Downtown 9/12/2010

We cannot do great things on this earth, only small things with great love. --Mother Teresa

This was quoted by our pastor Sunday morning in his sermon. I thought it was a terrific quote and captured my feelings towards the homeless in Los Angeles. Last week's trip was sort of an attitude adjustment for me. I guess every so often we can get a little out of whack in the things we do even when our intentions are good. I never want this ministry to be routine or to be done in a hurry. These people need my full attention when I'm with them. I remember when Mother Teresa died one of the nuns assisting in the work there in India said if they were troubled or preoccupied about a problem they were not allowed to work with the destitute until they were over their problem. I have now seen the value in this policy first hand. It goes hand in hand with another of her quotes, "I think being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, is a much greater hunger, and much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat." Sunday, I was determined to put these people first and foremost again. It turned out to be a wonderful trip.
Instead of going early Sunday before church I decided to go afterwards so I had no time constraints. I got downtown about 1:30 in the afternoon and went to an alley off Hooper St. that I've gone down many times before. The last few times no one has been there. This trip was different though. As I started down the alley I saw a man sleeping in the shade of one of the buildings. I wanted to be able to park and get out of my car and talk wih him so I backed out of the alley and drove around to the other end and came in from the other direction. Before I could get to him I found two other homeless men living in the alley. Both I've met before and one greeted me quite warmly and stood up when he saw me coming. His name is Willie (see first photo). Across from him and a few feet down the alley on the sunshine side was "Tera Lee". When I met him before he identified himself as Johnny. He remembered me from the last time when he was down near the Staples Center. He had a skin rash at the time which he still has and warned me against touching him (second photo-Willie standing next to where Tara Lee was inside his home). I was able to give them food, water and clothing and prayed with both of them. Willie said he had been staying in an alley on the other side of the next street down until the police ran all the homeless people out of there. I noticed he had a good pair of shoes on and he told me he got them at the Fred Jordan Mission. I was glad to see him and that he was doing OK. I joked with him about his "bed". It was a plastic toddler's slide. I told him it looked comfortable if you had curvature of the spine. We both laughed about that one. I drove on down to the other end of the alley, parked and got out and looked in on Pablo from Cuba. He was sound asleep but when I asked him if he needed some food he woke up quickly and said yes. I gave him a bag of food which he started eating immediately (see photo). I gave him some water and while we talked he continued to eat and drink from the water jug. I had a little difficulty understanding him. He seemed to have a problem and wanted to know if I knew of a place that could help him. It turned out he was looking for a 'rehab' place. I asked him if he had tried the missions down on 6th St and he told me they were all filled up. I told him I didn't know of any around in the area where he was but I'd ask around. I noticed the shoes he had next to him were pretty worn-out and asked if he could use a new pair. He said yes to that too so I looked in the trunk of my car. I had a pair that were about the right size but I couldn't find any size label anywhere so I told him to try one of them on. When he pulled the blanket back to try on the shoe his socks were so worn-out that the heels were gone on both of them and they were almost like sock slippers. I gave him two new pairs and prayed with him about his drug problem. He told me he "had a bad problem". I gave him some extra food. --Please pray for Pablo.
After leaving this alley I drove down to the alley that Willie said they had been kicked out of. I've driven past this alley many times but never really looked at it as an alley. It just seemed to be the back side of the businesses there. I did find Ricardo there. He was stopped with his bicycle and was rearranging some bags on the handle bars. He told me he had been here in America for "dos anos" and his wife and family were still in Mexico. He was barely getting by. I ended up giving him a bunch of stuff including a bible tract in Spanish. I prayed with him too. I've really got to learn how to pray a basic prayer in Spanish with these folks. When I left Ricardo I continued down the real alley part of this section. Up to where I found Ricardo it was paved and more of a parking lot type area, but after that the "alley" wasn't paved and was in terrible condition. I can't understand why anyone would be kicked out of there because I can't imagine why anyone would be driving down that section of the alley.
From there I crossed Central Ave and drove down 14th St. I only went a couple of blocks and saw a couple with a shopping cart on a corner. I turned around and parked next to them and got out. The man's name was Sam and he recognized me from a few weeks back. The woman's name was Teresa. Teresa was not talkative and not in a good mood. Sam told me she was OK but I knew she was either tweaked out or coming down off of drugs. While I was helping these two out, another man by the name of Terry walked over from across the street. He needed some help too and saw I was giving Sam and Teresa some food and clothing. When I gave them all they wanted out of what I had I prayed with the whole group. Yeah, it was pretty cool, I put my arms around Sam and Terry and Sam held Teresa's hand and I prayed for God's blessing on them. I can't tell you how much I love being able to do this with these people!
