Monday, April 25, 2011

Dinner with a Homeless Couple

I had just gotten back to the apartment. I wanted to work on a project and watch Lie to Me, but my hands were shaking violently, so I decided to sleep off the shakes instead. A broken sleep, punctuated by reasonless wailing of the cat (not cute mewing, dying alley cat wailing), and brought to an end by the text saying that my housemate would not need me to bring her back her car tonight, but in the morning. With this news, I decided to stop by Walmart to get soda, juice, and milk (Vegans. How do they eat cereal?)
And as I was leaving, a man, brown straight jaw-length hair, unshaven, his facial hair growing into a goatee, square rimless glasses, calls out to me. "Do you, ma'am, can I have, some money for food?" Shaking, twitching, coughing. I had some cash, $20, but I was going to use it to pay my housemate for a haircut.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any spare cash," I said looking around.
"Oh, ok," he replied dejectedly as he began to back away, "Thank you, anyway."
"But is there a place to eat nearby? I could buy you food."
His face lit up! "Yes, right over there! Can I go get my wife too?"
"Yes, of course. I'll meet you over there."
When I had finished loading my car he had walked back without his wife. I began to drive over and he ran. He ran and ran. Sometimes he would stop and bend over coughing, but he would be back to running again. I think he was afraid that I wouldn't wait for him. (Little did he know about the time I was stood-up by a homeless man!)
When we arrived I told him to order him and his wife whatever he wanted. But there was an 8 minute wait on what he choose. A beautiful 8 minute wait. A wait during which he told me that he was born and raised in Las Vegas, that his mother died and he lost his job, that he was evicted from his home and his ID and other important information was stolen, that his infant daughter went to live with his mother-in-law, but due to scheduling, they were only able to see her one hour a month. 12 hours a year. During which his wife arrived, a pretty woman with blonde shoulder length hair and black glasses held together by tape. Ben and Sharon were thinking of moving on from Vegas, to find their fortune elsewhere, but even having traveled all over, I couldn't think of any place that would be easy to live.
He told me that sometimes when he thinks about what he had it blows his mind. He had lived in a house, he had had a job, he had had two dogs. And now he has his wife, and the generosity he can find in a city without a reputation for generosity.
I invited them to Verve tomorrow night and hope to see them then. Maybe I can think of a way to do more for them.
This about hour long encounter had me cry out, when I got into my car, that God would quickly raise the support that I need so that I might be able to afford to bless others as others bless me.
My heart breaks for Ben and Sharon.

Friday, April 22, 2011

All People Church in Las Vegas

"Isn't she supposed to be raising support? She sure is spending a lot of time in Vegas..."
And support raising is going great!
I came out to Vegas for 2 weeks in the beginning of February and left Vegas with $2019! But in addition to those special gifts, Vince, lead pastor of Verve, introduced me to Bret, lead pastor of All People. Bret was a trainer for those raising support like I am, so had a great passion for what I'm doing and for assisting me in any way he could. So he invited me out to serve at his church and meet the contacts that he has.
When we met for that first lunch, Bret gave me both a list of people to contact and a to-do list a mile long. Bret assured me that what ever I could complete during the week of chaos prior to Easter he would consider a bonus. But my sweet computer skills let me blow thru the list and meet most of the needs All People had listed for me.
Now the event on the horizon is the 4th Annual Easter Egg Hunt! This event spanned all spring break as well. We sent out teens two by two to go door to door and pass out invitation flyers. I got to chaperon two girls standing outside of a grocery store doing the same. Thursday night, the house was packed due to a Easter Egg Stuffing Party: Food, Fellowship, and Labor.
But tomorrow is the big day!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Looking back at Carrollton

I spent two weeks in Carrolton, GA with a couple I knew from Mid-Atlantic Christian University. I had the opportunity to meet a number of people and share with them what I was doing. During Southern Hills Church's Middle School and High School activities, I had the opportunity to speak to the students and inform them about God is doing about the world. It was great getting a chance to meet and talk to some missions minded kids and talk about what they want to do and how they can make that happen.
But the best parts were the generous givers. The woman who wanted to give but didn't know how she could afford it so prayed and a textbook she had put on sale a semester ago, a textbook she had almost thrown away just the week before, was bought and she gave that money to me. Or the teenager who gave me the dollar he had that he was going to buy a soda with but figured he could just make a sacrifice and get water instead so he could give to me.
How awesome!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I'm in Las Vegas

