Stories of Changed Lives

"I Don’t Have to Die Alone"

 

When Neil left the hospital he had no place to go. Although suffering from lung cancer that has spread throughout his body, he was too well to stay at the hospital yet couldn’t get into a hospice. Fortunately, Neil found the Union Gospel Mission.

 

There are dozens of people every night in the greater Aberdeen area who are in need of a safe place to sleep and warm meals. Neil is just one example of the people who find that safety each year at Union Gospel Mission. While many are dealing with drugs and alcohol, many are like Neil who simply had no place to go.

 

“The staff at Union Gospel Mission has helped me a lot,” says Neil, “. . . helped me understand the Scriptures I’ve been reading . . .helped me wrestle with my anger. This place has brought me closer to my family. My son says he doesn’t have to worry about me while I’m here. This place has encouraged me because I know that I don’t have to die alone.”

 

 

“God was with me all along. I just wasn’t paying attention.” 

 

Even when he was living on the streets of Aberdeen, Dale wanted to be reunited with his kids. So he scraped together enough money for bus fare and went to visit them in Yakima.

 

“I thought I had a good plan. I was going to get a job, get my own place. Eight months and two jobs later, they were tired of me.”

 

Homeless again and still drinking, Dale got picked up during a sweep of Yakima’s homeless and ended up back in Aberdeen because of a probation violation.

 

“I stayed with friends after I got out of jail, then I ended up sleeping next to the freeway, begging for change, drinking and getting sick. I wasn’t eating. I really needed help.” It took days of patient waiting and some soul searching before Dale got into the New Foundations Program at Union Gospel Mission of Grays Harbor.

 

“As I got into the program and listened to people, read the Bible and talked to the chaplain, I started to see the bigger picture. God was at work in my life.

 

“My concept of becoming a good Christian was pretty messed up. The chaplains here really worked a lot with me to help me understand that it doesn’t mean I’m perfect. Today, I’m going for spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.”

 

Today, Dale is a changed man thanks to the New Foundations Program.