{"id":8039,"date":"2022-05-05T08:55:46","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T06:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apostolowiemilosci.pl\/?p=8039"},"modified":"2022-05-05T08:55:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T06:55:46","slug":"gods-signs-8-i-gave-a-homeless-man-a-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/apostolowiemilosci.pl\/?p=8039","title":{"rendered":"GOD’S SIGNS #8 I gave a homeless man a card"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ania: You know, I wanted us to tell this testimony together, this story of a homeless person from a shop in Gliwice, how we met him, how you met him and what happened afterwards. Tell me, how did you meet the man that you later went on spiritual seminars with, how did it happen?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, I met him in Gliwice, when I was in therapy, in October 2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: Were you still sick then? You weren’t healed yet?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, not yet. At that time I was in a very serious condition let’s say and I felt terrible, but just when I was walking down the street there, it was as I remember by the pharmacy, there was a homeless man just standing there. He was leaning against a pole or a tree, I don’t remember, he had trouble walking at all. So I approached him and started to talk to him. And after a while of talking and praying, I thought of telling him my brother’s testimony.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: And how did you pray with him?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: We said the Our Father, we invoked the Holy Spirit, I don’t remember it well now, because I’m basing it on what I told you on the spot, because I was in a serious condition at that time, so it’s hard for me to remember everything,<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania:, So you prayed the Our Father prayer, you asked the Holy Spirit for help and what else did you do?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; I was telling him my brother’s testimony, how he came out of addiction, how the Lord God worked powerfully in his life.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: And from homelessness…<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, and from homelessness, and then, to make this testimony more credible, so that he could talk to someone who had gone through the same thing, I called my brother so that he could tell him personally about his life, how it all happened. So I gave him the number, because there was only one thing I could think of, and I said to him – Hide this number, like it’s the most precious thing, as if it would save your life.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: But what, did you give it to him on a big or small piece of paper? What did you give him the number on?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: I just gave him the number on a small white piece of paper!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: And what does small mean, how small was it?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: I don’t know, I think it was a scrapped piece of paper from a notebook, I don’t remember exactly now, but it was a tiny piece of paper, and I was afraid that even he would lose it somewhere. I also didn’t expect him to keep it, you know homeless people are in all sorts of different conditions, so I didn’t know what would happen to it,<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania:, Because it was in October 2019. Imagine that he, I still to this day remember that on November 11, 2019 actually after a month so you can accept, suddenly on Independence Day my phone rings and someone says:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

– He wants to change his life. I got your phone number on a little card and I’m asking for help.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

And it was for me, but I say to him – But where are you?, and he answers – I’m from Gliwice. I said – Oh Lord Jesus, he’s from Gliwice. And I thought to myself, how is it possible for a homeless person to carry such a small card around with him for a month and to remember about it? And he called on the 11th of November and I thought to myself, what to do, what to do? And actually, after a week you were on a retreat in Ostroleka together with him, which is run by Father John Bashabora, and we all went on this retreat together,<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: Yes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: It was from 15 to 17 November 2019 in Ostroleka. And imagine that this man really wanted to be there! He was going directly from Gliwice.  He came, thanks to the community in Ostroleka, I was put in touch with a person who was just accommodating him in his family home, taking him in as a most welcome guest. But when he arrived he couldn’t move in the trains, he had problems with walking as you said, and when he did arrive at such a time that night before the seminar he calls me and says:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