Presently, I am on a plane to Las Vegas. This has probably been the most stressful trip I've taken in a while. My first flight has more turbulence than I would prefer and when we landed there was quite a struggle to get the walk connected to the plane. Finally defeat was admitted and they had us use the stairs of the plane, walking into the rain of Ohio. Aboard my next plane, another complication occurred and we were on the plane for an hour prior to take off. My general preference on planes is to sleep the miserable experience away (I hate planes. Great for a missionary, isn't it?) but I was just woken by a particularly loud woman who decided to stand from her seat and have a conversation with the woman behind me by screaming in my ear. I guess this means I'm awake. At least for a spell. For lunch I had bought airplane food. Yes, bought. Due to the delay in getting off the first flight and despite the delay in the take off of the second flight, there was hardly any time to get from one gate to the next and definitely not time to grab lunch. While I would arriving in Las Vegas at 10:30am (or 11:30, due to the delay), it would still be 1:30 (2:30) Eastern Time which is the time my belly is currently on. I asked the flight attendant for the buffalo chicken wrap. She told me she would acquiesce when the plane was in the air. Shortly later, my meal was served. The plane took that long getting off the ground. I ate half, intending to eat the other half during the flight. After a while, I gave up and ate the other half. That's how long the plane took to get off the ground. To top it all off, the duration of the trip was 4 hours. Unless it's drug induced (Dramamine is a good friend), sleep on a plane is only bearable for 2 hours. So for the other two, here I type, I still and stare at the floor in a groggy haze, and for a while I watched Sherlock Holmes, but my battery could only take so much of that. So now I'm at my new place of residence. Showered, napped, and waiting for the hosts (also the Pastor of All Peoples Christian Church and his wife) to return home and give me instruction on what they week will look like!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

I am a nomad. But

I am a nomad. But I don't think I was made to be.

I have been enjoying this PD trip a great deal. I've loved visiting new places and meeting new people and experiencing new things. But,

I'm going on three months of moving at least every two weeks. I'm a guest everywhere I go, which means if I've had a long day I can't just walk in the house and go to my room and turn on my stereo and be. No, I'm a guest and I have to be a good one. If my host wants to talk, I need to talk. If they want to go to dinner, if they want to watch tv, if they want to sit around a fire and sing Kumbayah, thats what I need to do. Which is fine. Great even! I love it! But all the time wears on me. Always being a guest is tiring. I want to go home, where I feel free to slam a door when I'm mad, stand in the shower as long as my heart desires, eat whatever in the kitchen strikes my fancy, where I have the freedom to not concern myself with what might offend the host but where I am the host.

I want to be in a place of my own. With my desk and my bed. A place where my clothes go into drawers instead of spilling out of my suitcases (making the guest room floor a difficult place to navigate). I want to have a place where I can keep my thoughts orderly.

I'm afraid that I have been moving so fast that it's hard to keep my thoughts straight. It's hard to keep up with everything! There are things I'm supposed to be doing that I'm just not because theres so much tangible chaos how can I think about the invisible chaos, the thank you letters I was supposed to write to the grantors of my undergrad scholarships, the transcripts I was supposed to send off, the thank you letters I was supposed to write to supporters and churches I've visited, the Paratext registration, the reimbursment request i was supposed to send in to for all my work expenses which is time sensitive but i need to do because my bank account balance is getting low.

I have been enjoying this PD trip a great deal. I've loved visiting new places and meeting new people and experiencing new things.

I am a nomad. But I don't think I was made to be.

I love visiting new places and meeting new people and experiencing new things. But I want to do that with nice long stays at a place all my own to spread out my adventures.

I am a nomad. But I want a home base.
Is that ok?

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Taking a Hint. ...from Jesus

Yesterday, Nicole got a text message asking if we were home. Within 2 minutes there was a woman who I have had the joy of meeting a couple times and her young son in the living room.
"I just had to tell you this story!" She told Nicole. "My husband and I were talking and praying about how we could possibly work it into our budget to give to Elizabeth, we don't have a lot but we really wanted to give to this ministry. Then I get a phone call for a book that I put on sale a year ago. I almost threw the book away last week because I didn't think anyone would ever buy it. But I just went down to meet her today and, it's not a lot," she said directing her attention to me, "but I figure I can take a hint from God."
I was so taken aback I almost forgot to thank her! But look at these beautiful undertones of the story! Selling of possessions to give to the Church, very "First Church" which would be marvelous to get back to. But even more beautiful, was not saying, "I wish we could give but we don't have any money to spare, sorry" but "We want to give but we don't have any money to spare, God how can we give to her?" And then! And then! Taking a hint from God! Its happened to me before. People were thinking about me and then got their tax refund in the mail. Then *I* got their tax refund in the mail. But I think it's so beautiful and full of faith!

"Hasn't God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?" James 2:5

Sunday, April 3, 2011

My Heart's Desire


Right now, in this moment, it is my hearts desire to: have a desk. That's right a desk. A beautiful desk comprised of at lest three planks of wood positioned in such a way that a desk was formed and a chair. A beautiful desk with my new laptop, and my old laptop that I'm still transitioning out of, and my external hard drive with all my media, and envelopes and stamps, and stationary. So that when I think, "I need to write my newsletter" I don't have to put that off until I get my hard drive because that has my pictures. Or when I think, "I need to send the thank you cards I wrote a month ago" I don't have to put that off until I get to where ever I left my box with stamps and envelopes. A beautiful desk that has everything I need to complete the to-do list in my head. The to-do list that reels throughout my day, distracting me from the simple pleasures of watching a movie with friends, enjoying the reading of a book, dining with an after-church lunch crowd, listening attentively to a sermon. The to-do list that holds my thoughts captive to it! A beautiful desk that will enable me to check things off my to-do list, to lessen the nagging voices in my head, to free my mind from my captivity! A beautiful desk to set me free! Free from the things I must do so that I may delight in the things I want to do!
But alas. I have no such desk. For I am a nomad.