Skid Row Sweeties!

     I leave Los Angeles tomorrow! I've loved meeting the beautiful people of skid row and getting to know them all! I will miss the people! It's a tough city to be in because it seems that almost everyone here is hurting in a visible way, whether they're aware or not. But it's been a good week! One thing I really love about the people that I meet out is how protective they are! They always make sure to tell me to be careful, and that nobody's gonna mess with me while they're around. It's just sweet and makes me happy! I love them! Another stragne thing about my time in LA is how everyone warned me about how careful I need to be on skid row, but really, I was more comfortable there than I was in the rest of the city. Not in terms of safety, but I just was happier there and would rather be with them then just on my own exploring the city. They're awesome, welcoming people. In a city that seems so attractive to outsiders, the people of skid row were by far the high light of my week.

     This is me and Lamar! Lamar was so funny and loved to talk! We talked a lot about school and interests. He was really sweet and funny

This is me with Gary Lewis! Gary is hilarious! He's very opinionated, which always makes me laugh. And he loves feeding the pigeons! It sounds strange, but it's really easy to bond with people when you're pigeon watching. Maybe that's just me hahah.

Love

    Love is so much more powerful than I think we'll ever fully understand, at least on earth, but lately I've been realizing my need to understand it more. Love is the greatest commandment. It never fails. Without it, we're just a clanging symbol. Love is what changes us. God IS love.
    Today I got to see a little glimpse of the power of God's love. I met one lady named Laquana on skid row. I talked to her for a little bit, then kept walking down the street. When I passed her again on my way back, there were tears running down her face and she said she really liked the message on the sandwich bags. They don't say much, just, "You're amazing and God loves you so much! 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." But being told God loves you is that touching. We just looked into each other's eyes and she cried and I prayed for her and held her for a few seconds. It was one of those moments that can't be fully expressed in words. I just know that I've barely scratched the surface of understanding God's love, and I need to know Him more. I need to be so emptied of myself that all that's in me is God's love. And all that can flow out of me is God's love.
     I love how on this trip full of new places, experiences, and faces, I get the joy of finding familiarity in the people that I get to see regularly in each city. Those people in LA have been Latoya, Chocolate, Herbert (who's actually from Memphis!), and Deborah! I'm always excited to see them when I'm heading out for the day. Deborah is such a sweetie! I love the way we bring each other joy! Today when I told her I love her, she said, "I love you more!" Deborah is so awesome, it's going to be sad when I have to say goodbye to her!
Me and Deborah

Los Angeles!

     I got to Los Angeles Friday night and my time here so far has been great! It's definitely been different from most other cities. My hosts live in a loft in the middle of downtown, so rather than driving into the cities each morning, I get to just walk out the door! It's pretty convenient, too, because they live pretty close to LA's skid row, which has the densest homeless population in the nation. Down these streets, there are rows of tents and camps along the sidewalks. The homes of the homeless.
    One thing that kind of blows my mind is the juxtaposition of Los Angeles. It has never made much sense to me how on the same planet there can be starving people living in mud huts and people with excess living in million dollar mansions. I thought such a contrast at least had the separation of a country or at least a few cities, but both lifestyles seem to exist right in the middle of LA. In the middle of a city full of actors and wealthy business men, there are also people whose lifestyles are almost like those of people living in third world countries. Down skid row, people are sleeping on the sidewalks on mats, in tents, or under tarps. Some of them have buckets that they go to the bathroom in and then empty out into the street. Some of them just use the bathroom right on the sidewalk without any cover.  And this is in a city where movies are made that make millions of dollars in the box office.
      Walking down skid row hasn't been as scary as I thought it would be after hearing people talk about it. Maybe that's just because my gauge for fear has kind of changed since starting this journey. But the first few people I met walking into skid row were really nice and welcoming. I had been told to expect them to be very territorial, so I tried to be really cautious of overstepping boundaries, but they really were welcoming and receptive! Probably the most outgoing person I've met here so far is a girl named Chocolate. She stays on the very edge of skid row, so it's almost like she's the welcome committee! She's very friendly and open to talking about the area and her situation. I first met her on Saturday, and when I went to her area yesterday one of her neighbors, Latoya, told me that she went to jail after I left. I was concerned for her at first, but by the time I passed by her area when heading home, she was back to her spot talking and goofing around like she didn't have a care in the world. She said she got arrested for being mouthy to a police officer, so she knew she wouldn't be in long. I'm glad she got out soon, because I was looking forward to see her again!
     Yesterday walking down skid row, I got further than I had the day before. Everyone I encountered was really nice! I got to see Latoya and Chocolate again, but some new friends I made were Deborah and Mr. Harris. Deborah was such a sweetheart! I prayed for her and she prayed for me and we just got to talk for a while.  I also got to know Mr. Harris, who was so funny! When I offered him a Bible he got really excited and picked one out. As soon as it was in his hands, he opened it up and started reading it to me. It was so awesome how excited he was!

