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Our priest gently escaped talking too much about the guy at the banquet who didn’t have a wedding garment and was tied up and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. After a brief sermon, we had a presentation and slide show of our work in Haiti.

We had been linked to a parish in the mountain and were supporting their school. Then there was the earthquake which destroyed the school. The church was also damaged. So we are working with Finnaid to rebuild the school. They are rebuilding the school and we bought the land. We are now funding the teachers, furnishing the school, and providing what the school needs. It going to be much grander than what they had before. Twelve, count them, twelve classrooms and three hundred-some students. Wonderful work of our parish. I am proud of it.

Our parishioners go to Haiti with some folk from a parish in Minnesota. Twice a year they go as a medical mission. We buy drugs and supplies. This time, in three days they saw over six hundred people.

Wonderful work.

Yesterday I worked as volunteer at church–it gets me out of the house and among people. I folded and stuffed a bunch of bulletins for Sunday. Two other volunteers was working in the Thrift Shop and one of them brought lunch. So we had a merry time with quiche and salad and muffins and some wine.

My plan after that was to take the Medical Fund check and get my insulin. First I went home to check email and phone to see if my friends had sent money yet. In my snail mail was a statement from Social Security saying I was getting Extra Help to pay for my prescriptions. My insulin was only $6.30 instead of $35.00, which was the amount of the check. I also found that some money had made it into my account before I got his with an overdraft fee. I bought the insulin myself and then returned the check to the church office. Then I went and bought some fruit and vegetables.

My friends sent the money by paypal. I hope it makes it into my account quickly so I can pay those bills. The friends did not send quite enough for the utilities. I hope the utilities will take a little less but I have negotiated to pay the bare minimum to keep them on. Also Paypal charges me a fee so that the amount received was slightly less than the amount sent.

And that’s the way it is in Poverty today.

I came across this in Morning Prayer today. I pray it to the Occupy Wall Street people. May God fulfill their mission for the common good of all.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hi again. I’m trying to get back to posting. Self-discipline. Here goes:

Bad week money- wise. In the past little while I have been spammed out of money. Both times it was in a job ad. Both ads asked me to give them a credit report which was free at a given web site. I went there. It was unclear. The ad asked for a number sent to them. I found a number and sent it. No reply. I asked both times if they had received it and that it was the one they wanted. Still no reply. The first time around I learned that you then had to unsubscribe. So I got charged. Which did in my finances.

The second time, I thought I would try it and cancel almost immediately. But I took a look at the three sources. The page said to go to a link to look at them. It turned out there was a charge to look. I got that reversed last week. But I had an overdraft fee from the bank. This week I got them to reverse it.
I thought I would have a little money to buy food. But before I went I logged on to the bank site to check how much I had available. My DSL source had charged their monthly fee and that put me even deeper in the red. You can’t win for losing.

I am now begging a friend for enough to keep my utilities on. I have put them off til the weekend.

I do have food, at least the staples. I have run out of fruit for breakfast but I still have some vegetables for a few more days. After that it’s just pasta, rice and bread.

Next week my Social Security comes. But I will be paying rent late so there’s a late fee added. This means the SS will not cover the rent My plan is to go to a community agency for help. They will do this only once a year.

November looms.

I have been sending out resumes a lot. For jobs for which I am over-qualified. I have a job application in for a position as a parish administrator. I’m hoping.

And that’s the poverty news thus far.