Believe it or not I was now out of bags of food. It had taken maybe an hour to reach these seven people. I've learned to throw some extra food (cans of vegetables and boxes of cookies) in the back of the car just in case I run into extra people. So here I was not wanting to leave yet, but being pretty much out of food. I think I had three cans of vegetables and a couple of boxes of cookies. I had an idea in the morning of walking down one of the alleys off Washington Blvd where a lot of homeless people live. I've seen up to 6 people there early on Sunday mornings. I drove over there and parked at the street at the end of the alley. I was glad I didn't drive down it because Sunday there was a lot of broken glass on one end, like someone had dumped some car windows in the alley. Anyway, I walked up and down the alley praying for the people who lived there. No one was there but there were at least three places where people lived, they just weren't "home" when I was there. I walked around to the front of the buildings. I had seen at least one church on the other side on Sunday mornings and this Sunday there were a group of people standing in front of one of the other buildings there. It turns out they were looking to rent one of the buildings so they could have a church there too. I told them of all the homeless
living on the back alley and that they could have an immediate missions outreach there. I walked on up the street to Washington Blvd. Asleep on the sidewalk near the corner was the man in the photo. He never did wake up. I prayed over him and left a Spanish bible tract next to him and walked on around and back down the alley; there still wasn't anyone there. When I returned from a short-term missions trip to Nepal six years ago I started prayer-walking in the area around my church at the time. That ministry morphed into the original www.rightnowcounts.org website with messages geared for non-believers and believers alike. When I walked down this alley yesterday I started thinking about how simply prayer-walking was how this all started for me. I think each week I go downtown I'll prayer-walk down this alley off Washington Blvd. Who knows what God can do with it. It's an alley where
people seem to just dump their trash and drive away, but people created in the image of God live there too. I wonder what He wants to do with this turf. I think He wants to reclaim and redeem lost souls here. It will be a long-term project, but let's see what happens. Until next week. By the way, before leaving downtown I gave away the rest of the food I had left in the car. --John

Downtown 9/6/2010

So this was to be the 'different' trip. The one where I took no food or water with me and just depended on the Holy Spirit to show up, lead the way and make the breakthroughs. I had intended to go on Sunday afternoon, but due to some last minute schedule juggling ended up going late Monday morning on the Labor Day holiday. Things still had the feel of a Sunday afternoon because of the holiday. I was a little nervous and a little anxious as to what would happen but excited to know that whatever was about to happen was going to be the next step in this crazy downtown adventure. I even watched the interview with Rolland Baker again that sparked the idea for this ministry almost a year and a half ago. The motto from the interview still resonates, "If you want to see God working, go to the least likely group of people and start there." When I first thought about going downtown and doing this ministry I thought about going to Pershing Square Park. The last time I had gone downtown was about 1991 or 1992 and I had gone to the jewelry mart district and Pershing Park was directly across the street. The original idea was to go the the park and pray with people there, but before that happened I was led to buy loaves of bread and ended up looking for homeless people living under and around freeway overpasses. I had even driven by the park a few times but it didn't look anything like I remembered and so I never ended up going there. As it turns out, Pershing Square Park has been renovated to the extent that it is raised up several step levels from the surrounding street so you really don't even see a park or any people when you drive by it. So this was the plan, go to the park, find a place to park the car and walk in and find people to pray with. If Pershing Square didn't work out I could go to the park area across Alameda Avenue from the Union Train Station. Sounds simple enough, so here's what happened.
As I got closer to Los Angeles and knowing that I could be at either of the parks for an extended period of time I thought I'd first go down 7th St by the Greyhound Bus Depot. Across from the bus station is where Shoeless Marie sleeps on the sidewalk and a few other homeless people are usually around that area. When I drove down the street there were about 50 Greyhound Bus employees picketing in front of the bus depot and across the street. There was a signal light right in front of the station and most of the picketers were right there. Of course, as I drove up the signal turned red and I had to stop. I had the windows on that side of the car down and naturally one of them came up to the car wanting to give me a hand bill stating the grievances the workers have against the company. I decided if I'm to receive a hand bill of grievances then I'm giving them a gospel of John booklet!!! So the exchange was made and I drove on. About a block down the street I saw a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk on the corner. There were several yellow cabs parked down that street. I drove around the block and parked near them and walked over to the homeless man and started talking to him. We talked about the picketers and I asked him if he had seen Marie because I hadn't seen her in at least two or three months. He said he had seen her the night before and that she usually shows up around dark. I asked him if he thought she goes down to the missions during the day, but he said he didn't know where she went during the daytime. I ended up sitting on the sidewalk and talking with him for a while. His name was Timothy and he was from Cincinnati, Ohio. Then things turned really weird. He told me he was working for the slave nation (?) and was helping people avoid being killed or captured by aliens. He told me how non-human aliens and some humans are capturing and killing people and he and his people were "working" to help them however they could. He didn't say how. Interestingly, as we sat there and talked he appeared quite coherent and sane on the outside. There was no nervous twitching or even a far away look in his eyes with the acompanying sadistic laugh. It was really bizarre to say the least. I calmly asked Timothy under whose authority did he work. He told me "God". Nothing specific about which God or any other name, just "God". I had purchased some tracts to give out and I pulled out two different ones and put them inside a gospel of John booklet and as I handed them to him I said, "Well here's something about the God I serve. His name is Jesus Christ." Actually, I set them down on his blanket right next to him so he could easily see and read the cover. We talked for a couple more minutes and I finally said, "Let me pray with you before I go." I held his hand and prayed with him and walked back to the car. Since it was right across the street he was still in plain view as I drove away. He had picked up the booklet and was looking through it. I'm not sure if what I heard was him talking out loud or laughing (I heard something anyway) but I waved as I drove away and left the results up to "my God". This was a close encounter of "some" kind. Whether it was mental illness or demon possession I don't know. But that's how the trip started!!!
