Years Did Their Work

Amy was obviously looking forward to meeting with her mother but all these years made sure that it wasn’t exactly how she expected. They were strangers after all and the meeting was underwhelming. Amy also met four of her half-siblings too. Now that she had closure from her mother’s side, it was time to track down her father. For some reason, she considered it more important to meet her father. She spent a year looking for him and all this while he was right in her company.

Pastor Will Russell

Will, now known among his community as Pastor Russell wanted to give back to the community by more than only preaching. He had wasted years of his prime in abusing drugs and alcohol but now equipped with the experience he gave addiction counseling to those in need in the Phoenix area. He sought help from the local organizations to be able to expand his outreach, where his steps were taking him, he did not have a clue then.

Phoenix Rescue Mission

Pheonix Rescue Mission provides shelter to the homeless and is also a soup kitchen. It provides a lot of facilities and there are various ways a volunteer could contribute. The Mission aims to rehabilitate people who abuse substance or are homeless by giving them opportunities to be a part of classes on life skills and courses that prepare for various jobs. Will thought that this was the place he would volunteer at.

Changing Directions

In 2012, Will started volunteering at the Mission and he began working in the kitchen by serving food to the needy. He, however, did not stay long enough to witness a miracle. He changed departments. Since he was experienced in counseling he took up discipleship course and taught people about the Christian faith and ethic and gave them hope to start afresh on the path of religion. If he had stayed a little bit longer in the kitchen, his life would have taken a twist.

Close Miss

Just about the time, Will started volunteering at the Rescue Mission Amy Roberson did too! But they could not meet, neither did they know they were father and daughter. Why? Because Amy had started working in the kitchen and by that time Will had changed departments and work days. Imagine coming so close to someone you have been looking for, for years and not knowing they volunteer at the exact same place you do! If only Will hadn’t changed departments, maybe just maybe both of them would have gotten to know each other and realized they were related.

Drawn To The Same Place

When asked later, they both said that there was this overwhelming feeling to go to the Pheonix Rescue Mission as often as possible. In an interview, Will said, “I just felt myself drawn here so I started serving here,” and Amy said, “I felt like this is where I needed to be, I needed to be here for some reason.” Both the father and the daughter had an intuition about the place, but what it was, they did not find out soon enough.