WORDS that TOUCHED our HEARTS!!!! ( :

Natalie-“How is your day going so far Sir?”

Hecta-“Well I’m alive!”

What a perfect response to a question. His simple response reminds us all what it means to be truly alive. It reminds to be so thankful for what we have and for what God has given us. It reminds us to be thankful for all that we have in life. God has blessed me with so much in life and I can’t thank him enough for that. This experience has been so humbling for me and I am absolutely loving every minute of it. Our life is a precious gift from God and it’s up to us to make it great and be the servants that we are called to be!

I never expected a homeless man of the Father McKenna Center to have such effecting, inspirational words for me.

I was telling this guy Earl of my future plans of school, work, and career goals and he said to me “Listen, have a Game Plan and Play it out directly”……

Just those few words dug deep and were inspirational. I now know that we didn’t come to just give a helping hand, we came to inspire and to be inspired while grow!

~ ArLena

 

 

MJ

I wasn’t sure that Franklin was even paying attention… I asked him to represent our group and when he stood and spoke to the congregation gathered, I was amazed by what he said….

 

“Don’t ask me where I’ve been… Ask me where I’m going!” 

 

He reminded me that sometimes you just have to let go of the past (especially when it comes to things that are beyond your control) and just move on.  This calls for forgiveness…. Looking to the future is so much more productive than festering about the past. 

 

Mary

I was talking to Kenny, we were having a great conversation and suddenly he pulled out his bible. He said, “No, matter what I’ve been through God has carried me though!” The edges were curled, some pages were torn and each page had something highlighted or circled. He went on and elaborated about his love and faith in God and how God has never abandoned him. It inspired me because he had gone through some of the most horrible things a person could go through but he still put God first! He did not blame God for anything and just said that everything he’s gone through was part of God’s plan and he trusts God to lead him through life.

 

Carly

As we stepped outside into an 80 degree sunny day, Rodney, a tall man with a big wooden beaded necklace, stood on the sidewalk with his two books. I asked him what they are about and he said, “I like to read to learn, not just to finish a book, you know what I’m sayin’?” We continued our conversation about the deeper meaning in books and he said, “You gotta step up your aim!” This really caught my attention…Anytime you notice your life may not be in the best place, the only way for it to get better is to create a goal and imagine yourself aiming high!

Lauren

During the outreach run, where we gave out toiletries and t-shirts to the homeless and needy one man said something that really had an impact on me. It is a concept I need to work on because it can add so much unneeded frustration into one’s life. He said, “Don’t stress out over things you cannot control.” It sounds so simple, but in reality this is one of the hardest notions to grasp, and apply to one’s life. Living in the moment is so important, and being able to push away the situations that take time to be changed, opposed to expending unnecessary energy and emotion onto them. This advice was first introduced to me by my father and it made just as big of an impact when he said it as when the man in the park told me too. I will take this advice with me to ensue I live the most fulfilled and successful life I can.

Natalie

This week has been so amazing and I am so sad to see the week coming to an end. This truly has been such a life changing experience in so many ways. One quote that a man named Sid said to me just the other day was “You don’t have time to look in the review mirror while you have the entire windshield ahead of you!” This is something that they preach over and over here at the Father McKenna center. It’s up the guys to take responsibility and make the change. They have to be the one’s to do it. It is such good advice and something that I will carry with me for a long time. There is not time to dwell about the past. You have to focus on your future and what’s in front of you. We all have such bright futures ahead of us and I have received nothing but acknowledgments of appreciation and encouragement from the guys here and I can honestly say I will miss them and the memories I have gained through this experience!