Aaron

My favourite America story so far... A group of us went  to San Francisco this weekend - to meet up with a team of people who go out twice a month to meet with homeless people.  It was really simple, we gave out oranges and granola bars and asked if they needed socks, or a blanket and just chatted to anyone who wanted to (obviously that last part was the  real hardship for me ;) ). We met people from all over the world, with amazing stories - one from Denmark who had hitchhiked/walked from Alaska to Cuba to San Francisco!

Then we met Aaron. He was about 6'2", 28 and had been on the streets for 6 weeks, he looked tired and  really sad.  I am not sure how he started talking to our group as I was having a chat to the marathon hitchhiker at the time (so many stories so little space to write them down!) but we ended up spending about an hour and a half with him and so much happened ...For the sake of space and time I can only tell you the main parts but I would love to tell you the whole story in person when I get a chance. One of the men we were with hears God tell him things about people he meets, he asked Aaron if he had an older sister with brown hair - when Aaron nodded,  Mike said that God had told him that she was thinking about Aaron at that moment. Aaron rushed over and gave Mike a bear hug with tears running down his face. One of the other girls felt God tell her to ask Aaron if there was anyone he needed to forgive and he immediately said yes and we told him to picture them and tell them he forgave them for all the things they had done to him. He started praying and saying and named lots of different people and telling God that he forgave them and then changed it to 'and thank you God that you forgive me for the wrong things I have done" - His face completely changed  he was grinning and happy, hugging us all and  looked like his whole perspective on life had changed.


He asked one of the girls if he can use her phone to call his Mum - now it was my turn to be in tears as he  was saying  "Mom it's me, I am so sorry - will you forgive me. I am so sorry, I am going to come home" . When he was finished he hugged us all (again!  remember there was bout 10 of us) and was  turning to people walking past us and yelling "I am going home" and yelling "I am not homeless anymore". He gave his sleeping bag away to another homeless guy whilst one of the girls was using her iphone to work out how he could get back home (650 miles away) and she worked out there was a train leaving later that night. So now all he needed was the money... I only had $2 in my pocket so I  gave him that  and he was in tears again and gave me a bear hug this time (it was only $2!) and other people in our group gave him what they had so he was up to about $60  - he was so overwhelmed. Then one of the girls asked if he he was in pain said 'yes - I have arthritis in my leg from a car accident when I was younger' and we told him that Jesus can heal his leg. (he is not surprised by anything at this point and agrees for us to pray)  We prayed and then told him to walk over to the other side of the pavement to see if the pain had gone- about two steps into it he starts jumping up and down saying "it doesn't hurt any more, it doesn't hurt any more". Me and another of the girls are jumping and yelling too as I think we may have been more surprised than he was  (we have heard lots of stories at school where people have prayed for ill people who have got better but we hadn't experienced it in front of our eyes!).

In this time he also gets a call from his Dad and Grandpa . He was scared to answer the call from his Dad as he thought he would be really angry at him for leaving but they were obviously  just very  pleased that he is ok and that he is coming home. Aaron just keeps apologising and saying I love you (more tears from me). 


Another girl then gets a picture in her head of him working on a white car and told him that she thought God was going to give him a job as a mechanic when he got home - he tells us that he likes working on cars  but he really wanted to be famous but now he wants to do what we do and speak to people on the streets. Bless him :). One of the ladies tells him ' you are famous to God, that's what counts!' and he grins and nods  So he hugs us all (of course) and is saying "thank you thank you and "I've seen the light" whilst  pointing up to sky.


His whole persona and situation was so so different when we left him engrossed in our hand drawn map of how to get to the station. It really was amazing to watch. The last we heard was a phonecall from his Grandpa  who was ringing to say thank you for helping and that his daughter had paid for the rest of Aaron's ticket home, he was going to meet him half way to give him some sandwiches and all he needed to do now was to get on the train home.

It was so easy, we worked as a team and listened to what God was saying to us and a person's life changed in front of our eyes. It was so exciting and so real. I can't wait for my next opportunity! There are many many more details to tell you when I see you but at least you can know some of it from here!


