“In this world I walk alone, with no place to call my own, but there’s one who holds my hand, on the rugged road thru barren lands” lyrics from song, “A Living Prayer” by Alison Krauss

“In this world I walk alone, with no place to call my own, but there’s one who holds my hand, on the rugged road thru barren lands” lyrics from song, “A Living Prayer” by Alison Krauss

Today, we had the privilege of serving 30 people.

• We met some new friends under the bridge this morning.  We got to talking and offered them our packet of $10 bill/$10 DK card/prayer card.  They asked for gloves and some snacks.  (Reenie) noticed our dog, Tito, in the back seat and asked about him.  I replied that his name is Tito.  Our friends looked sad when I said this. They told me their friend, Tito, had frozen to death in his wheelchair the other day.  This shook us.  I wrote about Tito last week (Enzo).  Last week we gave him a coat, vest, hat, socks, gloves.  He mentioned needing a pair of boots.  I picked him up a new pair of boots with zippers so he can get them on and off easily while in his wheelchair.  We had them with us hoping to see him this morning.  Tito was a fixture on Main Street.  With his change cup in his mouth he would maneuver his wheelchair in traffic with his hands and feet.  Every time we met him; he would always direct us to his friend (Diego) who was also in a wheelchair.  RIP our friend.

• We met up with a new friend (Sammy).  When we pulled up to her and asked if she needed any help she replied “no”.  She looked nervous so we asked if she wanted some gloves.  She said “yes”.  This opened up a conversation, and we were able to give her our packet along with hat, gloves, socks, snacks.  I asked again how she is doing.  She started to cry telling me she was having a tough day.  She said she had been on the street for the last 3 years and because of her addiction has not been able to see her son.  I hugged her and told her we will pray for her.

• We ran into our friend (Lee).  She said she got into the shelter and explained how chaotic it was there.  We have heard this from many of our other friends.  It can also be especially dangerous for women.  This is why some of our friends choose to sleep outside.  We have been bringing tents/sleeping bags with us.  Some think this encourages them to sleep outside but I would rather have them sleep in a tent with a sleeping bag than under a bridge with cardboard over them to keep warm.  We don’t know what the answer is.  If the cold doesn’t kill them, their addiction will.  
  

Our mission is to bring the love and compassion of Jesus to our friends on the street.  When we first started doing this work about a year ago, I thought we would go out and talk to our friends and convince them to get into recovery by sharing my own story of recovery. What we soon found out that our friends have the best intentions of wanting to get clean but their addiction or alcoholism is stronger.  We now know all we need to do is to show them Love and Compassion and tell them when you need us – call us.

“Come unto me and rest; lay down now weary one, lay down your head upon my breast” from “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say”

God Bless,

Claire and Shaun Teed and Tito

‍