{At 2:50 into this video, that was one of the guys I talked to! He is so cool!}
That party bus, or "Mama's Hands" bus, I was definitely in there!
That video is the reason behind my youth activity last night.
The Priests and Laurels of my ward had the opportunity to go to Seattle and do service for the homeless people, but what I didn't realize until the end, is that they were the ones doing service to me.
I was feeling a bit apprehensive about going because I will admit that the homeless people I have seen have frightened me a bit in the past, and so I had no idea what it would be like! We arrived to the park in Seattle, and straightaway the lady at the front of the bus who was filling in for Denny that night said that she needed 7 volunteers to pair up and give out phones so that those people could call their loved ones. Nobodies hands really flew at first... And even though I was stepping completely out of my comfort zone, and there were now only 2 hands raised (one of which was one of my favorite people in the world, Justin. He was the brave volunteer who was the first one to raise his hand setting the precedence for all to follow.) I turned to Tanner and said "Let's do it."
The lady up front told us that it usually took them five minutes to get all of the volunteers, but we had managed it in about 1.
We stepped outside and paired up, and it was Coleman, Tanner and I in a group. And we didn't know what to do or say or how to approach these people sitting on park benches, but somehow we did and conversations were so easy! All these people wanted to do was tell us about them and where they've been and where they're going! The lady who was working at the front of the bus told us that all these people wanted to do was talk, and they want to see our smiling faces, and how they can tell you care when you talk to them, and I learned she was right! It felt for a moment while talking to these people that I was glowing! --Which is weird to type but that's the only way I can describe it-- But I felt like I was being the Lord's hands.
A woman got up and started dancing around a bit, and asked Coleman if he was Justin Bieber because his hair looked like it, and she just wanted to talk to us about anything! Then a man came, we could HARDLY understand him... The 3 words I got were:
Europe
Jesus
You
The first woman came up to me and said "It's cool, half the time I don't know what he's saying either, but he's from Europe and telling you Jesus loves you."
(HOW COOL IS THAT!? I want to go around telling everybody that HEY! JESUS LOVES YOU. Moving on...)
After we talked to them a bit, a man approached my group and said TO ME "I've been watching you" and he asked me my age, and I felt a little creeped out cause of the way he was staring at me! It felt as if Coleman and Tanner who had been on either side of me had moved 100 miles away in each direction... and I had no idea what to say. So that was ...an experience!
:)
Looking around me, I saw some of my friends in a circle with these other people and they were doing improv music with the guitar and drums we had. One of my leaders was being asked to sing! In another direction I saw Justin using his gift of tongues to convey Spanish from his mouth to a guy eating his hamburger that the Mama's Hands bus supplied. What a cool kid! In the distance, I saw a group of my friends around this man and by the time I made my way over there I heard their discussion about what he thought about praying, and what his beliefs were without being preachy!
My favorite person I talked to, was a woman who had looked straight at me, came to me and shook my hand, and told me all about how she was homeless and had turned her life around and was working on getting a degree, and she has a job, and she's married, and can get on the internet, and has a phone! And she was very repetitive in letting me know how things have been looking up for her and her husband and why they still come around to this park each week is because they care about these homeless people and they know that they have been there, and that anybody could fall into that position and so if that happens to her again, then she wants them to be there for her because she has been there for them. (That was a mouthful... but hopefully you got that.)
"Service is easy, it means the world to somebody else and they won't never forget what you did even when you do forget. It's the closest thing we can do to repay Jesus for what he did for me and you even when it's the LEAST we can do for somebody else. Praise Jesus."
She really does have a lot figured out, and I learned so much from these people based on what they've been through. After we had talked for some 20 minutes, and she and her husband were ready to go, she walked back to me and said "Bless you Hannah, keep doing what you do" and gave me this wonderful hug, and it was the kind where you just felt like you couldn't hug tight enough. It was like I was saying goodbye to somebody I had known since I was a baby. I love all of them and I didn't even know them.
When it was time to go, we got in the bus and were asked if there was anything we wanted to share from our experiences. Several people talked, and the quiet feeling in that bus was remarkable. It was a bajillion times better than testimony meetings could be. And seeing how not only me but my friends were affected by this experience too, made me feel really great inside. The whole way back we talked about funny things that people had said, and how one guy had thrown nuts at Coleman's feet!
We're all the same.
We're all just trying to do our best.
It's so easy to just judge somebody, but as President Uchtdorf so wisely tells us "Stop it!".
When I got home, I had wondered why I was so afraid up until I started talking to people, when I read my scriptures and found in 1 John 4:18 "perfect love casteth out fear" and it all made sense.
