This month, ministry has looked a little different. We came in with no contact or assigned ministry. Our ministry is Ask The Lord (ATL). We had to ask God what He wanted us to do. We continue to do that each and everyday. One day as we were praying before coming to the town we were assigned God told me He wanted us to be with those that society views as lowest of the lows. I didn’t know what that meant at first, but soon after getting to this I found out. One night we took to the streets and soon found out that the people that God wanted us to be with were those who are homeless. I wanted to share about just a few people I have spent time with.
Mr. Tum
We sat with him as the rain starts pouring down, lightening is brightening up the sky and thunder is rumbling through the night. The warm air starts to get cold and he starts to shiver. What is there we can do I start to wonder. My teammate gets an idea and she takes off down the street and I watch as she goes into a building a couple doors down. I start helping him gather his stuff so it doesn’t get wet because the stuff he has with him is all he has. I look up and see my teammate telling us to bring him with us and go to her. We arrive. She had gotten him a room to sleep in for the night. I at the point noticed two things.
I saw the look of the people staying in this hostel. They had looks of curiosity. If I could read people’s minds my guess would be that they were wondering why these girls are helping this man. It’s a look we have gotten many times. The other thing I noticed was the look that our friend had in his eyes. It was shock. I don’t know this man very well but I’m just going to assume that in the past 6-7 years people haven’t done anything like this for him. Our friend said no to the room. Our next move was to pray. That should have been the first thing we did but we began praying. We prayed with our friend for the rain to stop. 5 minutes after we finished praying the rain that was once pouring down was now only a sprinkle. 5 minutes after that it stopped sprinkling and the rest of the night was completely dry.
As you could have guessed our friend is homeless. He has been for the last 6-7 years. He has no friends and no family. He has only a backpack full of stuff, cardboard he uses as a bed and a pillow he lays his head on every night, but our friend still smiles. He has become comfortable on the streets. He has his routine. This is his life. As much as a lot of us can’t understand this lifestyle it is a lifestyle that many people in every country have and it has become their comfort zone.
Adam and Squad
I look on our group. There are about 10 locals and my team. We are sitting on the sidewalk in a circle having a feast. We are just minding our own business when all of a sudden a police man comes up. We had been told that some of the police in the area we are in are corrupt. I automatically started wondering what was going on and why in the world he was there. Turns out he just wanted to talk. We explained that we were friends will all of these people and that we were just eating dinner with them. The officer ended up staying with us the rest of the night. He even helped us plan our outing with them for later in the week. I had asked God to do something we couldn’t even imagine. That was something I couldn’t imagine was a police officer joining us for the night.
The Three Musketeers
We were prayer walking the streets and looking for people to talk to. We pass 3 guys who all said hello we said hello back and kept on walking. A few feet down the way there was this guy who was by himself. He held out his hand. We ask “Are you hungry.” He nods his head. I look at him and say “We will be right back.” We walk into 7/11 buy food. We return give it to him and walk down to where the three guys were sitting and we handed them food as well. They began talking to us. They introduced themselves. We learned that all of them had been living on the streets for 7-10 years.
They began asking questions as to why we are here. We explained that we are volunteers and that we are traveling the world volunteering with different churches and organizations. One of the guys, kind of the leader of the group begins to say how he used to go to church but has since quit. Another guy said he was a Sikh which is basically a mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism. We began talk to the guy who said he had once gone to church and quit. We wanted to know why he quit going to church. He didn’t really give us a reason but he asked if we knew of any in the area that he could go to. There was only one that we knew of and we directed him to that one. He said he wanted to go on that Sunday. I haven’t seen him since then so I have no idea if he actually went or not.
I have always been the type of person to look beyond what is going on right in front of me and take in all of my surroundings. So whenever I am with people I have noticed reactions of those walking by especially tourists. I have seen some take pictures, others whisper, others just stare as they walk by with looks of confusion. However, through all of those reactions I know one thing. I am not just ministering to those people I am sitting and having conversations with, but I’m also impacting the lives of those who see me sitting with those that society has deemed as the lowest of the lows. I have met so many nice people since being here. I have seen God work and He has opened doors for us to tell people about Him. God is moving here and it is so great to be a part of it.
Fundraising update: It is 15 days past the deadline and I am still $1,780 short of being fully funded! If you would like to donate simply click on Support Me to do so.
