Well, I've made four trips since my last blog, I guess it's time to fill you in on what's happened since the last one which was on Easter Sunday. For 3 weeks or so I couldn't make any trips and then the week before Mothers Day I made one. You may recall I had a very emotional visit on 10th St and San Pedro on Easter. There was a group of folks living on that street that I had become very close with. The next time back, they were all gone. Nothing left on the sidewalk to show anyone living there. I was heart-broken. Two weeks later I returned and Red was there. He told me that Ray had gone to an alcohol rehab place, Brigette and the rest of them all disappeared and he didn't know where they went to. A week later Chris was there. He didn't know much more than Red knew as far as what's happened to the people there. Last week I didn't see Red, but I saw Chris again and Shorty who I hadn't seen in probably two years. If you recall a blog from the end of last year (9/24/2017) Chris had a niece that was living there with him. She had asked me to pray for her and specifically for her to get her daughter (Kennedy) back. So last week she was there and was going through the clothes in the back of the car. I walked up next to her and whispered, "How's Kennedy?" Her face immediately lit up and she told me how cute her little 3 year old is now. It was a precious moment seeing her so happy and so proud when talking about her daughter.
A few weeks back I started checking in on an alley I used to frequent a lot about 3 years ago. It is an alley a half block north of 25th and San Pedro. Back then there were upwards of a dozen people living there, then one of them died and within a short time the city made them all leave the alley. Recently, the first couple times I stopped by only 2 or 3 were people there. Last week there were about 5 and today there was probably 8-9 people there and most all of them I knew. One of them was a young woman named Nicky who helped me big time the day (3 1/2 years ago) when I put on a lasagna dinner on the street corner at 25th. She let out a big squeal when she saw it was me that pulled up in the alley. The big problem was I only had 3 sandwiches left when I got there today. They took it pretty well (those that didn't get one), but I had to promise to come back next week and go there first so I have enough for everyone! When I left home to go on this trip I asked my wife to pray for two specific things. The first was that since I have a lot of women's clothes and almost exclusively women's clothes on this trip, that I would find women to give them to. The next thing was that I would keep a mental focus on bringing heaven down to earth for these people. Now this stop in this alley was the last stop of this trip. I had several other stops and one of them included some women who got to go through the trunk full of clothes. But on this last stop there were 5 women who got to go through the clothes. This is a testimony of the power of a praying wife! Praise the Lord.
There were two other significant stops. The last four weeks I've been going down a street just west of Alameda right near the Jack in the Box (yes that Jack in the Box from when I started these trips). I started befriending a few people on this street. Last week's trip was a couple hours earlier than most of the trips I make and only one guy was there when I drove down there. His name is Orlando. Carlos rode up on a bike that day, but Orlando and I had quite an encounter last week. He told me last week that his tent got tossed while he was away from it and someone took his shoes. I asked him what size he wore and he told me he wore 12's. Usually, when someone tells me they wear 12's I end up giving them mine because I rarely have that size with me in the car. But last week I remembered that I had put a pair of men's shoes in the trunk and they were 12's. So I told Orlando, "I just might have something for you." When I pulled them out of the trunk and showed them to him he grinned really big and said these are the best shoes you can get, "These are walking shoes." They weren't tennis shoes, but standing on your feet working shoes with big thick soles. He was happy to get them, I was happy to give him something he really needed. Today he had them on and I took his picture in them.
It's gotta be the shoes man!
Last week he had told me that he was out here to try and get some benefits through the VA. He has just about given up now on receiving them. He told me he was ready to go back to Green Bay, Wisconsin. I said, "Green Bay?" I told him that was my favorite football team. He told me he had worked in the maintenance department at the stadium for a while. He said the whole town runs off of that team being there. Today I showed him this picture I posted on facebook about six weeks ago when there was a big winter storm going through there in mid-April. He was stunned to see so much snow and so late in the year. He knew right were this photo was taken.
Lambeau Field--April 16, 2018
So I'll end this blog with an encounter that occurred early on on this trip. I had gotten off the freeway at Soto St and drove south by an area that I used to work out of about 30+ years ago. I drove around there for a short time and then moved west on Washington Blvd. There was a man named Carlos that I used to see sometimes sitting in the parking lot behind some buildings at Washington Blvd and Long Beach Ave. It was always on a Sunday when I'd see him and nobody was ever around. He was from Nicaragua and worked on a sewing machine for American Apparel. Well, that company recently went out of business and now he's out of work. He is collecting unemployment benefits, but they won't last much longer. He said he's hoping one of his job searches will work out by next month. I don't think I've seen Carlos for a couple of years, yet I have driven by this place many times since then in hopes of seeing him. He never accepted anything from me but maybe some water and maybe a blanket once, but never any food. Today he accepted a sandwich (but only one) a bottle of water and a blanket. I prayed with him and gave him a hug. I was so happy to see him. Here's his picture:
What you see there behind him is all he has. Please pray for Carlos.
So I told you that I asked my wife to specifically pray for two things, to find women to give out the clothes to and to bring heaven down to earth for the people that I'd meet. I gave out most of the clothes I took with me. I'll let you decide if the second part was fulfilled. --Until next time. John
PS. With so many renewed friendships on this trip, I couldn't help but begin this blog with a quote from Paul's famous "Love Chapter". I truly felt it on this trip.
