Feeding The Homeless

300 Sandwiches

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Mrs. Donaldson,  her student volunteers and me

It starts at Nohl  Canyon Elementary School: for ten years Mrs. Donaldson has opened her heart and classroom for the production of the sandwiches. This time we had over 20 volunteers, 3/4 of the class eager to help. After a short tutorial, all of the kids received an assignment, and, with all these helping hands, our loving task was completed in one hour.

For their protection, we are no longer allowed to share photos of the children, but I have their sweet little faces registered in my heart. I am very grateful for their help, and for the parents who have allowed them to participate in this ministry. To instill servanthood in a child is one of the greatest gifts a parent can bestow. Children learn an early life lesson, to think of others and to help the displaced. We had several parents helping to organize and pack the lunches as well, but they are also being great examples to their kids. The people on Skid Row love to hear that 6th graders have helped  assemble the meals. They always tell us to thank the children.

Me, Evans, and Mary
Washers and dryers for Skid Row staffed by volunteers
12 Clean bathrooms
12 Beautiful Showers

I am very excited to announce that the Skid Row ReFresh Spot is in operation again. On Crocker Street,  just off 6th Street, the Oasis from Heaven is now open daily. Showers, bathrooms, washer/dryers, and phone-charging stations are available for the citizens of Skid Row at no charge. Thank you, Councilmember Jose Huizar, for introducing the motion to secure the funding for this much-needed project.   Evans, the project manager, took us on a tour of the personal care/hygiene facility. We know that this project coming to fruition was the answer to many prayers. This entire facility was manufactured in Indiana and is completely mobile.

The ReFresh Spot organizers keep it simple; if you are going to do laundry, you sign in with your first and last initials, and are given a number. Then you wait until your number is called when the washer/dryers are available.   Volunteers are available to make sure that all is done in an orderly manner. If you need to shower, fresh towels, and all body-soap is accessible, and after every use of the showers and bathrooms, volunteers clean up for the next person. The facility is open from 6 a.m.. through 6 p.m. When a homeless person is offered these services, he or she is grateful and respectful of the gift. This gives an incentive for the people to look for employment, and also gives them the dignity and confidence to improve other areas of their lives.

DJ and Me

On all of our outreach excursions, there are always several persons who leave a strong impression on our lives.  The first young man we met was a few steps from The ReFresh Spot. His name is DJ, and he has a wonderful disposition.  DJ, who is from Louisiana, did not appear to have a drug problem but was down on his luck. Transitioning from his first stop in San Bernardino to Skid Row, DJ is employed but wants to go back home; so we prayed that God would provide this goal for him and his girlfriend. DJ was respectful and received our prayer with much hope.

Shawn

Shawn is a drug addict, a beautiful young man who has given up on himself. I asked Shawn if I could touch him when praying for him, and he agreed.  Shawn said, “Look at me, I just shot up, my arms are all marked up.” I told him, “Shawn, we are not here to judge, but to offer you hope in knowing that God is real, and that He loves you. It doesn’t matter what condition you are in when you come to Him.” I asked Shawn if he felt anything, because his face was still set in stone. Shawn answered, ” I feel electricity in my body; it started at my feet.” The Lord was supernaturally healing Shawn, and what he experienced was a confirmation from God. We as a team were greatly elated to witness this wonderful manifestation of God for Shawn.

John, Andre, Me, Robert, and Mary

We walked past a man with a skin disorder. His face was hard on the eyes, but God showed us his heart. Andre was precious and received us with great love. How wonderful to be in the presence of someone who is frequently misjudged because of his appearance. I was hesitant to ask Andre if we could take a picture with him, but when I asked, he welcomed the gesture and obliged.

I always have an idea of  who is going to help with the ministry, but it is the Lord who brings us together. We are a small group, but we make a difference in gaining lost souls for the Kingdom.

Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…”

To be a part of this team you must learn to shut out most of your senses. Close your eyes to what the world sees, and look with the eyes of Jesus.  Though we can see both human and animal feces, and dead rats, God closes our noses to the stench. We hear all the arguments and curse words, but this never affects our ministry because God protects our ears. We touch the people because we are their brothers and sisters, and we bring the love of Jesus to them, because this is our calling.

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers, starting with the hard-working students, the parents, and especially Mrs. Donaldson. To our team of dedicated servants of God, Mary, Gary, Robert, and John, your faithfulness will always be your blessing.

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Funny Stuff

I Did Not Have Plastic Surgery

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The morning before the procedure
One week after

My niece Leah is employed by an upscale eye institute in Arizona, where she has worked her way up to the position of surgical technician.  Leah is always checking our eyes for any sign of cataracts, glaucoma, and/or macular degeneration. During her visit in February, when I caught her staring at me during breakfast.

“What are you staring at?” I asked. Leah said “ You need cataract surgery.” Then she added, “Your skin is really hooded over your eyes.”

At this point I got up from the table with mixed emotions. Was Leah insulting me or being helpful? Leah later explained that I should make an appointment with the specialist about the cataracts surgery and see if I was a candidate for the eyelid procedure.

Since I was planning a trip to Arizona to get my eyes examined for glasses,  I went ahead and made an appointment for the examination to see if I really needed cataract surgery. It turned out that I did not.

The morning of my eye examination I told Leah, “You better make sure I can see the specialist about the hooding over my eyes.” Leah chuckled sarcastically and said, “That’s impossible. He is booked months in advance!” Under my breath I said, “I will see him today.”

Leah removing my sutures

Leah did the full medical eye examination. When we were done, I asked Leah about the ophthalmologist to examine   my hooded eyes. Leah rolled her eyes and said, “He’s too busy!” I asked her to please check. Thanks to Leah, the kind doctor agreed to see me. He examined my eyelids and said, “You really do have a lot of excess skin, but we need to do some testing to see if you are a candidate for the operation,” as this was considered a medical procedure.

My niece Leah and me

Another two weeks passed, and I was back in Arizona for the testing. The excess skin was causing problems with my peripheral vision, so and after the examination I was cleared for surgery.

I told my family about the this, and shared the news with a few friends. They all responded, “So you’re having an eye lift.” It was useless to try to explain: first it was not my idea, and second, the blepharoplasty was performed by an ophthalmologist rather than a plastic  surgeon. I told my prayer group and they, too, thought the surgery was a cosmetic procedure. When they prayed for me, one of the men kiddingly said, “Lord, make Lynda young and beautiful.” Everyone broke out in loud laughter, including me.

On the morning of the surgery all was normal, and it was time to get the anesthesia. A kind  nurse found a weak vein on my right arm for the sedation. The anesthesiologist came to explain that after the arm IV, he would follow with injecting the outer parts of my eyes. By this time both of my eyes were covered. They put some type of tape around my face and over my mouth; it was definitely sticky, and resembled the blue tape used by painters.

I could still speak, but my words were a little muffled. I asked the doctor if we could pray, and he sweetly agreed.  “Dear Lord, guide his hands through this surgery, that all goes well and that no infection sets in.” With that I was out… well sort of.

During the procedure I could hear talking.  I heard the sound as the skin was being cut around my eyes; it was an unusual sensation. While I was being patched back together, I could hear the needle penetrating through my skin and I heard the thread moving through the sewing motion.

Immediately after surgery, some type of heavy  ointment was put into my eyes, causing extremely blurred vision. I was put in a chair that reminded me of a folding lawn chair, but I was coiled up in it like a groggy contortionist folded into a small package. I could hear the soothing voice of Andrea Bocelli playing in the background, so I felt that this was a confirmation that all went well.

Leah warned me about the bruising, and that it was going to look really bad, but I told her, “Leah, it’s not going to be that way for me.” Leah’s response was, “OK, I do this for a living, and you are going to be really bruised up.” Surprisingly, the bruising around my eyes was very minimal.

