Our hostel ministry has two focuses – that of ministering to the guests who stay from one night up to a week usually and then we have ppl who come to us who have no where to go and so in exchange for room and board they clean the hostel. With these people we have much more of an opportunity to build relationships with to share Christ with.
One of these cleaners was a women, Zeta who came from Greece and had worked in the Shelter Jordan and then moved to the Shelter City, where I work. When I met Zeta I was impressed that she was someone who had come through so much – a very strong, independent woman who needed no one to take care of her. She had a very abrupt personality, she didn’t beat around the bush with what she wanted or expected of people. At first I was not exactly sure how to relate with her and mostly our interaction would be hellos, smiles, and me making her sandwiches but one day we had a little run in about something, but it turned out to be a good thing because we worked out our difference of opinions and left the conversation knowing and understanding each other better. One of the issues dealt with in the conversation was the whole, “if you’re a Christian then you should do this…” and I was trying to explain that just because people have a label of Christian does not mean that we always do everything right and it also does not mean that we have to do or give everyone whatever they want. Through this conversation I definitely saw that she was very cynical about Christianity as a whole.
After this encounter though our relationship started to grow – nothing huge, just small jokes, teasing her about getting dressed up to go out, hanging out with her once or twice outside of the hostel…I believe that it is so important to build relationships with people; like building a bridge into their lives. I was touched when one day she came up to me with a stone cross and asked me to write something on it so that she would always have it with her. But even then I wondered why she had chosen a cross.
Shortly after this Zeta left the Shelter so that she could be free to be a part of the Gay Pride week. I did not know that she was leaving and so was not able to say goodbye to her, which made me sad but I hoped that I would bump into her again. About a week later I was in the hostel and I walked past one of the rooms and as I passed by the open door I spotted her unmistakable silver colored, crew cut hair, T-shirt, and sweat pants. “Zeta!” I exclaimed with surprise. She came over and I instantly knew something was so different about her; her face had a softer, more relaxed look and she had such a big smile on her face. I asked her why she was back (because normally we only let ppl clean for a month and then they have to continue on), “It’s, a miracle!” she said, and with more enthusiasm then I had ever seen her express she started to tell me how when she had left the hostel she thought she had all these friends and contacts in the city that she could count on but a few day into being on her own she realized that no one was keeping their promises of giving her a place to stay or having jobs for her. She had ended up with no place stay and had slept one night on the street and the next day was sitting all alone, crying and crying because she had no one to go to for help. She prayed to God, telling Him that she needed help, desperately. So about 2am she came to the hostel hoping that we would have an open bed that she could stay in, which we did, and because she had almost no money she really needed to work for her bedroom. It just so happens that one of our cleaners left early so a cleaning position opened up and she could work the next week as a cleaner for us. “Kara”, she said, “I have always known there is a God and I believe that He made me, and He made me strong so if I need something then I am enough to get it for myself but today, I saw a different side of God; I know that today He saw me crying and answered my prayers – there was no way this was luck.”
I don’t think I can do justice to what it felt like, standing there seeing hope and joy in someone who for the first time, really had experienced the personal love and friendship of our amazing Lord but I had goosebumps while I talked with her. It’s moments like that I am so encouraged in what we are doing here. It can often seem very futile trying to show Jesus to people who are only with you one or two days and even those who stay longer often times have walls built up against Christianity so you can sometimes wonder if you are making a difference but in that moment, I knew for her, it had made a huge difference.
So for those of you who are prayer warriors out there – please continue to pray for Zeta - she has her own apartment now and a job so we don’t really see her but my prayers for her is that God puts people in her path who will continue to encourage and love her into Jesus and that she would come to know Him as her best friend – not just a God who created her and now has no interest but a God who is intimately interested in every detail of her life.
