The Streets

THE STREETS

       In times past there has always been poor and homeless. Jesus himself said that the poor would always be with us. Homelessness is not a modern invention. True throughout history men have wondered this world over and I suppose you could call many cultures homeless, but for the most part they shared the same general status as the rest of their contemporaries. Even slaves were housed, clothed and fed in order to be of any value to their owners. History tells us of an underclass of poor in England and their living on the streets of London. It also tells us of the abject poverty that the people lived and suffered in Paris France.  The 20^th century proved to be devastating with starving all over the world due to mismanagement, greed and politics. However this story is about individuals who live in poverty, in the most prosperous nation in all history, on the streets of America. New York City probably was the most outstanding example of disenfranchised people in the latter part of the 19^th century and the 20^th century because it was the point of entry for poor immigrants who migrated to this country to find a better life. Many of them ended up in the slums and streets of New York. Slowly they would begin to assimilate and move westward. America had the advantage of having a tremendous amount of 'vacant' land. (The white man refused to recognize any rights of the native people to the land.) In the years to come the different ethnic groups came, filled the streets with their poor and then that wave moved on. After Black Friday in 1930 there were more homeless then there had ever been and it was wide spread, not just in New York, but all across the land. The 2^nd World war, as horrible as it was, brought an end to that particular blight by putting the homeless either on the front lines or in the factory. Today, in the beginning of the 21^st century, every major city has thousands of homeless people. For the most part, it is true, that it was due primarily to the persons own mistakes. However, many times circumstances worked in such a fashion as to put them into a situation where they could no longer help themselves, not physically or mentally. Instead of helping them Government Bureaucracy let them down with to little, to late, or not at all.   Meanwhile; on the streets lived an underground Society, with all the rules of conduct of one.

My first encounter with homeless people was when I was very young my mother used to feed the "bums" on our back porch, that's what we called them with disrespect. Later in life I came to understand a more mature way of thinking. For that reason I have always had a soft spot for destitute people. The account of "Jehovah does it again!" was published in THE BOX OF BOOKS by Larry N. Kelly copyright 2006. The following are some experiences that I have had so far in my commission as an apostle (sent one) to the streets. Jehovah has made it my special mission to the homeless, in order bring them to Him.

CHAPTER 1

Panayotiz

When I was a young man I worked at a machine shop in Wilmington Cal. It had become my custom to take my lunch at a small restaurant/bar not far from where I worked. There was seldom anyone there at 12:00 noon and I had the pool table all to myself. I could practice all the angle, bank and trick shots that I wanted undisturbed. Also I would order a sandwich and eat it while I practiced. One day a man came in and sat down at the bar and began to watch me practice. At first I paid little attention to him. But as my food arrived and I sat down to eat. He said, pointing to the table, Bueno, tu Bueno. Now I knew enough Spanish to understand what he had said. I returned the complement with De nada Gracious. We struck up a very strange conversation, He understood a little, very little, English and I understood a few words and phrases in Spanish. Somehow we were able to communicate. I'm sure if anyone was listening they would have just shook their heads in confusion. I learned that he was a Greek Merchantman and was in port from a ship in the Harbor. During our conversation he invited me to come and see the ship. I explained that I needed to get back to work but I would meet him here after work. My mother was going to pick me up for the ride home. I knew that she would like to see the ship also.

        I was very excited when the days work ended and I practically ran down the street to the restaurant. I walked in and to my surprise my mother was sitting there carrying on a conversation in the same fashion that I had been earlier. When they saw me come in they got up and we left in the car for the docks. We pulled up alongside a huge freight ship and the car shrunk to toy size by comparison. We had started calling him Peter by this time and he did not mind. He took us on a tour of the ship that most people never get to see. One thing that impressed me was the engine. While the Ship was in port they were using the down time to overhaul one of the Pistons. Inside the giant cylinder was a man inspecting the walls and polishing it. He could stand in the middle of the cylinder and not touch both sides. It was truly a marvel of engineering.

      Peter took us to the top of the gangplank and made us understand that he would be right down. We waited at the car when suddenly a duffel bag flew off the ship and landed beside the car. We were startled but thought it was his clothes although we did not know that it was all his clothes. We loaded his bag in the trunk and took off.