The doctor’s instructions were to take Tylenol because  after the anesthesia wore off the pain would set in. I never once felt an ounce of pain, not once!

I returned to church the following Sunday,and wearing my regular glasses, it just looked like I had a little too much smoky eye shadow going on. There were no double takes from anyone.

Maddie about to wash my hair

The only thing I could not do was shampoo my hair because I could not wet the sutures. Misty, my hairdresser, came by a few days after the surgery to wash my hair. I had to bribe my granddaughter into shampooing my hair. She agreed, but only if I wore sunglasses.

I am not a vain person, and I never gave my hooded eyelids a second thought. To me it was just part of aging gracefully. Since I had never even googled this procedure, I’ve come to the conclusion that this surgery was a special gift from God.

Ephesians 3:20

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

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My Heart of the Matter

Pulling The Damaging Weeds From God’s Garden

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My front lawn

There is something unusual about my gardening. Mike does all the planting and most of the watering, but  I love to weed. I can get lost in this task because it’s therapeutic for me.

When Mike is too busy to water, I step in. As I was watering the other day, I noticed crabgrass taking over our beautiful Bermuda lawn. Maybe because of my ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), I stopped watering and started pulling out the militant grass. Crabgrass has a powerful undergound support system because when it spreads, its roots go in all directions. The roots from crabgrass have  finger- like extensions, taking hold of the ground with a strong grip. Digitaria is the proper terminology for crabgrass; digitus is the Latin word for “finger.” In order for this type of grass to be eradicated, the roots must be pulled out.

As I was bent over struggling to get the main part of one the roots, my index finger was hooked to a long root; but because the root was too strong to be yanked out, I had to get a screwdriver to help pull it out!   My fingernails were embedded with  dirt, but I did manage to clear a small patch in ridding the grass of the intruder.  I noticed an area of exposed dirt in  place of the crabgrass and thought that soon the good grass would fill the void.

The evil extensions of crabgrass

Crabgrass and Bermuda grass are the same shade of green; after it’s mowed it all blends in together. But it’s when it starts to grow, that’s when the crabgrass is most noticeable. If the crabgrass is not controlled, it will eventually take over the lawn.

It came to me in prayer that this is what we need to do with our Church. We need to weed out all that is taking over and destroying Her. The weeding is a Parable: the good grass are the holy priests, and the gardeners are the intercessors. The crabgrass represents the sinners.

We must be a united force against all evils, and the fact that the Vatican  has chosen to remain silent is another insult to all of us as believers.

2  Chronicles 7:14  If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

We are the intercessors for the Church. Together we can rid ourselves of these damaging weeds that are an assignment from Satan to bring down the Catholic Church.

Matthew 7:25 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

I praise God for the investigation of the New York Attorney General. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and New Mexico have also called for investigations .  I pray that all states follow suit, and that all evil perpetrators fall like dominoes.  The faithful Catholics in the United States are not going to let this scandal be swept under the rug like the Vatican in Rome. We are the protectors of the Eucharist, and the Holy Catholic Church is our covering.

I follow the newsfeeds from the Vatican on Instagram and am amazed at all the distraction from the truth. But what surprises me most is the blindness of some of  the flock eager to dismiss this abuse by saying “Amen” to all of the Pope’s pronouncements. Are they living under rocks that they would be so passive about these atrocious sins?  I will say “Amen” when all the sin is exposed, and I will not back down because I care for all the innocent victims and want them to have their day of justice.

My Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to You with a broken spirit and ask Your intervention to clean up your Temple. Dear Lord, expose all sin and reclaim our Church. With the help of Your Blessed Mother, remove all ungodliness from the Church. We pray for the protection of the good holy priests as they continue to do their work for Your kingdom. Lord, speak to Pope Francis to do what is right in Your eyes, and order an investigation. Only You, Lord, can come to our aid, strengthen Your lay people and prepare us for this battle, for the victory is Yours.  Amen.

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