- Kate Shoemaker

I was skeptical going into my third mission trip. The first is always exciting, the second you know what is going on and therefore feel more comfortable, but the third? Quite honestly I wasn't very excited. The first two trips I went on were relatively the same spiritually, so by my third I thought 'what else can I learn by working for others?' My answer came in Leroy. I met Leroy while I was staining a fence and he approached me from the outside of it. The first thing he said to me was, "Do you know what the difference is between hurt and pain?" "Um, no I don't," I muttered. "Pain goes away, but once you're hurt, you're hurt forever," he answered and tears welled in his eyes. Well, after that I was intrigued. After that we carried on normal small-talk introductions and exchanged names. We said, "goodbye, nice to meet you" and he went on his way. That left me bewildered but soon escaped my mind as I attended to my fence. But Leroy came back again after also sharing time with Brian and Paul. This time he came baring gifts. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I had taken Leroy for homeless; he was unshowered, dirty clothed, and skinny. So you wouldn't believe how surprised I was to see him again with six popsicles and six plastic roses, for each of us. He thanked us for the work we were doing and told us some of the most emotional stories I had ever heard, each time shedding tears at the end of his stories as he looked to the sky in awe. We ended up making an afternoon of it and he took us to mining sites with wonderful views and enlightened us with unbelievable stories. The day ended with us extending to him an invitation to dinner. He thanked us an uncountable amount of times but never actually accepted. I had thought for sure he wasn't coming and that the last time I would see him would be when we dropped him off at his house. He had already changed my life just by embodying the most thankful person I had ever met while also being one of the poorest. When we got back to the church we were staying at, my group tried to explain Leroy to the others, but his stories just seemed made-up and unreal when we repeated them. Although I knew I would always carry Leroy with me he was again out of my mind. But again, Leroy returned for dinner, and my mouth dropped. He was dressed in his best cowboy outfit and had brought his father along with numerous trinkets to prove his stories were true. He also brought me a drawing of his own that he had done and thanked me for the invite again with tears in his eyes.

The things I came to realize after Leroy left in his purple van with me waving goodbye on the porch, changed my faith. God had sent himself to me through Leroy. God was patient with me and sent Leroy to me three times before I understood. The third time bringing me physical proof. Leroy was a self-less embodiment of Christ. Everything Leroy was and everything Leroy said was as though they were modern day Bible characteristics and stories. I cannot put what this meant to me in words. This was the first time I felt God had directly spoken to me. Leroy was my messenger; he was my personal Jesus Christ. I had never believed others when they said they had felt the presence of God until I experienced it for myself through Leroy. The lessons he taught me and the person he was will always be with me in my heart and my faith, and has proven to me God's existence.