Mission Trip To Philadelphia
Saturday, November 15, 2014
I came to the soup kitchen today to just be with people for
a bit. I don’t need the blanket. I don’t really want the soup. I am on disability. My wife lives in Jersey, but I am not welcome
at our house. I was a teacher for 27
years; taught English & History. I
no longer wish for alone or quiet time.
Every moment now feels lonely, especially waking up on Thanksgiving and
Christmas with no one to celebrate with and realizing no one is missing my
presence either. I used to have a
purpose. I no longer have one, and
wonder why I’m still on this earth. My
name is Daniel. I am 56 years old. I guess you can pray with me, but I don’t
really believe in that stuff. I have little
round glasses on my face that help me see the world.
Me? Oh, I’m Lewis.
I’ve been earning a living since I was in my early teens. My dad died,
and there were so many kids in my family that I needed to quit school and help
to support my younger siblings. I
started working in the Atlantic City casinos, and eventually a chef took me
under his wing. I became a master chef,
and worked for years in different fancy restaurants. It took a toll on my heart though, and now I’m
in Philly waiting for a heart transplant from Temple. I grew up in Jersey, but I have a wife and
son in Puerto Rico I hope to be united with someday. I, too, am in my 50’s. I love the Lord. God is good!
My parents named me Joe.
I have lived in Harrisburg, Williamsport, Philadelphia, and many other
places in my 56 years of life. I was
offered a scholarship to Millersville, but did not accept. That was a long time ago. I was married previously. For 18 years.
I had a good job, too. I see you’re
noticing my jacket with my name on it. I
used to play football. “Listen kids, you
need to stick together!”
Hello. A
meal? Oh, that would be wonderful, but
could you actually do me a favor? Could
you give my meal to another here in the park?
I’m a grandpa myself, and I apologize for my tears, but there’s a very
young couple living under those cardboard boxes over there that could really
use my lunch. She is 20 years old, and 2
months pregnant. Her boyfriend has been
in and out of the hospital a lot – I believe he has AIDS, and they can’t afford
to pay the doctor bills. They are my
closest friends here in the whole community.
If you could just slip some blankets under these tarps here, they’ll find them
when they come back. Thank you so very
much. God bless. I am so thankful for your kindness!
I have 3 pairs of gloves on today ‘cause it’s awfully
cold riding my bike around the city. I
have been to church on 7th street where I ate some soup, and
listened to a sermon. I’m actually
helping to build a nativity scene outside at that church. I’ve been in the US since I was 12. I flew here from Puerto Rico. That was 49 years ago. My name is Victor, and I’ve really enjoyed
talking with you young kids today.
Well thanks for offering the Bible to me, but I don’t
really need no Bible. I am the temple of
God. Jesus lives in me. Do you know what the Bible says? I know I’m hard to understand sometimes, but thank
you for spending this ½ hour listening to me speak of my Savior. Yep, I have 14 grandkids. No, that’s not awesome. That’s A LOT to keep track of! My friends call me Terrence. Someday I’m going to write a book, and tell
people how to live. I have a lot of
thoughts that I spend a lot of time writing down. I sure do like one-liner words of
wisdom. Here, let me tell you a few…
What?! No, that
woman ain’t my wife. Her name’s
Kim. She’s my friend. My wife died in 2001. Yes, I have 15 grandchildren. Boys and girls. “Here Kim, do you want my chips?” “Nope.
Don’t like them kind.”
I would rather you didn’t pray with me. I worked at a factory in Delaware helping to
make Dodge Durango’s for 20+ years. I
carry three bags of books with me. I
like to read & do research.
Conspiracy theories interest me at the moment. I have children and grandchildren. I appear to be well-read and
well-dressed. I will answer your
questions if you do not mind vague answers.
David is my name.
My name is Gia. My
daughter kicked me out of the house, and I’m living on the streets.
My name is Ralph.
My name is Al. God bless you for
stopping under this bridge to notice us, and thanks so much for the blanket
& food.
My name is Darren.
I am so thankful I came to the park at this time today.
My name is Anthony.
I’ve lived in Philadelphia my whole life. My birthday is on Thanksgiving. Isn’t God good? You remember me on my birthday, now!
My name is Jimar.
I like to play basketball. Do you
play basketball? Man, kid, how tall ARE you?
My name is Francisco Cortez. Here, let me write that down on a piece of paper
for you.
Sprinter van - singing practice
At the Valley Forge service plaza on the
turnpike, we met Joetta Keefer from “Hands of Hope Ministry”. She led us the last leg of our travel into
the city of Philadelphia.
We eventually maneuvered
the sprinter van and the church van into a tiny parking lot off the street, and
entered Living Word Community Church.
Cory
Fisher & Austin Nolt walked in right behind us. Since they are both attending Temple
University, they decided to catch a subway and join us for the day. Yay!
