March Newsletter - Nacogdoches/Livingston

​We are sincerely blessed by the many individuals, churches, and other groups who invest their time, money, and talents in serving the homeless individuals we minister to at GODTEL. The meals prepared and served by our guest cooks offer a variety of delicious foods to warm our tummies. The smiling faces of those volunteers warm our spirits and we are extremely grateful for the encouragement.

Again this year the Kroger Company sponsored a Super Bowl Sales Campaign (as part of their Zero Hunger/Zero Waste initiative) leading up to the Super Bowl football spectacular. This was another “bonanza” year as GODTEL was the recipient of 383 food boxes (containing spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, four cans of green beans and pinto beans, and a jar of peanut butter) purchased by shoppers at the North Street Kroger store in Nacogdoches.

 The employees of Davita Medical Group (dialysis centers) in Livingston and Lufkin collected funds over several months and last month presented generous donations to our Lufkin and Livingston missions to help house and feed the homeless. In Nacogdoches, Pilgrim’s Pride has generously donated frozen chicken to help feed the many homeless and hungry individuals who eat with us.

One of the things we do to “recycle” food is keep goats and chickens. They eat our scraps and we eat eggs from the chickens until they quit laying and then we eat the chickens. Benita has kept a count of the egg production in Livingston: In 2016 we collected 32 dozen, in 2017 we got 162 dozen, and last year we collected 91.5 dozen. (Looks like we will be eating more chicken soon and buying more chicks.) The goats are very entertaining, especially the babies, and they make wonderful fajitas.
 
November 27, 2008
 
People come to GODTEL from many different sources. One young lady was recently brought to us by a woman known as Alligator Annie. Annie had taken this woman in when she found her sleeping on a porch and had been helping her for several months and it came time for her to try something else. When they came in, Annie made sure we had space available and filled us in on the woman’s history as she knew it.

In further conversations with Annie, she shared a poem with us that she had written back in 2008 right around Thanksgiving after meeting another young lady who was sleeping under a bridge in Nacogdoches. Annie told her about GODTEL but, for whatever reason, she did not want to come.

That meeting had a profound effect on Annie and she wrote the following poem:

Thanks Given to Elizabeth:

We appreciate Annie’s desire and willingness to help those she finds in need and pray that God will touch others with His compassion and love.

At the very least, people can be pointed in our direction to receive shelter, food, clothing, and the message of God’s offer of salvation from eternal misery and torment and His promise of an abundant life here on planet earth and the joy of Heaven for all eternity.

​~Nancy Gentry

Elizabeth is a homeless girl.
She lives beneath a bridge.
She has no electric stove to clean,
Doesn’t even have a fridge.
 
All she has is a blanket.
It is blue, and it is worn.
I noticed her teeth are pearly white,
But the clothes she wears are torn.
 
Where did you come from Elizabeth?
Where are you going to?
Today is a special holiday,
Are you just passing through?
 
Where in the world is your family?
How could this happen to you?
My mind asks so many questions.
Your situation makes me blue.
 
In this world of excess and plenty
There is still misery and poverty.
I bet God is looking down
Waiting for you and me
 
To help all the women named Elizabeth,
To help them with their plight,
To free them from the loneliness
Of a dark and freezing night.
 
I took her a green warm sleeping bag.
I took her a pair of gloves.
Her eyes looked up to heaven.
She whispered a prayer of love.
 
Oh, my God, Elizabeth,
You nearly broke my heart,
I drove off feeling guilty,
Leaving you lonely in the park.

Today is a wonderful holiday.
We give thanks for all we’ve got.
What have you got to be thankful for?
Not even a bed or cot.
 
Help me, God, to know what’s right.
Help me seek Your way.
There are lots of Elizabeths
Out there on Thanksgiving Day.
 
It might be dangerous to take them in.
They could be mentally unstable.
But God helped many people on earth.
He was willing and He was able.
 
Help me, God, to do the right thing.
Help me to understand
That someday I might be under that bridge
Praying for a helping hand.
 
This is a thanks given to Elizabeth.
She has opened up my eyes.
Give her peace and comfort her please
As the sun begins to rise.
 
Sleeping under a concrete bridge
In a deserted city park.
Lonely, cold and frightened,
Huddled in the dark.
 
God bless you sister Elizabeth.
May your days soon get much better.
My heart breaks for your situation
As I write you this sad, sad letter.
 
Love,
Alligator Annie