Rick's Epistle To The Shelterites

-Book One-

November 14, 2011

Just started the program at LA Mission today - mostly orientation and figuring out where everything is. It was nice to see today that Esther & Kaiden's bulletin board near the elevator is still there - a little taste of home away from home.

I actually applied and was accepted into the program on Friday the 11th but I delayed my entrance into the program so that I could attend the 11-11-11 event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena that afternoon.

I basically was relying on God to provide in the way of food and accomodation. Near the end of the evening, after hanging out with some friends of a friend, a group of believers gathered around me to pray, and a few of them gave me money for food and bus fare. I was also hoping that God would provide an open couch or a sleeping bag on someone's floor, but instead I was given a key to a room at the nearby Howard Johnson's. Wow. Totally was not expecting that! 

The next day I went to attend a free concert in North Hollywood, at a small church there. The group that was performing was The Choir, whose biggest hist were the worship songs "God Of Wonders" and "Beautiful Scandalous Night."

There was also a free dinner before the show. Kept asking around but nobody, not even the pastor, knew of anywhere that I could stay. I finally wound up sitting at Denny's sipping free refills of iced tea (it was raining pretty hard and the trains had stopped running) and trying to call everyone I could think of in LA and seeing if they had any ideas. No room in the inn. Finally heard from pastor Justin at 3:00 a.m. who said that as soon as the trains started running (at 4:30 a.m.) that I should go sit in the lobby of Comfort Inn. I caught the first Red Line train down there and walked a few blocks to the Comfort Inn on 7th, where the Shelter Church missions team stayed in September. The moment I walked in, the night desk worker (Paula) said, "Hey! I know you! Where are the rest of the people from your church?" and handed me a room key. So I went up to the room and probably broke a record for the hours of sleep that I caught up on. 

This morning it was only a short bus ride (the ride was short, NOT the bus!!!) to the LA Mission. I had to turn in my phone and laptop when I got here, and I don't know at all yet at what point I will get them back.

I am in the Jumpstart Program which initially runs for a one month trial period, after which it lasts for another 11 months. I don't even have access to Facebook, e-mail or Twitter for the first 30 days, which is just pure torture.

November 18th, 2011 

Sadly, I was not able to make it further in the program than a couple of days, and am currently staying with a friend in another state and looking for employment. It just struck me that I have been on the go nearly non-stop for the last week - a combination of cars, city buses, Greyhound, youth hostels, motels, chili and burgers in Tucson and Joplin, a men's shelter on LA's Skid Row, Denny's coffee and pie in a few different cities, a major event at the Rose Bowl, and a concert at a small church in North Hollywood. So glad to have a little time to finally decompress. I feel a blog post or possibly a book coming out of the events of last week alone.