So now I drove over to the Pershing Square area. It took awhile to actually locate it (since it's raised up and kind of hidden) and find a place to park. I ended up in a parking lot across the street. I didn't recognize it at first but the parking lot was behind a building that my
Dad used to work in about 45 years ago. I loaded up my pockets with bible tracts and gospel of John booklets (I had on cargo shorts so I had a few deep pockets) and brought a book to read. I didn't want to take a bible with me because that can immediately be a turn-off for some people so I took with me a book of the journals from the missionary Jim Elliott. I walked across the street to the park and looked around a little. It wasn't quite what I expected. There were a lot of people sleeping (it was around noon by now) and the ones awake seemed to be in pairs. I found a shady place to sit down and read and pray and kind of get my bearings a little. About forty minutes later I got up and decided to walk around the perimeter of the park which is actually the sidewalk and come back inside later. As I got to the sidewalk I found a homeless man sitting with his shopping cart full of plastic bottles. I asked him if that's what he had collected that day. He told me most of it was yesterday (Sunday) but the recyclers were closed Sunday and for the Monday holiday. He was eating peanut butter straight out of a jar with a plastic fork. Before leaving my car I had looked around on the floor in the back and found two small packs of cookies. I gave one to him and he ate them right away. His name was Darrel Roberts (see photo). He was 54 years old and from Florida by way of Cleveland, Ohio. Another Ohioan, I was hoping he wasn't from the 'slave nation'. Darrel was quite humble and I sat and talked with him for twenty minutes or so. He was a Vietnam Veteran (two tours at the end of the war) and had multiple physical problems from both the war and civilian life. Here was my kind of homeless guy that I love to talk with and pray with. Conversation was easy with Darrel. I told him I come downtown once a week and I usually have food and water to give out although I didn't today. However, I did have some socks back in my car. I told him I'd drive by this corner in a couple of hours after I got back to my car and I'd give him some socks if he was still there (he wasn't there). I walked around several blocks before making it back to the park. I let a young 20-ish looking man use my cell phone to call his Mother because he was lost. I talked and prayed with Alberto from Puerto Rico who was sitting on a bench. He told me he was disabled. I asked how he was disabled and he told me he was schizophrenic. He also was looking for his mother, Sharon Stone. Yeah, that Sharon Stone. I guess he was telling me the truth about his disablility. I also saw, would you believe it, Shoeless Marie. I even took a picture of her but I once again forgot to save it. She was barefoot as usual. I couldn't believe she was this far from where she sleeps. I offered her the other pack of cookies but she turned it down. Go figure. When I got back to the park I was rebuffed by one man who didn't want to talk to anyone but ended up eventually talking with a young woman who had been studying in the park. The public library is just down the street but was closed for the holiday. Her name was Azaelia and she was from the east coast. She wasn't homeless but I got the feeling that she didn't have many friends out here. At this point I left the park and went back to my car. I drove by the Union Station park but there was something going on at Olvera St and it looked like most of the people in the park were mostly spill-over from Olvera Steet. So I drove over to 18th and Broadway by the I-10. This is my turf and here's what happened there.
By now it's about 3 p.m. I immediately saw one homeless guy by an alley where I've helped many men before and on the other side of the street another guy holding up a homeless sign asking for 'donations'. I drove around the block and parked by the alley and got out and took a picture of the alley with my cell phone (see photo). I did this as an excuse to talk to the guy standing there next to the alley with his shopping cart. His name was Jonathan from Witchita, Kansas. He was 44 years old. He told me he lives in the alley now but had to wait another hour and a half before he could settle down for the night because the warehouse there was still open for business. I ended up giving him the socks and T-shirt that I had saved for Darrel. When I did that, the guy from across the street came over to ask for help too. His name was Thomas. I gave him some socks and a T-shirt too. I prayed with both of them right there by the trunk of my car. They both were very appreciative. Thomas turned around and saw a woman walking down the street that he knew and said she could use some help. He called her over to us. Her name was Jackie. I ended up giving her some socks, shoes and jeans. It was an incredible 10 minutes. Jonathan made a point of taking me aside and thanking me again for helping him. I told him I'd come back next week and watch for him again.
