Baltimore Day 3

We started off the day getting a good night sleep and waking up around 8:30. We all took showers, which felt lovely, but we had to put on the same clothes from the week. We went down stairs and ate some cereal. The day before we found out about a house called the Don Miller house where individuals who had infirmities paid to live in community and volunteers and interns would take care of them. It was also not too far from where we stayed at John’s house. So we walked about a mile or so to the Don Miller House and met Cara who is a student worker / intern for a year with the program. Since we were unexpected she really didn’t have anything for us to do. So we met some of the attendants and went outside and did some yard work. We cleaned up the back yard, raked up some leaves and made the patio ready for spring. Just talking to her we arranged to come back the next day and cook dinner for the two houses. So tomorrow for dinner we are coming back! If felt so good to help out after most of the places like the school café, restaurants and gas stations turned us down.

It was lunchtime and we were walking back from the House, Russ was talking about getting food for Popeyes. So I said, “I’m going to DD.” As I walked around the side of the building, there it stood. A blue, heaven of treasure called a dumpster. I immediately opened the dumpster but only after Russ told me to look around for cameras and ripped open the first bag I saw. Nathan yells, “Is it good? While Chase yells put it back and I yell back in response, I got it.” And Nathan in excitement exclaims “Yahtzee!!” We bring the booty back to the house and had a picnic on the front porch. We shot a video and enjoyed our spoils, but not with out Nathan almost throwing up and he finds the dirty side of the bag filled with dirt, hair and debris from the ground as he bites into a cream filled doughnut. We salvaged as many as we could to eat for the remainder of the week and threw away the original bag.

We picked up a football from the Holy Comforter Lutheran Church so that we could try and build some relationships with students at Loyola, but no one wanted to play even after we would intentionally throw a pass long for some one to pick up. As Russ and Nathan uploaded the video inside the Library, Chase and I played catch outside. The guy we talked to the night before on the shuttle walked by as we were throwing and said hello by saying, “Hey it’s the Christian guys!” It was great to talk to him and to be recognized by someone on campus. We walked over to their quad and began to throw the football. It was a lot of fun and relaxing but again no one wanted to play. The guy we met the day before, Nick, who plays on the Ultimate Club team at Loyola, walked up with a disc! I honestly missed playing disc and I wish it were one of the interns we could of brought with us. So we threw and talked. We went to the café and chilled out for a minute waiting to see if the lady we met the night before was working at the Salad bar. Lashae was busy so we talked for a minute and then peaced out.

At this point we really did not know what to do so we dropped into campus ministries to try and find something. Whoooo! I am glad that we did. Chase and I met so many people. They were so blown away at what we were doing. It was refreshing to talk with students and just chill. We exchanged numbers with Sammy Jo in hopes of meeting up later to hang out with our new friends. Dennis, the CCSJ director, hooked us up with $20 bus fare and an opportunity to serve later in a few hours handing out sandwiches and drinks the people that were homeless. We rode the back downtown and it was so much better than walking that six and a half miles. We arrived at the place and as we were standing on the corner, Anderson University’s bus drove by us honking and screaming. It was good to see them!

We met Kenneth before we started handing out sandwiches and talked with him. It was awesome! I’m sure he will be on my mind for a while. We helped the Loyola students pass out the food, but not too many came. I talked the whole time with Laura, Lauren and Christina. All three were Catholics, but Laura had been hanging out with Christians in community at Loyola and neighboring universities. I had the opportunity to encourage her to keep seeking out a community of believers. There was quite a bit of food left over, 8 bags of sandwiches, so we were able to take them to the shelter that we stayed out on Sunday night, but not before we called fives one of the bags for ourselves. The director, Tim Tim, was excited to see us when we returned. I am definitely going to write back him when I return. We had to catch the 11 bus to get back to the Loyola University. A lady I met on the bus told us to catch the 8 also so in a hurry we got off at the next stop and she walked us to the correct bus stop that we needed to be at. It was a bad part of town and it was dark already also. She made sure to tell us to stick together and not to go anywhere and wait for the bus. I am very glad she took care of us because if she had not then we would have to walk all the way through the bad neighborhoods. We finally back to the house and the bus dropped us off right in front of it. We prayed with John and Celestine. It was an awesome time of prayer. We walked up stairs and realized that Chase lost the football that we had borrowed from the church. Hanging with the guys that night was a lot of fun.