It was during this time that I met Mr. D. As I sat down next to him, he wasn’t suspicious or guarded at all. Our conversation covered a variety of topics - such as how Baltimore has changed over the years in some ways, but in other ways, it hasn’t changed at all (he hinted that he could easily find trouble if he ever went out looking for it). Eventually, he opened up about his family and his drug addiction. He said his sister is a health professional, and because of that, she is hard on him when it comes to his drug addiction. As a health professional, I joked with him that we are trained to lecture at our patients. He laughed and said that he just wished his sister understood him more. At this point in the conversation, I felt comfortable enough to tell him that if anyone could understand him, it would be Jesus. He responded by saying, “I know that’s right.” As we wrapped up our conversation, Mr. D expressed his appreciation for us coming and got up to bus his food tray. What I didn’t expect was that he would come back, give me a big man hug and say, “Keep me in your prayers, man. I need them.” After we left the shelter, we had a debrief time with our staff and students. The stories we shared of the people we met at the shelter echoed that of Mr. D. Listening to these stories, I personally felt blessed as I thought about the people we got to connect with. It occurred to me that everyone there had something in common when it came to their spiritual condition - they had hit rock bottom and became desperate for change. They then humbled themselves to get help and enrolled into an intensive Christian recovery program at Helping Up Mission. I believe all of that led them to be honest about their past failures, open to God and even appreciative of our presence there. Indeed, as Jesus taught, blessed are the poor in spirit. And I believe that their life stories were also a blessing to our international students. Our students are usually surrounded by people who rarely are poor in spirit. As graduate students, they interact daily with those who are accomplished, ambitious and competitive. Because of that, I am proud of the students who stepped out of their comfort zone and showed up to serve. It allowed them to share in God’s heart for the poor and needy, and as they did so, they got to experience the blessing of dying to themselves and serving the needs of others.