With this I left and went home. It wasn't quite what I had hoped for in the park. The most fulfilling moments for me were helping the homeless people and praying with them and none of them were in the park. After all, praying with the homeless is what was missing from last week's trip and caused me so much disappointment. The core of this ministry is praying with people. Getting to that point requires me taking the time with each individual encounter so they know God cares specifically for them. I'm sure if I go back to the park consistently I'll get better at hooking-up with the people there and praying with them. By the way, in the book that I was reading Jim Elliot wrote, "Growth is accompanied by corresponding service....growth, ministry, growth, ministry. These two must come together to maintain balance..." He also wrote how disappointed he and some other friends were at the small turnout at one of their evangelistic meetings. It was a comfort to know that even the famous are disappointed at times and must work past it. I'm learning. --Until next week. John

Downtown 8/27/2010

If you read last week's blog, you know it was one of the most fulfilling of my trips downtown. I guess that's why I was totally taken off-guard by this week's unfulfilling trip. It has taken me a few days to process and try to write about it. I've been off work for the last week or so and one might expect that I'd be relaxed and looking forward to a good trip. In fact, two days prior to the trip I was reading a little book by Samuel Chadwick titled "The Way to Pentecost". The book, in 20 short chapters, teaches about the purpose and work of the Holy Spirit. A memorable line from the book for me was, "The sequel to Jesus on earth is the Holy Spirit on earth and in us." I have felt promptings from the Holy Spirit many times while engaged in this ministry and while reading this book that night I felt another prompting. It was pretty clear, "Take nothing with you downtown." It was so clear that I wrote it down. I didn't get exactly when I was supposed to go with nothing but I knew it was something I was supposed to do soon. Anyway, I decided Friday was the day I was going downtown this week because it "fit in" better (first mistake) with the weekend's schedule so I got everything ready that morning and took off with my normal supplies (second mistake).
The trip started off fairly normal. I drove around for a while on the south side and found Tyronne. I even commented to him that he looked good that day. He has seemed "in a fog" at times and I'm always concerned with his health but he smiled as we talked. I also think it was the first time I've seen him standing up too. Usually he's sitting down like he's exhausted and barely speaks above a whisper. Nearby in that area I found Thomas a new acquaintance. On the east end of Washington Blvd near Santa Fe Ave. I saw two women pushing shopping carts. Their names were Wanda and Kesha. They had very little in their carts and were both very appreciative of the help. Wanda was probably in her thirties and Kesha was probably in her twenties. I didn't ask where they were staying but they appeared to be coming from a recycling place.
Later, on the north end of town under the 4th St bridge I found Michael. I hadn't seen him in a couple of months. He told me he had been staying in Watts but, "It wasn't working out." He appeared to be starting over again and didn't look too happy about it. I reminded him God was a God of second chances. I should have sat with him under the bridge and talked with him longer but I was concerned about "finishing up" on time.
I drove on down Mission Rd and towards Lincoln Park. When I got to the intersection there I saw a young Latino man there begging on one of the street corners. He had a small back pack and as cars would drive up (a different direction from where I was) he would take off his cap and hold it out and was pleading loudly in Spanish. I couldn't understand him but it was obvious he was asking for money and help. It was a pretty heart wrenching sight. So after driving around a couple of blocks I was able to pull up alongside him and gave him the last of the food and water. I asked him his name (in Spanish) and he said "Cesar, God bless you." It struck me as being ironic that someone with such a kingly name would be begging on a street corner. With that I left and drove home knowing something was missing from this trip. In my spirit I was deeply crushed. I felt I had let God and my homeless friends down.
So what went wrong? Well the most obvious thing missing to me was I didn't pray with a single person! Often when I write about a visit or encounter I don't always mention that I prayed with someone, but usually (not always) I do. This trip I seemed to be more concerned with getting done on time than about the people. To be sure I always have to fit these trips into my schedule but this one seemed way to routine and almost impersonal. I didn't have the connection with the people that I normally feel. It just seemed to be a trip where I gave out stuff and that was it. I never intended this ministry to be a social project but instead a spiritual ministry. Giving out stuff was only a means to talk and pray with people who needed to know God cares and loves them. That's the heart of this ministry, bringing the presence of God to hurting people. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel like I'm never supposed to give out stuff again, but perhaps I am being led to refocus on the original intent of the ministry. So my next trip, I 'm going with nothing (like I was told to do last time). It's a little scary and it's a little "out there", certainly out of my comfort zone. I will have to depend totally on the Holy Spirit "showing up" to make the next trip of value. In the Old Testament book of Zechariah (4:6) God speaks to the prophet about a task to be undertaken and says, "not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit." Jesus reiterates this in broader terms in the New Testament by saying simply, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." I can certainly tesify to the truth of that statement. Please pray for the next trip. ---Until next week. John

Downtown 8/21/2010

Sometimes these trips downtown seem to go rather uneventfully, and then sometimes they will change in a moment of time on an encounter with someone or even on something I see that stays in my mind. These moments become tools used by God to teach me in ways I wouldn't have fully understood if I merely read about it in a book. Saturday was just such a trip. The trip started with one of those inclinations I get about wanting to see a certain person (in this case a couple) that I want to follow-up on. This time it was Phillip and Nancy who I met across from Lincoln Park about a month ago. When I got there I had to park about a quarter mile from where they have been staying and walk back towards them. When I got there neither of them were there. I was pretty sure it was their stuff because it was very neat and tidy (something a woman would probably do). There was even one of those 'tree' air fresheners hanging off one of their shopping carts! Yeah, outside too. Well I was kind of disappointed they weren't there but I left the food and water there anyway and happened to notice a woman sitting directly across the street. I walked over to her and asked if she had seen the "people that are living across the street here"? Her name was Edith and she said she had seen them walking away a while earlier. I thought she might be homeless at first too but she didn't have very much stuff with her like a homeless person would. Anyway, we talked for a few minutes and I told her the names of the people I had left the food for and to let them know I had been by (I gave her my name). Edith was actually sitting there reading a bible. I had been given some canned vegetables and had bought a can opener to give to them. When I last saw Phillip he was relieved that the can of soup I gave him was a pop top and told me the only way they have of opening regular canned food is to pound away at one end of the can on the corner of something concrete until it gives-way. I thought a can opener would be of great value to them. I hung on to it to give to them personally the next time I see them.
