Week 8 - A San Antonio Stop In
This week marks two months of living on our LOST bus together. By now we are in our rhythm, well almost. As weeks have come and gone, our planning has been unpredictable. Sometimes connections lay a clear path for us to travel on. Other times, finding our way feels directionless (outside of general interests in cities). We knew we wanted to land in San Antonio for the start of the week as we headed off the Texas coast. All our leads for volunteering were crumbling as we traveled there. We reached out to our friend Maya from our visit to Athens, Georgia week three. She was raised in San Antonio, so we asked for a church to visit. We thought, hey let’s start there and see where it goes.
Getting to grab lunch with Maya’s family! And our new friends Redding and Emma
Maya set us up to meet her hometown friends at the church service. Following church, we stuck around to conversate with others about groups in San Antonio. In the conversations we were recommended a non-profit that is a coalition consisting of churches in the area who are caring for the homeless population that fill their streets, AND we had a family offer us a parking spot at their house! In an hour’s time, we went from clueless to directed. This spirit of navigating without a plan is a theme, something we are trying to embrace. As much as we want to lead ourselves, sometimes we can’t. That’s when we get our best glimpse of a beautifully connected web of people across the country.
Post-church lunch outing/ Emma’s (front right) birthday lunch
The generous Mickler family offered us their curb.
We were setup to work at Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM), a day shelter for the homeless and impoverished people of San Antonio. They provide food assistance, clothing distribution, job placement, identification recovery and much more for their clients. While there working with other volunteers we met Joe. He used to be a client at the shelter but since pulling himself off the streets with CAM’s help, he returns to volunteer and encourage people to make steps to improve their living situations. He is doing this every week on top of working a full-time job on the night shift, that’s just how much this place means to him. He was constantly calling us over to chat, help him with something, or give unsolicited self-defense lessons. Each were appreciated.
Cain got his hair net on and really took care of making some sandwhiches
Joe with some very adorable children
Joe did not want to mess with Josh TOO much
Lots of clothes to be sorted and distributed!
We continued onward to Kerrville Texas by recommendation of Derek Evenhouse (Original Lost Bus Builder/Participant). For background, advice from the original crew has been minimal (which we have appreciated). This is our crazy story unraveling for us, and the lack of guidance makes it a true experience. BUT! Derek caught us on the phone while in Houston and recommended we stop in Kerrville. A piece of advice, we thought. Well, that’s uncommon. We must go!
Arriving in Kerrville, Texas we got connected with a Methodist Retreat Center that needed some trail maintenance on their hiking routes, so we raked dirt to smooth the surface. Josh also has a friendship with the Josh Smithson, an associate regional director for Young Life. So, we did some landscape maintenance for their ministry house, raking some leaves. It’s easy to pick up the trend. We raked a lot in Kerrville. Mindless work but it was what people needed. These tasks allowed conversations that we sometimes lack. Not about logistics but just three buds traveling and laughing. A refreshing day that we learned to be beneficial to the whole process of living and working together.
The Collins Family, an amazing host in Kerrville!
The ever youthful Josh Smithson
We each have experience volunteering with Young Life and had the opportunity to visit the new camp in the hill country of Texas. While there we repaired their service roads that flow through camp. We discovered the Hill Country is a true hidden gem that many camps take advantage of. This meant we got to hang out with a demographic near our age! Which has been hard to come by! Luckily, we still have our youthfulness, so we enjoyed making many new friends in this corner of the country and loved their support as we travelled onward to Austin.
Pot holes don’t fix themselves
Cain wants Mount Pleasant Young Life to sign up for camp at Lonehollow this summer. Spread the word!
Each Sunday, I look forward with an open mind to what will come of the week ahead. Then we reach the end and I reflect, constantly caught up in how hard the goodbyes are, how many lessons I learned, how many genuine memories I share with the people in every place we visit. I’m always asking myself; how does all this seem to work out? I’m certain it’s our posture of serving. It’s being received in a way that creates genuine friendships, teaches us about life, and leaves immense impressions on us that we can’t forget. Each mile we add onto this big blue school bus, has value to us. Thank you for reading along as we wrap up our first eight weeks on the road.