Prayer for Rangi

This past Thursday we met a guy called Rangi. We gave him some food and just said hello. He was quite friendly and open - probably due to the alcohol he was drinking. We asked him what was going on in his life. He said he was a family man, having 4 children, but 2 mothers. He expressed how he wants whats best for his children, and was proud they were getting an education that he never got. He also finds it hard to show love to his children since he doesn't have enough money to buy them gifts. We encouraged him its more about spending time with them and simply telling them how much you love them thats important, and to be an example to your kids.

So please pray for Rangi, and his children, and that he loves them, shows them how to be a good person by example, and to ease on his alcohol.

blog for 4/3/10

Hey guys sorry for the late blog

Would like to say thanks for those who showed up and I would like to pray for those who didn’t because they needed rest. Hope the holy spirit re energizes u guys with rest and scripture =)

So this week was a very quiet night. We started off at Queen Street and went down towards brittomart and up Albert, to the church and then back onto queen and headed up towards k road.

What I’ve noticed over the last month or 2 of homeless is that less and less people are sleeping outside St Mathew’s church. It use to be a populated area of homeless people wither they were sleeping there or getting drunk there but I have noticed that there are next to no people there when we arrive on homeless nights.
I’ve also noticed fewer numbers of homeless people on the streets. Praise god for this that they are getting into warmer homes for winter however it reminds me we have to be more urgent with our message about Jesus. We may never see our homeless friends again.

I don’t know about the other leaders in this project personally myself I aim to help the homeless showing them love and care and hopefully showing them Jesus. As most of us know the parable of the rich man as it is harder for the rich man to get into heaven, well these guys aren’t rich, they are absolutely poor but thus with this it is rational for them to be more spiritually aware and depend on god more for the things they need to survive.

This week I encounter 2 people who I’ve had interesting conversations with. One person called John who was checking out the guy who plays the guitar outside BK by star bucks. He has been on the streets for about 8 years and had a conversation about where we were from and stuff. (NB: it’s interesting that many of the homeless ask what churches were from). Found out that he got into a series of unfortunate events that lead him to live out on the streets. It was problem after problem. However he did mention he use to attend manukau new life church. He said lately he has been attending there and recommended me to go. Praise god for him willing to hold onto you lord after all of life’s struggles. May he not be the seeds strangled by the thorns of life worries but utterly depends on you.

I also met this guy called Shaun. If you guys read our blogs about 4 months ago we ran into a guy called Shaun. I call him spear of destiny Shaun cause that’s what we talked about in our first meeting. So he had told us that he had just come back from Napier to look after his mum as she now has been diagnosed with allsimiest (can’t spell it, but memory loss and delusional). So he had just gotten back a few days before lantern fest. He smelt pretty bad that night but I felt the conversation was worth more than the smell. We spoke about his views of the spear of destiny again and also he mentioned the spiritual realm. He believes there are 7 levels of heaven and 7 levels of hell and did mention that at 9/11 when the terrorist bombings happened he was at mt Eden and he said he felt a spirit touch him. “Divine spirit”. And he went on to mention the women in Luke 7 as if he had been anointed. It was a rather interesting conversation however I kept trying to point it back to Jesus. Shaun from my opinion and my meetings and understanding of him is an open Christian and is still learning more and exploring more about his faith. Please pray for guidance for him to find his faith in scripture and that the Holy Spirit will guide him to revelation about gods Son and our Saviour Jesus.

Well that’s all for me today maybe ill update next week
god bless you all and I hope all is well with you.

Duncan

Being the Floating Buoy

Hey guys this is the blog for what happened on the 28/01/10.
I found this passage tonight while checking messages after coming back from parachute and I feel this full describes as to why we commit to helping those of the less fortunate. Actually, not just the homeless but as part of our Christian walk, helping anyone and everyone.
"Hebrews 13:1-2 - Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

So to start of the night we met at Macas on Queen Street at 8:30 but because so many people had other commitments there were only 3 of us to do homeless this week. We headed up towards upper queen and found Fatboi at his usual spot by the bus stop however this time he was surrounded by about 7 people. They looked quite rough looking and being intimidated by them we decided we would come back later to Fatboi later in the evening.