      Now we lived in a small apartment with two small bedrooms. I occupied one and my mother the other. I hastily prepared my bedroom for our guest and prepared a place in the corner of the living room for myself. When Peter discovered what I was doing he protested vehemently, but I would have nothing but that, as our guest, he be given the place of honor in my house. My mother backed me up in this and it was settled, but I could tell that he was impressed with our hospitality; however we merely asked that he give Jehovah the credit. My mother and I witnessed to him a great deal over the next couple of years although it was interesting to study with someone in they're own language and not know many words myself it presented a challenge but we managed. He had found employment and was making some pretty good money and rented an apartment upstairs from us. Peter would go with us to meeting from time to time and we were able to get the Watchtower and Awake in Greek for him to read. Peter was a Greek Orthodox but had talked to Jehovah's Witnesses on his home island Chios. Then he began to get acquainted with some of the Greek community in Long Beach. I was introduced to the Greek culture even being invited to some of their gatherings. I seemed to have gotten something of a reputation because of the kindness I had extended to Peter and I was welcome in all the Greek family homes where I was often able to give a witness about Jehovah.

      Peter began to form an amorous relationship with one of the young ladies in the Greek community. Unfortunately one of his rivals for the lady's affection reported Peter to the Immigration authority and he was arrested and deported back to Greece.

      I next heard from Peter when he called one day a few years later and ask me to come down and pick him up for a visit. He was quick to point out that he was not "jumping ship" this time. I picked him up at the ship and we went home. He told me all that had transpired after he left and after two years probation he was allowed to be a merchantman again, but if he failed to return when the ship sailed he would be a fugitive and would lose his merchants papers. He told me that he had been contacted by some Greek Witnesses and had attended meetings. I have hope that although I have not seen him since he has continued to learn the truth.

CHAPTER 2

Philippa

My wife came to me one day and said come up to Sunset Vista and meet someone. I went with her and she introduced me to Philippa. She had come to my wife applying for a position as caregiver of elderly people. However she was from Jamaica and did not have a work visa. For this reason my wife could not hire her to work in the nursing home. However Philippa volunteered to come and read and be company to the elderly folks living there. She had some family that were Jehovah's People and was somewhat familiar with our beliefs. One day not long after this we got a phone call that the person that she had been working for as a nanny had fired her and threw her and all her belongings out onto the street. When Philippa called she was crying and with her accent it was hard to finally understand what had happened to her. Well our Christian conscience would not let us leave her in her predicament so I went and picked her and her belongings up from the street and brought her home. Now we did not own a large home by most standards but we did have a spare room that she could stay in. She would often go to meetings with us even though she has not become one of Jehovah's Witnesses at the time of this writing. That summer my wife and I went on a cruise and the ship stopped at Jamaica and we were very thrilled to meet Philippa's family, including her two lovely children. In the meantime as Philippa would go to meetings with us there were some sisters that helped her find domestic work cleaning houses. She began to seek a way that she could become gainfully employed and legally bring her children from Jamaica. Now Philippa was no ordinary person. She had been educated in Jamaica to become a teacher and she begins to apply for a visa to work in that capacity. It took nearly the entire 2 years before she was finally able to get that piece of paper. She now is employed as a teacher and has brought her children to live and go to school here in the United States. And it is my high honor to be called Uncle Larry by those children whom have grown into fine young people. Though Philippa and her children are not worshipers of Jehovah they do come on Memorial to witness the celebration of the death of our Lord Jesus. I still see her from time to time, as they live far from us, and encourage her to worship Jehovah.

CHAPTER 3

CHUCK, SUSAN, TOM AND GARY

This week Jehovah has done a very remarkable thing. At my place of employment I take walks during my lunch, as the weather has seen fit to be very nice. Now, not far from work there is a small park. I sometimes go there, as it is quiet, I can reflect on things. I sometimes, like this time, carry my bible along with me and I sit down on a large rock and read. Often times I just go there and pray to Jehovah very deep and lengthy conversations. On this particular day I was just starting my walk. As I was walking along I came to the bridge over the wash that ran through the park. I turned, on impulse and walked down the wash under the bridge where it was cool. Now I was just walking along and my eyes had not quite adjusted to the gloom when a voice said; "Hello!" Startled I looked to my left and up on the dirt embankment under the bridge was a woman lying on some blankets. I said; "Hello how are you?" She said; "I'm just fine." By this time I had walked up to where she was lying. I asked her what her name was and she replied "Susan!" I said; "Are you and your family living here?" I had looked around as I was walking up to the "camp" that there were other people living here. I could not see anyone, but for all I knew they could have been waiting in the brush to jump out and mug me. However as the conversation continued I begin to realize that here was a truly homeless person that everyone says, is not, or, is, out there depending on whom you listen to. I felt sorry for her and her husband. I gave her $10.00 and the genuine smile it brought on her face told me all I needed to know. She had neither asked me for any money nor even during any of the conversation had she even indicated that she expected me to do anything nice. I witnessed to her for a while.

