Downtown 2/21/2011

After several months of repeated checking I finally saw one of my friends by Lincoln Park. Luis was there with a friend of his. He told me he had been staying with his Mom recently and it had been going OK. I'm not sure why he was back there at his spot by the park. He seemed a little reticent to talk to me in much detail with his friend standing there. I asked if he had seen Phillip and Nancy, but he told me he hadn't seen them. He did tell me he has continued to "be with God" and I was glad to hear that. It will be interesting to see if he is back there next week or not. Although I want to continue to see him, I hope he is able to find a place to live and stay off the streets. Please pray for Luis, as I think this is a critical time in his life.
After leaving the Lincoln Park area I headed into town and saw Robert off Alameda and 4th St. Robert is an elderly man and seems barely able to make it. He hardly speaks above a whisper and I'm sure that living on the street during the winter, albeit in Southern California, is very hard on him. I think his only method of survival is what help he receives from the people in the area. I asked if he ever goes down to the missions that are near there (maybe a half a mile walk) and he told me no. When it rains he finds a place nearby with an overhang to stay under. He has no shopping cart and very few 'things'. When I told him I loved him, I actually saw a faint smile come across his face. It was worth the trip.
On the other side of town I saw a homeless man laying down on the sidewalk at Hope and Venice. He was laying in the sun and had his shoes off. His feet looked all swollen and kind of like your fingers look if you've been in a swimming pool too long. I pulled the car around so as to be on his side of the street when I went by and passed a bag of food to him through the car window. He struggled to put his shoes on and limped badly as he came to the car. His shoes had no shoe strings, perhaps that is because his feet hurt and that prevented him from tying his shoes tightly. I ended up finding a place to park and taking some water and socks over to him. I had to ask him a couple of times what his name was and he finally answered, "Jeremiah". I'm not real sure if that name is legit or not; he didn't actually talk like he was all there. However, he was 'there' enough to know I had the bag of food for him. I hope he is able to get the socks on; unfortunately, I didn't have a pair of shoes that would fit him.
Over by the Jack in the Box at Alameda I saw another elderly man all hunched over pushing a shopping cart towards the recycling place. He really didn't have much in the cart to recycle; in fact, I don't think it was a dollar's worth of stuff. He said he had water but could use the bag of food. His name was Walker. At the Jack in the Box I was surprised to see John Stokes (from Atlanta, Georgia) opening the door for people as they went in. We talked for quite a while as I've known John for over a year now. The police have made him move during the day from his spot under the I-10 freeway. He can stay there at night, but not during the day. He relocates during the day to another side street right by the Alameda off-ramp. It is right near where Alphonzo stays. He told me times have been very difficult lately and it's been hard to get enough food to eat. I gave him a bag of food and some water and asked if he needed a ride back to his place, but he told me he wanted to stay there by the Jack in the Box. My guess is he was working the door in hopes of getting tips from people walking in and out.
At this point I decided to drive across Alameda St. and check out the area around there where John lives. I drove across Alameda at 14th and then up a small street called Hunter that passes under the freeway. I saw a couple of homeless guys sitting under the freeway and one smiled at me as I drove by. I had opened a can of soup after leaving the Jack in the Box and was eating it while I was driving. I pulled over and was going to finish it and then drive back to the two guys under the freeway. A couple of minutes later they both walked up to where I was parked. The other guy was my friend Willie. Usually, I see Willie with Tara Lee but I hadn't see either of them lately. Willie told me that he and Tara Lee had to leave the alley where they had been staying because the police had run them off and it was getting difficult and unsafe there due to the other homeless people! Willie told me that he had seen Tara Lee a couple of times lately but didn't know where he was staying. The other man Willie was with this day was Ernest, I hadn't seen him before. I let Willie know that soon I would be coming down there on Sundays and to let me know where we could meet up with all our friends down there to have another barbecue. He told me a couple of our other friends, Billy and James, have gotten a place through the VA in Pasadena. In fact, Willie had been staying in another alley adjacent to where they had been staying. I'm looking forward to having a "family" gathering down there soon. In less than a month, it will be officially springtime (and warmer for everyone).
As I drove over to Cloud Nine Alley I drove past where Arturo had been staying by the freeway at San Pedro, but he wasn't there again. I haven't seen him in several weeks now. There was no one over by Cloud Nine Alley either. This will probably change when I start going on Sundays. I prayer-walked the alley anyway. Several years ago, some church planters told me that invariably, the streets that they would prayer-walk down before planting a church would be the streets that the people who attended the church would ultimately come from and the streets they didn't go down, they would pretty much never get those families attending their churches. It was actually kind of eerie the way it worked out. Since then, I never under-estimated the impact of prayer-walking in an area.