Ted & Dan run a program called “Kingdom Seekers” on
Saturday mornings. It starts around 10
am with a church service, and then a meal is served about 1 – 1 ½ hours
later. Once we had all entered the
church, we crowded into a little room, and Joetta and Ted spent some time
talking to us about the day.
At one
point, the lady in charge of the kitchen, Naomi (lady in white sweater & red hat in the above photo), joined us, and Joetta asked
her to share her testimony with us.
Naomi’s mother was a sick woman (drugs & alcohol we gathered), and
when she couldn’t take care of Naomi, she was sent to live with her aunt. Her aunt ran a “ladies of the night”
house. Her mom and aunt did anything to
make money, including selling out Naomi.
Naomi’s first child was born when she was 12, and by the age of 14 she
had 3 children. She held one of her
children in her arms when it died near its first birthday. She was beaten for crying. She was beaten for not crying. To this day she absolutely hates stiletto heels
since they were often the instrument used to beat her. She pleaded with the youth to respect their
parents. She knows the youth don’t
always feel like it, but they must be respectful and listen to and obey their
parents. All the time. She has some wonderful kids and grandkids
now, but they ain’t her friends. She is
their mom. Always will be. She loves them. They love her. They have lots of wonderful times together,
but she’ll still smack ‘em if they do somethin’ stupid. That’s what parents are supposed to do. Be your parent, not your friend. Ain’t helpin nobody when parents lose sight
of that. And you kids. You need to always respect. Always obey.
And stay in school. Learn as much
as you can. Do as well as you can. It is a blessing to be able to go to school
and to gain wisdom and knowledge.
Remember that.
When Naomi finshed, we received some further
instructions, and then most of us left the room. Chase, Codi, Caleb & Richard headed into
the city to invite people to join us for the service. There were about 75 homeless already in a
line to get meal tickets from another church so they invited those who appeared
to just be standing around and not in line.
Cory & Colton began serving the homeless guests inside our church
coffee & tea. Taylor, Kendra,
Morgan, Megan, Emily & Keturah walked among the tables, and took orders for
clothing. They spent quite a bit of time
‘shopping’ in the clothes room in the church for the guests, and also
rearranging & organizing the room.
Clothes they were able to find for each person was put in a plastic bag
with the guest’s name on it, and handed out during the meal. Zach S, Zach K, Galen, Nick, Erica, Leah, and
Steph performed the “Boxes Skit”. Many
of the rest of us joined them up front to sing a few songs before the sermon
began.
We had practiced on the way down
with Erica playing a keyboard & TJ strumming his guitar. We may not have sounded professional, but we
made a joyful noise all the same. :) At one
point, I looked down that line of youth singing to the Lord and to those
homeless guests, and it just all welled up inside of me. So proud & thankful that these youth gave
up a Saturday to share Jesus with others, and so thrilled to hear them singing
words of praise to Jesus!
As we were finishing up, Joetta began
speaking to us about the rest of the day.
She spoke to us for awhile, but she was incredibly thorough in her
directions, instructions and guidance.
It proved to be very helpful for the day!
And off we went.... (I loved the sign over the exit door at the church).
Our first stop was LOVE Park. Darrin got a little swarmed at the back of the
truck, but Joetta was quite adept at maintaining order, and the youth
efficiently handed out many items. We also
headed into the park in groups (an advisor in each group). We walked.
We stood around. We waited. We handed out blankets & lunch bags. We chatted.
Sometimes we took a seat on the rock wall surrounding the park. Often, if we were patient, more homeless
would approach, and we had many conversations during the almost two hours that
we were there.
Some of the sights throughout the city as we were driving...
Joetta asked if we’d like to get pizza at the end of the
day and debrief. We were able to chat
with her about the day, and listen to some of the ministry moments she has
encountered during the last 27 years working in New York and Philadelphia.
We know if we travel to Philly again that we will ask for
more fleece blankets, and especially large dark jackets. Red jackets were
refused, and sleeping bags and hats/gloves/socks seemed to be items that were
greatly sought after. The knotted
comforters from the ladies at church went quickly. The youth had knotted some fleece blankets,
and one big fellow was thrilled to pieces with his almost flourescent
orange/lime fleece blanket. He just made
me grin!
There was something so refreshing about the day. These precious people weren’t the best
dressed or even the best smelling. So
many of them, though, just had the light of Jesus in their eyes and on their
tongues. They were not timid in their
praise of His name. They did not pretend
to have it all together. They honored a
code among each other. Most appeared to
have each other’s back, and were willing to share their best. They were quick to speak His name, and
express thankfulness for the seemingly smallest blessings.
Made me wonder if perhaps there was much I could
learn from them. Maybe, just
maybe we came away more blessed than those we went to serve! J
