Denver Day 3, 2017

By: Simi & Rose

Hey all, this is Simi and Rose and we’re going to share our journey with you! After sleeping for a couple or so hours (Denver is too fun to sleep in for), we woke up bright and early for morning prayer with a beautiful service at mass. After that, we had a quick breakfast with incredible people and prepped for “Lunch in the Park.” This event took place at Capitol Hill where dozens of homeless came and visited with us for the afternoon, while having a nice lunch provided by Christ in the City. We both helped with different events for the lunch and had our own little blessings along the way. Afterwards, we had a meaningful conversation about what is truly means to be “happy,” so we advise you to ponder a bit on that word. What does happiness mean to you? Then, we did street ministry at night which was pretty exciting for some of us. Here’s a taste of our experiences today—

Simi: Heyyy everyone! Today started off pretty awesome for me with morning prayer and mass at this beautiful cathedral with nuns. One of the many amazing things about this headlights trip is that we experience prayer in so many different ways. From just thinking about all our blessings throughout this trip, to praying in the chapel—it’s all a form of prayer. One of my biggest blessings this trip has been being able to serve others in the most sincere way, which is establishing a deep, spiritual human connection. Today, I realized that establishing this type of connection isn’t so difficult as it may seem to be. For example, “Lunch in the Park” allowed me to meet a new person every few minutes which was a blessing. I met a woman named Teevey who had such a blossoming, high spirit who was always smiling, despite all the hardships and difficulties in life she faced. These little moments can amount to even deeper connections. It was an afternoon to remember for sure. Moving onto night ministry, one word: A D V E N T U R E. Diving in a little deeper, my group and I ran into a homeless friend of mine again that I saw on the streets two days ago. His name was Neil (“Sloth”). When I saw him, he was under the influence of alcohol, weed and many other drugs, combined. Unfortunately, he was not able to hold a solid conversation. Later on, we ran into this girl that was about 19 years old and was homeless with barely any food supplies and was enthusiastic to see we had snacks for her if she wanted any. Soon enough, “Sloth” came down the street, all drugged up, and engaged in irritable behavior which annoyed the girl and her boyfriend—which resulted in a fight. For someone who has never seen a fight like this, abrupt out of nowhere on the street, it was quite interesting to see how the groups of homeless people tried to deal with people they did not like. It turns out that the homeless have their own system of who can hang with them and who cannot—similar to how we choose to associate ourselves with certain people in our lives. All in all, this trip has provided me with so much knowledge on people, prayer and the endless possibilities of how we can help lift each other by serving. I hope everyone has an opportunity in their lifetime to go on a service trip as astounding as this one.

Rose: Hola amigos! My day was started by T-swizzle’s “Our Song” blasting in the stage area where we were sleeping. After a groggy but faith filled morning prayer we marched down the block to a nearby church and gained the ‘spiritual nutrients’ needed for the day. When I arrived to the Lunch in the Park I was greeted by a cordial shirtless man who helped to unload the car, sadly I forgot to ask him what his name was. After we, as well as all the other people, set up the lunch our friends got in line for a delectable hot meal of mac n cheese, salad (which was not the didn’t know what to do till a mission worker told me to just go socialize. I LOVE socializing so I was very excited to go make new buddies! Tio Willy and Venessa were the first people that I got to speak to. Much like me, Tio Willy has many siblings and loved telling me about his life growing up! Venessa told me multiple times to trust in God as the “Only man you can ALWAYS trust”. They were so sweet and Tio Willy blessed me before they left. After I left I was supposed to collect the trash but I got distracted by Mark’s shiny purple shoes! I couldn’t just walk by so I asked him about them and found out that he was such an incredible man! He is a heroin addict, a loving father, and an eager husband. He wishes more than anything to get off of heroin so that he can see his two babies grow and be there for them as well as win back his wife. He had love pouring out of his heart and was holding tight to God! I was so moved by his faith and Agape love! Also, I met Robert AGAIN! He is genuinely my friend, and he is going to teach me street smarts next time I come! God bless, America!