Week Eight: What Happens in Vegas

We got to Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day and went to Mary and Frank Bundra’s house, our hosts for the week.  They have an efficiency apartment in their back yard, and we each have our own bed. (It's the little things you learn to appreciate along the way!)   It’s pretty neat how we found our host family here in Las Vegas.  I don’t know if you remember Pastor Brian Wicks in our San Antonio story? He told us about his friends in Las Vegas, and said he'd try to set us up to stay with them while we were here in Las Vegas! Well, this is them!  They are such an awesome Christian family.  They have eight children (yep, eight children!)  and have been married almost 30 years.  

Once we got settled in our apartment, we headed out to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission.  I'd been speaking with their volunteer coordinator, Shannon, for a few days, and she'd signed us up to serve for three nights while we were there.  When we arrived, we met Ted, the man in charge of the kitchen volunteers, (also homeless and in the program there at the Mission) and Matt (you remember Matt from "Finding Sobriety and Jesus in Las Vegas.") They put us right to work on the food line, and I have to tell you, the food the mission staff cooked was really impressive!

We loved serving at the mission and asked how we could sign up for more nights! After the first night, I was asked to be the Prayer Chaplain while we were there, so each night I prayed, and Kathy served in the food line, roles we were both familiar with, and roles we both loved.  I was so blessed to pray over so many men there at the mission.  You would think that I would grow hard to their stories, they are all such familiar tales of alcohol and loss and devastation, but with each new person I meet, their story impacts me in a new way.  I think maybe that's a gift from the Holy Spirit. I think they need the freshness that comes with my emotion and compassion for them and their story.

One night in particular I prayed for 3 men who had particularly difficult stories.  We prayed hard for their needs, for habits to be broken, for life change.  As Kathy and I arrived one night, the three of them hollered at me (that's Texan for "they called my name.")  God had moved in their lives, and they were anxious to tell me about it!  All three of them had gotten jobs!  Praise Jesus.  One of them had gotten a job as a plumber making $20 an hour!  They wanted to credit me with the glory of that, but I told them very quickly that the power of prayer comes from Jesus, not from me.  I'm just a woman obediently living out God's will.

We did spend one day outside of the mission, serving the homeless on the streets.  Sometimes I think I should be a little intimidated by the things that happen on the street, but either I don't have enough sense to be scared, or the Lord is making me bold.  (I'm gonna choose the latter!)  As we arrived on the streets, a group of homeless people surrounded our car.  We had snacks to hand out, and even had a couple of new suitcases to give away.  

Lester with his new suitcase.  He was so happy to have it!

As we got out of the car, a group of about 6 people made a circle and prayed with us. This isn't really that uncommon out here.  In the "real" world, you would not walk up to a group of people and just start praying.  But out on the street, this is pretty commonplace.  Sometimes I wonder if it's because these people are at the end of their ropes and know that prayer and Jesus is what they need?  Maybe there is a lesson for us to learn there.

Anyway, one man in particular asked if he could pray for us.  He prayed 1 Corinthians 3:16 over us.  "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that His Holy Spirit dwells in you?" At the time, while it was nice, it did not seem that significant.  But then on Sunday, when we attended church with our hosts, the Pastor preached about this very verse.  Things like that are not lost on me.  

We continued to serve at the Mission until Wednesday night. We said good-bye to our new friends and our hosts, and we hit the road toward Los Angeles.  Maybe it seems silly to you that I would say this, but each time we say good-bye, I feel like I am leaving a small piece of my heart behind.  I fall in love with these people, with our hosts, the homeless men and women we meet, and those working and living at the missions.  If I'm honest, sometimes I feel a little bit like I am abandoning them.

Across the street from the Las Vegas Rescue Mission

But we must continue on the road.  As a friend reminded me the other day, Jesus left cities where there was still much work to be done.  He left because God had work for Him in other cities.  And God has work for us down the road.  

We continue to covet your prayers and are thankful for those of you who continue to provide for us on the journey.  If the Lord so leads you to help, you may do so by following this link.

Blessings to you all!

