Our Second Day at the Center

It is hard to believe it has been a month already. It is our turn to serve at the Center again.

On Sunday evening, the food prep team again cooked, cleaned, laughed and prayed together to prepare the food. We made smothered chicken and boy did it smell good. We even set a new BLBC food prep record - we prepared all the food in 2 hours. We were done a full hour faster than the month before. We seem to be getting the hang of it. It was fun as well.

On Monday morning, we had to heat up the food and get it there. We also had a lot of clothes, sleeping bags and a huge tent that had to be taken to the Center. I also had food, but that will have to wait until the next time I visit.

Again, everything went very smooth. The transportation guys went out and brought many homeless friends to the Center. We had lots of kitchen help. In fact, we had about 20 different Bethany Lane people be involved during the day!! Right before we left the Center, I counted the sign in sheet at the door, and it looked like we had 28 homeless friends visit that afternoon.

We had several new volunteers along with our veterans (if you count 2 as being a veteran). We also have 2 or 3 that come very regularly on the days that we don't serve. If you would like to do that, I can find out what days need the most outside help and you can get plugged in that way. There are all sizes of churches involved. Some of the smaller ones can use some outside help.

I finally saw the homeless friend that I had not seen since summer started!! I was so happy to see him. I told him how much I missed him and I think that kind of surprised him. We ended up talking a lot to get caught up. He actually had his tent burn down over the summer and he shared that story with me. Don't worry, he has one of the biggest tents I have ever seen now!! He appreciated the food that we have been leaving for him. Boy it was nice to see him. I even told him that we had been praying over his site when we visited. Again, he was kind of confused about that.

It was fun to listen in on the conversations. Since we have so many volunteers, we can spend a lot of time just talking. One of our volunteers was asking a homeless friend about living in the woods all the time. Eventually this volunteer asked about going to the bathroom!! It was hilarious, but sad at the same time. One person thought there were port-a-potties at these camps. I guess I better watch my step.

We also had a great case of mistaken identity. On Monday's we have a few people from other churches come to hang out as well. One of our members was passing out Bibles and gathering prayer requests and went up to one of the people from another church. This guy is actually a pastor!! He kind of went along with it for a while then told our volunteer who he was!! She came up to me and had to tell me all about it. That was so funny. She asked the pastor if this encounter he had with her would end up as a part of his sermon on Sunday, he said it probably would. He liked the way she did not make any assumptions about how people look or act. That may be the lesson for this day.

Again, our food was loved by all. Our people are so generous. All the food we made was donated, none of it had to be purchased from the growing contributions we receive!! It was all great quality food prepared very carefully. We are treating our new friends just like they were part of the family. That is so cool. We have only done this twice with 4 weeks between the visits and I can see relationships starting. Please pray that these relationships progress to the point where trust is gained and we can help them have hope and a desire to reach up for a better standard of living. Pray also that they can tap into the power of Jesus to do this as well.

When I got back to the church, there were more sleeping bags in the foyer!! There was more food!! God has really got this church fired up to serve this way. I hope you can see that and can know God better as He continues to lead and guide this ministry.

What a day. Don't make any assumptions about the people you are in contact with. Make sure everyone has a Bible and is expressing a way we can pray for them. Who knows what might happen. You might even get mentioned in a Sunday sermon.