Aman-duh

I felt overwhelmingly pressured when I fatefully drew the name “Nanette”.  Not only did she put the whole thing together, she was also the only person that would know who drew her name, every other participant had the comfort of anonymity.  I had a ton of ideas of what to do, but rescuing geeks off the street wasn’t something I actually wanted to do.  I also thought about doing something for Amanda, but thought that was a little played out.  Everyone has been involved with Amanda one way or another.  I also wanted to volunteer at the juvenile jail, but Heather said that would be more for myself and less about Nanette, plus I am too thug to work in a jail.   This led me to reluctantly call Myles and ask him what I should do.  He suggested that I do an act of service for a “Mom”.  So I asked a Brazilian woman if I could come clean her kitchen (because I hate doing dishes more than anything else).  She said her kitchen was filthy and it had been accumulating dishes for a while.  So I raced over to her trailer and spent two hours deep cleaning her kitchen.  Time flew by because she has three little boys and a chatty husband who sat on a bar stool and kept me company the whole time. At first I was a little bummed that dude kept talking, I really just wanted to put on my headphones, rock out to Skrillex and clean.  However I ended up having a good time learning about their family, their struggles and success and how they are fairing in the U. S. of A.  Their family was grateful for the service rendered and even sent me an email that I will attach to the end of this post.

As I was thinking my service project, I felt like I had not really sacrificed anything and then God sent over Amanda……again.    Amanda had spent the previous night with us, and I told Heather that it was good timing because my best mission friend was up visiting us with his wife that night and Amanda wouldn’t be able to stay with us.  Then Amanda called….again.  She was too scared to stay at her apartment alone…..again.  That means that I was privileged to sleep on the couch since Amanda cant stay alone.  I was pretty bummed, I told Heather to say “no”, but Heather is too Christlike to cast away our little stowaway, Amanda.  Fast forward to the next morning and my frustration with coming home was at an all time high.  Our car was packed full with everyone’s sshhhiiii…..stuff.  “Hey can you take this?, can you take that?”.  I even had to pack a full sized bike in the back seat, we literally had no room for one more item.  Then I get a call from Heather, “hey Amanda left her entire hair kit at the Salon, we need to take it home for her”.  Awww hell naw!, and thus started the “who the heck is this dumb girl impeding on my life” rant that ensued in my mind.  I felt tried thinking nice things about her, but it wasn’t successful in stopping my rant.  After I re- pack the whole car and squeeze her kit in the car (which isn’t small) my rant is at a record setting high.  As I walk back to our apartment to check for any last minute items we may have forgot, I see a package in the mail.  All packages are for Heather, so I assume it is hers and don’t even look at who it is addressed to because I was too preoccupied with my rant.  As I toss the package on the couch I see that it is addressed to me, from Nanette.  At that moment in time I experienced what I describe as a “God moment”.  I feel the presence of something greater than my self calm my irrational rant set off by Amanduh, and I all I could think about was Nannette’s service to  me.  I realized this service project wasn’t about Amanduh, but more about keeping Nannette in mind.  I felt horrible about what I had been thinking and it was sort of a slap in the face.  Needless to say this experience was a growing one for me.

Here is the email sent to me from the Lady whose kitchen I cleaned.

            “Hi James!

            Just wanted to let you know how great it was to come home and have my      kitchen cleaned. Thank you so much!!! I know you said that you felt like it wasn't even messy. As a mom (working out of the home or not), when you feel like your house is not up to your standard, messy is messy. You made my day and better yet you brought curiosity to my children. They have asked questions of why you were cleaning the house when you don't even live with us. You have been an example to them of service and I Thank You for that.
            Hugs,
            Larisse and family”

Sleeping on the couch

                           

Amanduh forgot ALL her hair stuff

Off to Clean

Larisse

Clean Kitchen! :)