– Ania, I won’t be able to catch any more trains to Ostro\u0142\u0119ka, there’s no more trains to Ostro\u0142\u0119ka, there’s a direct train to Warsaw, I’m already lost. He slept in some staircase, just to be at the seminar, but he didn’t give up, because, as he said on 11 November, he wanted to change his life. And it was amazing, I’ll tell you, when I was able to see you together. We came by car and he came from Gliwice by train. Someone drove him and as he said later – Thanks to that white card you gave him, on that retreat, he gave his life to Jesus and I don’t know if you remember how we jumped with joy when he announced that after 25 years he had been to Confession and Holy Communion. Do you remember how I ran away and he said: „Anna, find me a priest who will confess me, because I can’t. And then a number of people were jumping with joy that he had just been to Confession. He himself was jumping up and down and he said: „I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. And he had like you said, he was in hospital, he just had a hole in his lung.  When he showed it, you could see his lung and it was amazing.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: Yeah, you could see his insides, he was really hurt,<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: And it was a retreat for addicts, well an amazing retreat. He prayed incredibly, he met people like he said he had never met in his life. And then still imagine with 6 -7- 8 December 2019 he was on the „New Life” course in Otwock. He was simply there because he wanted to be on another retreat. In January 2020 he was at another seminar on the Eucharist, this time in Tarnow. See – a homeless man whom you accidentally gave a card to, whom you met by chance.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: Yes, yes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania; And so the story you know moves me so much that a lot of people say it doesn’t make sense to do a certain action, what can it do? Just like that I meet someone and you gave him a card, you prayed with him for the Holy Spirit, you said your testimony and you left him this phone number. And see, someone gave a card, someone arranged transport, someone spent the night in his house, someone gave him food, you know what I mean? A number of people that he just sort of, on that road he could meet. And it started, in truth, with your innocent little card, your Our Father, a prayer on that street with that homeless man. You don’t have to do much just to do that, the rest is up to God and the person who enters into this grace!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, but we need to show to such a person that there is love, that he is not rejected, that he is, that we love him, that we accept him as he is. We just want to help him as much as he will let us. And then, when he says yes, the Lord Jesus already begins to act.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania; Well, but do you remember how happy he was at that retreat, how he got coffee, how people danced with him, sang with him. He was so crazy, someone bought him a T-shirt, someone talked to him. He said – I’ve never seen anything like that in my life!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, but I still remember those words, which I don’t know if he told me directly or someone repeated them to me – he had never felt so human, like he feels in this group of people, that they accept him so much, that he is loved. I don’t remember whether he said this to me directly or to you Anna, I don’t remember anymore. I only know that these words somehow saw the light of day. And it touched my heart so much that he felt human and that he wanted to go to another community. He even wanted to go on another seminar, because he felt like a human being there, those were his words.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania: But look, a month after you gave the card, a stranger calls me and says that he wants to change his life, a month after, so he walked around with the card for a month, right? Some stranger got a phone number, and maybe he’ll call, maybe he won’t call, you don’t know what it will be. But he called. And see, a week later he was on a retreat, a month later he was on another one, then in January he came again and brought other people who wanted to come. It was amazing, because it happened from such a small, inconspicuous meeting. Sometimes great stories are created in this way, from a single piece of paper, it’s amazing.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, sometimes we don’t know how to help someone, we can just give a number to people we know can help,<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania; Well, leave something behind, pray for God’s grace, but leave something behind.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes,<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania; And that when they want to change their life they just do it! It’s amazing, because it shows, this story, the amazing work of God, because we were together at it, you gave the card, then we were on a retreat, then there were other retreats, I heard stories from them, like he was on a retreat on the New Life course and he was telling people what had happened to him, he was helping other people with his story, so to speak. Really!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, it is true<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania; It’s so amazing that really, sometimes you just need so little, you don’t give a zloty or two to a homeless person, but you can give him, definitely more. God’s love.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina: Yes, yes, give a rod, not a fish…<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ania; Yeah, yeah, that’s it…not just what he thinks he needs… just this way. Glory to Jesus in what happened, in those people who will listen to this testimony, who will meet homeless people on their way, in what will happen in their lives and in the lives of those people they will meet. Praise the Lord.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ewelina; Yes, praise the Lord!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Testimony by Ewelina Bartoszewicz\/ Ania Wyrzykowska \/ 17.09.2021<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Translation by Pawe\u0142 Zawal<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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