Michelle Gondal, Essential Blessings Founder & President

In October of 2024 three board members of Essential Blessings were blessed to be able to go on mission to Romania and serve the Roma gypsies.  Essential Blessings serves the homeless Lansing community through events in Reutter Park and going into encampments to take meals and personal care items to those living there.   I was curious to discover how similar or different the encampments here were to the ones in Romania.  Below is what I learned.

They knew we were there before we entered their encampment.  There is always someone watching for strangers.  They didn’t know that we were there to serve them.  We had never been there before, and they do not trust strangers.  Conversations were mostly a back and forth about who were, why were we there, what were we doing.  It took a minute but some of the obvious distrust was beginning to go away.  I was able to begin to relax a little myself and began to take it all in.  What I saw was shocking.  There was no running water.  There was no electric.  The structures they called home would not withstand the cold that was coming soon.  The paths and trails between the structures were a muddy, slippery mess.  There were fire pits strategically placed throughout the encampment for a place to cook and stay warm for several groups of people.  There were piles of trash everywhere and the smells were strong of rotting food and human waste.  Animals traveled freely throughout the encampment looking for scraps to eat.

What I saw in the people of this encampment was the most shocking.  They seemed to have, long ago, accepted this life as normal.  They have no drive nor desire to take steps to change their lives.  Looking into their eyes there was no joy or happiness.  When I was invited to enter one of their homes, I was shocked to find 8 people living in a 10×10 area.  They were all huddled around a propane heater to keep warm, and insects were everywhere.  Not everyone in the encampment was happy to see us, some would keep their distance or simply disappear into their home.  Children were hidden away during our visit out of fear.  The “mayor” of this encampment met with us and instructed us that all contact with this encampment was to start with him.

We will go back and continue to build the relationships we have started.  You see, this was an encampment here in Lansing, Michigan.   Yes, they are so very similar to the encampments in Romania.  What I learned through our partners at Contact Baptist Church is that intentionality is vital.  Build the trust and relationships and allow God to work his plan through us.  We are not trying to enter the encampments and tell them how they think, feel and live is wrong.  We are going in and loving them right where they are in their journey.  Sharing our lives with them and sharing what God has done for us.  Showing up.  Being intentional.  I traveled over 4,000 miles to find encampments very similar to those in our backyard. What I brought home was a renewed drive to love and serve a population of people who need it the most.  I am grateful to Contact Baptist to show me a working model of loving people right where they are while showing them the love that Jesus shows us all.