Thanksgiving Day downtown-11/26/15

                             HAPPY THANKSGIVING

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.  His love endures forever." --Psalm 136:1

"When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD saying, 'He is good; his love endures forever." --2 Chronicles 7:3

For the first time in 7 years I didn't have to work on Thanksgiving, so before I spent time at our family gathering I made a trip downtown in the morning.  I made a big pot of pasta again and took off at about 10:30 am.  I didn't want to get down there too early, but couldn't go in the afternoon.  It was chilly here in Southern California (in the 50's), but the sun was out and it was a beautiful morning. Traffic was light and a big change from the traffic I encountered Tuesday night when I went down there.  I had hoped to see some of the folks I saw Tuesday night, but they weren't in their normal spots, so I moved on to other people I knew.

On Trinity street Leticia and Antonio weren't there, but Lee was there.  I hadn't seen her on Tuesday night.  I stopped and got out to serve her a bowl and she asked for another one for her friend on down the street.  I think his name is Alfred Butler.  Here's her picture.  In the top picture she is eating the pasta behind Alfred's stuff.  He is still laying down there by the red zone.  The other picture is of Lee's stuff.

The next spot I went to was the guys I gave the blankets to on Venice near Los Angeles street, but they weren't there either.  So not too far from there was a man named Mario who was on a little street just west of Olive and Pico.  Both Lee and Mario made the same comment upon receiving their food. "Oh, it's still hot!" After talking with Mario for a couple of minutes, he asked me if I had any socks. You know, I hadn't reloaded the car up with anything after Tuesday night's trip, so everything was pretty much picked through and there were no socks left.  I was really disappointed that I didn't have some.  There is a wholesale store not too far from there, but it wouldn't be open on Thanksgiving morning.  Here's Mario's picture:

Ok, so I had served three people and figured I'd have just about enough left to serve the guys at the parking lot at San Pedro and 9th, so I headed over there.  There weren't a group of guys hanging out where they normally do there, probably because that spot was in the shade and since is was still cold everyone was standing around near the alley which was still in the the sunlight. I ended up parking in a different spot when I saw the guys and got out of the car.  As soon as I got out the parking attendant came over and asked for the $3.00 it costs to park there.  Since I have never been there during the week and during normal business hours I wasn't expecting this.  I told him I wasn't going to be there very long, but he said he needed to collect the money in case his boss showed up.  Luckily, I had a few dollars and gave him the money.  I pulled the pot of pasta out of the back seat and set it on the hood of the car and then went back to the back seat to get the spoons and bowls out.  When I leaned into the back seat I heard (and felt) the pot slide off the hood and onto the ground!!!  I was horrified expecting to see all the food on the ground.  But to my surprise, hardly any food was the ground and the pot was upright!!!  That was a miracle and believe me the guys were pretty happy about it too.  So I picked up the pot off the ground and started serving everyone.  Although the pasta wasn't 'hot' anymore, it was still warm and these guys were very thankful for it.  When all of these men were served (probably about 8 guys), the parking attendant came over and gave me my three dollars back.  He explained that he didn't understand English too well and didn't know what I was saying when he first came up.  I gave him the very last of the pasta!  Well, I talked with these guys for twenty five or thirty minutes and asked about some of the people we knew.  They had told me Tuesday when I was there that Red was in the hospital.  I guess he's still there. Natalie, whom I met Tuesday, stays at another location a few blocks away.  I prayed with these guys and while I prayed I think one of them was interpreting for the others and when I finished one of the guys, Miguel, prayed in Spanish too.  I couldn't understand all that he said, but I think part of it was thanking God for me coming down!  When we finished, I told them what a blessing they were to me and I gave each one of them a hug. Here's some photos of our time together:

The crew...  Not sure of the man's name standing on the left, but next to him is Hector, Victor and Juan (standing) and kneeling on the right is Miguel.  Not sure of the name of the guy kneeling on the left.  What a super time I had with these guys and I look forward to seeing them again soon.  OK, so I couldn't let the opportunity go by without showing you the pot and the dent in it from the fall off the hood of my car.  Check it out...

So it's a little hard to see the dent in the top photo, but it's there on the lower right side.  You'll notice on the bottom photo that the dent is directly underneath the black handle.  I'm guessing when it fell it hit the ground on the bottom and made the dent and then the handle hit the ground and it popped back up and landed upright.  Pretty amazing luck huh?

All I can say is this whole trip was such a blessing to me. Everyone was so thankful and I was so happy and privileged to serve them.  My only regret is that I didn't have more food with me (and socks) and a way to keep the food hot.  I'm going to have to try and figure that one out because this winter figures to be cold and wet and hot food is going to make a big difference in somebody's day I'm sure.  Until next time.  John

PS.  Happy Thanksgiving from downtown.

