Listening, by Kyle

My housemate Robert and I were heading to West Hollywood to check out a free movie that I won through a contest. As we were getting there, Robert was telling me about his job on PATH’s homeless outreach team.  They offer rides to a hospital if someone is hurt, offer advice, give a bag of food, and let the homeless know that PATH is willing to help them with a 2nd chance at life.   Robert brought up something I never thought about.  A lot of homeless have lost their self-esteem or lack the courage to seek a job. Why?  What if you’d been out on the street for months, or years, and people stare at you as they walk by, never talk to you, and just ignore you.  You may feel hopeless and think that if you tried to get a job, that boss would ignore you just like the people on the street.   So, one of the things the outreach team does is to meet the homeless and start a conversation with them.  The outreach team tries to see the same homeless people a few times every month so that those people know they aren’t forgotten.  That may help their hearts to heal, become stronger, and realize that not everybody is the same.  LA is a big city and it’s our job not only to help the homeless but spread the word about what we offer to help even more homeless with a 2nd chance at life.

From Kyle's blog: You Will Never Go Where God is Not

Emotional Kaleidoscope, by Wendy

This week's blog entry comes from Dweller Wendy, (pictured below on the left, with City Director Matthew and fellow Dweller Kenna), who's complete blog can be found athttp://roadsidetamales.blogspot.com/

I have a definite case of the warm and fuzzies and yet all I want to do at the moment is curl up and cry. I am overjoyed and overwhelmed and so confused by the sudden and intense alternating highs and lows here.

The week is over, the weekend has arrived, and as I suddently have the time to stop about what has happened in the past two weeks (last weekend I didn't have a chance to stop and breathe) all the emotions are crashing upon me simultaneously.

First and foremost, our house has felt the pain of another family loss. Kenna is back in Arizona for over a week and we have all felt the grief and the love that spills from her heart this week.

We have come together in prayer as a household to lift her up and her family - which is a joy because in the midst of this tragedy, our house feels more like a home than it has so far . . . I don't know how I feel in the midst of all of it. I am dismayed by the intensity of my own sense of loss.

This past weekend we went as a house to a seminar as a house, one on the Song of Solomon. Granted, none of us are getting ready to enter into a marital relationship, but this was another chance for us to all worship together, of which we have taken very few. This also was a joy, and we spent the day with Matthew and Darcie and Charlotte as well - it was so incredible to hear their take as well!

On outreach on Wednesday we dealt with one of our problem clients - I say problem client not because he is so bad in himself, but when we first brought him in there was some miscommunication and he did not have a TB test. Before we even got a chance to get it taken care of, he ended up back in Cedars Sinai hospital. On Monday he was discharged, but the bed that we had for him was no longer available - and nobody was working because it was President's Day . . . so we had to tell him that we couldn't still take him in.

This Wednesday I played cello in the Ash Wednesday service - which came off quite nicely, but required a good amount of preparation . . .

. . . and on Wednesday I left work at 9am to spend the day with Kenna up until her flight home. The service was quite emotional for me.

Afterward I recorded some things (don't tell Dad (: It's a surprise . . . actually I think I told him last night).

Thursday . . . was a long day. And then came today. Today we did data entry at the office until around 2pm and then took one of our clients who finally moving into his own home grocery shopping and then to his apartment. The furniture is set up already and he has all of his linens and his pots and pans . . . I am soo soo happy to see this finally happening. It has been almost 5 months since he finally agreed to come into shelter. It has been over a year since he began the process of getting a section 8 apartment. This is his first home as I understand it in 13 years. He is 68 and in so many ways reminds me of my own dad. It will be weird not seeing him around the shelter. My only hope is that he finds a way and a reason to stay active.

And then when we got back to the shelter, there were the girl scout cookies that I ordered *finally*

I am just so tired after all of it. I don't really want to take a nap, but I don't particularly want to stay up either.

