was better i guess. i sat next to david which is stupid. we had mcdonalds on the way.
oh and it's sunday...so i said i would have my decision...and i do.
i'm letting it go...i cannot be this involved anymore. and i think that'll help the whole situation...if something happens then fine. if something doesn't that's fine too. i'm a big girl and can handle it.
all in all. a very good weekend. god is good.