While walking back to the car I passed by another homeless man and got another bag of food to give to him. His name was Luis and he was in his early twenties. I asked if he had been kicked out of the park the night before (like Philip and Nancy had when I first met them). He said no but he had been kicked out of an apartment he shared with some other people by the police. I asked if he had any family nearby and he said he did but relations with them were strained at this time. I prayed with Luis asking God to heal his relationship with his family. I don't know what his family is like and what problems are there, but they are the first option and sometimes the only option for getting off the street. Pray for Luis, he is so young.
Not too far from Luis on Valley and Soto St was another homeless person sleeping under their jacket. It was about 11:15 by now and it was starting to get warm. It turned out to be a woman sleeping under the jacket. Her name was Clara and she was laying on top of a small concrete retaining wall and up against a chain link fence. She had no belongings with her. She accepted the food and water and I noticed the shoes she was wearing had no shoe laces and were pretty worn out--as were the rest of her clothes. I asked if she wanted or could use a new pair of shoes or even just some socks but she declined. She didn't want a new shirt or anything else either. All I could do was pray with her before leaving.
I left this area of northeast Los Angeles and headed downtown turning south on Alameda Street. Between 4th and 5th streets I saw a woman on the other side of the street with her shopping cart. I wasn't sure why she was stopped on the sidewalk but I turned around and drove back to her. Her name was Dina Bishop. She told me a couple of times that she lived on 5th St. between Central and Maple. She told me her husband had left her (today? five years ago?) and she lived by the Ryder moving trucks and near the recycling place. She kind of rambled and repeated herself so I wasn't quite sure she was dealing with today. Was that a beer she was drinking or was it apple juice? I didn't smell alcohol, she didn't appear to be intoxicated, but she was talkative. I was starting to get a little nervous about being stopped on Alameda by now and wondered as we talked through the passenger window if I should pray with her before leaving or just gracefully tell her I had to go. I decided to say, "Dina. Let me pray for you before I go." I held her hand through the window and prayed for her. I prayed that God would let her know that he... "loves her today, tomorrow and everyday." When I finished praying the whole encounter changed!!! She began by thanking me for praying for her and told me, "I woke up this morning hungry and mad." At this point Dina seemed as clear minded as anyone and told me she knew God loved her and thanked me again for praying for her. As I left her I was so glad that I had decided to pray for her and really, who was I to deny her or anyone else the presence of the Lord in their life by not praying. It would have been a sin on my part to not pray for Dina. At that point I decided to check out the area where she said she lived. Where was it again? On 5th by Maple and what street? As I drove down 5th I remembered it was Maple and Central. Was that why she repeated herself to me, so that I would know where I was supposed to go next? Traveling down 5th past Maple I came to a busy intersection. I don't even remember which street it was but the sight I saw there will stay with me forever. There was a man face down on the sidewalk. His face was facing the street and he had thrown-up while laying down. His arm may have been in the street but the rest of him was on the sidewalk. There was no room or place or time to stop, it was a busy downtown intersection. It was evident what had happened. This man had simply passed out on the sidewalk from drinking and had thrown-up right where he laid. In that moment I thought here lies a man, made in the image of God, and he is of value to God. So much value that He sent His son to die for his sins just like Jesus died for mine. It didn't and doesn't matter where he is or what's happened to him, this man is still of value to God the Father. In fact, Jesus gave us the story of the Prodigal Son who found himself in a similar situation as this man to drive home the point that all men are redeemable even if some people (like the older brother) aren't happy about it. Well this was skid row. I have seen homeless people drunk before. But this time the message was not about the reality of life on the streets but the spiritual reality that even the most down and out people are of value to God. He loves people today, tomorrow and everyday. Didn't I just pray that with Dina? It was also pretty unbelievable how God got me to drive down that street. He used Dina and her repeating herself to get me to drive over there and check out the lesson He wanted to teach me about how He loves people. I am just in awe of Him. God's timing is perfect, here was a teaching moment, a moment that I couldn't fix or help the situation, but one I was to observe and understand. I even drove back there later but couldn't find the guy.