My time here has been amazing beyond all of my expectations and I have no doubt that it will take me years to understand all of the things that I have seen here so far. As I was riding my bike home tonight, I couldn't help but think back to the first Tuesday here, I think it was our second day overall? When the tamale man raised his voice in our alleyway, that is when I realized that this place really was different from Kansas.

On the way home there is always a fruit vendor with mangoes and strawberries on the street corner by a couple of schools and along the streets there is always someone selling chips and ice cream from a push cart and in the large white box trucks that seem to live in our neighborhood there is always fresh produce.

Sometimes I forget that this place isn't the one that I grew up in. It is so easy to become accustomed to the sights and sounds around us and almost become comfortable. This week there have been reminders of the discomforts in this neighborhood as well. I have about three posts worth of things in my mind that could use sharing.

Truly this neighborhood is ministering to us as much as we are to it, if not infinitely more. I have so much to learn here, if I remember half of it, it will all have been worth it.

Abundant Life

                                   

"I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." -John 10:10, The Message

I'm writing a day early so as not to write on Good Friday.

This week, DOOR Hollywood hosted 47 high school, college, and adult missionaries to serve the community of Los Angeles.  Sent out in seven teams each day, they packed, delivered, and served thousands of meals; they helped to maintain and clean some of the busiest shelters in the city; they played with children at transitional housing centers; they helped some agencies with fundraising mailings and others with gardening; they helped move along the progress of our DOOR Community house garden (amen!); and they spent some serious time reaching out to folks living on the streets.  We prayed that they might see the face of God here in Hollywood and feel a piece of that "real and eternal life" that Jesus promises.  I believe God answered that prayer.

If you'd like to see more of the group in action, please see our brand new Facebook Page and click on the photo albums.  Feel free to become a fan and explore the page, leave comments and questions.  If you were part of any DOOR Discover group, please feel free to upload your own photos as well.  (Non-Discover photos will be removed.)

May you all be blessed this Maundy Thursday evening, may you all be moved at the humanity of Christ on Good Friday, and may you all be struck with newfound joy this Sunday!

Amen,

Matthew

6 Months In....

6 months in, and I finally have figured out how to become a blogger. :) Where to start?

Diving into Dwell, our 4 interns are truly making an impact upon our Los Angeles community. Working at PATH , My Friend's Place , The Oasis of Hollywood , and Door of Hope , these young women are gaining perspectives on the complicated mosaic that is our homelessness and street-life culture. Through building relationships with both their coworkers and their clients, I also believe they are actively playing a role in expanding God's kingdom.

Plans are being made to build a garden in the front of La Casa de la Comunidad, and the prayer and hope is that it may serve as a tool of fellowship and ministry for years to come, as well as provide food for future Dwellers and the neighborhood. Community members and congregants from Hollywood Presbyterian Church are playing a huge role in the start-up!

As for me, I am thrilled to be witnessing the growth, both within the house and within the neighborhood. The Dwellers are challenging themselves to live simply on reduced budgets and reduced use of natural resources and automobiles. They are working hard to live intentionally, and though it is not easy and often turbulent, these four are finding ways to streamline their cooking, cleaning, and communication. Along with prayer mentors, weekly book studies and worship, and regular church attendance, the Dwellers are working hard to remain in prayer, both with each other and independently, over discerning God's will in their lives over the course of this year and beyond.

In fact, one specific prayer was that more men might be interested in serving in Hollywood, given the large population of young men living in the community. In response, I began receiving calls and emails from men around the country (and the world!) who felt a calling towards LA. At this point, we have two Dwellers confirmed for next year and they are both men: one from Mississippi, and one coming to us after serving a year in Peru! Amen.

In preparation for the summer, we have groups contacting us from Arizona, Northern California, Massachusetts, Colorado, and the calls keep coming in. Last month, we hosted a group from Montana, and were blessed by their willingness to reconsider homelessness and really seek to establish dialogue and communication with people that, most admitted, they may have previously tried to ignore. We all learned from each other that week through service and discussion.

I aim to maintain this blog every week or so, so come back often! -Matthew