Week 11 - Little Bit of Lubbock

Taking in Lubbock, Texas is a very easy thing to do. As you approach the city, driving through the broad landscape of West Texas cotton fields, you see a grove of trees in the distance. That is your destination. It’s a place of simplicities, lettered and numbered street names arranged into a perfectly executed grid system. Warned by many that it lacks picturesque features, we were always promised it’s the people that make it a special place.

We happened upon Walter, a fella biking his way around the country. Figured we’d offer a ride, he gladly jumped in.

Some perspective of the very scenic drives we’ve been having.

Lubbock as a city quite surprised me thinking I’d be adventuring into a simple place filled with cowboys tending to the wide ranges surrounding the city. Which is true, but there are also some large and complicated socioeconomic gaps between neighborhoods. Once in town, advice was given of where NOT to park our bus, and reminders to keep our doors locked best we can. Lubbock isn’t full of a lot of opportunity I realized, stranded on its island in the West Texas plains. The poor stay poor, and the crime runs rampant.

Our parking spot a the Young Life Office in Lubbock.

The group we were with had a huge heart for this crowd in Lubbock. The “Co-op” is housed within an old Methodist Church in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city. We helped them prepare a warm meal on Sunday evening, something they do weekly for the community. Josh and I struggled to cook 10 pounds of potatoes efficiently, while Cain mastered the grill. In the end, everyone enjoyed a great steak and vegetable dinner. The Co-op has many functions. Having so much office space in its building, it houses other non-profits that share the drive to serve those less off in the city. They also offer space to motivated individuals with microbusinesses in the neighborhood, including a candle company, a pecan roaster, and a bike shop.

It was hard to get our potato recipe down.

The Co-op wants to nurture opportunity, a theme that inspired our project. The kitchen in their building was outdated and old, but the dream is to develop it into a workable space to teach culinary classes. The first step towards that goal was to lay a new floor surface. Over the following two days and a lot of flooring adhesive spurred frustration, we prepared and laid the first step in rebuilding a workable kitchen.

One of the other groups within the Co-op, Kingdom Come Ministries, shares our passion for using school buses as vehicles for good. We were jazzed to work with them. One afternoon, we loaded food boxes and clothes into one of their vehicles and traveled across town to another neighborhood to distribute these essentials. Kristin and Leslie, who run the ministry set the tone of talking with and loving on all who were willing to receive. They both left stable jobs to share this mission together and it was awesome to join in with them briefly. Their buses are fixtures in some less fortunate neighborhoods. When they arrive, all the children come out to play and participate in bus church. As our time ended in Lubbock, the people of this place really did live up to making it so wonderful.

A dear friend we made in Lubbock was Justin, the founder of Co-op. He invited us into many parts of his life while there. From cold plunging in 45-degree water at 5:30 every morning to joining his men’s group one evening. Sharing in bourbon and cigars we had some of the best life-giving conversations on his porch. We were grateful for the encouragement and wisdom we received from people two and three times our age. We won’t soon forget the hospitality of the Plains.

We took a pit stop one morning in the Palo Duro Canyon to enjoy some scenic drives

To head to “home” for the holidays we had to adventure quite far, a full 12-hour bus ride, to arrive in Colorado Springs where we have pleasantly been enjoying a Haddad family Christmas. We’ll be spending the next 3 weeks in Colorado braving the cold at times. We are feeling refreshed from the holiday and excited to start the new year inside our big blue bus.