Hey Guys!
Haven't updated the site for some time but we have been busy working on ideas and doing some great stuff with the homeless.
Today I would like to introduce you guys to a new feature of the website. We are going to provide information on our financials, which is basically its going to be a simple table showing you our cash flows.
Click here for the link, which is updated for the months up to May. I will be providing updates every few months or so, so stay tuned if your inteterested :)
http://jesusfth.blogspot.com/p/finances.html
Attendees: Lee, Pearl, Duncan, Michael, Nancy, Edmund
Apologies: Stephen, Ken, Josh, Kathleen
Food
Lee sent out an email asking for assistance and volunteers to prepare food. We got a great response. Pearl will now be in charge of contacting these people and preparing a food roster to try and spread the work, and consider the logistics that come with it.
Raising Awareness
Lee is now freed up from admin work, and can focus on preparing to meet Christian groups and other groups to raise awareness and share our vision with more people.
This includes asking for assistance and partnering with us in this work through providing: financial assistance, prayer, food and clothing donations, volunteers to help prepare food, volunteers to come out onto the streets.
Media
Pearl is going to continue her work creating newsletters and brochures. Everyone is going to contribute writing articles, prayer pointers, prayer profiles.
Finances
Its seems to be very hard to sign Edmund as a signatory and take charge of the finances. We will have time in June/July to finally sort this out. In the time being, we will withdraw $500 and use it to pay back some people who have previously purchased food and drink. We also intend to being purchasing warm clothes; scarves, gloves, beanies, jerseys.
Edmund will also start publishing statements online to provide transparency with the money.
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.
[Enter Post Title Here]
Thursday 11/03/2010
Hey guys
First of all I would like to apologise for being kinda slack with the blogging for homeless
as some of you may know, I’m doing a Ministry INTernship Year this year (aka MINTY) through TSCF which is taking up a lot of my time
to start of the night a bunch of us went a talk at the AU business building which was called has science disproved god.
was just good to go to get our minds set on god before we went out even thought they were speaking in science terms I didn’t understand much:P
we then met up outside macas at 8:30 per usual and already a large group of homeless guys had appeared knowing we would be there and wanting food.
These include our regulars of shadow, Andrew and mark. It’s been a while so I can’t quite remember who else showed up at that moment but it was good to have them all come to us that night.
That night we also had some new comers coming to this for the first time. So to them I say welcome =).
While most of the homeless guys left there were a few that stayed behind. One Lee had a great conversation with was a rather old lady in her 50’s I assume but she was struggling to get by yet was a sister in Christ.
I came into contact with a Guy called PJ. I’ve seen him once or twice but ended up having a really intense conversation about the role of God. It was provoked when I what he thought about Jesus. He did mention that he was a catholic and has been his whole life and did then go on to say he thinks god’s not doing his job. I then proceeded to ask why, curious to find out more. He then went on to explain that God’s not doing his job properly as he felt like his life had been suffering. Working really long hours and really hard yet it wasn’t enough. Possible saying god wasn’t providing for him. Then went on to dispute this in finding out what suffering to him was, in compared to kids in Africa. I also then went to challenge him saying but gods already saved you with the salvation of Jesus Christ, what more do we need. Yet he felt that was not an adequate answer or response to anything. He then proceeded to say yes we believe in the same god but when he comes again I will kick his Butt! At this point I found it rather amusing in my head as to a mere human could beat god but the intensity in his eyes were rather scary. It breaded out that he really wanted to hurt god or get back at him. We the ended up on a good note and went our separate ways.
The next event or person I Cleary remembers meeting for the night was a man called Eddie. He came and met us at the bus stop where Alvin and Kevin normally hang. To me meeting him tonight was kinda like a Gem. He was a little intoxicated yet also he had a slur or slow of speech. However this did not stop him talking to us. We spoke and made jokes of me driving a “pimped” out car however if you’ve seen my car its “pimped out” in bird poop. And also compared cars to females how cars are better. I was kinda left speechless not knowing what to reply in that instance as one of the new girls was right next to me. Plus it was a rather crude joke but he had no mean intentions about it, just wanted us to get along and laugh. Almost felt like there was a connection of family while speaking to him. Though out the conversation he did mention that he was a follower of god and did manage to quote some passages as to how he gets by. The main one I remember was when he spoke of not worrying, as god will care for us. He was so humble and care free about it. What a contrast to PJ, yet both conversations had just really opened my eyes more of how some of us respond to god.
Now heading towards the end of the night we went under the Grafton Bridge. Yep it was pretty scary especially for the new people but it had started becoming a familiar place to me. Walking though the words of rose ran in my head”what do I have to be afraid of; the dead can’t hurt me, only the living can.” As we called down we saw James sitting in his spot reading his book. There was also a rowdy bunch of people on the other side of the cemetery drinking. James told of why he came to the streets and his future dreams and plans of going to Canada to be a truck driver again. He said he came onto the streets because it felt like a break from life for him. Less worries about the things of life such as appointments, deadlines, jobs, money. What I saw from him was true contentment for his life. He also told us this funny story. One night he was sleeping under the bridge in his sleeping bag and a rat ran on top of him. As it was on top of him James got a fright and flung his arms in the air sending the rat flying. “Thud”. The rat had hit the ceiling and fell to the ground. As James watched from his sleeping bag afraid the rat slowly got up and proceeded to walk away in a drunken hazy state. He he. Silly rats aye
well guys that’s as much as I remember from that night, hope you guys enjoyed the read and do decide to come. Same time some place. 8.30 outside maca’s on Queen Street on Thursday. These homeless guys never cease to amaze me. = feeling a bit blessed now =)
anyways guys good night, God bless yah
Duncan
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
Labels: Diary
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
Labels: Diary
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
Labels: Diary
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