Tuesday night downtown-11/24/15

"Don't keep worrying about having something to eat or drink. Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things.  Your Father knows what you need.  But put God's work first, and these things will be yours as well."  Luke 12:29-31

Well I worked through the weekend, so Tuesday night was the first opportunity to make a trip.  I couldn't even go until it was late and traffic was a mess.  When I got downtown it was just after 5 pm and getting from the freeway off-ramp to the place where I could buy some food took another 45 minutes.  I stayed there (at the burger joint) for another 55 minutes just to let the traffic die down some.  It was about 7 pm when I started looking for folks in need which was about 2 1/2 hours after I left home.

If you read the last blog, you'll remember the guys who needed the blankets.  I had gone back that day to take care of their need and I wanted to check in to see how they were doing.  They were still at the same street corner sleeping.  Remember at 7 pm it's totally night time now and a lot of homeless folks are already asleep for the night.  Philipe was asleep, but George was still awake and took the food for the both of them.  I'm trusting him to share......

I had gone by where Leticia and Antonio hang out.  The place were they sleep at night is across the street from where I usually find them.  During the week they have to wait on some steps across the street until the business is closed and the people have gone home before they can lay down for the night.  I asked them what they were doing Thursday, but I don't think they knew it is an American holiday.  They said they would be right there. I also warned them about the expected heavy rain-fall this winter. They hadn't heard about our impending "El Nino" condition.  I tried to explain it to them and I think they have a vague idea of what I was talking about, but they probably don't have many choices of places to stay.  I would like to bring someone who speaks their language better than I do so they know what to expect.  I keep thinking about Leticia and her situation.  Her son is 31 years old (the same age as my son) and lives in Mexico.  Who knows how many years its been since she's talked to him, let alone seen him.  I asked her a while back if she'd like to go back there and she said it would cost too much money.  Notice she didn't say yes or no, just that it was out of the realm of possibility.  You just know that when she left Mexico to come here she surely never thought she'd be living on the streets after all these years with no hope of ever seeing her son again.  Most immigrants who come here roll the dice and hope for a better life.  My ancestors were no different.  It's painful to watch as people struggle just to survive.  I would be happy to have these folks as neighbors on my street.

Well, I ended up in the parking lot at 9th and San Pedro where I saw the three Native American men a few weeks back.  They weren't there last night, but there were others there.  I had pulled in and one of the men there asked if I had a jacket or sweater.  I told him I did and parked the car and opened up the back door. As a couple of the men started going through the clothes a woman was walking through the parking lot carrying some pieces of cardboard.  They were pieces that she was most likely going to be sleeping on that night.  She asked me if I had any women's clothes.  I told her I did and she repeated the question again because she didn't believe me at first.  I told her, "Yes I do" and she dropped the 3 or 4 chunks of cardboard immediately.  Her name was Natilie and I'm guessing her to be about 25 years old. She had to wait for one of the men to finish looking through the back of the car (there's only room for two people to stand at the back and look through the clothes and that's if they both stand to the side).  When it was her turn she picked out something and asked, "Can I have this?"  I told her yes and she then asked, "Can I have whatever I want?"  Again I told her yes.  I guess some of the church groups put limits on what and how much one person can take and at times I do that too.  But this was going to be my last stop of the trip and if she needed anything in the car, it was hers to have.  I even had my heavy over-shirt up in the front seat that I would have given her if she was unable to find any sweaters to keep herself warm.  I gave her a blanket and some food and water. In fact, she got the last of the food.  Although we talked some while she was looking through the clothes, I didn't ask her how she ended up there.  We talked about being homeless and how using or finding a bathroom is a big problem, especially for the women.  No one allows you to use theirs unless you're buying something.  Kind of a problem when your homeless and penniless.  I've got to keep in contact with this woman and find out if she has any family.  I've got to find a home for this woman.

Well, it was now 8 pm, I was out of food and just about out of clothes too.  I drove over to the burned-out church and prayer-walked that street before leaving.  --Until next time.  John

PS.  Even though it was now 8:20 pm, it still took 40 minutes to get home.  Traffic was still a mess.    

