Friday, May 07, 2010

Meeting New Friends in DC

Hey Kids!

I’m exhausted! Hopefully I can write this without fainting.

SO...this morning I had to give my testimony. I have to practice it order to get it down smoothly, it went well. We had devotions on Solitude, Community, and Ministry which was BEAUTIFUL! And then talked a little about how to handle conflict etc. @ our spot/in general.

We went to Bens Chili Bowl (DC Landmark) for lunch. It’s one of the many sites we take our groups to eat during the week. Food was good :)

Then we went for our activity of the day. Natasha and I had to do "Urban Plunge" which meant us going down to Dupont Circle to find a homeless person(s) to share lunch with. All we were given was $2 each and a metro card for the round trip. We were to try to get free food or something within our $4 price range. We decided to walk down to Dupont Circle...it took us an hour and a half...we coulda just caught the bus but...we couldn’t resist it. ON the way down there we walked through Embassy row, which was dope as all dopeness on 16th street, NW...walked past a gazillion churches that were amazingly built...some other random stuff...eventually Howard University dorms...and then we finally got to Massachusetts Ave and walked down to Dupont.

We came up with a strategy to look for an affordable place to eat first. Everything was so expensive so it was like "Boooooo" lol but eventually we asked to homeless peeps where Mcdonalds was. We then asked their names. Mickey and Nicky surprisingly. lol sounds like a joke but it was real. We introduced ourselves and told them we'd grab them something from Mcdonalds. When we got back they were gone! So we decided to search until we found them. ON our search we met, Warren...he was selling newspapers to raise money for himself. He was a cool dude. The Lord then led us further down the sidewalk where we found Nicky! HA! Look at that!!
She told us Mickey was in the park, but he just had hip replacement surgery so he probably went inside somewhere. We didn’t get to give him his food. :(

Turns out Nicky is a believer. We asked her where she was staying and this started a whole hour long conversation. She told us her life story, how Jesus showed Himself real to her, how He keeps using her to minister to others, and how he loves on her, protects her, feeds her, keeps her, etc. Her story was AMAZING!

One of the best parts was when she started talking about Farrakhan. She said she was in a mosque because she was looking to be a Muslim maybe and...they introduced Farrakhan as "Our brother and the exalted Christ!" and then they asked if there were any questions. LOL! She said she raised her hand and said "What are the dates of you dying, resurrecting and someone being healed from touching the hem of your garment??!" LOL! She said they kicked her out for asking and she told them she's not taking her question back because he is just a man, and she will not bow to NO MAN but God. She was going on and on and it was one of the funniest defenses of our Faith I’ve heard in my life! Then she said her son said to her, "Mom, why’d you say that? They could have smited you." And she said "I wish they WOULD smite me, it’ll be a whole lot of problems up in there!" LOL? (first of all....how you gonna "smite" somebody???!! LOL aww I can’t take it!) lol but yea Nicky was the bomb. She told us so many stories of how the Lord delivered her out of her own nonsense and brung her back to Him.

She's currently staying at shelter in Germantown that cooks for them, keeps her warm etc. That is a blessing from God. I can write about Nicky for another hour...but I won’t. I will say that the peace of God is evident in her life. She reads the Bible, even in her using curse words in her talking at times...the Lords hand on her life, her understanding of scripture upon scripture was SO encouraging to our hearts. We could listen to her talk for another hour. She ministered to us. She had peace and trusted God with her life completely.

One thing she said that stuck with me was, "My son is still Muslim. I’m not gonna yell at him and tell him not to do it, or to do it. The same way the Lord snatched me up when I was in my own sin, He will do the same with my son. He will open his eyes when he's ready."

Beautifully spoken.
We prayed with her and for her. then we hugged her.

Before we left...she pulled out her birth certificate and told us her street name was Nicky.
She told us Jesus told her to tell us her real name...so she told us.

Selah.

-Monielle, CSM Washington DC Spring 2010 City Host

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