We then met a guy called Henry sitting at the park bench close to the white house. He was rather old and had tatty looking clothes and carried a big bag which looked liked he carried a sleeping bag with. He was from out west and he use to be a streetie and as he did say the others were towards lower queen referring to others as other streeties. He was in town just waiting for his girlfriend though.

We then moved up the street and I happened to see a guy out of the corner of my eye and stumbling and walking funny. We approached them and got to know them a bit more. One guy was called Steve Flowers and the other one was called Edwin. They were a little bit intoxicated hence the stumbling. Edwin looks at about 28ish and he was walking funny. We were then told by Steve why and that was because He had suffered some trauma to the left side of his brain and that is why the right side of his body was functioning properly. Steve told us he was from Whangarei and use to live a comfortable life driving a porche around town. He had a blonde wife with 6 kids. However he is an alcoholic and thus is why he is no longer with his family. He told us he is a brother in Christ and felt that we was blessed to meet some people who was giving him food and was very kind. He use to go to promise keepers up in Whangarei. He said that he had felt like god had taken his rich life style away from him so now he lives in a tent in the Auckland domain. His temptation is still a fighting battle with alcohol which he loses his battle to very often. Steve looks to be in his mid 40’s and also is looking after Edwin out of his own heart. They say they are happy living and doing life together and Steve did say out of everything he’s seen in his life Edwin was the most beautiful thing in his eyes and he loves him as a brother.
I personally felt really touched by this as a man not so well of taking another person in under his wing and taking care of this person whose brain is not fully functioning. To me it showed so much love and heart and it really challenged me to love everyone I see.
We then travelled up towards the Grafton Bridge and Michael had said there were older streeties that live under the bridge. This involved walking through the cemetery at about 9pm which was fairly dark. Feeling unsecure we prayed and then entered. Walking in we then saw a few heads moving and talking and until we got closer we realised it was a group of streeties hanging out together in the cemetery. That night we met Paul, Samson, Brownie, Puwai, Rose, Eddie and James.
I remember asking Rose if it was scary living there as she had said this was her family and this was her home and she had said that she’s not afraid of the dead as they can’t hurt her only the living will harm her. This struck me as I was fearful to walk into the cemetery but what she had said was true to me so all fear for the dead in the cemetery was gone. They were all fairly old except for Puwai and Rose. They were all having a few drinks and just doing life together and really welcomed us into their little community. Brownie Even took me and Mike to see his cool thing which was large rat traps as he was super excited about trying to catch some rats. James was a gentle man and spoke with a lot of kindness and had said he use to follow Jesus but he kind of fell off with him but however the person I connected with the most was with Eddie tonight. Eddie was interesting because he was part of the group but on the edge of the group and would sometimes disappear to the gates then come back.
Eddies family lives around in Onehunga and he said he group up on the streets from 5-14. He said he has 12 kids and was a seven day Adventist goer. This was 10 years ago he said and said he tried to lead a godly life without drinking smoking or swearing to lead a good example for his kids. He then shared that his brother had sex with his wife while he was working and that broke him so he ran of to a place where he knew, the streets. He then told use since then his wife and brother had gotten married yet that night we visited him he had said he was making a very important decision in his life. His kids asked him to come home but he was hurting so bad he felt he could not bear anymore pain. He drinks to numb the emotional pain and when he thinks about it he cries each day. He also said because he hurts so much he doesn’t really want to go home to his kids and really felt like that he wanted to jump of the Grafton bridge that night. When he told me this he said oh well this was his problems and I shouldn’t have to carry his problems. I felt a burning sensation in my heart and it just got heavier so I asked to pray for him. He initially refused but I told him he doesn’t have to do anything just stand there and ill pray over him and so he agreed and bowed his head. As I prayed for him and his situation I felt him play his arm on my shoulder and drawer nearer to me and then at the end of my prayer he hugged me and ended up crying on my shoulder. I then gave him my cross and told him if he felt like jumping think of the cross and the love Jesus had for you. This is the same love your kids have for you. Pure. I also told him if he Jumped think of how his kids would feel as well and how heartbroken they would also feel. He then asked us what church we go to and if there was a church in Onehunga he could attend to try reconnect with god.