I helped others afterwards, There was Pablo, (another Cuban-there have been a lot lately), Russell (he told me he has to deal with "the seeds that I have sown"), and Ricky. The Lord also blessed me in another way Saturday. I was driving down Mateo St. and passed by a man who called out to me. I turned around and drove back to him. His name was Michael and I had helped him back in February (he actually recognized me from way back then!). He needed some help and a ride. While I drove him where he needed to go he told me he had gotten a place to live in exchange for his welfare checks. He also told me his brother had died about 10 days ago and this brother (his name was Cleveland) was his closest family member. When I dropped him off at the bus depot I was able to give him some shoes and shirts in addition to some food. and prayed with him thanking God for watching over Michael. When we parted his last words to me were, "God sent you to me today." What an awesome God we serve. I felt fortunate that He let me know this day that one of the people that I had helped along the way had made if off the streets. --Until next week. John

Downtown 8/14/2010

With a rare Saturday off from work I went downtown around noon. This may have been the first Saturday I've gone down there since my truck driving days. Traffic was worse than I anticipated getting there and the retail sections of town were pretty busy. I started by going to the garment district since I was low on socks. When I go on Sunday's the wholesalers are closed so I wanted to take advantage of those stores being open. After leaving there I drove around that area and found Charles from Wisconsin. He was sleeping in the shade of a tree on the sidewalk on Broadway and 13th. He was 54 and had been out here awhile now. He was quite thin and happy to receive the food and water but declined on shirts. However, when I mentioned I had socks he perked up right away. I noticed the wooden cross he had around his neck and used the opportunity to pray with him. Of course, since he was from Wisconsin I didn't pass up the opportunity to talk about the great Packers teams of the 60's either.
One of the surprises of the day was finding John from Connecticut. I hadn't seen him since last summer. He was near where I had seen him last (different freeway off-ramp) but doing the same thing. I didn't recognize him at first because his hair is a lot shorter now. He told me for awhile things were going well for him. He had gotten a small studio apartment in El Monte, but apparently couldn't maintain it. He was hoping that with a buddy of his he would be able to get some employment and a fresh start soon. I pray he will be able to, he is so very young (25 yrs).
While driving down Washington Blvd I found Tyronne. I had seen him last Sunday sitting on a bus bench. Today he was pushing his shopping cart and seemed actually happy to see me. Usually, he seems in kind of a fog. There have been times when I have sat with him for 10 minutes or so and he's barely spoken. He doesn't appear to be very healthy. This was the first time I've ever seen him up and walking (slowly) around. Just off Washington Blvd on Paloma I found Sam from Ohio. He was sleeping in the shade of a building but woke up right away when I offered some food and water. There was an abandoned truck parked across the street that was full of household stuff with luggage on the top. It had a flat tire and I wondered if it was Sam's but when I asked about it he said he was laying there on the sidewalk when the people abandoned it. Just around the corner and a couple of streets down from Sam I found Peter with his dog. He was sleeping too and the dog was curled up next to him. He had no other possessions with him and awoke quickly. I was surprised the dog didn't bark. I asked him what the dog's name was but he said he hadn't
named it yet. Peter was from Louisiana and here by way of Las Vegas. Along with the food and water, socks and a t-shirt I also gave him a gospel of John booklet. I had to smile as I was driving away because instead of going through the food bag he was actually looking through the booklet first. Praise God.