That leads me to the final stop of the day, skid row. As my commitment and passion for this area grows, the vision for this area is growing each week also. At this point, my goal is to pray with at least one person there each week. Hopefully, this will increase as time goes on. I hope to become a recognized person down there and have a reputation among the people who live there that they can talk to me and be prayed for. I don't think any of the missions have people going out on the streets to do this. Before it can happen, the people there have to see me often enough to be willing to trust me. That will take a lot of time, perhaps six months to a year of going regularly before they are used to seeing me and I am used to seeing what goes on there. Right now it can be a little overwhelming. The obvious prostitution and drug abuse is pretty rampant. Yesterday, as I walked by two women talking to each other I heard one tell the other, "I can get you some crack right now." This isn't the kind of conversation I hear everyday, but it's pretty common down there. Yesterday, I met James. He was sitting near where David was a couple of weeks ago and said he was enjoying the warm sun. He was from the east coast and had traveled around many cities. Southern California was by far the best place to be during the winter time. He was soon to turn 61 years old and was trying to get some help for some medical problems from the VA. He had served in the Marines from 69'-73'. We probably talked for 20 minutes or so. I told him about the Midnight Mission and how they serve 3 meals a day there. He told me that the Union Mission around the corner serves 3 meals a day too but at different times than the Midnight Mission.
When I asked James if I could pray for him before leaving he said "Sure, let me get up for this." I helped him stand up (he was shorter than I thought he was). I put my arm around him and prayed for God's blessing and protection there on the street. It was a wonderful privilege to pray for him. --Until next week. John

P.S. I have included a couple of photos I took from the last couple of weeks down there at skid row. One of the pictures is from the trip I took at night last week. Several others just didn't turn out well. The one on the right is from the courtyard at the Midnight Mission. You really can't get a feel from this picture as to how many people were actually in there Monday afternoon.

Downtown 2/14/2011

Monday was Valentines Day, but I didn't think it would make much difference to the folks downtown. I started the trip by looking for Willie and Tara Lee. Since I am changing my work schedule in another week I wanted to check in with them to see if we could start planning on doing another barbecue on an upcoming Sunday. They weren't in the alley where I saw them last. Another man by the name of James was there and it looked like someone else was staying there in Tara's old spot, although that person wasn't there when I went by. James was asleep when I pulled up but when I walked up and gently awakened him and asked if he wanted some food or water he woke up quickly. I asked about Willie and Tara Lee, but he told me they had moved on and he wasn't sure where they were. I told him that we had a barbecue right there a couple of months back and he seemed kind of excited about the prospects of it happening again. I prayed with him before leaving and as I finished the prayer with the line, "in Jesus name" I looked up at James and he still had his head bowed. I don't think anyone had prayed with him in a very long time and he was kind of hanging on to the moment. I'm guessing James to be in his early 60's. I hope to see him there again. After leaving James I drove over to the other alley where Willie and Tara sometimes stay, but they weren't there either. There was someone else there, however, and it turned out to be the most poignant encounter of the day. As I pulled up I saw a man sleeping on his side on the edge of a plastic pallet. Sleeping on a pallet keeps people from sleeping directly on the ground which in an alley can be pretty dirty. He didn't have a blanket over him but there was one spread out next to him on the pallet. Since he was sleeping I pulled forward and parked and took a bag of food and a jug of water over to him and asked if he was OK and could he use some food and water. He immediately woke up and said, "Yeah, I could use some water." I could sense the desperation in his voice. I then noticed he was poking the blanket next to him. It turned out his girlfriend was asleep under the blanket. He handed her the water jug and she started to open it right away. I could tell this couple had absolutely nothing. I said, "Could you use another bag of food and some more water?" The man, his name was Vince, indicated yes so I went back to the car and got another bag and some more water. When I walked back to them, Vince had opened the can of soup already and Shannon, the girl, was drinking some of the water. I asked if they could use some socks and a blanket and Vince said yes to that too. I said, "Hey, why don't you come on over to the car and we'll look through the trunk and see what else you can use." When we got to the car and I had handed him several pairs of socks and the blanket Vince said, "It gets so cold at night." We shared a laugh when I told him he could tell Shannon that he had gotten the blanket for her at her favorite department store, Macy's! Vince ended up with a heavy shirt, a sweat shirt and a pair of shoes. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a pair of jeans that fit him, but I did give them some extra cans of food. Before leaving I knelt down by the blanket and prayed for their protection and God's blessing on their lives. I only saw Shannon's face, she was covered up by the blanket the whole time. Both of them were pretty young, in their twenties.