We then proceeded to leave for the night to head to Fatboi and just as we were leaving Eddie said thanks and hugged me and told me thank you for listening and caring about him and sharing his problems with him. Also said thanks for praying and said that now he feels a bit of peace in his heart and thinks he will return home to his kids because now he feels like he doesn’t want to jump of the Bridge anymore.
For me this event was just super encouraging for me as I really felt god was with me the whole time. I felt blessed being used by god and having the chance to meet all these people in that night and also to possibly save a life. I really felt like Jesus was all I needed and really just made me grab onto the Jesus more and more.
All in all it was an awesome night. I don’t know how else to explain it.
see you guys the next homeless night

God bless
Duncan

Weekly blog

This last week (21st Jan) was a good one, many of the usual faces attended but we had two new members of the group this time. Luke and Caleb friends of Trent and Eddies came along for their first interaction with rough sleepers.
It started off very quietly this week, we didnt see many people out, it was not the best weather so we jsut decided to go walking.

Soon enough we came across our friend Fatboy, it was sad to see him on the streets as we had heard that he was being looked after by people.
But it was good to see a friend, one of the more colorful characters on the streets.
He was very eager for the food we brought which is always good to see.
I always enjoy sitting and having conversations with people, i think getting down and sitting with them brings a sense of equality to the situation and takes away the "task" mentality and it becomes friends enjoying the company of friends.

Fatboy had a request of us, he had a camera he had been taking photos on, a small disposable camera and wanted Duncan specifically to develpo the photos, none of us were to enthusiatic about the entire idea, probably through fear of what would be seen when they were developed.
But then one of the new cabs off the rank Luke, just stepped in and offered to get them developed, a touching move from one of the new boys.

I (Trent) had the week previous offered to by a friend of mine (on the street) a blanket. With every person we met they all asked if they could have it. I felt liek such a tease at this point, here i was carrying this blanket and denying them it.
It was a reckless move on my part, one taht had come from a good place but the out workings were not exectued properly.
This got me thinking, there is such need on the streets, there is such yearning, for so many things.
We cant possibly fill every cup, but Mother Teresa said "If you cant feed 100 then just feed 1"
I enjoy this, this freeing quote i think held with scripture it illustrates a brilliant point so i looked towards Luke 10:30-35

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[a] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

Now this samaritan did so much for this man, he pitied him, he bandaged him, gave him his donkey and walked, took him to an Inn and cared for him.
I am reminded of this passage because, there was so much more to be done, this man was obviously in dire need, and although the Samaritan did so much he didnt do everything, he put him up for a night, not two nights, not a week not a year.

As followers of Christ, we are not called to devote ourselves to people, but to God, to Gods purpose concerning His people.
We do nothing for them, we do this for Christ, to bring Glory.
(this is not necessarily the view of Jesus for the Homeless)
We are to be driven by scripture, not by the hurt of the world.

We met a few more people that night, Chris (C-Dub) and Joel were hanging outside the salvation army.
Chris remembered me which was a wonderful experience, then he began to talk and talk he did. About all kinds of things, happenings in his life, he informed us that he hadnt used any drugs, glue, petrol, smokes, alcohol from Christmas day till New Years day.
To which we were all thoroughly impressed, being on the streets it is impossible to not resort to substance abuse but Chris had denied himself over what must have been a very lonely period.

As we talked to Chris and Joel, we were subject to some brilliant pearls of wisdom, i wished i had a pen and paper there to record this intimate knowledge of the streets from a man who had been there for forty two years.
As the conversation went on i asked Chris "Chris, what is it you guys need here, what is it we can do for you"
To which he replied "We need friendship... we need people to look at us and not think they are looking at dirt, we need people to do what you guys are doing, come and see us and live with us, come and spend a few days and a few nights with us, then you will know"
I was moved by what he said, he had confirmed what were many thoughts buzzing around my mind.
We usually in this world only see action for a cause when that cause is close to home. Many families who lose a family member to cancer take up fundraising for cancer research.
They do so because cancer is real for them, the experiences they have they dont want anyone to have to go through the same thing.
It is the same with other causes, once we put a face toe the homeless situation in out own city that is when it breaks hearts and we do something about it.
So i encourage you, get out this week, make these people friends to you and be hurt for them as Christ hurts for us.

