Many of you know that for the past five weeks I have had my mental health rotation downtown. During the mornings I was at the Downtown Chapel on Burnside helping hand out food, clothing, hygiene products, and helping take care of peoples feet. Then in the afternoons, my friend Heather and I would go to the Single Room Occupancy Hotels downtown and visit with people. We visited the same people on Tuesday and the same people on Wednesday so we really got to know people pretty well. I had a wonderful time!!! My eyes have been opened to the HUGE need people have downtown, but even more important, peoples spiritual need. I took some picture this past week and would like to share them with you.
This is our clinical group enjoying our last day together. We celebrated by going out to Thai food.
This is me and my friend Kurt. Yes we are playing cribbage. I grew up playing and Kurt really loves to play. This photo was taken at the downtown chapel.
This is one of the gentlemen we visited on Wednesday afternoons. His nickname is Tennessee.
Heather and I relaxing before the chapel opened.
Helping in the hygiene area
Christopher and Heather serving breakfast. Christopher and Heather are both nursing students.
This is Heather and I with our good friend Tony. What a life he has led
While I was at the chapel, I met a man by the name of Paul. He is a believer in Jesus Christ and a wonderful person. He asked me to pray for him. He was living in a horrible situation. I told him I would pray for him and the next week I found out he was able to move, but his new place isn't much better. On my final day downtown, Paul came up to me and asked if I would pray that he would find a good church. I told him I would and also told him I would email him Athey's info. I did and he has been listening online to paster Brett. Paul will be coming to church with us next Sunday, so if you can wander by and say hello, I know he would appreciate it. He also needs prayer finding good housing. If any of you know of an apartment for rent around $500-$600 a month, with no application fee, please let me know.
The Lord has truly taught me so much during my time downtown. I have always been somewhat afraid of the homeless population downtown. During this rotation I have been pushed out of my comfort zone and into the fire. The Lord is good and kept me safe, but more importantly, He gave me more compassion and love for those in need.
Now on Monday night around 7pm Matthew decided he wanted to try making homemade Samoa cookies. He went to the store and bought all the ingredients but didn't get the cookies finished until around 10:30 that night. These cookies were so delicious but hard to make, so the next time, we are going to make Samoa bars and see how that goes.
