Service Weekend Test Run

I started the first college-led service weekend in a crappy mood, but I'm pleased to say it didn't last long, because of all the awesomeness.  No youth showed up, which turned out to be a good thing, because we got to be laidback and spontaneous.

We hung out at the torn apart Rt. 40 house, eating chili and discussing David Platt's Radical.  There isn't plumbing at the house yet, so in place of toilets, we had a bucket and gravel.  Let me tell you, I was excited to use a glorified kitty litter box.  (I'm not even kidding.  Even during my pre-weekend funk when I thought the whole thing was stupid, the bucket toilet was the one thing to which I looked forward.)  It's the simple things, really.  And even better, Josh made a "toilet seat" for me, since I told him on Wednesday that I'm not a fan of hovering.  Hahahaahaaa, best gift ever.

Since Westley, Andrea, and Joe weren't spending the night, we decided to just stay at the Wineinger's.  I'm pretty sure we all almost died during that five mile drive, what with not being able to see the road at all.  But we survived, and stayed up talking about ridiculous and hilarious things until 2:30 in the morning.  I miss that.

In the morning, my car wouldn't start.  Poor baby Bertha, she is just not a fan of the cold Northern winters.  But if ever there is a place to have car trouble, it is at the Wineinger house!  Steve and Josh got me fixed up, and I went to work.  The Humane Society brought in six trained therapy dogs, and 17 kids had signed up to read to the dogs for fifteen minutes.  Um, it was crazy adorable.  The kids would sit beside these tranquil dogs, intently reading Dr. Seuss or Harry Potter, one hand holding the book and the other hand lying on the dog's neck.

Best library program ever.

Then I met up with our group at the church, where they had sorted all the clothes we'd collected.  We loaded the fifteen passenger van and headed to the Methodist church downtown.  We hoped to catch people leaving Loaves and Fishes, but we got there at 1:30.  Westley and I found probably eight people, and told them that we had a bunch of winter clothes if anyone wanted anything.

We gave out quite a bit.  One woman got a hat and scarf for herself, then agreed to take some stuff for her nieces.  One guy broke my heart, because when Westley and I told him about the clothes, he said, "I should be giving you guys stuff!  I'm a strong man..."  But he did follow us, and he ended up accepting some things.

It was all very cool.  I was super pleased that talking to people was not a big deal to me.  Westley and I just happened to be sitting closest to the door, so we got that job, and it just wasn't an issue.  I am consistently amazed at how much I've changed in the last few years.

We drove around unsuccessfully for awhile after that.  No one was outside because it was freaking cold.  But we kept everything that was left, and we've got an actual plan laid out for our next trip in a few weeks.

Very encouraging weekend.  It feels so good to help people, to talk to people who are so different from me socially, but so much the same on the inside.  Can't wait for the 29th.