OFL road trip begins

Mike and Carter left early this morning for their first Outward Focused Life roadtrip (we call it the OFL road trip, pronounced awful). They don't have internet tonight so I'm trying to remember what I heard on the phone. The minivan was loaded with bags of non-perishable food, bars of soap, some coloring books, the lawnmower and various yard tools, water bottles and a few change of clothes. 

They began their adventure of service in the city at a homeless ministry called Beautiful Feet.  They rode in a bus to the usual corner of our city where the homeless gather.  They helped pass out muffins and invited people to get on the bus and go to Beautiful Feet for lunch and the gospel presentation.  One man touched them in particular.  His name is Vincent.  On Mother's Day, Vincent was jumped by a gang, beaten, and left to die.  He awoke in the hospital with a concussion and a broken hip that had to have surgery to fix.  After being released from the hospital, he was staying at the Salvation Army's shelter where someone stole his walker.  Now he is stuck sitting in a wheelchair.  Another man they met had moved to the city from Oklahoma because he had heard there was construction work here.  He's still not found a job and has nowhere to live.  There was a young woman on the street with a double stroller--with toddlers--homeless!!!  Kinda kills ya doesn't it?  After being in the city a few  hours, they headed west to a town where Mike has long time contacts in ministry.  Mike said Carter wanted to know about the whys and hows of homelessness and  poverty.  They had a good hour of conversation and then Carter fell asleep :)

In the smaller town, that I'll call "B", they drove around to find where they could help.  Mike said "apparently it is harder to find places to serve than we thought."  It felt rather awkward driving up to a run down house and saying something along the lines of "Um, excuse me, you look poor, your yard is a mess, do you need groceries or your yard mowed?"!!  They ended up cleaning the restrooms at a 7-11 convenience store (this was one of the ideas taken from the book that sparked this trip The Outward Focused Life).  The manager on duty was dumbfounded that they'd want to clean their restrooms.  After leaving the toilets sparkling, they gave her a card about how much God loves her and then asked her if she needed prayer.  Mike and Carter chatted and prayed for Judy and her co-worker Betty while they were on their smoke break (Betty and Judy-not Mike and Carter). Next they went to some run-down low income apartments where they handed out some pre-packed bags of groceries to a sweet little old lady named Anna Maria.  Mike said she was from Peurto Rico, and he thinks he spoke Spanish well enough to get the message across!  They also mowed a yard for a lady sitting on a porch in a wheelchair.  Mike said she seemed happy about it, but it was hard to tell due to her communication limitations.

They ended the day by going to the church where his friend is on staff (by the way, to our C-wood friends, this guy just got back from Kunming working with Craig S.  Isn't it crazy how our lives intersect and we don't even know it??) and helping stuff some bags that the church is handing out tomorrow.  As of this morning, they didn't have a place to stay tonight.  We prayed for God to provide somewhere for them to sleep.  Boy did He ever!!!  The friend I mentioned above had another friend who has an apartment over a barn that is on the lake.  So, they aren't exactly roughing it tonight. 

A really really amazing thing happened.  Mike met a guy who is on staff at the aforementioned church this evening.  They got to talking and this guy and his wife are an international adoptive family and are waiting on a new referral of an older sibling set in China!!  AND(this part totally blows me away!), his family is so burdened for the thousands of girls trapped in the sex slave industry that they just sold their family business and are building a shelter on the Chinese border for girls rescued out of the sex slave trade.  Is that not just amazing?????  Just 8months ago Mike and I knew nothing about this rampant and demonic business.  Now, it is everywhere we turn.  Almost everyday we hear of someone else serving to reach these woman trapped in evil.  Hmmm, okay God, Mike and I laid our life plans at your feet long ago, we are game for anything, but we were thinking more along the lines of adopting, not working to rescue people from the sex slave trade!

Well, that about wraps up day one.