Saturday Downtown-and the blanket story-11/14/2015

"The Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and said to himself, 'If this man (Jesus)  really were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him!  He would know she is a sinner.' (This is the woman who poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet)  Jesus said to the Pharisee, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.'  Jesus then tells Simon the parable of the two debtors, one who owed little and one who owed an enormous amount.  When both debts were forgiven, Jesus posed the question, 'Which one will like him more?' "  Simon answered correctly and said the one who owed the greater amount, therein falling into the 'trap' of the parable.  "Then turning toward the woman and he said to Simon, 'Have you noticed this woman?'"  Here Jesus teaches Simon to "see" this "sinful woman" and all she had done for Jesus since his arrival as opposed to all the 'deficiencies' that Simon, the host, had neglected to show him since he arrived at Simon's house.  There were no vigorous denunciations of Simon, just a gentle opening of 'Simon I have something to say to you' followed by a quiet request, "Have you noticed this woman?"  Identifying and understanding not only the outcasts, but everyone around us is something we often 'neglect' as we go through our day.  --Taken from Luke's gospel, chapter 6:36-50

I had traveled a great distance Saturday and returned back a lot earlier than I was expecting.  I decided to drive through the downtown area and see what I could do to help out some people in need before going home.  It was about 1:00 pm when I arrived.  I bought some burgers and started driving around looking for folks.  When I drove down Trinity St I met a homeless man on the sidewalk named Dalton.  Although, he looked nothing like another Dalton I knew it reminded me of this "other" Dalton whom I haven't seen in at least a couple of years.  I drove over to Olive St and was about to go west on Pico when I saw another man sitting on the sidewalk.  Wouldn't you know it was the "other" Dalton!!!

Although I was able to help several folks, the main encounter happened on Venice Ave one block east of Los Angeles St.  I had driven down a very small alley and gave some crackers to a dog I've become friends with and who I've named Rocky. He serves as a guard dog at an auto repair shop. When you come out the other end of this alley you end up on a very small street that runs into Venice Ave again.  Two men were sitting in the shade up against a building on the corner.  One of the men's name was Philipe and I've known and helped him many times before (probably not in 4 or 5 months though).  Anyway, I gave them some burgers and Philipe asked if I had any blankets.  I didn't have any with me although I had a few left from last winter still at home.  I got out of the car and opened up the back to look through the clothes.  I was pretty sure I had some sweaters at least.  He must have asked me three different times if I had any blankets almost pleading with me. He said "It gets very cold at night now."  I told him I would bring some with me on my next trip.  He then wanted to know when that would be.  I told him I would be back in eight days on the next Sunday. For the rest of the trip and the rest of the day I couldn't get his 'need' out of my mind.  I got home and napped for a little while.  Since it was my birthday, we had planned to go to a restaurant for dinner that night. Oh, by the way, Philipe said his birthday was coming up on November 22 (he will be 67), the same day I promised to come back there.  Anyway, I threw two blankets into the back seat of the car and then an extra one 'just in case'. I had already talked my wife into going with me downtown to find these guys so when we finished dinner around 8 pm we took off down there arriving about 8:30 pm. Of course, it's dark and night-time by now, especially since daylight savings time is over.  When I got to the corner where Philipe had been earlier I got out and took one of the blankets over to them.  The first guy I came to didn't look like Philipe, but since he didn't have a cap on I thought maybe in the dark I just wasn't recognizing him.  I gave him the blanket still wrapped up in plastic and went back to the car to get another one for the other guy.  The other guy was definitely the guy with Philipe earlier in the day.  I took this blanket out of the plastic wrapper and spread it out over him, they were all laying down on the sidewalk for the night.  They already had one blanket each over them and had on all their clothes from the day still.  I now noticed another guy on the other side of a shopping cart full of someone's "stuff".  I went back to the car and got the last blanket and opened it up and spread it out over that guy.  Well, that guy was Philipe.  Well, they were all awake now and each one was saying "God bless you" multiple times.  Most importantly, they were much warmer now and there were smiles on their faces!  Wow!  What a privilege to serve them for our Lord.  Can you just imagine yourself laying down in your back yard on the concrete in your clothes from the day with one blanket over you?  You'd be miserable.  And that would be repeated the next night and the next night and the next, with no end in sight.  It's pretty understandable that substance abuse is a common refuge for these folks.  Especially to get through cold nights. It just so happened that last night (Sunday night) I got home from visiting someone shortly after midnight.  Even though I had on a very heavy over-shirt, I was still cold and I was only outside long enough to go from the car to the house.  The homeless folks in other parts of this country and this world who have to deal with really frigid temperatures have it so much worse.