Short version for those of you who have skipped to the end...homeless guy forgives all the people who have hurt him in his life and asks God to forgive him, decides he wants to go back home, gets given most of the money he needs ( which makes him cry he is so so grateful) , then we pray for the arthritis in his leg and he starts jumping around saying it's better, it's better (we all scream and get very excited too) and then calls his Mum, Dad and Grandpa to say he's sorry (makes me cry), yells at all the passers by "I am not homeless any more" and "I'm going home" gives his sleeping bag away to another homeless guy ,  decides he doesnt want to be famous anymore  but that he wants to help homeless people, hugs us all (a lot) and heads off to the station to get a train home (650 miles away). Makes me very happy and very excited about what God can do for people today through me and my friends just wanting to spread some love!



The End!

View from where we stayed...

21st November -10pm. News just in...Aaron's Grandpa just text to say that he made it home. So Happy!

Classof 2011

There are 800+ students in my class... with the view of making it feel less dauting and more of a small class feel, once a week we are split into groups of 65 and then again into groups of 4. The groups also regularly meet up for bbqs/rollerskating parties etc. It is amazing how quickly you can to know people when we are all motivated to - I feel like I have acquired a large number of very varied new family members in a very short space of time.  My group leader is hilarious and has been known to do little English translations especially for me (- one of his daughters is into Jane Austen :) ). A few girls from my house went to the cinema last night (75 cents to see a film - what a bargain) and there were about 50 other students from school all watching the same film so even that felt like a family event.

It is only November but already we have been described as 'the class of financial breakthrough'. In the first couple of weeks some third year students took a collection for one of the group leader's 50th birthday. He is from Hawaii but hadn't been back to see his family for a long time (due to financial reaons) so they wanted to see if we  could send him there and asked us all to give a dollar if we could. The following week it was amazing to see him on the stage  in tears as his interns gave him wads and wads of cash (it looked like a lot more than $800) that had been given to him by people he hardly knew (i.e our class) and at the same time telling him how great he was (I imagine half the class was in tears too).

A few days after that a lady stood up to say she was a single Mum with children at college, she had come to school but didn't have the finances to pay the next installment of her tuition fees or even for enough food. She wanted to put a dollar in for the leader but only had a $20 note so she put that in believing that if she gave away to others, God would reward her with more finances (i.e. sowing and reaping). She then got a phonecall from a family friend who said they wanted to pay all her school costs- tuition, food, rent and hair cuts (essential for any female!). Then there was another girl in my group who put all her money in a collection to be given to 'the poor' (at the time she had $28 dollars to her name) and someone came up to her afterwards (without knowing any of this) and gave her $1000 dollars. There have been so many stories like that since, too many to re-tell on here but it is exciting stuff! Please note that this is not a hint for money - I have paid all my fees up front and have the necessary money for food and hair cuts :).

An impromptu 'offering', I have made it large so you can spot me (t's a bit like Where's Wally/Waldo isnt it).

Now to report on some 

No ambiguity there.

mishaps... We went to a pumpkin patch (a bit like a p.y.o. strawberry field but with a key difference) and the lady  working there was intrigued by the range of accents (Dutch, American, English and Swedish on this occasion) so we were telling here why we were in Redding. As we arrived, she made a point of telling us not to stand on the scales (to weigh the pumpkins) as they are 'certified' ( I guess this means they are worth some money...), of course in my enthusiasm for chatting and telling stories I forgot this and 1 minute later rested my foot on them - she  immediately reminded me of the rule and that was the end of that conversation! 

Also, In my enthusiasm to show my Niece what I was eating for breakfast (these things are interesting to 1 year olds I promise) I managed to tip milk over my laptop (the unaccounted for perils of Skype). You will be pleased to know that my laptop is working fine however and is free from that gone-off milk smell.

Our chosen pumpkin...      

I am sure there are many more Katieisms I could share with you but I will leave it there for today...