Experiencing the Kingdom of God

My worksite, The Forge for Families, has recently begun trying to get the staff to go out into the community on a regular basis to truly live out Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves. We've been going out in small groups of people to local schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and apartment complexes to try to meet the needs of people who are literally right next door to us. We've only started this effort over the past three weeks, so we are still in the early stages and things are a bit uncomfortable and unorganized at times.

Well, yesterday my roommate Jaimie went out with our coworker, Glenn, to hand out some flyers about The Forge's fall festival this weekend. She came back and told me about this elderly woman they met who invited them into her apartment and asked them to pray for her. Jaimie and Glenn decided to go back to visit this woman today and to bring her a warm meal. They invited me to come along with them.

I just returned from visiting Ms. Justina. She lives in a small apartment with her 14-year-old nephew. She has several medical issues and just went to the hospital last night because her nose was bleeding so much and she was scared about how much blood she was losing. We found out that most of her furniture used to be in storage, but it was in storage too long and it was eventually gotten rid of. Now her apartment is barren, and she only has one hard mattress for herself to sleep on, but no place for her nephew to sleep. They also are in need of other furniture items, such as dressers or chairs or a couch. Her phone was recently cut off because she couldn't pay the bill. Fortunately, she has a niece who takes care of her each day, but she is unsatisfied with her care and would really like someone else to help her out. Her kitchen was also painfully bare, and she tends to eat frozen meals whenever her niece will warm one up for her.

Today we brought her some hamburgers and salad for her to eat today and tomorrow. We sat and talked with her for nearly an hour, and we spent some time really trying to figure out practical ways we could help meet some of her immediate needs. She was so grateful to have us come into her life, and she kept saying that she knew God brought us to her. She has such a beautiful faith in Jesus, even in her present state. She asked us to pray for her again today before we left, and Jaimie, Justina, and I held hands and prayed together for her needs. I couldn't help but cry as we sat there and prayed together, as I witnessed this most beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God coming here, to the Third Ward of Houston, Texas. As we were gathered in this small, barren apartment, I felt so hopeful and certain of the love and goodness of God.

As Jaimie and I left and walked back to work (just a couple blocks), I turned to her, still with tears in my eyes, and said, "This is the Kingdom of God."

This is why I'm here this year. To serve and love and be transformed by people like Ms. Justina, and to bring the love of God to people who are so desperately in need.

My team and I are still doing fundraising to continue our work here. Please consider giving to this cause. We are each trying to raise $2000 more by Thanksgiving, two weeks from today, and every little bit helps.

www.missionyear.org/donate

Bed Bug Annihilation Day

As some of you may know by now, my lovely home on Winton Street has been infested with bed bugs over the past couple months. We are not sure where they came from or how long we have had them, but we've been aware of them for the past few weeks at least. After a few attempts at using bed bug bombs and evacuating our house for a few hours, we decided to tackle the problem more intensely. Our lovely city directors, Jason and Jenni checked around to see how much an exterminator would cost, and found out it could be around $1100 for one visit. They were willing to take on this cost, but after doing some research my team decided we wanted to try to take as many steps as possible to tackle the problem ourselves at a much lower cost.

