Mission Trip...Days 3&4

We had an absolute blast during this week - loving - and giving of ourselves to the community. I have decided to break the week up into 3 sections to blog on as otherwise it would be too long of a post - which I have had problems with in the past...

Wednesday was a light, kind of recovery, day for us. The clinic in the Red Cross conference room ran as usual and we saw floods of people who have been layed off, just got out of prison, got divorced and lost their insurance and needed health care or help with medicines and help connecting with the resources in the community. Over and over and over again we heard people who were confused about whether we were some governmental agency, or with the Red Cross, or what, and when we explained that we were just people from their own town, taking time off from work and life to care for them - no charge and no agenda but to care about and love them, we saw hardened faces soften, sometimes to tears - that this kind of love existed in the world. One man even insisted that we allow him to pay in some way and another that we must want something, that nobody wants nothing and Nicole explained that we were just there to care about him - it took a while, but he began to understand that we were truly there to love him - revolutionary! Each day, we felt more and more that this is some kind of life changing, town changing, world changing force that we were dealing with - not just a cutesy-tootsy idea to have fun and give some time - it was awe-inspiring at times.

Sadly, even in the setting of us giving our time and energy to help people, we had increasing amounts of people each day who were there to abuse us for their narcotics habits, trying to get us to prescribe them certain things that they wanted, sometimes being downright nasty to us if we did not provide them with what they wanted. I must explain - having been practicing in Lafayette for 9 years now - that this is very common and does not feel nearly so hurtful to me as it once did (and I understand better than ever that those who are doing it are often so hurt and messed up inside that I actually have hurt in my heart for them and their situations way more than I used to) - but in this setting where I exposed myself to care freely for anyone, for those who cannot get any care, this seemed like an extra insult to me and to those who waited in line behind them for help with their blood pressure, diabetes, etc - some of them having had problems for years without any health care. I felt very taken advantage of...hurt.

Wednesday for the "Basic Needs" help was a day of rest and recovery - we worked on our plans for Thursday (clothing) and Friday (food). In the evening, we were up until after midnight putting together the sign up sheets, batting around thoughts about the whole thing, and trying to prayerfully decide what would be the best way to do the next 2 days. We decided, after having worked a couple days within the "Basic Needs" system in Lafayette - that there were very many places to get food and clothing in our community - food for almost nothing and clothing for nothing or very inexpensively. We began to feel like we needed to do more than just give people a pair of shoes or some clothes or food, we needed to make them aware of the places in their own town who were available year round to help them with their "Basic Needs." So, with some help from the wonderful people at Lafayette Transitional Housing, we put together lists of these places to give out to each person coming to get help on Thursday and Friday.


Thursday dawned and as we rushed to make it on time for the preparation of the breakfast - Biscuits and Gravy (70 biscuits and 2 huge pots of gravy) and 4 dozen cheesy scrambled eggs, we arrived at the Howarth Center to find a line, already formed, to get some clothing. In fact, we learned that people had been there since 4AM! We had local firefighters come and talk about safety in the morning to the people standing in line and in the afternoon we had Rebecca, our guest nutritionist, come and talk about healthy diets (She was also there on Tuesday - thanks Rebecca and Kevin !). The clinic went on as usual (I told everyone I had the easiest job of the week - same as what I do everyday) and at 9:30 AM began the craziness of having people sign up for clothing. Each family could choose 2 new things from a list. They filed through slowly as the wonderful people from More than more greeted them, gently expressed our care for them and helped them get signed up to give them something new for their family.



We were somewhat surprised and hurt as we saw that there were some who complained during each day, it seemed, that what they wanted was not on the list, or they did not like the way it was being done. There were some families who, we were told, sent in multiple members to get more than the "2" to be given to them and even some talking about how they were going to take them back to the store and get cash. We even heard that there was some fighting in the line as folks waited to receive our love, in the form of clothing, and that the Police had to be called once. This may have been the hardest part of the week for many of us - faced with the inability to meet all the needs presented to us, we were giving our own money, our own time, energy, passion...our own hearts and souls. Yet, like the nasty drug seeker in the free clinic, we were being taken advantage of, hurt, beaten down...our exposed souls were smashed under the weight of greed and manipulation. We wept silently at home and prayed that we would gain new strength.


Then we began to realize that as we loved unconditionally, in order to help those that no one else was helping, we were helping them - but in doing it, we were giving permission to those who chose to hurt and abuse to hurt us - with no defences against them, we simply felt the pain and focused our energy on those who we were helping, only to lick our wounds later. We realized that as we helped some peoples' lives to be transformed by the wonder and goodness of God, we were paying a price of betrayal by others. Then, like tidal waves it began to hit us that this is Jesus' way. He loved without condition, only to be beaten, betrayed, hurt, even killed. He gave permission to those He was loving to hurt Him, because He chose for His love to be bigger than their greed and anger and hate. We realized a little more than we ever have how amazing His pain must have been...and how amazing His love. Then, in a really strange way, we began to relish the pain - not because we liked it - but because we realized that the pain was actually the only way we would ever reach those who needed us the most - and it was worth it...and because we identified ourselves in an entirely new way with the most glorious lover of all time, Jesus. We also decided that this kind of Community Outreach probably wouldn't be very sustainable for long if there was not God-given love at the heart of it - no matter how good thinking the ideas are, no matter how kind the person. If they do not understand this kind of heartaching love, that is so willing to be hurt, they cannot possibly sustain their care with the same kind of intensity and passion that it began - they will invariably become jaded and cynical and thick-skinned - which is why so many who invest in this type of work "burn out." But with the love of God deeply soaking us, we were actually excited about the rest of the week, praying that we would focus on the wonder, not the hurt.

I need to pause here and let you know something about More than more. We are honest. I have lived a lifetime around Christians who have acted their way through life. Always smiling, painted on the smile, inside dying sometimes. Read through the year's worth of blog entries on this site and you will quickly find that we deal with life realistically - we are not fake. We realize that no life is without its problems - even life following after God - we just see life following Him as a much better alternative to what the rest of the world does - the only way to find ultimate meaning, purpose, fun, fulfillment and joy.


Well, the middle of the day was spent taking the lists, each separated by family, to WalMart, where their workers were waiting to put together the orders, then to have our wonderful group members come in their vans, load up, pay and then head back to Howarth Center to give out the clothes - people were again gathered, waiting for their new clothing, at least an hour before we were to begin. Then, one by one, they approached the tables gave their name and were presented with our best gift of love - wonderful new clothes for folks some of which may have rarely, if ever, had anything to wear that was new. The looks on their faces were priceless and the wonder of God's love was everywhere. This was a picture of God's love - the type shown in the life of Jesus.

After the clothing was claimed and the volunteers were exhausted, we all gathered back at Lafayette Transitional Housing for dinner. Our cooks (also seemingly tireless wonderful, loving people from More than more) had food waiting for us - something different each night, as we shared a meal with the folks there. We ended each night with a time of decompression and discussion and headed for home (a place I'm not sure I ever appreciated so much ever before).