Today we started early at the missions, serving food to the homeless and the needy of LA. It was nice to be able to use the skills acquired from working in the kitchens at Hume Lake and feel appreciated for it, but most importantly to see the results of our work and showing Christ through service. We then moved on to having intentional conversations with people on the streets of LA, then also in The Grove shopping center.
My (Russell Woo) favorite experience of the day took place in The Grove. While walking around with my ministry partner Kapri, we had just finished a conversation and were trying to decide what to do next. We were standing in a small plaza where there were three little kiosks. In front of one kiosk was a woman with her daughter buying some ice cream. Without a second thought, I walked over and asked if I could pay for their ice cream; confused and noticeably uncomfortable, the mom said okay. When she asked me why I wanted to pay, I was scared to tell her that God compelled me to; so instead I simply told her that I wanted to. I paid for them and had a brief conversation about how they were from Bakersfield and down in Los Angles for a doctors appointment. We parted ways on an odd note and I felt very convicted that I didn’t tell her that it was God who pushed me to pay for her and her daughter. I told this to Kapri who simply replied with, “Go tell her.” So we walked briskly behind the mom and daughter for about 50 yards. We caught up to them and I got their attention. I told her that I felt bad for not sharing the truth; that it was more than me just wanting to pay for them. I told her that God compelled me to. She was still confused, but I was encouraged when she told us that she was a Christian as well. Kapri asked her if she needed prayer for anything. The mom asked us to pray for her family’s health issues. After praying over her I told her that it was awesome to prayer for and encourage another Christ follower. Her reply was simple, “These two conversations make way more sense.” It is amazing to see how God has planned our interactions with people and how he uses us to bless those around us.
My (Sam Newnes) favorite experience was getting the pleasure of talking to DJ, a homeless man that I met moments after he had woken up in the morning on a bus stop bench. I gave him a water bottle and he gestured for me to sit down and talk to him as he put away the blunt he was about to smoke in order to have clarity in the conversation. We talked about his future dreams and plans of how he wanted to be an electrician, but first needed to get his ID and Social Security that he didn’t have the money to get. Then we started talking about prison, which he had been locked up in for quite some time. Then we somehow got to the topic of his faith in Islam. We talked about it over lunch I bought for him. Both Madison and myself were intrigued to hear about his faith and why he believed it. He was intrigued in Islam because of the peace, love, and fellowship that is taught in it. Everything he had described in Islam that he saw as truth very much paralleled to the truths I have learned from Christ. I was able to share the Gospel with him from the point of view of Islam. We discussed the difference between Islam and Christianity and how Christianity was about grace and a personal relationship with God. After talking to him I have no doubt in my mind that he knows the same God that I do, but he did not have a personal relationship with Christ and he did not know if he had ever truly had God talk to him. We then later pointed him towards the mission where he could possibly join a rehabilitation program so that he could get a job and have fellowship with others, which were two things he was looking for, so that he could get his ID and become an electrician. So it would be awesome if you could be praying for DJ, that he would find one of those programs and follow through with it, most importantly for the purpose of him being surrounded by Christ followers so that he could see the fulfillment that comes through Christ and have a personal relationship with God.
LA 2017 – Tuesday from Joshua Wilderness Institute on Vimeo.