WOW! This is about the only word that I can think of that could sum up my experience doing this ministry! My time spent visiting with the homeless people of Victoria was an eye opener at the least. Society has taught me to think less of homeless people because it was obviously their own fault for ending up the way they have. Hearing this and never being exposed to people like this has caused me to not even think of them as real people.
Going into this ministry I was quite apprehensive towards engaging with homeless people and had some terrible pre-conceptions toward them. After the very first person that we talked to I lost all of those ideas almost instantly! I am so pleased to discover that even after all the things that we did for them - they have done far more for me than they probably realize. I have learned that homeless people are probably the most friendly people you could ever meet... why? because all they have is time and they are generous enough to share it! I noticed to that as we were talking with the people, others would just hurry by and pay no attention to what was going on. What a true witness to the hurried lives that we lead. I mentioned to the others that I was serving with how interesting it is that if you stopped and talked to just a regular person on the street - your conversation with them (if it happened at all) would last about 5 seconds, however with a homeless person you could talk all day. These are real people that want to be loved! It's just so unfortunate that it has taken me this long to come to this realization.
I am so thankful to God that he gave us this opportunity to have an experience like this. And I can honestly say that I can't wait to do it again!! There are so many stories that I could share but it would take me all day to write them! Let me just say that these people are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I was deeply impacted by them!!