I wanted to take another trip a little more south of L.A. so I drove down around 42nd St and Central and then worked my way west from there. I ended up meeting Sheila in a short alley off of Broadway and 36th. She thought I looked familiar but I don't think we've met before. There were two or three make-shift 'homes' there in the alley that she said her husband and her brother lived in with her. I gave her the last bag of food and gallon of water that I had. I then told her I had something else for her and gave her a gospel of John booklet too. She seemed pretty happy and even a bit overwhelmed by it all. After pulling away and back out on the street I noticed I had two more cans of soup in a bag in the back seat so I drove back around and gave them to her also. I said, "Now all three of you can have one." and then asked if there was anyone else living there? She said, "No, just the three of us." I told her I'd check in from time to time to see how they were doing. I thought how very difficult it must be to be homeless in that area. Can you imagine how hot it must get living in cardboard boxes on concrete and asphalt during the summer without any shade above you? --Until next week. John

Downtown 8/8/2010

I was determined this week to find Charles. After driving to where he lives and doing a pretty extensive search of the dumpster lot I finally located someone who identified herself as his daugher, Vicky. She told me Charles was out working (recycling). So after talking with her for awhile I left her with a bag of food, some water and couple of shirts. She said she lived there in the back of the lot with her Dad and her husband. I ended up about an hour later seeing Charles (see photo) walking down N. Main pushing a cart with his dog, Smith. We had a chance to talk this time for quite awhile. He is 62 and his daughter, Vicky is in her forties. He said his is best of friends with his son in law. Charles had told me he was from Mexico and I found out Sunday it is a border town called Piedras Negras (it means 'black rocks') and they are actually of Native American descent. The border town is north of Loredo, Texas. I had left him with a gospel of John booklet a couple of weeks back which he told me he had been reading. I asked if he wanted a bible and he told me the Jehovah's Witnesses had given him one. I didn't think about it until later that the version would be the old King James version--not exactly conducive to picking up and reading when you have spare time! Charles told me he prayed daily and I've found that many homeless do. He felt he had a relationship with God that most "regular" people didn't have. Those that depend on God daily for their needs usually do have a closer relationship than those who don't. I was very happy to have finally had the chance to talk with him at length. We shared many similar experiences in life and have been to many of the same places. He thanked me especially for the can of soup that was in the bag of food I gave him a couple of weeks ago saying, it was "really good". I told him I had given his daughter 3 cans of it earlier so they all them could enjoy them together. I was sure glad I had done that now.
In between seeing Vicky and Charles I had driven down Vignes St by the county jail. I found three men there sleeping in different places along the sidewalk, Andrew, another guy from Cuba who I'll call Carlos and BB. Andrew had almost no possessions at all (see photo) and was reluctant to accept any help, I'm not sure why. Carlos looked like he had been living under the bridge there for years judging from the considerable amount of trash he had around him (see photo). He didn't speak very much English and the little that he did speak was difficult to understand. I wondered if he knew Roberto and Jesus from a couple of weeks ago. They were from Cuba too and lived not too far from there. BB had been sleeping under a tarp he had strung up alongside a chain link fence. He had a mattress and a collection of odds and ends with him. He was just getting up (it was about 9 a.m now). He declined my offer to pray with him saying he had just finished praying and that he prayed every morning. I told him I came down once a week to help people out and perhaps the next time he might want to look through the trunk of my car for clothing items he could use. I always try to leave these folks on a positive note with something to look forward to the next time we meet. Since there was no parking on Vignes St I had to park a ways away and make a separate trip from the car to each man. I wondered why they would end up so close to the jail. You would think they wouldn't want to be that close to the presence of police. Anyway, there they were and in need of help.
The last two men I encountered were Tyrone, sitting on a bus bench at Hill St. and Washington Blvd and Howard at Hill St. and 39th. You might remember Charlotte from a couple of weeks ago. She had told me that she lived in a shelter at 38th and Broadway so I decided to check out the area. She also said the area wasn't very friendly. That may explain why these two men were so surprised to receive help from someone. I do like to surprise people. I'll have to explore this area a little more in the future. 39th and Hill St is usually referred to as part of South Central LA. I really didn't even see too many people on the streets there. Perhaps it was too early on a Sunday morning still. Until next week. --John

Downtown 8/1/2010

I started this trip in hopes of finding Charles whom I met last week. He had told me where he lived off Main St so that's where I headed when I got off the freeway. As it turns out I passed him while I was driving down the street but didn't recognize him, probably because he didn't have his shopping cart with him. He was walking with his dog but I wasn't quite sure it was them at the time. I did find the warehouse and the dumpsters in the back where he told me he lives. These dumpsters aren't the trash dumpsters that I was expecting to find but are instead what we call "roll-offs" and are use to haul away dirt and rocks primarily. There must have been around fifty of them in the lot behind the warehouse. In driving around the small streets in that area I found another homeless man by the name of Andrew Johnson (see picture). He was quite talkative and we must have talked for around thirty minutes or so. He just turned 55 last week and grew up in Watts. When he told me that I said, "Then we're homies." because I grew up a short distance from there (albeit a completely different neighborhood) and at the same time (Andrew is 8 months younger than me). We both had a good laugh over that one. Andrew told me a lot about how the homeless in this area survive. One of the places they depend on is the 7/11 store about a half a mile away. These type stores throw away their packaged sandwiches daily as the expiration date passes. Also, he lives off the trash thrown away at the projects nearby. He even rated the trash from the projects versus a more well-to-do apartment complex a little further down the road. Andrew had around 7 or 8 shopping carts lined up on the street and actually didn't need anything from me. He did confirm that it was Charles I saw walking down the street and told me exactly where in the lot full of dumpsters that Charles lives. I prayed with Andrew before leaving and told him I'd check back with him from time to time. It's not often I meet someone living on the street that doesn't need anything, so I told him that praying with him and leaving with God's blessing on him was more important than any physical items I could leave with him anyway. I needed to remember this later. The morning was off to a good start.
