Simulation and Forward

Well—part two of simulation information is here. Our track was informed we would have to go out into Manhattan (we were in Queens at that moment) to do a scavenger hunt in groups. There were three people in our group. As a part of the scavenger hunt we had to do things like collect 20 cans or bottles, ask a stranger for 25 cents, find something useful in a dumpster, find something to eat, ask where to find various emergency assistance helps, talk to an elderly person, and more. I have to be honest, at first I was annoyed and frustrated that we had to do this. Unlike other ministry teams, ours had been sheltered from being seen by much of the public except when we were waiting outside the warehouse. It was selfish, but I didn’t want to be seen by a bunch a people and I didn’t want to talk to them or make that effort. I felt uncomfortable in the clothes I had worn for two days, that I had slept in, worked in, sweated in, and had gotten dirt in. At some point during the process, God changed my heart. I was blessed to have a team member step up and talk to people because I seemed to inhibit myself from reaching out for help. I could easily see how it could quickly become frustrating for homeless people to ask for help. People ignore the homeless, respond negatively (by speech or looks), and do not often have the information needed—this is what my team experienced anyway. At the end of the scavenger hunt, we were to meet the staff at a subway stop near our residence and I thought, “That would just be mean to tease us like that if we weren’t done”. Our group ended up having a long conversation with a woman who had been homeless. She informed us of the difficulty she has had getting a job, keeping clothes (they frequently got stolen), among other issues. She really had a lot to tell us, it was important to listen, but then we were late meeting the others. Whoops.

It ended! We returned to our resident Thursday night. Although it was only two days, God used it to impart a lot of wisdom and insight:
- Desperation and sadness can come on quickly when in dire situations.
- I have to depend on God for strength—hunger, tiredness, and weakness—I cannot overcome on my own.
- I didn’t care enough about those in poverty before even though I thought I did.
- My life is rich with blessings which I can offer to others.
- People are meant to interact with one another—what happens when an individual is frequently ignored? Would they go crazy or what?
- I should consider how I can better minister to people’s needs with what I have.
- I had it better than people in real poverty do and yet, it was hard. How difficult it must be to experience daily struggle to survive within an indefinite time period.
- Do NOT discount people based on appearance or their standing in life. It is not that simple to understand someone. Stop, listen, and love.

Those are just snippets of what I have learned and been reminded of by the simulation. The day after, Friday we were encouraged to sleep in and ponder over the experience because we were going to discuss it that night. We arrived at our debrief location where we were videotaped and our whole group discussed poverty. Afterwards, our staff sweetly served us dinner (Italian food!) and we had dessert afterwards. Following that our track voted to watch “Remember the Titans” (I voted for “Up”) and enjoyed each other’s company. We cleaned up the space and a small group of us went to Times Square for a little bit.

Saturday and Sunday I did some random things: went to a coffee shop (which I saw a bride and groom at…unique!), stopped at a ministry event, went out to eat, went shopping, saw the Brooklyn Bridge (and walked across), had ice cream (twice!), and my favorite: attended Brooklyn Tabernacle! It is a church that has a huge choir. It’s more than that though…the passion for God is grand and their desire to listen to the Holy Spirit is great! During the service we prayed for some Christians in Pakistan because in their area requests to kill Christians had been made. It was difficult to hear, but also revealed reality of how good I have it to feel safe most of the time.

On Monday (yesterday), we started our fourth and final ministry site! Sad, just sad because I feel I can do more here. I feel it shouldn’t be over soon—I’m not ready. Please pray our teams continue to work hard, stay focused on being here, and that we share God’s love!