Sammie

Finding Jesus and Sobriety in Las Vegas - Matthew's Story

Matthew Smith is from Chicago originally, born and raised.  He moved to the West Coast when he was a young man because he wanted to take care of his aging grandparents.  He had every intention of moving back “home” when he got older,  but he met a woman he thought was his true love and was married for 22 years.  When I asked him how he got to the streets, he said, “Simple version? I drank.”

Matthew started drinking when he was seven years old.  When he was a little boy, his grandfather took him to Wrigley Field to watch a baseball game.  He was crying because they were by a brick wall and he couldn’t see, so his grandfather stuck a beer under his seat and told him “just don’t tell your grandmother.”  Years later he realized that drinking and his terrible addiction was in his genes.  Sometimes it’s haunting that he remembers so clearly the very first day that he drank and got drunk, at the age of seven.

When Matthew was in high school, he drank socially, though he said that was a bizarre term for drinking.  His “social” drinking didn’t have an off switch.  He drank all the time.  Soon, his addictive behavior began to manifest itself in overeating, and he gained a lot of weight.  Though he still drank every day, he didn’t drink as much because he’d found comfort in food.  By 2004, and well into his adult life, he weighed over 300 pounds.  Matthew was very fortunate to be able to have gastric bypass surgery, allowing him to lose over 100 pounds in just 30 days.

And while that might seem like a silver lining story, it isn’t.  Matthew’s overeating caused his health problem, but remember, his overeating was just another form of addiction.  And now that he couldn’t eat much at each meal, he started drinking again.  He justified it by having a glass of wine so his food could “digest better.”  But he knew it was just an excuse.  Soon he was drinking  a gallon to a gallon and a half of vodka every day.   He wanted so desperately to stop, but he couldn’t.

Matthew’s wife and family stuck with him for 5 years, took him to AA, counseling and whatever else he needed to get him help.  They lived in Ventura County, had a beautiful home, cars, and he even owned his own business.  His slope from surgery to complete and utter destruction was just over 6 years.  But as he tells the story, he held it together pretty well for a long time, claiming that it didn’t take him years to lose everything (like most of the other guys at the mission), but that he lost it all in just 6 months.  Of course, that is what most alcoholics think.  That their life just “suddenly” spiraled out of control.  But for those living with the addict, they know that’s not the case.

Soon Matthew reached a place where he just couldn’t function any more.  He stopped going to work and was fired by all his clients.  Eventually he wound up in a mission in Ventura County telling them he just couldn’t do this anymore.  He’d had a glimpse of what sobriety would look like and what it was going to take for him to do it and what it was going to mean for him to have that change in his life, and that’s where he found Jesus Christ.

Matthew was raised Polish Catholic.  He thought he was a Christian, but the only God he knew was an angry and punishing God, the God of the Old Testament, full of fire and brimstone. His father, an abusive man, didn’t “spoil the rod” as Matthew said.  So Matthew often found respite at the Catholic Church and with the priests there.  At one point in his life, he even thought he might become a priest.  But then he fell in love and got married, outside the Catholic Church because his new wife had been divorced.  He gained a wife, but lost the one connection he had to God.

Matthew’s relationship with God was off and on for so many years, as was his relationship with alcohol.  He told me a story of once when he had drank so much he was in a mental institution but they kicked him out.  He said he’s the only person he knows of that’s ever gotten evicted out of a mental hospital! That’s how Matthew found the mission, and how he discovered a different God than the one he knew as a boy in the Catholic Church.  This God was a God of love.  Someone quoted Romans 10:13 to him, which says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  And he knew at that moment, they were talking to him. 

Matthew stayed at the mission for 6 months, got sober, and his life was miraculously restored to him.  His wife, his family, his grandchildren.  Everything.  He was walking baby steps with God.  He got baptized, was attending Saddleback Church, tithing, the whole works, but he knew deep in his heart he was just going through the motions like he’d done as a boy in the Catholic Church. Once outside the protected environment of the mission, Matthew realized that the outside world hadn’t stopped.  His family didn’t have a chance to be in neutral for a while and get reset.  It was thrust into drive at lightening speed, and he was in the driver’s seat.  He wasn’t prepared for the responsibility yet, but he felt like he could do it on his own, that he didn’t need help, including help from Christ.

