The way to Veritas?

            Andy and I got bored and decided to go inside the Hilton hotel to just hang out. One of the most famous hotel branches in the world has been very generous to the homeless in Harrisburg. Homeless go the Hilton hotel when they need to use the bathroom. Andy and I walked into the hotel and sat down on the fancy sofa in the lounge area. Sitting down in a hotel was not too exciting. While I was sitting there, many things popped up in my mind – my college classes, home in Guatemala, and many exciting plans I have. When I came back to the reality from my imagination, I realized that I am not a homeless. I knew it from the beginning; however, this realization at this time made me sad because I couldn’t imagine what it would be like thinking like a homeless. I wanted to believe that they have more exciting things to think about than I have.

            It was uncomfortable to be in Hilton for long time because we did not fit there well with our shabby clothes and dirty back packs. Since we were tired anyways, we decided to go to bed. We made our beds at the parking lot and I laid on our “beds.” Shortly after I covered myself with 4 sheets of blankets, a young, well dressed guy with an old woman walked toward us. He was smoking weed (I did not know until Andy told me later) and the old woman was leaning her head on the guy’s shoulder. When the guy found us about to sleep at the parking lot, he started to tell us the places where we can go to get helps. He introduced his name as John.  He said: “I was a homeless myself as well so I know you situations.” I went to Andy and whispered “That guy thinks that we are homeless.” I was not quite sure if I should have taken as a compliment or what. John told us that there will be a family that will be coming soon to give out food. We wanted to see who this guy was; therefore, we decided to delay our sleeping time.

While we were waiting for the family, we were able to talk to John more. According to John, he worked his a- - off to get out of the homeless situation. He had lots of complains about the shelters in Harrisburg. John said: “If you don’t have any problems, you can’t go anywhere.” John told us that shelters in the city have programs for drug addicts and others with problems; however, for normal jobless people, they only allow them 10 days to stay. “You can’t get a job in 10 days!” John shouted with a frustration.

Finally, a white van came and parked right in front of us. A Hispanic guy with his friends and children got off from the van and started to hand out chicken soup and snacks. Few minutes after his arrival, many other homeless started to show up. Among those homeless, we found Greg. I was really happy to see him again. Greg and us talked and tried to catch up each other. Greg was hired but got laid off soon after his employment. My Christmas vacation stories from Quebec City and Montreal stopped right at my throat and I swallowed them back.

Greg introduced the Hispanic guy to us. His name was Angel who has been helping the homeless for past 3.5 years individually. He told Andy and me many testimonies such as the donation of the white van and God providing food to give out every week. Everyone there looked so happy. I could tell that Angel’s family and the homeless have built a stong bond between them from the way of their interaction with each other. Angel’s children were playing around with the homeless and Angel was joking around with the homeless. It was really nice to see an individual Christian who has leaped forward with faith and love and provided minor help that the homeless need. It was nothing professional or fancy but a mere action of love.

Everyone was gone and it was eventually bed time. I bent my legs to stay warm and compelled myself to sleep (it was ver cold). Maybe after an hour, I fell asleep. It was a sound sleep and it was quite sweet until the midnight. With a vicious voice a security guard shook us up.

Issac Won

A Christmas decoration on the second street of Harrisburg

That is me! Too many clothes on.. Can't see my face.

Angel in the middle, his wife on the left, and his freind on the right