How a Catholic taught me how to be a disciple on my Latter-day Saint mission.

How a Catholic taught me how to be a disciple on my Latter-day Saint mission.

Every now and then you met someone who is an example of how a true disciple of Christ lives, for me, I have never met a man who has taught me more about being a disciple of Christ than a Catholic man, Christopher J. Brown. I would like to share how I met Chris Brown, and how he showed me compassion and taught me how to be a disciple.

"Chris Brown, the Catholic not the rapper."

Six years ago I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was serving in the Manchester New Hampshire Mission. I had recently been assigned to work in the greater Ellsworth/Mount Desert Island area in Maine. The work was slow; many people would swear at us rather than talk with us. It was hard, even some of the local Christian Churches were hostile. One time while we were shopping at Wal-Mart, we were accosted by a fellow Christian for over five minutes! He swore at us and told us that we were going to go to hell for serving a mission. Eventually, a store employee told him to leave us alone. In the midst of this, we decided we would follow the example of Christ and serve everyone.

This desire to serve led us to the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Bar Harbor Maine. I found myself and my companion knocking on the rectory door not knowing what to expect. I mean, what would they think? Two Latter-day Saint Missionaries knocking on the rectory door? Our fears were false, and as we talked with Father John O'Hara, he invited to come help with a community dinner entitled "Food For All" that happened every Thursday night.

The Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The next Thursday we arrived at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, we entered into the side door and walked into the basement.

"Can I help you?" asked a man in the kitchen.

"We are here to help with the dinner" I replied.

"We don't need any help right now" was his reply.

Defeated and disappointed we started to walk towards the door when it opened, and a bearded man walked in and said, "Who are you?"

I then explained that we came to help with the dinner, but they don't need any help.

"I am in charge here; we can use your help!" He replied.

I reached out my hand a shook his hand saying "Elder Goff."

And he replied "Chris Brown, the Catholic not the rapper." And as we walked into the kitchen, he introduced us to the man and said, "This is Art Gowie." He then turned to the sink and asked if we knew how to do dishes? We replied that we did and started doing the dishes.

Food For All

That first week I asked Chris where all the food for this meal came from? Did the Catholic Church provide it?  He replied that he gleaned it. Just like Ruth in the bible. He explained that every week he would go to local stores and collect the food that was nearing expiration and sort it if it was good he would use it for the community meal, and if it were bad, he would feed it to his pigs.

Produce at Food For All.

An intense amount of time and energy was put into Food For All. From the sorting to the cooking, and I learned that Chris was staying until 11 PM on many Thursday nights cleaning the kitchen. What started as only washing the dishes for 60-90 minutes every Thursday turned into a 6-hour weekly service project. We would show up early helping Chris sort the food, and then Art cook the food, it was so much fun we became his sous chefs. We would help serve people with their meals, do the dishes.  And after the meal, we would help clean up so everyone could go home by about 8:30 instead of 11.

At first, people looked shocked when they saw Latter-day Saint Missionaries in the basement kitchen of a Catholic Church. One of the old Catholic members even came up to us and asked, "You won't get excommunicated for doing this will you?" I replied laughing and saying "Not a chance!" The more we served, the more walls started to come down, and people started talking with us.

Every time someone new came, Chris would pull them aside and explain gleaning and how Food For All operated. He then would turn to us and say "that's Elder Goff and Elder Hansen, their moms did not call them that, but if you want to learn about that you'll need to ask them. But without their help, and the help of other volunteers and donations this would not be possible." (Check out their facebook page here)

"We are both doing Christ work."

Over the coming weeks, I noticed something; there were all walks of people who were coming to this meal: bankers, college students, widows, and more. I also started to notice some people would bring small containers and Chris would tell me to fill it full of food. After one lady had left, he turned to me and said, "Her husband is too weak to come here, and she takes this home for him." After another person with a container, he told me "she is so poor that she tries to make this food last until the next week."

Chris was willing to feed the poor and the rich, the hungry Catholic and the hungry Latter-day Saints, the college students, the migrant workers, and the CEO's of companies who would come in for the hospitality of Chris and the wicked good cooking of Chef Art Gowie and his missionary sous chefs.

Often before meals were ready, we would have light discussions on religion. One day Chris turned to me and said "we are on the same team together, you feed their spirits day-to-day, and I feed their bodies. We are both doing the work of Christ." I smiled and realized that Chris was my brother in Christ.

Brothers in Christ. Elder Hansen, Chris Brown, and myself.

A difference and Sisters.

We soon realized the atmosphere was different in Bar Harbor, I remember one day as we walked down the street someone yelled at us, but instead of slandering us he came up to us shook our hands and said, "I just want to say thanks for helping with the meal on Thursdays." We started having people ask us questions. Soon we found ourselves helping not only physically feeding, but spiritually feeding the people of Bar Harbor.

It was with excitement that we learned that our area was getting split and Sisters would be coming to Ellsworth to help with the work. We excitedly told Chris that the Church was sending Sister Missionaries to help with the work. His reply was classic, "Like Sista Sisters?" We laughed and replied "Oh no, they are not nuns! They are like us, but better looking."

As the time for the sisters drew near Chris pulled me aside and asked, "Elder Goff, is the Sisters new place fully stocked?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Do they have enough food?" he replied.

"The local members had gotten them some food, but it was not full."

He looked at me and said, "Come with me." He proceeded to grab enough food to fully stock any missionaries apartment and told me he wanted the missionaries to know they were taken care of.

When the sisters arrived, they joined us in service down in Bar Harbor, and everyone was so shocked. They had never seen a sister missionary before. Quickly Sisters Wallentine and Bergeson were extremely popular at Food For All, often talking and answering questions while we did service in the kitchen.

 Elder Hansen, myself, Chris Brown, Sister Bergeson, Sister Wallentine in the kitchen at Food For All.

Goodbyes

It was not long after the Sisters arrived that I got notice I was getting transferred to a new area. It was with a sad heart that I told everyone at Food For All that I was leaving. Chris came up and gave me a big hug. Little did he know how much he had done for me. He showed us compassion; he gave us a chance to serve. And a chance to feel loved. He also fed us more than all the members of our congregation combined. It was his unbridled love and compassion for others that I felt, and it causes me to think "one day, I'd like to grow up and be a disciple of Christ, like Chris Brown."