"Poverty ends when strangers become neighbours, neighbours become friends, and friends become family"
Blogged by
Trent

First blog for 2010

Hey guys
so for homeless on our first start up it was a quiet night but praise the lord for the people who did turn up. I was worried for numbers but I learnt about trusting the lord because he does provide.

So this week I met a guy called tama who I haven’t seen on the street before but we just happened to give him something to drink and promised to come back and get him food as we hadn’t got the food yet
We met up and then came back to the same spot finding tama leaving so we gave him some food like we promised. We then met a guy called keepa in the same spot tama was sitting at which was outside farmers. He looked fairly old as if he was in his 40’s and he had said he grew up pretty much on the streets. He normally hangs out with fat boy who is now currently being looked after by some ex streeties living in south Auckland. (Praise god). He also uses to go to HISWAY church with Andrew but hasn’t attended for some time. I managed to gather some courage to ask him who he thought Jesus was and his response was he knew of him but didn’t know him. This really encouraged me as he told me with so much honesty. I then found out he has a big passion for his Maori heritage and his marae and that he has a gifted skill in carving. I suggested he do some bone carving or green stone carving and sell his stuff with a busker’s license. I also learnt that he has 3 kids and they all stay with their mothers. One is 5 one is 13 and one is 17. He also is an uncle for 6 kids.
This was the main person I spoke to this week and didn’t really feel much of a connection with Alvin or Kelvin or with mark. It was a rather quiet night on the streets but pray that a lot of guys living on the streets are moving into homes and getting jobs.

please continue to pray for us guys and god bless yall
Duncan

weekly blog

Hey guys sorry it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged but thanks so much for lee and Steven for filling in for me while I’ve been out at camp

last week I was there at homeless but my team met one person drawing closer to the end of the night so it wasn’t so eventful for my group hence why lee blogged

This week we started off with a leaders meeting. It was to talk about what we wanted to do for Christmas. The only common theme we had through the ideas was to share a common meal with the homeless.
our now Christmas idea is to have a pre packed picnic at Albert part starting about 6:30-7 on Thursday the 17^th.
So if you want to have some one on one time with some homeless people and keen for kai to feed your pukus then come along. Anyone and everyone’s welcome!

this week we met outside maca’s and had a fairly large crew turn up. It was great to see so many people support and wanting to reach out to the homeless people and brake down societal barriers with us! Two boys named Trent and Eddie who attended for their first time last week attended this week again and loved it. They immediately noticed the homeless person relaxing at the bus stop across the road. Before we were even ready there were well on their way just chatting to him and really getting to know him. It was super encouraging for me to see these boys do what they do. They have such a heart for people it’s awesome. The guy they were talking to they had met last week and his name was Noel. Noel wasn’t originally from Auckland but was born and raised in the Hastings areas. As sad as it was he looked to be a fairly old man in his 40’s possibly heading towards his 50’s and his left arm had been amputated as all there is, is a stub from his elbow if I can recall correctly. Please pray that we are able to get to know Noel better over the summer periods.

We then all met up again and realising we had a group of about 15 of us we decided to split up into 2 groups and go separate ways. I wanted to head towards st Mathew’s church this week as I didn’t get to last week and took a bunch of people with me including Trent and Eddie. The other group was lead by Steven and they headed towards bottom of Queen Street with new comer Hasini.

As my group approached the sky tower we Trent noticed someone sitting at the bus stop with a massive travel bag. Immediately he led our group there and sat down and started talking to him. I found it encouraging that he is comfortable to sit with these people so easily and that it also helps break down barriers when talking to them so they may not feel that there is a “superiority” between us and them. Its very encouraging! This guy we met called himself “holder”. He is of Maori decent and had just gotten into Auckland that day. He was from Whangarei and had come down to look into some entitlement that Maori people are supposed to have. He was looking into a specific set of money set aside for Maori people that was meant to be used for housing only. He had said that the laws have changed and made it more and more complicated and harder to access this money that was entitled to the Maori people. He was very knowledgeable about Maori history and the treaty of Waitangi. When we spoke to him about what we were doing he said that he believes that the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. He also believes a lot of the rich love money hence why they strive more for it but yet where the poor love people more and give and share their money with other people as a community, Yet this is why they are poor. It was a very interesting conversation that we had with him and pray that he is still around so we may get to know him more and learn from him if there is wisdom from him that he would like to pass on.

