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.
No comments:
Post a Comment