LIFECHANGER?!?

So.  I have tried numerous times to blog about a significant event for me that occurred this past July.  It has been 2 short months since I took a road trip to Waco TX with 5 other individuals.  I haven't been able to process that whole experience yet.  This is my first attempt to actually start typing.  I guess we'll see where it take us!

I am on facebook.  I have been quite surprised by my interest in this social network.  I am not the most social person ever, however I am very interested and intrigued by people. I believe this is a fun app where I find myself expressing myself with quotes, pictures, cartoons, etc.  It has been fun to reconnect with people I haven't seen for a while and to stay connected with family and friends.  I have always had a fascination with the human race and have the habit of observing others.  For me, watching others is the best way to learn. 

When I had the desire to be a social worker, I did college internship with the Maternity and Adoption Unit of Catholic Family Services as well as the Financial Services Area of the same agency.  I learned from other caseworkers.  I learned from the clients. I learned by watching.  I learned by listening.  I learned by asking questions.  I learned by doing.

When I decided to open a restaurant, I watched TV shows where people cooked.  I had watched my grandmothers and my dad cook all my life and saw the happiness it brought them as well as those they served.  I had a previous restaurateur come show me how he ran things.  He commented that if he was planning to rob a bank, I would be someone he would be afraid of.  He said he could see me soaking in every bit of what he was showing me. I felt it was the best way to learn what would work.

I also feel I should preface this story with the fact that I have been on a journey of self discovery for the past couple of years.  The summer of 2012 had been life changing as well.  I participated in an ACTS retreat and God dropped some people in my lap that I wasn't sure what to do with.  Turns out He gave me new perspective and new friendship in what He threw in my path.  I was so changed and in such a tail spin for the next year.  I have learned a lot about myself and renewed my personal relationship with God.  I had made a decision to kind of lay low and stay mostly to myself and my daughter.  A time to get reacquainted with myself and find the true me.  The me God created and maybe even the me God created me to become.   I was feeling adventurous. 

Then one day on facebook, I see a friend of mine has posted that she will be participating in a poverty simulation in Waco, TX in a couple of weeks.  I comment that I would like to go and next thing I know, she replies that she and 4 other professionals would be traveling and they had room for one more. Now, Elia is a friend I met in college 25 years ago.  We had recently reconnected on facebook.  It also seems she is working on a book and wanted me to look at some things, so we had communicated recently.  But I had not seen her in about 6 or 7 years.  I am not considered a professional in the service community, not sure this is the group for me.  Hmmm...I thought about it overnight.

The next day, I texted Elia and asked if she seriously had an opening and what did I need to do to get signed up.  She told me it would cost $60 and travel to Amarillo.  I would go with the others to Waco from there.  I told her I was in!

I thought it was a chance of a lifetime to learn what true poverty and/or homelessness was actually like.  I have worked with the poor on different levels. Hell, I am poor!  I have been interested in the human race and serving one another as God has taught us. This would be a great experience to learn more about what homelessness is like on a daily basis.  I'm tough.  I'll go and it will be good to see Elia.   I'm down for it!  I've been looking for like minded people in my lonely world.  I'll give it a try.  Sign me up!

Within a few days, I could feel the anticipation increasing. I looked up the website missionwaco.org to try to learn more about what I was really signed up for.  Naturally this is a Christian based group, I mean they are dealing with the poor. I feel comfy with this concept and I start to get nervous.  Then, I received an email from Elia.  She is addressing our "Team" with the names and phone numbers of the people going as well as an itinerary.  There I was.  Listed at the bottom of team members, all of which had their job title and place of employment or Church affiliation, was my name. We are Team Waco. I continue reading... Dalhart Community Lifechanger.  Woah!  Wait just a minute!  A LIFECHANGER, really???  What was I getting myself into?

It sounded like this may be more of an adventure than I had bargained for.  Was I going to learn so much that I would return a LIFECHANGER?  Would it really be so powerful that it might change MY life?  Would it be possible that I would become a lifechanger for someone else?  I don't know about all that!  I told myself, just be open to learning something new.  That is just a label Elia has used.  It doesn't necessarily mean anything.  People use labels all the time.  

Keep an open mind.  Now, it's the night before the trip.  It seems I am supposed to do this.  Really feels like it is Gods will.  I am nervous and apprehensive yet so excited. What does one pack to be homeless?

The reaction I had received from friends and family was interesting.  My daughter and I joked about the fact that people would probably totally think I was homeless because of how I dress all the time.  My dear friend at work, asked me to leave my shoes there because they totally look like "homeless" shoes.   While I was excited, people thought I had lost my mind and wondered why I would do such a thing.  Especially if I didn't have to.  It's not a job requirement.  I don't need the college credit.  I already have a bachelors degree, this isn't going to further my education that much.  I just felt it was something in my path of self discovery I needed to do.  My attitude was very positive and I was excited.  I would be traveling with new people to a city I've never seen.  It's already a good thing.  I can hardly wait until the weekend is over to see what other good things come my way.

Lord please help me keep an open mind about this experience.  Please open my eyes and heart to see what I need to see there.  Please watch over me as I awkwardly join these professional service providers in this journey of the unknown. Please work through me Lord Jesus Christ, to be an instrument of your love and peace. Thank you for the opportunity to learn something new.