As we headed to the church we met carbon once again. However it was a quick conversation as he was ready for bed. He has been doing well so pray that he continues to do well living on the streets and that we can continue to get to know him.

Heading towards the city mission I spotted a person by the car park however the rest of my group continued towards the mission. Pearl followed with me as I sat next to this person and tried to get to know him. His name was Wiri John Paul and he had been drinking all day he had said. He had been raised in south Auckland and went to Aorere College. (in case those of you are reading this and don’t know Aorere is one of the schools in south Auckland that has a lot of crime and fights amongst the students there) he finished at 6^th form and left in 2002. Once he left he managed to get some work from allied work forced as a labourer. He did that for about 3 years. From there he was living on the streets and it has been an on and off occasion for about 8 years since. Recently for him he was sentenced to jail for 4 weeks for fines I think it was yet because jail had been too full over the periods he had been released after a few days in which he was really thankful for. That Thursday night I met him was the day he was released and had wanted to go to Glen Innes to drink with his brother Norman who use to live on the streets as well as it was his birthday. He had mentioned from living on the streets he had his own crowd of friends and he was also friends of Fat boy. He also felt comfortable with us to tell us that he was in pain as he had ulcers on his leg. His leg was really swollen and he said he really wanted it to get better so he could go back to try find some work. Meeting Wiri was really heart breaking and encouraging for me as it was a really great conversation and I could see where god may have played a role in his life like the recent get out of jail situation. It was also heart breaking about him living on the streets for so long and about his leg with ulcers on it. I then proceeded to ask him if he would be comfortable if we prayed for him and his leg and situation which he accepted. After we had prayed for him he shook our hands as we went of and managed to say god bless you too. I know it’s a common saying but to me I felt he really appreciated it that someone took the time out to hear his story and care about him. Please pray for Wiri John Paul for his leg to get better and so that he is able to find work. Also pray he stays out of trouble and that he is able to reunite with his brother again and celebrate that he does no longer have to serve the sentence of 4 weeks in jail.

After that we reunited with our group and headed towards the bus stop behind Aotea square. There was one sleeping and one looking out for the one sleeping. We offered them juice and food and went on their way. They seemed a bit side tracked but also seemed very tired hence why we left fairly quickly so they could rest. From there we met up with the other group and called it a night.

Please continue to pray for our mission and vision to reach these people on the streets. Pray for continued support and that we rely on the lord for our strength and that we are not doing things out of our own will. Pray for guidance for organisation preparation and servant hood for our Christmas picnic thing for the homeless. Pray that trough our actions and words spoken that we are true representatives of Christ!

Thank you guys for reading and thank you for those who managed to turn up and attend every week. It is really appreciated. Thank you for all your prayers and for all your support. God bless you all.
Grace and peace with you all!

Duncan

Homeless Night: 26/11/2009

Hi,

Good day folks!!!!!

Last week can be desribed as a transforming week for myself. When the vision for this had started it was hands on and spontaneous. We were just doing it.

Now as it has gone bigger there is alot more of administration and planning that is needed.

So last week, we were joined by Eddie and Trent . These two men of God were real doers and inspired me thoroughly. They met the homeless, were genuinely interested in their lives, and partaked in their lives.

They jammed with a busker on the street, and then they blasted their speaker with music request by a homeless man that had been beaten up.

I do not think that we all have musical blessing, but we do all have blessings that we can share naturally with the homeless, we need to love them by inquiring about their lives and just doing life with them.

The highlight form last week is when we visiting a group by IMAX, this included Ida, Reynelle, C-Dub, and Machu. C-Dub was on fire today as he spoke authoritvely of the bible and Christ as saviour. This was amazing to me as last time i ran into him the week before he was angry and swearing because we intterupted him whil he was doing drugs. Just showed me how God can work and love others. It was inspiring to see the relationship C-Dub had with the Lord Jesus.

When i reflect this moment stood out for me. Amazing!Praise Jesus!Priase the Holy Spirit! Amen.

Doing something every thursday can be very restricting in building a relationship and sharing more and more about Jesus. As part of the city community i hope to spend more time getting to know the homeless, whether its sharing my breakfast and lunchtimes with them.

Cant wait to see what happens tonight!