Well, by this time I don't know what to think about Willie and Tara Lee. Hopefully, they will turn up in the next few weeks. I know both of them have spent time in Long Beach in the past so perhaps that's where they are now and they'll be back. We'll just have to wait and see. When I first drove into the area Monday, I had seen Raul and Richard Brown near the I-10 freeway underpass at Hooper St. It has been a long time since I've talked with (Downtown) Richard Brown so I thought we were overdue for a visit and I ended up talking with him for quite awhile. Raul looked better (healthier) than I've ever seen him and I told him so. Both of these men have had their struggles with alcohol and/or substance abuse. This is one of the reasons Richard stays away from the skid row area, because drugs are rampant down there. He's told me a couple of times that the only way for him to stay 'clean' is to 'be' clean and that means staying away from the temptations. Richard always insists on praying with me and usually it is one of the first things we do when we meet. Monday was no different. Before I left Richard and Raul another man walked by and Richard told me to "help him." I had never met "Volquez" before, but he said he needed water. I gave him the last of it that I had.
When I left Richard and Raul I drove over and prayer-walked the Cloud Nine church and alley area and then headed down to skid row to prayer-walk down there. About the time that I was looking for a place to park I received a phone call that necessitated me leaving and driving back home right away. Luckily, I was able to return last night (Tuesday). I know I could have just waited until next week to prayer-walk skid row, but I just want to engage in the calling to make a difference on this turf. I knew that going at night would be a completely different experience than going during the day. Probably the biggest difference is that at night-time a lot of the people who sleep on the sidewalk set up tents. Tents are not allowed on the sidewalks there during the day. When I first parked and got out of the car a man was shouting obsenities to no one in particular. There were a couple of people doing that during my walk (one was a woman). It kind of reminded me of the story in the bible about the demoniac who was living in the cemetary. He's the one that Jesus cast out all the demons in him and the demons then went into the herd of pigs. These people were just acting crazy and there's no telling what the problem was. I found out that the Midnight Mission that was serving lunch last week serves three meals a day and I got there when they were serving their last meal. There looked like at least a hundred people bedded down for the night in that missions's courtyard. I was looking for at least one person to pray with during this visit. That person turned out to be sitting by the steps of the police station. Her name was Rosavella and she was from Mexico. She spoke no English. She looked like this was her first night in L.A. There is a bus service a block or two away from there advertised as "El Paso/Los Angeles Limosine Service". Perhaps she came from there, because the Union Train station is pretty far away. I asked her if she needed some food and she nodded her head. I had some cans of soup in the car and some freshly picked oranges that I gave her. I also had a knitted cap that I gave her (she put that on immediately). Although I was able to ask her name and if she needed some food in Spanish, I had to pray in English. I put my hand on her knee as I prayed and she bowed her head. When I finished, she crossed herself which indicated to me she knew I was prayiing for her. I have got to learn the language so I can be of better service to these folks. I'm guessing Rosavella was in her forties. It was going to be a difficult night ahead for her all alone and out on the street in downtown L.A. Please pray for her protection. --Until next week. John

Downtown 2/7/2011

I didn't know quite what to expect out of the trip yesterday. I knew it was going to be a lot different, with some slightly different objectives than usual. I didn't take any loaves of bread with me, but still took some bags of other food items and some water. By changing up the normal "provisions" and amounts that I take I was forcing myself to pay attention to the Lord's leading. Sometimes I think I've become too dependent upon the stuff I take with me. The main objective this week was to listen to any promptings I might receive as I prayer-walked down skid row. Although that wasn't the only thing I was going to do it is a new focal point in these trips. I also knew that the first trip might come up kind of empty on anything really specific as to future trips. It was almost like I was going on a test run of the turf I'd be working on for awhile. I decided to do the skid row part last and work some of the other areas that I've been accustomed to first.