Here's me and Mr. Harris with his Bible in hand!

     Even though my time in Los Angeles has been great and I've met so many amazing people already, there also have been some hard things. Seeing some of the mentally disabled homeless sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk is hard. Talking to one woman about some of the awful, horrific things that happen to her living on the streets was really hard. Sometimes when I see or hear things like that, I feel like I can't handle it. Sometimes I feel like it's too much. But I just have to give it up to God, because I'm not called to bear this burden on my own. I'm not able bear this burden on my own. If I didn't have  my strength in God, I probably would have thrown in the towel long ago, feeling way to helpless and overwhelmed. BUT I do have God. I do have His endless strength, love, and hope. And when things get really hard, He just encourages me that I can't let the pain of some keep me from loving. No matter how many hard things I encounter, I'm not expected to fix it. I'm not able to fix it. All I can do is just keep loving and keep offering the hope I've found in Christ. So that's what I'll keep doing! No matter how easy and fun or heavy and hard this journey gets, I rest assured in the fact that God is good, I'm not expected to save but just to keep loving, and I'm not called to carry any yolk or burden other than that of Jesus Christ, and His yolk is easy and his burden is light. 

Arizona: Both and more!

    I thought I should check in with an Arizona update! I haven't been finding as many people in Arizona as I do in most cities. And the people that I find are usually by themselves rather than in groups. I think Arizona might be a little breathing time between two really busy cities! Last week I was in San Antonio, which was full of people, and next week I will be in Los Angeles staying a few blocks from skid row, so I know I will have no problem finding people there! I wasn't worn out or feeling the need for a break, but maybe God thought a slow paced week wouldn't be a bad thing. And it's a really freeing thing to neither get worn out by what I do nor need to be super busy with it to feel of any value. Ministry opportunities may come and go, but God is so constant and steady. He's really all we need!
    Arizona is such a beautiful place! You can see mountains from pretty much anywhere you are. And I love the mountains! My whole drive to Phoenix from Las Cruces, which was about a six hour drive, I didn't listen to any music or have any form of "entertainment" during my drive. I was so in awe and entertained by the beauty of creation that I didn't need anything else! I love how God lavishes us with things that aren't necessary because His love is so extravagant. We don't need the planet to be beautiful to survive, but He chose to make it that way! I'm such a Daddy's girl, I just can't help myself. He's the most amazing person ever. But the other day I took the opportunity of being in such a beautiful place to take a hike and enjoy it! While I was hiking, I realized that I couldn't really enjoy or take in the beauty of the mountain. I was so busy moving through it, and I couldn't take my eyes off the path because if I did, I would miss a step or trip over a rock. And I think sometimes our life with God can be like that. Sometimes we get so busy trying to get somewhere or do something, that we don't really take the time to just spend time with God, admire Him, and get to know Him. Which is really the whole point. The point of me going on the hike wasn't to climb a certain amount of steps or get to a certain point; I wanted to go on a hike so I could enjoy the beauty of the mountain. But once I got going, I got so sucked into making progress and focusing on not losing my footing, that I didn't really get the chance to enjoy the mountain, which was the whole purpose of the hike anyway. It's such an easy trap to slip into with our walk with God, replacing the point of intimacy with God and getting to know him with works and measurable progress. Climbing and progress isn't bad, though! As I climbed higher up the mountain, I got to see more of it's beauty and got to see more of it as I saw it from different levels. Just like with God, as we go deeper with Him, we get to know more of Him. With God we go from glory to glory. The first step of that is glorious! It's glory! But if we're just satisfied with the first glory, we keep ourselves from moving on to greater glories and really getting to know more of God. Even though the first glory is still glorious! Like the way that when I was at the bottom of the mountain, I looked around and thought, "Wow, this is beautiful!" I could have been just satisfied right there and not taken any steps up the mountain, and it still would have been beautiful. But as I went up the mountain, I got to know the beauty of the mountain more, and experience it's beauty. It's the same way with God. Why would we be satisfied with "the amount of God we have" when there's so much more of Him to get to know and experience? He's infinite!  So really, enjoying the scenery and climbing are both important. You just can't get consumed by trying to get to a certain point or making a certain amount of progress and forget the reason you're even there. It's like one thing I heard Heidi Baker say concerning the balance between soaking in God's presence and reaching out to people. She said, "It's not either or. It's both and more."
      I guess it's that we shouldn't ever just want to stay where we are, but we also shouldn't be focused  on getting somewhere. Maybe it's all just about enjoying God and letting Him take you to deeper levels at His pace, as He want to reveal them, rather than you trying to work to a certain point.
     Even if this didn't make any sense, God is beautiful and amazing and I just love the way He continually takes me into deeper freedom than I thought possible! Go climb a little, but don't forget the purpose of the hike!