For 6 months, he held it together, but soon he started drinking again, and before long, he had lost everything. Again.  In desperation, he cried out to God to let him die.  But he lived, a fact that probably made him even more angry at God.  He knew that God loved him, but he just couldn’t see how this God could love him and forgive him for all that he had done in his years of drinking.  So he just kept running from God and toward alcohol.

When asked “What happened to make you do your total surrender to God?”  He smiled and said, “Sometimes, God puts us on our back so we can look up.”  He’d been drunk for almost three weeks, just existing; him, his alcohol, nothing more.  Even when he went out to buy his alcohol, the woman at the store knew what he wanted, would set it on the counter, and he’d pay for it and leave.  No words exchanged.

He was very drunk one night and could hardly stand and get his clothes on, but he got dressed and went out to get more booze.  He hit the top stair and fell down 12 stairs, broke out all his teeth and woke up in a pool of his own blood.  First thing he did was look up.  Lying there in his own blood he said “Lord, help. Please help me, tell me what to do, guide me, I’m done with my own will. I’m done trying, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and I need your help.” 

The rest of that is pretty much a blur. That was the 20^th of September, 2012.  He went back upstairs and got the first decent sleep he’d had in months.  Eventually he checked into a hospital, suffered through the “DT’s”, every day asking God to help him and show him where to go.  Matthew said, “When you’re really looking for the Holy Spirit to lead you, He will. It is very clear what you need to do.”  He remembered the mission when he’d been in California, so he went to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, trying to let the Word lead him instead of him leading his own life.  “Only after I’d ruined everything in my own life, was I finally able to see what He wanted me to do in my life.”  (Such a common story among the homeless who are addicts.) Being homeless and being a drunk was the result of a lifetime of poor choices, a lifetime of addiction. But  with his last $5 he put everything he owned in a trash bag, got a bus pass, and made it to Las Vegas Rescue Mission. 

He doesn’t remember much about the trip to the mission, but when he got there, they told him to stand in line and they’d see if they could get him a bed.  He was the 4^th person in line that night, and there were 4 open beds.  He knew God wanted him to be there.  He trusted that.  And even though he couldn’t get into the program right away (he was begging; but honestly, they hear that all the time there and they have to be so careful to give those spots to people who are truly ready to change their lives!), he was accepted into the program.  September 23, 2012.  The day he says that God performed a miracle in his life.  He said, “I am sober, and it’s all because of Jesus Christ.  He saved me from the wreckage of my life.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I talked to him and said, “But God wasn’t finished with you yet, was he?”

Matthew smiled and said, “Sammie, I wanted to serve others, so I volunteered to serve in the kitchen.  I had some restaurant experience, and I knew I needed to be busy.  I didn’t plan on leading anything, BUT GOD had other plans.  First I was the cook, then the shift coordinator, and now I am the kitchen supervisor for the swing shift. Every day I get to serve and talk to the very same guys I was on the street with.  I get to ask them, ‘Are you tired yet?  Are you tired of living in the middle of your mess?  Are you really tired yet?’”

“It’s a miracle that God is giving me this chance to serve the people who are like I used to be.  He’s going to use me to help those people.  That’s why he brought me here.  That’s why He saved me; to offer others hope that they can change too.”

That’s what is so incredible about missions like Las Vegas Rescue Mission.  They are lighthouse of hope.  A place where God works in the lives of forgotten people, people like Matthew Smith.

Here is a picture of Matthew.  I intentionally did not put it at the top of this post, because I wanted you to formulate in your mind's eye, a picture of what you thought Matthew would look like.  Does this picture match the one in your mind?  If you are like most people, it's nowhere close.  For each of us, we have this picture of a what a homeless, skid row, drunken, broke down man looks like, and this isn't it.  It should prove to you that you cannot judge the face of homelessness.

Matthew, we pray God's richest blessing over you and pray for your continued sobriety.

Sammie

Week Six - San Diego - The Short Version

There is so much I want to tell you all about San Diego, CA, but between technical difficulties and a very busy schedule, we are much delayed in getting our stories out.  So I’m going to tell you a brief story from San Diego, and the rest you’re just going to have to read about in the book!

