After the 17 hour trip, our van stopped in front of the carport, which was walled in with bubble gum and baling wire to serve as a sort of gazebo for outdoor entertaining. I went inside dropped my bag at the foot of the cot that I would be sleeping on for the next week and surveyed the room. Instead of drywall, the inside was walled with outdoor siding. The ceiling sagged and the pieces of siding joined at odd angles. All the furnishings came from the thrift shop that Msgr. Ralph Beiting ran. Despite the non-traditional style — in some ways typical of the region — it was quite a homey place during our stay. To think that everything we used was a gift from some loving donor filled us with both a sense of humility and poverty.
Continue reading Serving the Poor.
