Looking For Short Term Housing

Do you guys know anyone in Columbia who works at a hotel? Today I visited all of Columbia's cheapest motels and the best deal I could find is $185/week plus tax. I'm hoping to find a place for $150/week. See if you guys can find a hotel for that will give us that rate.

It took us awhile to find Yvonne today. We didn't find her until late afternoon. Thankfully the people who put her up in a hotel last night actually paid for tonight too. So, we are going to go to public housing and put her in a cheaper motel tomorrow until we can find a better long term solution.

One glimmer of good news is that today my sister-in-law Shelley saw her and said she was her normal self! She also saw her yesterday when she wasn't herself, but after a good nights sleep at a hotel she was normal.

We need help with this, so if you can help move us higher on the list at public housing, if you can donate money, if you can pray, we would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks.

Yvonne Update

So I wanted to give everyone a Yvonne update. I told the story about Yvonne in my Business Networking group that I'm in and someone in the group blessed me with a check afterwards. He said that his brother is homeless and wanted to help.

Today my plan is to bring her to public housing and find out where she is on the list. From what Caritas has told me, one bedroom apartments are hard to get in public housing. The last time Caritas checked she was #50 in line.

After we check that then I will bring her to an apartment and will sign a short-term lease.

Prayers for wisdom are appreciated.

Helping Yvonne

So I have some angels who found Yvonne under the bridge and took her to a hotel tonight. She cried so loudly when she saw the hotel room that the hotel manager came to see if there was a problem. The City of Refuge volunteers explained that she was very happy.

The volunteers found out that Yvonne has been living outside since the blizzard.

Tomorrow we will look for an apartment for her unless anyone has any better ideas.

Would you like to give to help Yvonne? If so, let us know. Your gift is tax deductible and will be greatly appreciated.

Yvonne is Now Homeless

I just found out on Sunday that Yvonne is homeless. Yvonne is an African refugee who was originally located to St. Louis. But then Gicanda who lives here in Columbia asked her to move here to help her with the kids.

Yvonne moved here in the late Fall and soon thereafter began working part-time for Safi Sana. We enjoyed her and would have given her more work, but the late Fall was a part of our off season. But still, she enjoyed her job and did a really wonderful job for us. By the end of January she found a full-time job and that is when I lost contact with her. I thought she was still working at her new job and all was well. So, I was sad to hear the news.

Today I'm praying about what to do. I hear she is living under the Bear Creek bridge, near Elleta Blvd and Rangeline. Caritas and Marianne, two of our Rwandan refugees, have begged her to come live with them but Yvonne is mistrusting of them. She said she can't live with any of the Africans, she wants to live by herself. To complicate matters Yvonne suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and doesn't take any medication to help. And really my husband says the medicine is not always helpful anyway. So, her African friends call her "crazy" which I'm sure doesn't help with her trust of them.

One piece of good news is that since I and others have been praying this afternoon Yvonne called Caritas. This is a very big deal and Caritas thinks she needs help and Caritas thinks the best way to help her would be to put her up in an apartment. And I've discovered over the years that usually God tells Caritas what to do first and then tells me. (I love to joke about this with Caritas, but really, it does seem to be true.)

A problem I have though is City of Refuge could probably afford to put Yvonne in an apartment for a month, but that's it. I need other people to help and give money to City of Refuge in order for us to help her get on her feet. So, if you are interested in helping her, please let me know or send a tax-deductible gift to City of Refuge at 102 Dayspring Dr; Columbia, MO 65203.

An Update on Jalos

So, for those of you who know the crazy, exciting story of Glori, the Burundi refugee we helped get life saving surgery in Kenya, I thought you might be interested in getting an update on how the family is doing. Glori's dad, Jalos, still emails me. Just like Noe Rusaya, an African refugee that lives in Columbia, we consider Jalos and his family a part of our family. We heard just this past week that Jalos' family was robbed. Adam and I just couldn't get over the fact that they were already dirt poor, as a refugee, but then to have someone come in and steal what little they have must have been very discouraging. So, City of Refuge sent Jalos a check to help recover what was stolen. Jalos sent me an email that said they were overjoyed because he didn't have enough money to send the kids to school so now all of them are in school. It's fun helping people that our African brothers care so much about. We love them now too.

Burundi Pastor Comes to Columbia

Today I had another pinch me I'm dreaming moment. About a year ago Noe was at our house and he was stressed because his pastor back home needed some money for their church because they didn't have enough money to pay rent and they needed money to pay rent so they would have a place to meet. It was one of those moments when Adam and I could tell that Noe really wished he had enough money to give but didn't. So, Adam and I wrote him a check for $150 and really never thought about it again. That is, until yesterday when we received a text that the pastor from that church was in town. We had no idea we would meet anyone from the church until we got to heaven. But today, in my front living room, sat the pastor of the church. His name is John and he is a traveling pastor. He has many churches in Burundi, Congo and Rwanda. The country church Adam and I helped is now thriving and has now grown out of the place they are renting so they were wondering if their "missionary" could help them. So, we did as a part of City of Refuge. We also gave money to Pastor John's main church in Burundi. Pastor John's main church is the one that Noe used to be a part of, as well as many of our African refugees here in town. It's the church where Jalos and his family are attending. Jalos is the dad of Glori, the little boy that we helped get life saving surgery a couple years ago.

Poor People Like Nice Things Too

One of the things I'm wondering about is how to get across the message to my friends that poor people like nice things too. A very giving lady dropped by a bag of clothes on my porch and in it I didn't find a single piece of clothing that anyone would want to wear. It was all 20 years outdated, very worn, or missing buttons. I'm happy to help people who can't throw things away throw them away, but somewhere along the line we (me included) decided that even our worst piece of clothing should be shared with someone instead of thrown away. I wish there was a way to tell people if there is a very good reason you wouldn't want to wear it...it's very stained, old or damaged then a poor person is not going to want to wear it either.