Perhaps now, you see why I started this blog with the introduction I used.  Jesus invites us again, "Do you really see this person?" --Until next time.  John                

Downtown 11/1/2015

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  And if you are willing to receive it, he [John] is Elijah who is to come.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  --Matthew 11:12-15

Well, let's catch-up the last couple of weeks.  Two weekends ago I worked Sunday, but made a trip on Monday night, I just didn't have time to write about it.  Last weekend I worked a double shift into Sunday and didn't make a trip at all.  I ended up napping my whole weekend to catch up on sleep. However, there were a couple of things of note on the trip Monday night (19th).  I had made up a big pot of pasta and took it with me while it was still hot.  Remarkably, there weren't many people in the alley off 25th and San Pedro, maybe only a half dozen folks.  There was one man there who was pretty happy to get a bowl of pasta.  I asked him how long it had been since he had a bowl like this. His reply stunned me.  He said about 10 years or so!  I was glad I had made it with 3 or 4 pounds of meatballs in it and plenty of spices to make it taste special.  When you think about the food options that homeless folks have you quickly realize that the cheapest and easiest to make food is what they will most likely receive. Even if they have a few dollars, they are going to buy the cheapest food available.  That means a burger or tacos and maybe a soda if they have enough extra money.  The things we take for granted are just not in their world.  Since I had a lot left over when I left the alley, I went over to a few of the streets where I knew folks would be.  I had to find people quickly because the pasta was losing the heat quickly at this point.  I found Leticia and Antonio on Trinity St and a couple others nearby.  I still had some left and went over to where John Stokes lives.  Everyone living there was in bed for the night (it was probably about 8 or 8:30 by this time) except for one woman who was walking around there.  I think she thought I was looking for a date, but I asked her about John Stokes.  She said he hadn't been around for a while and thought he was in jail.  I went around the corner to where Dave from Minnesota lives.  Dave and John use to hang out all the time together. I gave him the last of the pasta. When I asked him about John Stokes he told me that he had 'gone back home'.  I said, "To Atlanta?"  He said yes.  I know John's birthday was either at the end of May or the beginning of June. This year he would be 67 so, apparently, extra social security benefits were available and were enough to get him a ticket back to Atlanta where he has family.  At least I hope he still has family there.  It's probably been 30 or 40 years since he's been there and I'm sure things have changed a lot.  I'm praying for a happy ending on this one.  John is the second friend of mine who was able to use their social security benefits upon retirement age to go back home.  A couple of years ago Richard Brown was able to get back to Missouri when he turned 65.  I didn't get to see him before he left to get or leave a contact number and never heard from him again.

So now we're up to yesterday's trip.  I got down there early, about 2:30 pm and drove around quite a bit.  I even drove over to the Lincoln Park area.  I haven't been there in a long time. Cesar was standing on the corner of Mission and Main there asking for hand-outs.  I haven't seen him in probably two years. He doesn't speak English so even if I was able to stand around and talk to him it would be difficult to communicate, but I passed some food to him through the window.  There were a few other homeless folks I was able to help before I ended up in an alley and parking lot off 9th and San Pedro.  The first guy in the alley said he was just wondering what and how he was going to do get some food for the day.  He was relieved when I showed up. There were others there that I've seen before, but I ended up stopping by three guys who turned out to be Native Americans.  One was from the Hope Indians, another was from the tribe of Yellow Hawk (I'm not sure what tribe of Indians he was from) and the other guy, Calvin, who looked more Native American than any of the others didn't say what tribe he was from.  He did, however, tell me he just got out of prison and has been in and out of prison for the last thirty years. I talked at length with these three as other folks walked by.  The interesting thing is that I gave the last three sandwiches to these guys, but two of them ended up giving theirs to others who came by that needed the food more. Yes, most everyone in this parking lot had been drinking.  Some more than others.  The three NA were probably a little more hostile about life in general, yet they were the ones who gave the food to others.  They also recognized that I was different and had come to help people. Yellow Hawk asked me to pray for them, then when I finished he prayed in his native language.  He had told me that they had become pretty jaded by the violence they have seen on the street and although the police may have been around, they did nothing about it.  It almost seemed like he was suffering from PTS. Anyway, I really did enjoy my time talking with them.  Others may have felt threatened by their talk, but I didn't and, in fact, it was probably therapeutic for them to be able to vent their frustrations to an 'old white guy'.  I also look at it as something to build a relationship on. The next time I see them they will remember me as the 'church guy' they can talk straight up with. That's becomes huge in gaining the trust to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven.  You know Yellow Hawk actually asked my why I come down there.  So I was able to tell them something about my past and how I used to drive trucks right down there where we were and about Jesus' call on my life to go to people just like them right where they are.  Soon enough, they will have questions about all the 'religious stuff'' that bugs them and they'll ask me about it out of their frustration.  That's when I get to be real with them.  That's when the pay-off for encounters like yesterday happen.  I listen to them enough and sometime down the road, they'll listen to me.

Before leaving the area I did go by the burned out church at 27th and Petaloma.  I prayer-walked the street.  No changes yet.  We're building up momentum.  --Until next time.  John