Now if you are still taking this journey with us. Go sit down and have an actual conversation
with a homeless person. Sit there until they end the conversation. (which will be a very long time).
We were walking through the open-air mall and Whitney Love had met a guy the day before and this day she called him by name and said "hi" and he said "thanks for saying hi to me" This about made us all cry right then and there.
Then we were making sandwiches and we didn't pre-make them and they were not used to making choices so it took them awhile. Some of them tried to make me choose for them but I made them make a decision. Someone told me that was a good idea.
Look at the Willis Walk for this week and the 5 things that are in there do for a homeless person.
1. Show up (go where they are)
2. Be engaged (sit and have a conversation)
3 Do something practical to communicate value (give socks, make a sandwich)
4. When the significant momemnt is difficult acknowledge that persons experience (this one might be a bit more difficult with a homeless person because their experiences are so far removed from anything we would understand or want to understand)
5. Make an effort to stay in touch (Benny will have to do this for us here in CO)
We played frisbie in the park with some of our new friends. We lost the frisbie in the creek.
We are not allowed to take pictures so we won't have any more pictures for the rest of the time.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Be Still
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On the drive up we entered into Colorado, just hit Pueblo and ate supper and we met a homeless man named Vern. We offered to buy him a burrito at Chipolte but all he wanted was conversation, water and a banana. Whitney Diane said she thought God sent us Vern to put our minds at ease and that he intentionally waited until we were actually in Colorado.
Day 1&2
We actually have a home, we are staying at Boulder Valley Church of Christ.
On day one we went to the highest paved road in the continental U.S. it was 14000 feet! Some of us got headaches and other forms of altitude sickness. Benny, our leader wanted us to do this because we need to slow down and appreciate everything around us. He calls it moseying, we decided it was a derivative of Moses because it took him 40 years to complete what should have been an 11 day journey. When you mosey you actually have time to spend with God. Learning to mosey and get rid of whatever baggage you have is a powerful thing. God needs you to be completely present to do his work. So if you want to join us on this journey, take the day off and go slowly through your day noticing everything around you-- we saw holes in rocks, played in the snow(you won't get to do that in Abilene, and I just put that in to rib you a
bit!). Do something like go to the zoo and just sit and pray and be alone, then when you arestill then get a clean pair of socks (new,clean ones-- the homeless community calls them
"freshies"). Then give them to a homeless person and here's the kicker ask them their name!
This gives them validation, then, . . .tell them your name.
Look at the more pictures link after you have read this!
Gayla