Lee

Thursday 19 November JFH

Hey guys, Stephen here,
Since Duncan was away last week I thought I'd try writing a summary of what happened last Thursday :) Sorry it's taken so long to get out, i'm a noob :P

I think it's cool to reflect and remember what has happened after each night we go out, so that we can continue to pray for those we meet.

Well here is how it went:

The first guy we met, almost straight away, saw the food and clothes and lit up, leading us a short distance away to where a group of (maybe)homeless people sat. Passing by I would not have noticed they were homeless, and I'm not sure they all were, some were dressed pretty well, and they didn't seem to carry the characteristic unwashed smell that I'm now pretty familiar with. The sandwiches were eagrly passed among the group, who were sitting on two benches, facing each other. I felt like an outsider to their little group as I tried to talk with the guy closest to me, he was probably around 17-19. I introduced myself and asked his name, he said it was CJ (or TJ? my memory with names is bad). As I asked him what he'd been up to today, and said I'd been at University, I noticed that while he was sitting I was still standing, and suddenly was aware that it might look like I was asserting superiority by remaining standing.. this was the last thing on my mind, and I wonder how can we show these guys we value them and that we want to help. Reflecting on this I think the best way is obviously God's way, and to be more like Jesus we need to pray (really pray) for His Spirit to empower us. Maybe this is something for us to keep in mind, I know it is for me.

Continuing on we saw Andrew with his landscape drawing, which was a lot more colourful than the when we saw it last week. We chatted with Andrew for a while and he shared about being adopted, and not knowing what family really meant until he had his own child. Let's pray that he finds his true Father in God, and true family in the body of Christ!

Next we met Carbon in the same place as last week on Hobson Street. While last week he chatted for ages, this week he seemed distracted, and we quickly said goodbye. We then gave some of the sandwiches n drink to a lady at the bus stop, and she mumbled some lovely words of gratitude which i didn't quite catch as we continued on.

Now camped on the steps of the city mission was a man we'd never met before, nicely dressed in a jacket, and reading a thick novel. We gave him some food and chatted about reading, and how he enjoys it cause he has a lot of time on his hands... then I asked if he'd ever read the Bible, and he matter-of-factly said something along the lines of "don't go there." So I shut up. We chatted a bit more and said goodbye, leaving me feeling rather disheartened, but it's not about me is it? Let's hope and pray for the opportunity to be a part of Jesus turning this man back to Himself. We didn't get his name... but hopefully we'll meet again.

Walkin back down to queen street we passed two homeless guys in the little garden on Wellesly behind the civic. One of them was in the corner, sniffing on something... he had an aerosol can with him. Would it have been loving to walk up to him, grab the can and the bag he was sniffing from and chuck them out? I wanted so much to do that... but couldn't.

From a distance his older brother (presumably) accepted food from us and shouted something about the grim reaper to his brother as we walked with him down to queen st. Here he crossed the road to deliver some food to another homeless friend, but we headed to the bus stop where we would no doubt find Kevin and Alvin. We talked lightheartedly with these guys for a while then I had to leave for my bus, and the night was over.

Wish I could say more right now but I have a train to catch :P
Peace

What they need the most?

Having gone out just a few times, I'm probably not the most qualified to talk about this. And I certainly haven't walked a mile in their shoes. But what I have observed is that they need warm clothes. Sure they need food and drink, but it is actually fairly common for people to give these, and these are unfortunately perishable. On the streets, its winter all year round so it is very important to have something to keep you warm. City Mission do supply blankets, but blankets seem to be lost or left lying around. I think jerseys and jackets, beanies, gloves and socks are best because they tend to wear them.

So it all started a few weeks ago when I went out with the Salvation Army. I was in the van as it drove up to a large group of homeless people. And they literally swamped over the van looking for some warm clothes. Right there I felt something stir. A need so basic, yet not met. And it was something I could help with. Just the last Thursday when we went out, I packed a large box of clothes (see picture above) and went out hoping I would be able to give it away. The very first group of homeless people happened to be a group of about 7, and they very quickly emptied the entire box!

So I implore all of you, look in your closets for clothes you feel will benefit these people. Look out at the Warehouse, or garage sales for good deals for warm clothes. And pray that we can resource more so that we can clothe more people. We really hope to make it a regular thing.