Not too far from Andrew on Mission Rd I saw a make-shift tent/lean-to erected with a homeless man standing next to it. I drove by not really sure of what I saw so I circled back. It turned out there were two men living there and their make-shift 'home' was in the back of a lot which was probably used for trucks to turn around in and cars to park in. Behind them was a chain-link fence and some sort of a salvage yard. These men were both from Cuba and were a little wary of me at first. They were both about 50 years old and had come here in 1979. I thought about what their situation in Cuba might have been in 1979 and what their hopes were in coming to America. Now thirty years later you wonder if they have regrets about coming here. I can't imagine living like this is what they had hoped for.(See picture) However, I probably can't imagine the living conditions that they left behind either. Here were two men in a foreign country not knowing the language and no doubt having to struggle every day just to survive. I was privileged to help them. Food, water, clothing; they were happy to receive anything and I was happy to pray with them before leaving. I've driven past that spot many times before and haven't seen anyone living there. I'm sure they wouldn't be allowed to stay there during the week, but I'll check there for them the next time I go by. Their names were Jesus and Roberto.
I left this northeast section of Los Angles and headed down Alameda towards the I-10. Around the corner from the Jack in the Box I found Charlotte. She is 34 years old and stays in a shelter at night at 38th and Broadway. During the day she doesn't like to stay in the surrounding neighborhood because the people are 'mean' towards the homeless. The people who run the shelter are nice but nobody else around there is. She told me her kids (nine of them!) live in Louisiana because it's too expensive out here. I didn't ask how she had so many being so young. Not too far from Charlotte at 16th and Broadway I found Debra Ann Adams digging through a dumpster. She had her shopping cart and was looking for anything she could use to recycle, wear or eat. She looked to be in her forties and was very thin. Judging from what she was doing when I found her one can only imagine how she survives on the street every day. She was pretty happy to receive the food and water and when I asked her if she would like to look through the trunk of my car for clothes she might need she couldn't believe it. She found a coat that was black, mid-length and kind of looked like fake leather and said, "You're not giving this away are you?" I told her, "Yes, and if you want it, it's yours." I'm sure in her world everything comes with a price and this was something she didn't experience very often--getting something with no strings attached. I prayed with her before leaving and I thought about how her encounter with me was probably something so out of the ordinary that she didn't know what to think. I left her with enough food and water to last her for at least two or three days and with a new blanket and some clothes. My only regret was I forgot to put a Gospel of John booklet in the food bag. I really hope I can find her again sometime and leave one with her.
Not too far from Debra Ann I found Bob sleeping on the sidewalk on Olive Street with a wheel chair next to him. He was in the exact same spot that Dorothy was a couple of months ago. He was asleep when I walked up (see photo) but woke up immediately. He was from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and had been laid off from the his railroad job in 1998. I guess somewhere along the line he was found passed out on the street and when he woke up he had had his leg amputated due to diabetes. They told him he could control the diabetes with diet. He was pretty upset with the whole ordeal as you might imagine. I had brought the bag of food to him when I walked up and asked if he wanted some water. By the time I walked back to him with the water he was opening the can of soup and started eating it. He was very thankful for the help. I was glad to be of help to him and prayed with him, but I knew it wasn't near enough help for this man. Please pray for Bob's needs.
Around the block from Bob I found a woman (I think!) lying on the sidewalk. When I walked up to her she was laying on her side kind of rocking back a forth. She had a blanket over her and that was about all she had. I asked if she needed some food. When she rolled over and looked up at me I wasn't quite prepared for the sight I saw. She was very small and thin with no hair and a knit cap on her head. She was African-American with heavy black eye-liner under her eyes. She was kind of freaky looking. At first she kind of mouthed some words that I couldn't hear or understand and then quickly launched into a litany of problems, mostly health issues in a desparate whisper. I asked her again if she wanted some food or water but she said no and that she only wanted money. I told her I wasn't really set up to give out money and at that point she had no interest in talking to me further. She laid back down closed her eyes and continued rocking. Here was another homeless person I left knowing they needed more help than I could give. The only identity she gave me was that she was married to James Cameron. The only James Cameron that I know of is the movie director. She couldn't possibly mean him could she?
Before leaving downtown I was able to help Jessie who was in an alley on the south side of Washington Blvd near San Pedro Street. Compared to the last few people I saw he was doing great! He was pushing his shopping cart with a smile on his face! Just like any other group of people the homeless encompass a wide spectrum of needs. I don't know about you reading this today, but it took me a while to assimilate today's experiences. There are so many different needs down here. The physical needs are far easier to meet than the emotional ones. I can only pray with them for those needs and let them know God does care about them and point them in His direction. Today reminded me more than ever about three verses Jesus taught at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt.7:24-27). In these verses Jesus talks about two people who build their "houses" (lives), one on Jesus' teachings and the other not on Jesus' teachings. When the wind blows, as it will on everyone (believers and non-believers alike), the believer's "house" will be the one standing in the end. Pray that we can all point people to Jesus, the One who enables us to remain standing in the end. Until next week.--John