Last week I had found some people that knew and had seen Phillip and Nancy recently, so I decided to spend some time trying to find them around the Lincoln Park area. I parked the car and got out and walked around the whole park area and asked a couple of different people if they had seen them. Both men were homeless and one of them indicated that he had seen them recently. However, he was a little wary of me at first(he wanted to know if I worked for the FBI). I understand that it's difficult for homeless people to trust someone they've never met, especially someone who isn't part of their "community". I think I got through to him that I was just someone who had helped them in the past and was concerned about them. The other man in the park was Miguel and he was sitting under a tree with a half empty bottle of beer next to him. It would have been easy to have passed him by and thought he doesn't deserve the help if he's drinking this early in the morning, but it occurred to me that although one of his weaknesses may be visible and laying next to him we all have weaknesses and we 'normal' folks are just able to hide our weaknesses better. I gave him some food and prayed with him. The look of thanks in his eyes was genuine when we parted.
On my way over to prayer-walk at Cloud Nine Alley I was able to help Bill on Santa Fe Ave off 7th and Brooks near 4th and Alameda. Bill was resting after going through some dumpsters from one of the businesses on Santa Fe. He was pretty surprised that someone would bother to stop and help him I think. He ended up with not only some food and water but socks and a blanket too. I'm guessing him to be around 60 years old. He stood up when I offered to pray for him before I left. Reverence and respect for our Lord was alive and well on Santa Fe Ave Monday!
When I got to the church on Cloud Nine Alley the doors were open. Lately, no one has been there on Mondays when I've been in the area. I went inside and there were a few people cleaning up. They told me Pastor Rafael wasn't there but would be back on Wednesday night. In a couple of weeks when I'm able to start going downtown on Sundays I hope to see him again. After prayer-walking the block I drove down to skid row.
I headed down Los Angeles St and turned east on 6th St (It's a one-way street). As I drove past the Midnight Mission there were probably a couple of hundred people lined up waiting for the mission to start serving lunch. It was about 12:30. I drove a few blocks past that mission and parked on the same side of the street. I grabbed a bag of food which consisted of a couple of cans of soup and a few packs of cookies and started walking towards the mission. I have to admit I was a little leery of leaving the car unattended, there were several people standing around on the sidewalk near the car. Anyway, I headed down where all the people were with this plastic grocery bag in my hand. It was probably five blocks to the mission. About the time I got there they were letting people in so the line was moving. As I was walking by, one of the men standing around (he wasn't in the line) asked me what was in the bag I had. I really hadn't expected a question like that and didn't feel too obligated to answer so I kept on walking. That netted me a few insults from the man, something about me being Caucasian. I looked back and smiled and kept walking. While walking I was thinking about two things. One was a line from a U2 song called "Where The Streets Have No Name". The line says, 'we're beaten and blown by the wind, Trampled in the dust,--I'll show you a place, high on a desert plain where the streets have no name.' All of the streets in this downtown area are filled with people beaten and blown by the wind. They're here because they have no place else to go, they're out of favors and out of friends. The missions downtown were started by men whose hearts were in a similar place as mine is now several generations ago. 'So where Lord do I fit in?" I kept thinking, "Where is your remnant Lord? Surely you have a remnant here among these homeless people. I can't help all of them, but certainly there's someone here." I walked on down a few blocks more and crossed the street. I walked past the police station and came up to Wall St. I took a few pictures with my cell phone (they didn't turn out) and crossed Wall St. There were a couple of people standing on the corner and a man laying down on the sidewalk. About 20 yards down from them was another man sitting on the sidewalk in the sun reading a book. I walked up to the man reading the book and said, "Hi, how ya doing?" I asked what he was reading and he answered, "The bible." 'Really." I said, "I read that book too." I sat down on the sidewalk next to him and took the opportunity to get to know him (He was reading from the book of Isaiah). His name was David and he was from Philadelphia. He's 33 years old and has been out here since he was 20. He was just up here from Long Beach and was hoping to get his "GR" and hopefully find a job (a GR is government assistance money). I took the opportunity to ask him where the homeless people in Long Beach hang out and he gave me some places to look (I've been wanting to start going down there on occasion). David was easy to talk to and had an infectious laugh. He couldn't believe someone stopped to help him! I noticed he had on shoes but merely some ankle socks and so I asked him if he could use some new ones and he said yes. When we finished talking I prayed with him before leaving and told him my car was parked several blocks down the street, but if he stayed there I'd drive back by and give him some socks. When I got back to the car I grabbed the last couple of bags of food I had and gave them to some people who were nearby. One of them was a man named Gary who was trying to hustle some