Our mission on this journey is to bring hope to and raise awareness for the homeless in our nation.  We truly never know from city to city how that is going to play out.  While in San Diego, we watched as God raised that awareness in the hearts of some very lovely people.

I want to tell you all about Chuck and Joanene Falk, our hosts in San Diego, and how we got connected to them. They were such a blessing to us in so many ways.  I know I have written that this journey, while amazing, is sometimes lonely, incredibly sad, and causes Kathy and I both to be so emotional.  The treatment we received at the hands of the Falks was nothing short of God-sent.  Here is their story.

As we got to San Diego, we went to a little suburb named La Mesa.  We had posted on Facebook that we needed a place to stay in San Diego, and a friend responded that she was going to help us find a place.  Her lead did not work out, but that lead said their friend would take us in. Talk about a crazy circle of events!  But what a blessing that was!  We knew we would like the Falks before we got there because they had called a couple of times to check on our progress and to let us know they were praying for our safety.  We got to their home that afternoon, and we were greeted by a wonderful Christian couple.  They helped us unload and get all set up in our rooms.  (Each of us had our own bedroom and bath. Talk about SPOILED!)  They live in a beautiful home in the hills with a gorgeous view of San Diego, a far cry from my tool shed for sure. J 

Dinner Party with our Host Family!

The night we arrived, they gave a dinner party in our honor.  They even gave us special scripture plates to eat from.  Their invited guests were Janny, Julie, Niles, Barbara and Suan.  We had a wonderful potluck meal and awesome conversation.  As a surprise, Joanene had prepared a pumpkin cake complete with candles and “Happiness Is Loving Jesus” written on top.  

We sang “This Little Light of Mine” and then blew out the candles.  It was so amazing.  Such a small gesture, but it meant so much to us.

Of course, everyone wanted to hear about two crazy old ladies traveling the country ministering to homeless people. And while we were happy to share our story with them, we were very intrigued about what some of them were doing, as well.  Niles and Barb have a ministry The Frances Kitchen Project, Inc.  They started it by going to Tijuana to build a kitchen for a lady named Frances who had a ministry cooking for the homeless and needy in the dumps.  As you all know me – I was SO excited since I’d cooked for the homeless and ministered to them for many years. 

They also go to a place called The Dump.  It is an actual dump where everyone throws away all their waste, even hazardous waste.  I saw a picture of it, and it was disgusting.  Men, women and children living underneath other people’s garbage to keep warm.  Nile’s and Barb’s ministry, aided by their church friends of which Chuck was one, just put up a very large surplus army tent with garage doors surrounding to be used as a church.  The preacher at this church is from San Diego, and he goes there every week, stays a few days, and has church every Sunday.  They also have taken a few tents to put up for people to sleep in.  (Side note:  When we were in Fort Worth, someone donated a tent to each of us . . .Thank the Lord we haven't had to use them! . . .but with the stories we heard, we wanted to give our tents to these people to help those families get out of the cold and rain!  If you are the Fort Worth people who gave us these tents, the Lord used you all the way over here in San Diego!)

Now, back to the Falks.  A little background info about them.  They have opened their home for 30 years for foreign students to come and stay while they go to school.  Their split level home has a stairway “hall of fame” with pictures of all the students and gifts the students had given them from their homelands.  (One of their current students, Janny, was at the dinner party as was  8 year old Suna.  Suna’s mom is a past student that lived with the Falks, and the Falks watch Suna a couple of days a week while her mom works.)  Like I said, great people!

While we were there, the Lord just really impressed upon the Falks that they were going to start working with the homeless!  We had a question and answer session one night, talking about how to get started, what to do, who to talk to, all that.  As we prepared to leave, we thanked Chuck and Joanene.  But Chuck said “No, thank you, you have been a blessing to us. You've inspired us to go and do something for the homeless here.”   We thank God for putting us with such wonderful people.  What a great week!

(And don't forget!  You can read all the amazing San Diego stories in the book when it comes out next year!)

Sammie