So this month my squad and I have the awesome opportunity to serve with an incredible ministry called Hope N Hand, and their partner ministries as well.
One of their ministry partners that we have paired up with to serve during this month is called The Fundacion Hogar Los Angeles. This place is essentially an group home for adults with special needs who were abandoned by their families due to their disabilities. The disabilities that the residents have range from mental illness like bi polar to emotional disabilities to even physical disabilities. The director of the home is a saint as her name is Karen, and she has so much since taking over the place a few years ago from the former director, and she has done so much to try to provide the residents with everything that they need from the basic day to day needs to more advanced needs such as learning life skills & various kinds of therepy (except for speech as they don’t have the funds for that yet.) The place gets very little help from the government on top of everything else.
My team and I are assigned to a house that has has 10-12 residents living there as well as 2 able bodied gals who are called house Tias (Tia is aunt in Spanish) who are essentially the caregivers of the residents. Our job is to just be there to help out the tias in whatever they may need help with, and to just be present while loving on the residents as they are basically the outcasts of society. So far we have spent our days simply hanging out & sitting with our residents out on the porch of their house. I learned that just doing that simple act is ministry, and while at first I did see the point of that, I have since learned that sometimes that is what these people need, is just someone who knows that they are there, and they want to be loved like any other person would want to be loved. It’s kinda cool that while there is the language barrier/some of the residents are non verbal, we do manage to find a way to communicate with them just by our presence & physical touch (which if you know me, you would know that I am not a physical touch type person, so this month has been interesting).
The names of our Residents are:
Frances- She seems to be the leader of the house as she is one the more high functioning residents
Maria
Yolandi
Olga
Denni? (not sure on the spelling of her name) She actually came up to me and held my hand the first day as we were being given a tour, and figuring out which house we wanted to serve in, not gonna lie as it kinda freaked me out as I didn’t know how to react.
Roselina
Wendy
Felicipa? (I just call her Flip as I am not sure on the spelling or pronuncation of her name)
Christian
Kelvy
Another gal who I didn’t catch her name due to the language barrier.
Plus Marta & Trixie the house Tias
I really feel like I am walking in Jesus’s footsteps with this ministry as just as Jesus hung out with the outcasts of his society back in his time, I am hanging out with outcasts in our modern day society which makes me feel good.
“I have given you an example to follow, do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messanger more important then the one who sends the message, now thst you know these things God will bless you for doing them.“- John 13:15-17
My heart breaks so bad for them as they are people too, and I know that while it may not be seen on the outside, I know that on the inside these people have a kind soul, and I want to believe that they are kind people who were given an unfortunate life which they didn’t ask for to begin with. It hits me even harder for I feel for these people as one of my college best friends who is like a sister to me has multiple physical issues, and when I look at these people all I see is her, which makes me thankful that she was born in the US where we have programs to help people with disabilities rather then anywhere else since there is that chance that she would’ve ended up in a home like where we are serving this month.
Please keep this incredible place & all the people there in your prayers.
Til next time your fellow Sister in Christ,
Bonnie
Team Surrendered
P Squad
Psalms 18:2
YOLO
