July 5th.

Just ending the fifth week there is a lot to look back on and to reflect. I'm not really sure where to start so this post be a little all over the place but it's all my thoughts. On Tuesday, June 30, we did a swap day of all the centers. It's a chance for each of us to get to experience the other centers and to see how they run things. The Gano team, which is my team, went to the Joy Mission Center. I had a lot of fears going into this day because I knew that they do the food pantry different than what I'm used to but I knew somehow I would get through the day. When the people arrive at Joy then sign in and get interviewed. After that we receive two papers, one paper goes with them to the clothing closet where they get five mins to get five things. After that time we have piles of food set up with their other paper which tells them when to come back. They bring their own bags to put their food in. The Gano food pantry does things a little different. We make bags for families of different families. Like there are families of 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10. We hand the bags out the door so they never come in the food pantry. Both ways are efficient and at the end of the day I looked back and saw that God helped me the whole time. He took away all my fears and gave me the strength for the unknown. So that was swap day, I worked in the food pantry at Joy for the morning. 

Stories from my food pantry. 

I met an older guy named David and he normally doesn't come but this week he ran out of money and food and when he was thinking of somewhere he could go he thought of the Mission Centers. I've been thinking a while that it's a priority for me to have quiet time with God and I never said a word about quiet time to David. David thought started sharing with me about the importance of quiet time with God and really having our focus on God. It was like a message from God that it's important to him and for me to just have time with Him not letting anything else interfere. 

Willie Jean- His son was murdered a few months ago and he really seems to be struggling. I told him that I would pray for him. This is very common to this community. It's not just hispanic people that I see everyday but people of every race. Every race searching for something. A love that endures and never ends. 

This next story effected my week and my outlook on things. A guy named Samuel came to the door and his ticket said he was a homeless. I gave him his homeless bag and he went on his way. It was slow and I noticed he just went outside and sat on the sidewalk. I took this as an opportunity. I said hello, you know the normal conversation starters. He then began to tell e his life story. He has 6 children and his 1 yr. old is not allowed to see him. He pulled up his shirt and showed me his scars from stab wounds. I was like whoa this is something I don't need to be handling so I started to go inside and just kept telling him that I would pray for him. He seemed to have a solution to all his problems though and that's when he pointed to a can of beer behind the food pantry door. This is where I started having a problem. You're not parenting your kids because you are too busy being drunk. This brought up so many emotions with my biological father having no place in my life. I realized that there are a lot of feelings that I always put off of dealing with. I realized that there's a lot of things I have to deal with including the process of forgiveness. This isn't a easy road to begin but in the long run it's worth the time. There's no point building up that bitterness when Christ can be your peace. Another thing I learned that in ministry you have to have a fine line between letting your personal things interfere with ministering to people. You can use your experiences to reach out to people but there has to be a line where you don't let your emotions get the best of you. This wasn't a bridge that I would have expected but at the end of the day I realized that God was teaching me. There really is not miraculous end to the story except that I told him that I would pray for him and I will.