Capital Hill

Stories. Everyone has one. Some may be more full of challenges than others, but nonetheless, they are all important.
Today was the Denver crews first day of street ministry. Christ in the City took us to Capital Hill, a common place where the homeless tend to congregate. Every Wednesday, Christ in the City brings lunch to the homeless and hangs out with them.
When we first got to Capital Hill, we set up for lunch and started talking with the people. At first, finding common ground was difficult. You couldn’t go to the usual questions like, “what are you studying?” or “what year are you?” because you didn’t know if they ever went to school. You had to dig a little deeper. After stumbling through a few awkward moments in the conversations, it became much easier.
One of the people I talked to shared his story with me. For years this man had been struggling with drinking and smoking. Over time, he realized he wanted to turn his life around, and went to the Samaritan House. Since he first entered the Samaritan House, he has stopped drinking and smoking and “refound” God. He said it was really hard at first, but it got easier and easier. The man shared with me that through the love and peace he has found in God, he was able to find the courage to go to confession for the first time in a long time. He said he’s still got a ways to go, but he hasn’t been this happy in years.
I never thought I would be sitting on a wall, talking to a homeless man, and sharing the love of Christ. But everyone has his or her own story, and everyone deserves a chance to share it.
-Abby Centola

An Amazing Experience in Denver

Time and time again, probably like many others, I find myself praying for things that I want and desire. I pray for things that I think that I need. Very rarely do these prayers get directly answered in a way that I have asked. Today was a prime example of this lesson that I have come to learn. When I first signed up for this Headlights trip I originally asked to be sent to Rochester, New York. The reason for this was because I had been to New York in the past and experienced the homeless on the streets. I felt a strong desire to someday return and hopefully help the poor. When I found out I was going to be going to Denver I was a bit disappointed. I knew wherever I was going, I was going to be doing work for the Lord, but I had thought that New York was my calling. After talking with one of the leaders I found out that the trip to Denver was going to be working with the homeless directly on the streets. I immediately knew that there was a reason God wanted me in Denver for a mission’s trip. I prayed for weeks, and maybe even months before the trip. I prayed that I would experience a profound moment with God. One of those moments where God’s love and faith would just directly flow from me, a moment that probably happens very few times for most people. As the days grew closer and closer to when we would be doing our street ministry, my prayers got longer and my hopes were high.
As we were approaching the afternoon where we would be headed to Capitol Hill to work with the homeless on the streets, my nerves were high. The City Of Christ missionaries asked us all if we were nervous for what we were about to do, and most of us said yes. Now that I think about it, I believe we were all nervous for different reasons. My reasoning for being so nervous wasn’t because I was afraid of talking to the homeless or because I was afraid of those awkward moments. I was truly afraid that I was going to fail. I was afraid that I was going to not experience that profound moment that I had been praying for so long about. I didn’t want to fail as a missionary.
My experience at Capitol Hill was very different than I could have ever imagined. Of course I was able to talk with the homeless, and I was able to bond with some of them. One homeless man in particular completely caught me off guard. I was caught in an uncomfortable position with him where a few inappropriate words were said, and I honestly did not know how to react. I still to this moment have a very hard time explaining my feelings from then on. I couldn’t stop thinking about what just happened. I didn’t understand why this happened. I kept asking myself questions about whether or not I did something wrong, or what more could I have done in this situation. I also was very confused with God; I wanted to know why had He put this situation before me. My experience wasn’t what I had been praying for for weeks and all I could do was question God and his intentions.
Walking back to our housing after our street ministry, everyone was talking about their amazing experiences with their interactions with the homeless people. I was very happy and thankful that many of my friends had profound moments during the street ministry. When I was asked how my experience was, I honestly didn’t know what to say. I would never say that it was bad, but I couldn’t quite get myself to tell others that it was great. I was very emotional about the subject and hardly had words. I still hardy have words for why I felt so let down and why I felt so hopeless. I would kind of like to share a prayer that was said later that night though that really opened my eyes . . . it comes from Ephesians 3: 17-21, saying, “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of your life, thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge so that you may attain to the fullness of God himself. To him whose power, now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask to imagine-to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end.”
It’s crazy that I had been praying for so long for that experience of a lifetime that I had all planned out in my head. I prayed to God about what I wanted, thinking that that was what I truly needed. I realized today that God doesn’t always give you what you want. He gives you what you need. I really needed that experience today on Capitol Hill and I still can’t really explain to you why, but I can say that one day God can reveal this to me. This gives me time to pray and time to grow in my faith so that I can continue to serve the Lord. I have more to share with God than I did yesterday and I have more faith that I ever had before. I am truly thankful for this because now God has room in me to do work that is immeasurably more than I could ever imagine.

