Saturday Phone Calls

Had a couple phone calls today. One was from David. He went to Montreal. There, he met Jesus and got baptized. He's been drug free for years, he met Jesus and got baptized in a church that has loved him for who he is.

He decided to move "home" to Saskatchewan. He wasn't ready for the pressure from his old drug dealing buddies. He said the love he felt at his church in Montreal scared him! No one ever cared for him like that before!

So, he made up his mind that he would make Montreal his new home. For good. He would not let the intensity of the caring church community scare him away, but would choose to embrace it.

He had a plane ticket back, (spent all his money on it, one would presume) but nowhere to sleep for the night. He had to walk to the airport at 3:00 in the morning... would he still be able to sleep at the Shelter? He didn't want to arrive from Moose Jaw and have to sleep on the street. I said that we would help him any way we could, and that he should just come. It felt good to help David.

Catherine called me, too. She used to be on the program. She found herself in Regina again, and was staying at The Plains Motel. She said her family wants her to go see a psychiatrist and she needed to move into the Mission to avoid this fate.

I told her we had a six month waiting list for women, so maybe she SHOULD consider taking medication. She agreed to call Melanie in the morning. A few minutes later she called me back and said, "Maybe I should just go to Vancouver?" She went on to explain this idea and I discouraged her from being transient. I suggested she take her medication and she insisted she was not mentally ill.

It was a sad conversation, and I wondered who would help Catherine.