bottles of perfume. He smelled of alcohol and laughed when I told him I was down here to pray with people. However, I think when he realized I was sincere about it he insisted on introducing himself and shaking my hand, which kind of surprised me. After giving out the last of the food I drove back to where David was. I had gotten some socks and a blanket out of the trunk and when I pulled up to the curb where he was, he expressed great surprise that I came back. I didn't know if he would want the blanket because it looked like he was traveling pretty light, but he was excited to receive it. When I pulled away I watched him in the mirror and he was looking skyward and thanking God for these blessings and I was thinking, 'There was God's remnant.' Unbelieveably, God blessed both of us at the same time in such an individualy unique way that satisfied both of us. God is awesome. I don't know what is going to happen next week, but I'm looking forward to it!!! --Until then. John

Downtown 1/31/2011

I'm not sure how to begin to tell about Monday's trip. It's taken me a couple of days to process what happened or what didn't happen. I was prayed up before going and was really looking forward to a good trip, but things didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. In fact, it was one of the more lackluster trips I've had and left me wondering what happened. After last week's trip, you may recall, I learned a valuable lesson from a man refusing the help I offered. Even though everyone else last week was in great need of the help, somehow the one who didn't want help had the lesson for me. In the days leading up to this trip I started getting some urgings to start going to Long Beach. I've gone there once before but couldn't really find the places where the homeless were living. Since that time, which was over a year and a half ago, I've gotten some leads as to where to go but was still undecided on when to make that trip again. When I began praying Monday morning about that day's trip, Long Beach didn't enter my mind so off I went to L.A. I started by going to the garment district to begin stocking up on socks. By the end of February I'll be able to start going on Sundays again and that store won't be open on those days. I do understand that part of the problem in the disappointment of this trip has to do with it being a weekday and encounters are brief, however, I didn't really get engaged in conversation with anyone, let alone pray with anyone. Sundays are far more conducive to this. But Monday was disappointing in that Arturo wasn't there (looked like he had been gone a couple of days) and my friends at Lincoln Park weren't there either. At the end of the day I went back to Lincoln Park and found another couple there that I was able to help. The woman spoke enough English and was able to tell me that Phillip and Nancy are still in the area though. Hopefully, I'll see them again if I keep looking for them. A few blocks from the Lincoln Park area I did find Ricky who was very happy to see me.
So I alluded to a lesson in the disappointment of this trip. So what happened? In the middle of the trip I drove down part of skid row and took a side street (it might have been Stanford or Towne St). I usually only drive down the skid row streets once a month or so and pass through there taking side streets a little more often. When you drive down skid row you see scores and scores of homeless people, usually sitting on the sidewalk. My guess is they are waiting for the missions to open and feed them. There are several missions in that area and that is what attracts so many homeless. One woman who was sitting on the sidewalk on 6th St came over to the car to get the food I offered her. She apologized for having to hold her pants up (her jeans were several sizes to big). I had some jeans in the trunk, but the womens sizes were all too small for her. Another couple around the corner from her were pretty happy to receive some help too, but the image that has stayed with me these last couple of days was the image I saw on one of the side streets. There were probably 6 or 7 homeless on one side of this particular street (the side with the shade from the buildings) and a couple of men about 20 feet apart on the sunny side of the street. There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary about them, I've seen this many times before, but the blank hopeless looks on their faces is what has stayed with me. Last night I was praying about the whole trip, the disappointment of it and these images I just can't seem to shake, asking God, "What's up with all this? What am I supposed to learn from it and what am I supposed to do about it?" The response came quick enough, "Start prayer-walking on skid row!" WHAT? I could think of all kinds of reasons why this would be pointless. Then I was reminded that within a month of prayer-walking on Cloud Nine Alley a church was started there and about a month ago one of my buddies, Gary, living in the parking lot there made it off the streets. Who was I to say no to God. On skid row I've seen street preachers preaching on the streets around the missions, and relief groups serving meals for a couple hundred people. I can think of plenty of reasons why I can't do that. I'm thinking my gifting is more geared to just talking with people one on one and developing relationships. Then again, maybe the reason for doing this is not for their benefit, but for my development. For years I have prayed that God would give me a heart for the lost. This could be ground zero for that. At this point, I've been given only enough of a vision to do one thing, prayer-walk. So that's where I'll begin. From the brink of disappointment to the threshold of the next adventure. I think I could be starting graduate school next week. --Until then. John