Day Trip Mission

Saturday was awesome. A few of us from His House traveled to Detroit, and spent the day interacting with the homeless population there, offering them food and clothing, as well as prayers and encouragement.

We went there in a capacity to offer them comfort and a helping hand, but ultimately they ended up teaching us some valuable lessons to. It really was an eye opening experience, because it put a face to the blight of homelessness. It made the issue more personal. Being there and in the moment made the issue clearer I think.

It became less of an abstraction and more of a rooted reality at least in my mind.

When you consider homelessness you understand it logically as being a horrible circumstance, but when actually confronted with the reality of it you come to realize how much we really have and how often we take it all for granted.

It puts our struggles into perspective.

We first met at the mission that we were working through with the group that had come from Central, and once we had all met up there we caravanned to Comerica Park. As we were making our way there, at one of the corners we were driving by there was a homeless woman standing on a corner.

It was amazing to watch the group in the car ahead of us hop out and give her one of the bags that had been brought to hand out. Her face lit up, she was so happy to get that bag. It was really beyond words, and most definitely the perfect way to get started.

Once we met up by Comerica Park, we got into a circle and prayed together before splitting into smaller groups. With maps in hand we split up, and began to comb the streets of downtown Detroit.

We were there to pray for them, and yet the first group that we spoke with wanted to pray for us. They were so appreciative of the fact that not only were we there to provide them with what resources that we could, but also that we were willing to acknowledge them. We took the time to speak with them, and lend them our ears.

The first group was a fairly large one, and so we left the majority of our bags with them. We then walked some more, and met with a woman who we offered a few sandwiches and some water. She wasn’t interested in being prayed for, but we were more than happy to be helpful in what ways we could.

Our last bag we gave to a man as he was riding by on his bike. Unfortunately we weren’t able to speak much with him because we were standing in the middle of the street.

Once we had handed out all of our bags we met back up with the other half of the MSU group as well as the few from CMU that had been out with them. From there we went and got something to eat, and were able to talk and watch a portion of the MSU v. Penn State game that had just started.

It was going on four thirty or so when we started back to the parking lot to meet up with everyone else and get ready to leave. The walk back was really amazing. We were making our way back, and had one bag left among us, and a man from across the street called out to ask if he could have the bag.

So he came over and we gave him the bag, and then a few more people came over and though we didn’t have any more bags a few people in the group had just enough leftovers to provide for them.

Then one of the men came over and said that he had heard that we were offering to pray for them and he would like us to pray for him, so we all got in a circle and joined hands to pray for him and a second man that came over to be prayed for.

It was just really touching to be able to be there and see what a difference it made in their lives for us just to be willing to be there and speak with them. You really get a sense of how often people walk by and don’t think about it, they are so caught up in their own world that they aren’t aware of the suffering of those around them.

It was eye opening, and most definitely something that I think I’d like to be a part of in the future. This is the kind of issue that I want to be able to champion and make people aware of. I think I’m starting to get a greater sense of what exactly it is I need to do with this education that I am pursuing.

Opportunities

I went and covered a lecture given by Karl Gude tonight for the SpartanEdge. I’ll set to writing the actual story tomorrow afternoon. I probably could have done it tonight, but my intention was to get some reading for class caught up.

Notice I say that was my intention… I let myself get a little distracted with the Internet. As helpful as the Internet can be at times, sometimes it is imperative to disconnect in order to get things accomplished.

I’ll get the reading that I need to do done; it’s just a matter of timing. I need to sit down with the intent to finish it, and then follow through on those intentions. It’ll happen, just not right this moment.

For the moment I can live with that reality. It’s my only option. Momentarily.

I’m considering going to Mexico for spring break. To phrase it differently, I would really like to go, but I need to discuss it with my dad. In general I am an adult, I can do as I please, but I feel like this is something that I need to get my parents used to.

