The people in your neighborhood

I got to talking to a greengrocer a couple of weeks ago at a local market. He's a guy we see quite a bit and share small talk with. Always a friendly hello and sometimes more. Here's a story he shared with us...

There is a homeless man that meanders outside of his shop and his wife and he decided to engage with this man just to offer him a bit of friendship. This homeless guy is out of it quite a bit but they started slow, offering him a sandwich and such. As they got to talking they realized that they knew him from the town they grew up in...that they had actually, long ago, been family friends. So they are just trying to listen, befriend, build trust and help this guy however they can.

The grocer knows what we do and occasionally asks our opinion on how they are proceeding. They aren't getting carried away. They have no illusions that they will "fix" his problem. They are simply meeting him with dignity with the offer of friendship and the opportunity to reciprocate, trusting that friendship will lead the way. What a wonderful example! After hearing his story, I told him that I had no advice for him because what they are doing is the only thing I know to do.

This grocer said he and his wife fell in love with quiet service the year a kid ripped their son's jacket off of him at school. They met with the other parents in the principal's office to resolve the issue, expecting the family to replace the damaged jacket. The other mother was distraught, saying she'd replace it but she couldn't afford jackets for their own kids. That's all it took.

The grievance was dropped and the grocer and his wife bought jackets for everyone. Ever since, they have anonymously bought jackets for a needy family as a "back to school" ritual. So beautiful...that's the gospel! Laying down our rights to help meet the needs of others.

Friendship, reaching out across whatever divides us, helps us see that people are just people. People respond to honest, if clumsy, attempts. You don't need a fancy program, just a few extra minutes and a good honest try.

John and Rhi's update

Near the beginning of July, I (John) went with Jimmy and our friends James, Jordan and Ruth to the backcountry, to take some of the older boys that we work with (of the Hatch Rd. Kids) on a backpacking trip. It was an awesome time. I don't think any of the four boys had ever really been to the mountains before, and they had a blast. We slid down rock waterslides, we hiked a many-miled loop and we climbed a mountain (which involved climbing a vertical rock-face).

The best part, of course, was being able to enter a deeper level of relationship with all four of the boys. They each brought a different element to the group dynamics, and it was really cool to see the boys grow in how they interacted, not only with us, but also with each other. On top of relational breakthrough, the boys let us walk alongside them as different family or personal issues cropped up, through the catalysts of physical challenges and a week's lack of personal space! By the grace of God, those boys, and us leaders, will never be the same.



A couple of short weeks after the “Awesome Camp” backpacking trip, we held our annual “Camp Awesome” event. We gathered all of the Hatch Rd. Kids--and a few extras that we have met over the course of our time in the West/South side areas--and took them up to a YWAM base called the Lord's Land, an ex-hippy commune in Mendocino, in the mountains, near the beach. All of the YWAM Modesto families came along (that is, all of our staff's kids) and a group of friends from Global Youth Network in Canada came to help, too. We had 4 days of fun, food and frolicking through fountains of God's forever flowing favor and grace. fffff. The days were packed with craft-esque activities, as well as games and exercise morning and night. For a couple of hours every afternoon the whole gang (about 40 people, total) caravanned 5 minutes to the beach. Practically none of the kids had ever been to the ocean before, so as you can imagine, they made a B-line right for it, and stayed in as long as they could. At the beach we had a campfire, climbed a rock wall (and some of the kids were naturals at it), explored caves, and, would you believe it, saw a crab, starfish and jellyfish.

And here’s Rhiannon’s take on our most recent trip to Thailand:



Thailand. "The land of smiles."

Firstly, thank you to all of those who supported us financially and prayerfully. We love you and continually thank God for you.

Each day we were able to work along side Compasio workers. Simply doing what they do each day, loving these beautiful Thai and Burmese children. We worked for the most part at three locations.

The drop-in center is a small room located in the market. Each day at 1 pm it opens to receive a swarm of Burmese children. Most of them are sub-refugees, some homeless, most on the street begging for their survival and their families’ survival. Each day a meal is provided for them. We played, we held, we hugged. They would teach us Burmese and we would teach them English. My favorite week was the week we painted the drop-in center. God blessed me with the opportunity to paint a mural for them. A hand full of the kids would stay behind to help us paint. I could tell it meant a lot to them to be a part. We became their safe place.



Compasio also has two "safe houses". I believe there are about 17 children total between the homes. Most of these children used to be begging on the street, and three of them were born in prison. These children now have safe, happy homes. It's so beautiful that God cares to provide Compasio staff to parent these children. We had such a great time with them. They took to John and me quickly. We had the honor of being part of their family while we were there. We did a lot of playing, talking, teaching and, of course, painting! We taught them how to mix colors. Both therapeutic and fun!

These children are so close to God’s Heart. As we were Christ to them, they were Christ to us.

Please pray for the Compasio staff and the children they serve. It was our goal to love these children fiercely and to be a blessing to and refresh their staff; by the grace of Christ it was accomplished.


Thanks be to God.


Love, John and Rhiannon

New Compasio Video

Our friends at Compasio have a beautiful new video about their work with street kids on the Thai/Burmese border. I couldn't get it to look right embedding it on the blog so please CLICK HERE to watch. So worth a 5 minute investment!