Helloo! The month of February absolutely flew by with nary a blog post. Oops. Seriously though, I cannot believe how fast this semester is going. Ten weeks from tomorrow I will be graduating from college. Today, Friday, is already the first day of spring break (though, granted, it is super early this year). And I am excited to announce that I have quite an experience lined up for this upcoming week!
Tomorrow, I will be taking a bus to Grand Rapids where I will be interning at a large homeless ministry. I'm going to stay in the women's shelter and eat with the guests, essentially being homeless for a week, sleeping during the day and working in the public inebriate clinic during the night shift. I've always had a heavy heart for homeless people because are so often forgotten. Sure, we all know that cities have large homeless populations, but it's easy to look the other way when we see people sleeping in doorways, stumbling across the street, or sitting with their dogs and cardboard signs. Hailing from Portland, I've grown up around many homeless people and I've always loved reaching out and getting to know them, serving them however I can.
When I was in Guatemala, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me because I didn't feel some overwhelming sense of heartbreak and the drive to do something for the poverty that I saw. Of course it was difficult to see the need and disparities that exist, and I really struggled when we visited the Guatemala City dump. But during one of our trips to the city, I passed a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk and tears sprang to my eyes. It was then that my heart broke, and I realized that God was calling me to work with the homeless and the impoverished in the United States. There were other factors that helped make this clear to me, but my heart is truly with the forgotten populations of my own home country. I want to use my medical training to provide healthcare to the homeless and poor people who do not have good access, or the funds to pay for it.
I'm very excited for my spring break serving the homeless people of Grand Rapids, and I hope that God shines brightly through me. I am anticipating the switch of night and day to be very challenging, and most likely migraine-inducing, along with the diet change. So I would love your prayer that God will keep my mind alert and relatively headache-free. I don't really know what to expect this week since I don't know much more than what I put in this post. But I know that I will get a glimpse of the brokenness and pain that affects so many people, the pain that many try to numb with alcohol. I hope that God opens my eyes this week, and draws me closer to Him and to His heart. :)
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