Thank you for reading,
Nicole K. Munoz

The Power of Good

Greetings everyone!

Today began at a very early hour- we had to be moved out of St. Joseph retreat center by 6:40 to be at mass by 7:00. Continuing our tour of Denver’s Catholic community, we had mass in the Denver Cathedral. As with the other churches, we were welcomed generously. We then went to the Christ in the City house for breakfast and instruction in street ministry.
Following training and lunch, the missionaries took us out for a street walk to show us the lay of the land and open our minds to the lives of the homeless. Walking through the city we were told to imagine as if we were homeless. When doing this it reminded me of the way I think while hiking or backpacking; constantly analyzing different places to stay and looking for sources of food. The urban environment felt much more like a jungle with that train of thought. The lack of security was very palpable.
Our path next took us to the 16th street mall. While riding in the free bus that runs the length of the mall, Katie had a very good conversation with a stranger about life and prayer. The person commented on how he often felt lonely and unloved, two very common experiences of life. Katie shared the power of prayer with the man and it was a very powerful experience; even before we officially start the street ministry, the power of God is working for us.
While on the bus, we also witnessed the negative side of humanity. It manifested itself in the form of several young people making fun of a mentally challenged individual who, after getting off the bus, was mocked behind his back. While good was being done between Katie and the conversation she was having with the stranger, evil was being done by the youths. The battle for good is constant, but we will prevail.
It is now 6:30 on a Tuesday, with temperatures falling and darkness overtaking Denver. Those who slipped through the cracks of society are now filling the places that we walked through earlier today. With no place other than a small bit of ground to call home, it is vitally important that they know they are loved and people do care. We journey tomorrow to show them how loved they are by Christ.

May God’s love be with you,

Steven Cornish

A Different View of the City

Today was a very eventful day for our crew in Denver. We moved out of the retreat center that we have stayed at the last few nights and into the Christ in the City missionary house. Not only that, but we got to meet the missionaries that we will be working with for the rest of the week! They were stuck outside of Denver in a snowstorm until this morning. When we met up with the missionaries, we got the chance to do a “street walk”, led by those that serve the homeless on the streets.
There were a number of things that stuck out to me on the walk. First, we saw Denver through a completely new perspective, thanks to our tour guides. On our first morning in town, Nicole and I got up early before mass and ran into the heart of downtown by the capitol building. Today, we visited it with one of the missionaries that spends his days in that park outside, ministering to the homeless and trying to combat the constant struggle against drugs on the streets. Next, we went to the 16th street mall, where just two days ago we got a chance to go shopping and embrace our tourist within. However, the commercial atmosphere and excessive consumer products seemed so much less impressive when we learned that this area of Denver is the center for most of the homeless youth to hang out.
The final thing that struck me today was our experience walking along the river after the mall. The river is where most of the homeless stay at night, due to the recent laws passed against setting up camp on the streets. We saw signs of homeless living tucked behind grates under bridges, we saw the attempts of the city to drive the homeless out by cementing down rocks where they would typically look to sleep, and we saw the dark recesses of the city where they go to “get away” and to use drugs. This included a journey into a drain tunnel from under the city, where we witnessed needles, empty balloons of heroin, and abandoned clothes. This struck me in so many ways. If this damp and dark tunnel is a haven for the homeless to live without shame of their addictions and struggles, then how bad must the world outside of it be in their eyes to drive them in there? I got claustrophobic almost immediately and it took everything in me to avoid crying at the sight of the darkness up ahead that we trudged into. It really inspired me and excited me to begin our work tomorrow of meeting the homeless community and showing them the compassion and charity that their human dignity deserves. It was so apparent today that this void is often filled with substance abuse and unhealthy relationships in their own community. I cannot wait to see tomorrow what the amazing missionaries are doing to help fill this void with Christ’s love!
-Natalie Stewart

Images from Denver

We haven’t heard much from our group in Denver because they have been busy and without internet service. Once they are able to they have a few blogs to email. In the meantime, pictures will have to do. They have been exploring the city and begin today their Immersion with Christ in the City.