This past Saturday we experienced
Bed Bug Annihilation Day (BBAD). From 9:00 am til around midnight, all seven of us worked to declutter, clean, and spread about bed bug killing chemicals. We began early by decluttering every bedroom and beginning what would be several days of laundry (literally all of the laundry for all seven girls). We put everything into trash bags to prevent any hidden bugs from spreading. As we removed pictures and artwork from our bedroom walls, several pesky bed bugs were discovered in creative hiding places. Once everything was bagged up from our bedrooms, we wiped down all of the walls and baseboards with soapy water. We also intensely vacuumed all of our carpets, including every crevice around the edge of the carpets. We then created a recommended solution of alcohol, water, and dish soap (we called it Kool-Aid), and sprayed that over all the walls and in every corner and crevice (don't worry, we used masks and gloves!). We also used our new hand steamer to steam clean everyone's mattress. Then we sprayed the mattresses down with our Kool-Aid concoction, followed by the recommended bed bug killing dust. We had various names for this. We then wrestled every mattress into its own (hopefully) bed bug proof mattress cover. After this, we had to rearrange some  furniture so we could deep clean all of our carpets. By the time all of this was done (and I feel like I'm forgetting some crucial details such as keeping a death toll tally on the bathroom mirror, yelling with rage at any bed bugs we discovered hiding on our walls, sending out mass texts asking for prayer against the bed bugs, listening to calming meditation music, receiving a stuffed bed bug in a package from my mom, and eating ice cream floats at 10:30 pm as a reward), it was around midnight. We spent around $250 on all of the supplies and products we needed for the day, which is an incredible saving when compared to what we would have spent on an exterminator. But after 15+ hours of BBAD, we were all completely exhausted and a little bit tense. In addition to that, we are now on our third day of doing laundry. We are fortunate to have a washer and dryer in our house that we can use right now. We also cannot know for sure if the bed bugs have truly been annihilated for several weeks or even months. All we can do is wait and hope that we did everything we could.

I'm not writing all of this to gain sympathy or shock or even financial support. I personally want to remember BBAD beyond this year (okay, I think it would be hard to forget), and I want to remember some things that I learned from the experience, and I want to share these things with you all.

There is something about going through trials with people that truly brings everyone closer together. I think BBAD was a really great bonding experience for the Winton Street team. For one full day we had really great motivation to work together and push through our struggles and weaknesses to accomplish a common goal. We were all tired and frustrated and anxious, but we could help to support one another in the experience. Several girls said throughout the day, "This is truly the best way to experience bed bugs. Can you imagine dealing with this anywhere else with anyone else?" That really stands out to me. Nothing about that day should have been fun or enjoyable, but because we were all working together as a family, we could make the most of the situation and help each other through. 

This is yet another example of how life here requires me to rely fully on God in all circumstances. I am continuing to embrace the reality that my contentment and joy cannot come from anywhere besides the Holy Spirit. It doesn't make sense for me to have joy in the circumstances I find myself in. It doesn't make sense to feel content and satisfied in this lifestyle that I'm living this year. There are a lot of really challenging things happening on a regular basis. But the truth is, I really wouldn't trade any of that for anything. I think the challenges make everything so worthwhile. I am really learning how to find and treasure the good in every situation, and this is something that will carry me through the rest of my life. I am learning to be content with very little, and I am discovering what my true needs are. As people, and maybe especially as Americans, we are so good at living with excess. We prioritize so many things that are simply unnecessary to daily life and contentment.

I pray that these words would cause you to stop and think about all of the many things you have to be thankful for. Think about ways you can simplify your life to better see the good in all circumstances. Where do you find your joy?

Peace & love,

Cara

Community

Today I am grateful for the power of friendship and authentic community.

My roommate's (Abigail) birthday is Monday, and we decided that today's Sabbath would be a good time to celebrate. Carole, Abigail and I spent a big chunk of our day exploring several new things around Houston. We took advantage of a beautiful November day (seriously, it was in the 80's today) and trekked out to the Houston Arboretum. This is the most nature-y place I've experienced over the past two months! We were actually secluded and far enough from the city to not be able to see any buildings. We could still hear the faint sound of cars on the highway, but we were excited enough to be surrounded by trees, flowers, and butterflies that we didn't care about the highway noise. It was beautiful. We ended up running into another team member, and we all sat by a pond and ate our lunches and watched the fish and turtles, talking about life and our experiences in Mission Year so far. It was a beautiful, well-spent afternoon. From there, Carole and I surprised Abigail by taking her to the local SPCA so we could spend some time visiting animals (namely cats, which Abigail really loves). We had such a great time looking at each cat and dog and playing with two cats and one dog.

Now we're back at McDonald's, the closest place to our house with free wifi. Fridays are good. This day was good for resting and doing new things. It's nice when both can happen. So many of my Fridays have been spent in the same coffee shop (it's a favorite for a reason, but it feels a little boring after so many weeks in a row). It is exciting and encouraging to have good friends here that I can enjoy Sabbaths with. It is good to have friends whom I can talk to about anything and everything, and to grow and share life with.