Ministry is hard when you're tired.

It was fantastic to have Stephanie and Tilden back on Sunday night. Everything even feels so much different when they're around. The problem was the four of us were completely exhausted. No other way to say it. We were hanging out at Men's Camp this past weekend, maybe staying up a little to late to really be accommodating to late night ministry . . .

But we perservered . . .

We spilled a little hot chocolate, and ruined a few cups . . . but we did get to share a lot.

A couple of interesting things. Archie, whom you should remember from a number of entries now, was back again, and we ended up taking him to his 'spot'. He's trying to work with a temp agency doing security patrols, but there's not much work. Turns out he's living behind a building in our neighborhood . . . very, very interesting. He passes by our apartments every day on the bus.

Also, we found out that there's a monthy/weekly bus pass that we can get - maybe be able to give to someone like Archie. You can ride as much as you need to for that week/month. It would save a lot of money for him to be able to do that.

The lesson of the night, that we really have no reason to complain about anything! And that we need more people.

New Cups

We found some new cups, cutting down on our overhead - which, realistically wasn't very high to begin with - but rather than spending $70 for 1000 cups - we can now spend $11.

This week - And they're the perfect size - 8 oz. That way, we can fill up each cup and not have to worry about rationing too much or too little. OR, people complaining because we didn't fill up their 16 oz cup.

So we managed to dish (or cup) out 155 cups, and we didn't even get it all given away.

Next week (aka tomorrow) I think we're back at full-force.

Keep checking back.

Grace.

Delta Force, Abridged

Well, it was a slow night - and a late night. Firstly, Tilden and Stephanie decided that SUNDAY NIGHT (of all nights!) was a great time to get married!

Just kidding - we're VERY happy for them. And I'm sure they're having a great honeymoon already.

But, in the meantime, the mission had to go on. So, Booth, Kristy and I made our way, with one cambro of lemonade to the bus station. Lemonade wasn't such a good choice. It took a long time to get rid of it

But the highlights were:

• Booth's friend Jack was back
• Kristy met Jose
• We were bombarded with requests from the kids on the corner before we even got into position.

Full force is back in action next week!

Grace.

Are they Fresh?

So, I have to apologize again. I know it's been WAY too long between updates: two weeks now. But I've been in Orlando on business AND sorta kinda misplaced the notes that I took after LAST weeks session.

The good news is I found last weeks and I've updated all of the information on the right.

But I'll combine the past two weeks in this post.

Last week, we met a cool Bass player named Rob. He totally fit the stereotyped look of an old jazz bassist. He plays with a couple of groups around the city and I'm hoping to be able to track him down and hear him some time. He seems incredible.

Anthony chased us down as we were leaving. "Salvation Army!" he called out, to get our attention. He just needed some of the food that we had left over.

Altogether we gave out 148 cups. It was the BUSIEST night that I think we've had yet.

This week was a little different too. Started out REAL quiet - hardly ANYONE in the station. It picked up to normal as the night went on, but there seemed to be an unusually high number of highly intoxicated people that we would run into.

Most notably, Dirk. Apparently, he served time on Death Row (though, apparently, because when he FIRST went to prison, cell 1 on death row was the only space available. Heavily intoxicated and wondering why God was punishing Him. Kristy helped him to see (read: tried to reason with him in his intoxicated state) that his poor choices caused him to be where he is. Hopefully we'll see him again. Hopefully he'll remember us.

We also met Archie (former military man). Young guy with a connection to some people in the Salvation Army. Pretty cool stories (and scars) from differently places that he's served.

Tilden saw our friend Archie again. He hasn't been having a good week and wonders why God isn't blessing him. We see him a lot and have been building a pretty good relationship with him. He'll come around.

The title of this post comes from what Willis asked when we offered him some doughnuts. He's a neat guy.

Tonight, we did 134 cups.

Continue to pray.

AND, next week Tilden and Stephanie get married! They better not think that they're getting out of Bus Station duty.

Grace.

Apologies

My sincerest apologies. I've been away all this week and I fear (and I hope) that I left my notes at home. I've really been hoping to get this updated earlier.

But I will very soon, I promise. I CAN tell you that Sunday night past was VERY good, though it was EXTREMELY busy: one of the busiest times yet.

But more info coming soon.

Grace.