     I felt pretty good when I went back to work. The next day I decided that I would go and share my lunch with them. So I went there again. This time her husband was there as well as two other fellows. One was red haired and about my size, the other was a large blond man who looked strong enough for any task. I had brought my bible again and we talked about it for a period of time. I enjoyed my lunch with them and talked about what they could do for work. I just happened to know someone that could employ her with her skills and I made a call on my cell phone and I got her a job. Next, because he could not even get a job, in the condition either of them was in, due to the hard existence they had been living, I took them to a weekly Motel with a kitchen and paid for a week He now has an address and a phone right in his room.  Soon he found a job at a drug store as a clerk. I witnessed to them as often as I could. Unfortunately He had sugar diabetes and died not long after. She continued to work for the same person for some time then she was arrested on an old warrant and I have not seen her since.

      The red haired fellow was quite belligerent and I was not able to witness to him. But the other man was interested. After a while I began to run my own business and Blondie became my helper/student (I always teach my helpers as much as I can so that they can be of greater help, also it made my workload lighter.) I had bought a small Motor Home and I rented it to him. I was not able to make any headway with him however and after a couple of years he just disappeared one day. I hope something I said sunk in and I hope he finds Jehovah before it is too late. 

CHAPTER 4

FRED

      I work now at a company as an estimator and near where I work is a convenience store and I stop there early in the morning, sometimes at noon and after work. On this one particular day I pulled into the parking space, went inside to buy something to drink. When I came out a fellow of indeterminate age approached me and started to say something when he noticed that I was carrying a beer. Instead of what he was about to say he said. "I'll have some of that" Well I was taken back a bit but I thought about a moment and said "Here have this one I'll get another." I went back inside and bought another beer and returned to my car. The man and I talked for a few moments. For some unknown reason people tend to tell me their life stories the first time we meet. He was a street person and lived by panhandling and doing odd jobs around the neighborhood for various stores along the busy street. He was seriously depressed and drank all the time, among other things.

      I witnessed to him as much as I could. He asked various questions about the bible, Jehovah and Jehovah's Witnesses. Which I answered to his satisfaction; however I was never able to pin him down to a regular study. He eventually ran afoul of the Law and was sent to jail for some time. I am hoping that when he gets out he may listen more intently.

CHAPTER 5

CHARLES

I pulled up to the convenience store and parked in my favorite place in front of the trash container with double steel doors on it. I shut off the engine and went in. I bought myself some liquid refreshment and went back out to my car. As I was getting in a man of about 45 to 50 years old approached my car and said, "Excuse me sir would you happen to have any change so I can get a beer?" Well, for a moment I was wondering how I was going to respond. I have no compunction about drinking a beer and sometimes I spontaneously give a little money to street people and I rather liked the fact that he did not try to 'scam' me and came right out with the truth. I gave him $2.00 and he said thank you and went into the store to get his beer.

I sat there for a few moments taking a break from my busy day's schedule.  In a few moments the fellow came back around the corner, walked to the driver's side and motioned for me to lower my window. Now where I live it gets very hot so I was sitting with my air conditioner running. I lowered the window enough to listen to what he had to say, "Thanks I needed that." He said. I told him it was not a problem as I had a couple of dollars to spare.

He stood there in the shade of the tree and we struck up a conversation. The subject of all my discussions always seems to come around to Jehovah somehow. We talked for a while and I had to get back to work.

      The next day I took my break in the same place and sure enough he was still here. He waved at me and came over to talk. He did not hit me up for any more money but from time to time he would leave our discussion and approach people coming out of the store and ask for money.  

He had never heard about Jehovah in the way that I was explaining him. He knew who Jehovah's Witnesses were for he had seen the Watchtower and Awake magazines before. But I made Jehovah real and approachable; also I presented a God loving and kind, concerned about people and their plight. I shared with him scriptures showing how we were deep in the end of this system of things and the blessings to come. I presented him with a Bible and the book "What Does The Bible Really Teach?" (Published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society) And we started to study.

He was so enthusiastic about what he was learning that he began gathering up other homeless people in the area and bringing them to me to teach. Often I would have 3 to 5 people listening to me tell the truth about what the Bible really teaches. One other individual paid particular attention.  

      Satan tried many time to foil our getting together to study, but we would not let anything stop us, often times we even studied every day and on occasion we even studied more than once a day. We sat in a hot car, where temperature's reached into the 100teens, and did not complain. I think one of the first things that he learned was the condition of the dead. After showing him the scriptures, I said to him "Death is the unconscious state of non existence." And He looked at me and I could see the look of real understanding on his face. From that point on he learned very quickly. He was especially interested in the dates and numbers found in the Bible and taught by Jehovah's Witnesses alone.  