Adios, San Antonio!

    Today was my last day in San Antonio, and it was an amazing one! I got to say goodbye to most of the friends that I've made, it was just an all around joyful day!
    I got to have a tour of a shelter called Haven for Hope today! It was really cool  and so different from any other shelter. It's kind of everything they would need all in one place. It was really good for me to get to see that place, it got me thinking about possibilities of what I'd like to do some day. I really would just love to have a huge house and a huge van and be able to just go around and pick up all the homeless people I could find and let them live with me!
     After I left Have for Hope, I went to Travis Park and got to spend some time with some of my buddies there for the last time! It was really cool, because I walked up to this group and was handing out sandwiches and socks, and before I could even get to offering Bibles, one girl, Dana, saw Bibles in my purse and asked if she could have one. Then they all started asking for Bibles and they were so excited! It made me so happy how happy they were about getting Bibles! Then I got to pray with all of them, which was so cool. They were just great, fun people! I had been seeing a few of them consistently through the week, so it was really good to get to spend time with them and say goodbye before I left.
My Travis Park buddies, Rachael, Baton Rouge, Rex, Bama, Maria, Dana, Precious, Teddy, and Kev!

    I got to meet a new friend today, Billy! He was so funny! He gave me some tips on how to make my mission statement sound cooler hahaha. He was such a joy!

     Right before I left, I got to meet sweet Pam! She was one of the happiest people I've ever met! When I left her, I walked away rubbing my cheeks because they hurt from smiling so much! She was so funny and so full of joy! She actually is friends with Brenda, one of the sweet ladies I met earlier this week. Pam's bus came soon after I sat down to talk with her, but even our short time was such a blessing! She told me to "Keep spreadin the love in the S. A.!"

     I also got to see sweet John twice today! I saw him the most this week because he always sits on the same bench in the same park, whereas a lot of people move around throughout the day. Today I got to sit with him and bond with him over pigeons! Before I said my last goodbye to him, we prayed together which was really sweet. After he said he was feeling better:) I also got to say goodbye to Emilio right before I left, the goofball that told me I should adopt him. He's so funny! And he's fully convinced that I am going to move to San Antonio so I can come see him in the park every day. I wish I could see everyone I've met on this whole trip everyday!

    Today was an awesome ending to my awesome time in San Antonio. It was such a joyful week! I love this journey!

Far from bored, full of joy!

     I am having such a blast in San Antonio! I've been going to pretty much the same spots every day and I get to see the same people over and over. It's really fun when I walk into the park and I've befriended most of the people there! Just hanging out with these guys makes my day!

    Here are a couple of my friends. They crack me up, they call themselves the "high class homeless" because they won't go more than a day without a shower, which is pretty hygienic for a housed person, if you ask me! The guy on the left has actually only been homeless for about ten days now. He's really working at getting a job and a place to stay. The other night, he got beat up because a guy asked him for a cigarette and he said he didn't have any. That's really crazy, but he wasn't hurt too bad! I got to see these guys a lot and talk with them for a long time.  They were really funny and sweet! I love how in a situation that would make most people depressed, they stay positive, try to improve their situation, and have lots of laughs along the way!

    This is my buddy Emilio! He is so hilarious! And so sweet! Every time I see him, he tells me I need to stay in San Antonio. Today he asked me if I would adopt him so he could be my son. It was so cute, I wish I could! I wish I could adopt all these sweeties and have a huge house and just fill it up with all my homeless friends! I'm so blessed by each of them that I meet, they make me feel like my heart is going to burst!

     Apart from my time with my homeless friends, God has just been completely rocking my life with His goodness. Stuff comes up that would have derailed me without Jesus, but I have such a steady supernatural peace and joy through it all. Things that would have caused me to question God now cause me to lean on Him even more. I'm so in love, it's crazy! And today was a special day because my host works at Sea World, so I got to pet a dolphin and a sea lion and feed a walrus! It was so cool and fun, and such a special bonus blessing for this animal lover! I wish anyone that thinks life with God is boring would just come join me, they'd change their mind quick! I'm so far from bored and so full of joy!

