by Elaina Matook
NAC Teen SOYO President

It amazes me in what unexpected places Christ can be discovered…

For nearly half an hour we searched the streets of Los Angeles trying to find someone to eat breakfast with us, which proved to be more difficult than we had predicted. But finally, we spotted her – “the Prophetess Holy Ling,” as she called herself– singing on a street corner with a black cowboy hat, a tambourine, and a contented smile. From the start we could tell that she was a bit mentally unbalanced, but the faith she possessed blew away all my previous assumptions and stereotypes.

From January 2 – 4, 2004 I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in the first ever Orthodox Youth Outreach project, which took place in South Central Los Angeles, CA. The scenario described above is just a sampling of the challenges with which we were faced over that weekend.

The assignment on Saturday morning began with our group of 28 being separated into groups of four and being given $3 for each of us for breakfast as well as an extra $3 per group. Each group was told to feed someone else, any homeless person we met on the street, with that extra three dollars.

After purposefully traversing the streets within the boundaries given by our leaders, our group met Ling, who seemed overjoyed as she joined us for breakfast. In fact, it seemed she was more interested in talking with us than the free breakfast despite her status as one of the homeless people of Los Angeles.

She insisted that someone say grace before we began to eat our $1.70 breakfast sandwiches, and she volunteered herself to do so. Most of the time we were with her, she spoke of her faith, God, and Jesus, which took me by surprise. Although we provided her with breakfast, taught her how to make the sign of the cross (per her request), and lent to her our eight willing ears, we gained so much more from speaking with her. The childlike faith in God she demonstrated during the small amount of time we were with her will hopefully remain in my memory for a lifetime.

“Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing. But a curse will come upon those who close their eyes to poverty.” Proverbs 28:27.

After eating, we joined Ling as she sang Gospel Music on the streets with her tambourine. She seemed so grateful that we appreciated her singing and recognized her for who she was, since it pained her when most passersby would assume she was a drug addict or an alcoholic or that she was evil, none of which describe her. She is a living example of the presence of Jesus in everyone and anyone, even in the homeless on the streets of South Central.

With the hard work of Fr. Kevin Scherer, Ashley and Natalie from the Center for Service Missions, and the zealous participation of Western Region Teen SOYO, this OYO project was a major success. I know many of my fellow teens on the mission would agree with me in saying we gained so much more from this experience than we sacrificed.

I pray that many more teens have the opportunity to participate in an OYO project or some other service mission of their own, since Jesus specifically told us, “You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16. The Orthodox faith is not merely a religion, but a way of life. We must demonstrate our faith by our actions, and a great start is with Orthodox Youth Outreach. Do something beautiful for God. For more information about OYO and to make contributions, visit www.orthodoxyouthoutreach.net.