 Now, he was a homeless person but don't judge him yet, after weeks of talking to him and getting to know his story, I learned that he was a graduate in microbiology with a bachelors degree. He was very intelligent and learned very quickly. So, the question is, Why was he living on the street, doing odd jobs, panhandling, sleeping on the ground behind buildings and out of the way places?  It would be so simple to say "It was the alcohol" and leave it at that. However, it's never that simple and his story is far from simple. Once he was living the so called "American Dream", House, wife, cars and all the luxury that average people have. He lost his wife, then turned to alcohol, received a "driving under the influence" citation. He then violated his probation and was arrested and spent some time in jail. After being released he was homeless and broke. He had lost his driving privileges and was now reduced to a small area around where he was staying. 

He was drinking heavily and, often times, was too drunk to even study. But the one thing he did have left was time and I used it to advantage, teaching him as often as I could. The one think I did not do was to preach to him about his drinking and smoking. I left that to Jehovah as I knew that he would take care of that problem when the time came for my only job is to teach not preach. If I had constantly harped on that subject I might have alienated him too soon. I simply studied with him and prayed for him to gain understanding and make the right decisions.

Remarkably he began to drink less and to be presentable for out study where Jehovah's holy spirit was active. It wasn't long before I wanted to take him to meetings but we had some obstacles to overcome first. He was staying near my place of employment, which is several miles from there to my house and required a 45 minute drive, he needed to get cleaned up and he needed something to wear. He admitted that he had a stepson that lived not far from where he was staying and that he could clean up there. I brought a white shirt and tie for him to wear and we went to meeting. It was such a huge accomplishment for he saw Jehovah's people in action. First in their friendliness and love, but he was greatly impressed with the fact that even the young spoke from the heart with knowledge. However he became  very

It wasn't long before the people that he knew began to see a difference in him. For one thing he had cleaned up his language and begun to speak of Jehovah and the things he had learned from the bible. A person that he had been doing odd jobs for saw the change and hired him fulltime, at least for a while. He also provided him with a place to stay however he is now staying so far away that I do not get to see him.

He has called and kept in touch, still I'm worried that Satan may have been involved in getting him far away from me, but I am content to let Jehovah handle the matter and trust in what I had taught him. He has, on his own, found the local Kingdom Hall and learned the times for the meetings. I was very encouraged by this action of his all on his own however as I feared the fellow that gave him a job and a place to stay appeared to only want to take advantage of him for he did not pay him for his labor. It may be that he is back on the street temporarily, but he gets fed spiritually more often. As he continues to learn, it won't be long before the holy spirit strengthens him to make proper decisions.

From time to time, we gain little by little, our footsteps on the narrow and crooked path leading to life as our Lord Jesus Christ pointed out was the preferable path to take as opposed to the broad road leading to destruction. Finally one day I spoke to my boss the owner of the company if I could take him with me to work out of town. He allowed it, and he has promised to pay him a small amount, if he would do some work while we were at our out of town facility. The best part is that we had lots of time to study, talk and enjoy theocratic company.  

CHAPTER 6

SAM

      One of the fellows that came to listen to my teaching of the man in the last chapter was a tall thin man whom walked with a cane. He was very interested in the Bible and what it really taught. Particularly was he interested in the condition of the dead, because he was concerned about his parents. He was enthused to learn that they were but sleeping. He often comes and listens to my study with his friend. I have started a study with him as well, but our timing of studies is sometimes off and we miss some. Sam is such an easy person to teach and absorbs the understanding of scriptures. He is a former Pilot and now seeks to teach ground school test instruction for aviation. We are trying to solve that problem and perhaps he can become self employed in that field.

The only thing holding my two studies back is the lack of facilities to prepare themselves for meetings. I pray constantly that Jehovah will "make the way out" for us and they can advance in Jehovah's service. Several times now when we thought things had worked them selves out and they would have shelter and creature comforts, Satan has interfered and ruined our plans each time. But we will not give up, either in our Faith in Jehovah, nor in the truth that Jehovah WILL provide all necessities, if we trust in him. Sam is soon to leave me to go visit his daughter and I hope that he will keep in contact...no not with me but with Jehovah. I send him with the knowledge that he has learned about Jehovah and with my prayers.

CHAPTER 7

SAMMY

Another fellow with the same name and red hair also comes and listens to my teaching and I have placed many books and magazines with all of them. However I worry that they all want a handout more than a hand up even though some of them have attended a meeting with me. I don't mind from time to time giving them some money that I can spare and they do listen, but I want them to grasp that all good things come from Jehovah, even my small donation. However I constantly point out that one of the best gifts from Jehovah was and is the Bible.