San Antonio

     There's been so much going on in San Antonio! It's so good, and I've met so many incredible people! My first day out, I was kind of freaked out, because the first few people I met were pretty aggressive. The first time I pulled up to a park, I had barely parked and a guy came up and started knocking on my window and pointing at the stuff in my car. It really startled me, but I guess he was really desperate! When I got out of my car and started giving him what he needed, as soon as he got his stuff, he walked away. At first I thought, "Oh no, it's going to be another city where nobody really wants to talk to me!" Which it's okay if people don't want to talk, I still want to be able to give them things they need. It just isn't as fun haha. But I soon met a ton of people that let me know not all of Texas is tight lipped!
      One of the first people I met that I got to spend time with was John! He's quiet, but willing to talk to anybody that wants to talk to him. He's from Mexico, but he seems like a funny, sage old Chinese man to me! He reminds me of a combination of Mr. Miyagi and the cute Chinese man in Princess Diaries that is the first to laugh when Mia makes a mess at the dinner. That might be a strange description, but I think it fits him pretty well. John told me some stories about where he's from and some of his life experiences. He grew up catholic and actually lived in Rome for a while and was an intern at the Vatican, which I thought was pretty cool! John is just one of those people that you can enjoy your time with even if there aren't a lot of words spoken.

       There was another park that I went to that was like a jackpot! I got out of my car and opened my trunk and within seconds, word spread through the whole park that some girl had sandwiches! I was bombarded with tons of people, I could barely pass things out quick enough! It was like a huge mob around my car, but it was an extremely happy, loving, thankful mob, not an angry one. I loved it! There was one group that came up for sandwiches of kids about 18-24 years old. They really peaked my interest, because usually I only see older men and women. So I told them I would come over and hang out with them as soon as I was done passing stuff out. When I got to them, I asked them what their story was, because I usually don't see young people out. They were travelling kids! It was so funny to me, because if I had met them a year or more ago, I would have jumped right in and joined them! They had all just come from Mexico. A few of them came down on a random hippie bus that they just jumped on. They all hitch hike, and just travel around wherever they want to go, sleeping in parks or wherever they can find. I know lots of people tell me I'm a hippie, but they haven't met these kids. 

This is Anthony, Jessie, some random guy that walked up right in time for the picture, Ryan, Rodrigo, and Spirit! And Spirit's dog, Frat Girl. They were funny little free spirits!

     I met one lady yesterday named Brenda. She was so sweet, and had such a positive mentality. She talked about how even though her situation isn't ideal, she knows it could be worse, so she always thanks God for all that she has. She was such a great example of keeping your focus on the right thing. Spending time with these people makes me realize how silly and ridiculous the mindsets of so many average Americans are. So many of us stay so focused on how we look, what we're wearing, what we have. You guys, WE'RE ALIVE! Life is such a gift! It's beautiful and God can do so much with a surrendered life, but so often we get so caught up in stuff that really is so insignificant. If you allow your life to be revolved around the external- getting social status, financial security, and your peers' approval- all that junk that does not at all matter in the scheme of eternity, you will put such extreme limits on your life. So many of the people I meet on the streets are a lot better off than those of us with comforts and security, because they have their priorities straight. They don't have all the pointless distractions that we allow to take over our attention and our lives. And they know where their true security lies- not in their jobs, not in their larger than necessary homes, not in their cushioned bank accounts- but the fact that they have a Father God who looks at them as "not less than sparrows." He takes care of the birds that do not store up for themselves, how much more will He provide for us!

     It just shows how easy it is to trust. So many of us have the desire to have that radical trust in God, but we can't let go of our illusion of control and security. But as soon as we realize that that's just what it is, an illusion, we can come into our full destiny that God has given to each of us. One that doesn't involve stress or worry or striving. He loves you! He cares about you! He's going to provide for you! And when you fully understand how great His love is, nothing else matters. You will know that even if all your external comforts and securities are taken away, it's okay, because you have the ultimate Comforter and the ultimate Security. The kind that actually lasts. The kind that actually satisfies.

       

This is Patty and Brenda!

     I spent a lot of time with Patty yesterday! She's been around so much corruption in the church, it's so sad to see. She's been so hurt by people that are really involved in churches that kind of live double lives, it breaks my heart to see that and the affects it has on people's idea of who God is. I really just poured God's truths into her and who God is and who she is in Him. I loved getting to spend time with her and taking her out to dinner and just pouring love into her and showing her God's pure love. Because she's seen so many misrepresentations of God and has been given such skewed examples of love. And people showing her twisted ideas of grace because they don't understand the freedom that Christ paid for them to have. But that is a hugs topic that I could go on and on about. It was really cool to see the way that by the end of our time together, her eyes had changed, and her attitude had changed. People just need to be shown God's pure love.

    And I loved how through hearing about all that corruption, stuff that used to totally shake my idea of who God is and His goodness, I could know God is so good. I love that security that I have in God now that is totally a gift from Him. He's shown me so much of His love and His goodness, and I've experienced too much of His freedom for the twisted ideas and the falling of other people to affect my idea of who He is. Seeing what other people do can't affect who I know God is. It's so freeing. 

Me and sweet Patty!