It’s not just an idol visit to Mexico though. I’d be going with the group from His House, and we’d be building a house for people who don’t have one. It would be really similar to the mission trips that I went on in middle school, and in general it just sounds awesome.

It sounds like a worthwhile way to spend spring break, and I have said that I want to start getting into more volunteer work. Like I said, I’ve just got to approach my dad about it. I know he worries, and I’m not saying that he doesn’t have the right to, but the opportunity here… It would be an amazing opportunity, I guess that’s what I’m saying.

Bean Bag Toss

Tonight was really fun. I went to a local elementary school and helped out with a kind of carnival that they were holding for their students in the schools gym. They had different games set up, and the kids would 'pay' with a read ticket to play the game, and then win white tickets in exchange for how well they did in the particular game.

Andy and I were manning the bean bag toss. It was really fun to get the opportunity to work with kids again. I haven't really done a lot of volunteer work since high school, and really I've missed it. There truly is something relaxing about donating a portion of your time to someone else. Volunteering is both something that you do for someone else, but also for yourself and for the feeling that you walk away with.

Another awesome thing about today is that I am caught up in all of my classes. Even just last week I felt like I was drowning in school work, and just so far behind but at the moment that's not an issue and that is an amazing feeling. I love being caught up with everything. It's just too stressful the other way around.

Documentary Night

For the first time in a while I feel like I've managed to get caught up with all of my school related reading. It's really nice to feel like you're ahead of the game, instead of continually behind. I have a few more sections of USA Today to read tonight and then I need to review the AP Stylebook and then I'm done for the night. That is a really nice feeling.

It was muggy outside the majority of the day, which made walking to and from class uncomfortable. I'm glad I had long sleeves though because it seemed like every single one of my classes was freezing.

After class I came back to my dorm and did some cleaning. The sink in the bathroom was getting pretty gross honestly.

Tomorrow I'm planning to Volunteer at a sort of local Elementary school. They're having a "Curriculum Carnival", so that should be interesting. Tomorrow afternoon I have to make a call and confirm that I can get a ride there and back.

This evening though was really interesting. I went to the 'premiere' of a documentary that was produced by a couple professor's from MSU. The name of the documentary is "Arabs, Jews, and The News". The website for the film can be found here: http://www.arabsjewsnews.org/ . After they played the documentary they had a panel with several of the 'commentators'. It was really interesting to listen to.

Something that really interested me about what was said, was the commentary on the media and the way that they have looked at issues currently taking place in the middle east. I do think that the media often gets hung up on portraying situations in particular ways and failing in many ways to be truly objective. What I mean when I say that is they fail to take an issue and look at it from new perspectives.

For example one of the men on the panel was Nolan Finley from The Detroit News. He talked about covering the rallies that took place in Dearborn. He felt that it was very important to cover the fact that there were people there who supported Hezbollah and equated Jews with the Nazi's. Now, perhaps it is a fact that that was taking place as the photographs confirm, but if reports from several people who were there are true those who were doing so were the minority. In fact, it has been said that those who were holding these signs were asked to discard them by others at the event. This could easily have been the focus of an article, rather than merely the fact that those individuals were there.

Sometimes it's about looking for the less obvious angle...

Volunteer, Get Involved

I used to volunteer all the time when I was in high school and a member of the National Honor Society. Prior to my involvement with that group, I went on mission trips with the church that I attended up until my freshman year of high school.

My point here is that I used to volunteer all of the time, and it’s something that I miss. The thing about volunteering is that it is something that you can do for other people, and therefore put them before one’s self. Sometimes it’s important to take a step back from your own thoughts and the situations that are nagging at you and give back to the community.

It’s easy to get caught up in our troubles, and fears, and worries to the point that they consume us. Volunteering is a way to divert this energy and take a moment to think about people and situation beyond one’s self.

My goal this summer is going to be to look for more opportunities to volunteer and regain some of that perspective that I feel as though I have lost in the last two years. I need to stop worrying so much about what the future holds and take a moment to consider the present.