Today was my first visit to the Community Center of Mission: Possible! Austin. Quick thoughts!
1. When I was driving there, I noticed a police car following me, and I kind of freaked out. Had I been speeding? Was I about to get my first speeding ticket? I was relieved when I turned into the gated parking lot beside the Mission Possible building and it kept on going… and stopped next to the white brick building. By the time I approached the door, an EMS had showed up too. A man standing outside the wooden door told me I could go in, so I did; the police were standing there while ambulance workers approached a man having convulsions in the corner of the room. They strapped him into a gurney and rolled him outside.
At this point, Michael Featherstone comes out from behind the counter and introduces himself to me. Mike is the Street Ministry Coordinator of Mission Possible, meaning he coordinates Church Under the Bridge (a weekly church at 7th & I-35 for the homeless community), and oversees the Community Center. He reassures me that medical emergencies are a pretty common occurrence, and I shouldn’t be afraid.
I’m not afraid, but I’m a little slapped-into-reality. If something like this happened at my school, it’d be in the news and people would be talking about it for days. But I guess I realized that suffering is happening regularly, even when I’m not thinking about it.
2. My time at Mission Possible is spent partly behind the counter, serving donuts and coffee to people as they come up… partly in the table area, armed with a hot, soapy dish rag, wiping at tables and chairs, *hoping someone starts a conversation with me* and saying hi to people… partly actually initiating/having conversations with people.
Speakers at the front of the room blare Spirit 105.9, There’s a hustle of conversations and the whir/smell of the coffee machines. This is the place I’ll be frequenting regularly for… quite a while.
I start writing down the names of people I meet.
Thanks for reading!
-Isabella, 9/5/16