Jackie Pullinger shares her experiences of reaching out to those in desperate situations, emphasizing that mere words about Jesus' love are meaningless without action. She recounts her encounters with individuals who felt unworthy of love and how she became a tangible representation of Jesus to them through her deeds. Pullinger highlights the importance of understanding and meeting the physical and emotional needs of people to truly convey the message of Christ. She reflects on the struggles of those living in poverty and the joy of sharing God's love through practical help and companionship. Ultimately, she stresses that true transformation comes from personal relationships and genuine care, not from organizations or institutions.

I put my arm around her and I said, Jesus loves you. And she was terrified. She nearly fell into the sewer. She went backwards. And she said to me, Oh, she said, dear, you've made a mistake. She said, Nobody told you. Nobody told you what I do. Nobody told you who I am. Nobody told you. You see, I know you're one of those nice Christians. And Christians don't touch people like me. And I realized that she had no idea about Jesus. She just knew Christians were nice. Many of them said that. You see, Christians can read. Most of them couldn't. Christians had Sunday off. And those who worked would never get Sunday off. Never. Once a year, maybe they get three days off at Chinese New Year. The rest? Average work. Twelve hours a day. Seven days a week. No weekend. No Sunday. How can they be Christians? Of course they can't. Because they can't go to that building you go to on a Sunday. How can they be Christians? Of course they can't. Because they can't read that book Christians carry. How can they be Christians? Of course they can't. Because they don't have an extra pair of shoes. And people dress up to go to that building on Sunday. But they didn't know who Jesus was. And I realised that the words Jesus loves you mean nothing. Nothing. They don't. Not if you don't know what love is. Not if you don't know who Jesus is. It wouldn't mean anything to you. No wonder she was frightened. I thought, I've done it wrong. It's not just words. It's deeds. Words and deeds. Because you see, I didn't have a place like this. I couldn't go up to her and say Oh look, you know I know some people and you know they're really quite normal and you know you could meet them and you could come along and we'd spend some time and we could tell you about Jesus. I didn't have anyone at all that I could introduce her to. Not a place to take her. Not like this. I didn't even have a neighbour with a home where we could sit down and ask her in even for a cup of tea. I had nothing. So I thought the only way she's going to understand who Jesus is the only way that these people are going to understand who Jesus is is if I am Jesus to them. And I remembered those words that Jesus spoke that he had come to release the captives to proclaim freedom for the prisoners to give sight to the blind. So I thought that's how you do it. You give them what they don't have. So for the next year or so this is what I did I opened a room in the wall so it was very very very small I mean I think your looms are bigger practically I mean your toilets and just big enough for a ping pong table and I opened it up at night time and especially to welcome the gangsters mainly from one particular gang called the 14K and just opened it up for them to come in and God was really good because they didn't like the Jesus bit at all I always said I'm here because of Jesus and they said you know of course she's cracked about Jesus but apart from that she's alright and I was really happy about that really happy because of course they didn't understand about Jesus every time we had hymn singing or prayers or anything they used to go outside and whistle and smoke their cigarettes and catcall and when we finished they'd come in that's alright because they said apart from Jesus she's alright and they were beginning to understand who Jesus was because when they didn't have any rice to eat I shared my rice and when friends passed through they shared their rice if people didn't have schools we tried to find them a school when they got beaten up by other gangs we mocked up their blood or sent them to hospital there was a lady there that asked me to visit a family and this family was called the Zhong family and there was a mother that had six children and upon the birth of the sixth she had it and one hour later walked back home because she had to take care of the family her husband was an addict they lived about six stories up inside the walled city and it wasn't a home at all it was just somebody's roof and on the top of the roof they put a kind of tarpaulin and when it rained they used to have to empty that out otherwise the whole room flooded and there was nothing in it except a double bed and the children were born on the bed they slept on the bed they learned to read on the bed they did their homework they cooked on the bed that was all they had a bed and I went to see this lady she couldn't work anymore she used to carry water this was no water in the walled city 60,000 people living in five acres if you can imagine that not much more than five football fields and 60,000 people no water, no toilets and this is where she lived and she used to get five cents well divide that by eight and you get what their five cents is for carrying two buckets of water up to somebody's home that may be four or five or six or seven stories high and in the end her legs ached and her knees were bent and she couldn't do it anymore neither could she see a doctor because she had no money to see a doctor so she had no food and somebody had asked me to visit her so I used to go and sit on her bed and tell her about Jesus it was lovely you know it's really easy to preach the gospel to people like that it's really easy they're longing to hear so I said it's alright you know there's a God up there who loves you very much and he'll come and sit on your bed he'll be here and he'll talk with you and she smiled and she said that's the one I want the one who'll come and sit on my bed and we used to talk to Jesus together and I used to with my friends buy some dried sausages for her we didn't want to give her money because her husband was taking heroin all the time and would take the money he earned money but he never gave the family anything and all they ever ate before we came all they ever ate was wet rice was rice diluted with a lot of water so it turns into a kind of soup that's all they ever had so we used to take them sausages and eggs and tins and things and the children were very shy the five eldest ones had nowhere to play you see so when I went to see the mother they were very embarrassed they couldn't go into another room and be children so the only thing they could do was to turn to the wall and all five children used to turn to the wall and pretend I wasn't there because they were shy think of that think of your children who maybe even have a bedroom between two or three and maybe some of your children have one each I asked the woman who sent me to see that family why did you send me? because you see I didn't have very much money myself I didn't have a church behind me I didn't have a mission that sent money to me all I could give that lady was what I had and that wasn't very much because I was already going to other homes people kept sending me there was one with eleven children whose husband was out of work go and help the family they said me? how can I help someone with eleven children? I've already got three people living in my little room I can just barely pay the rent myself how am I going to help someone with eleven children whose husband's out of work and someone else again who's been sent to the mental hospital and I've got to look after the husband and six children and this family here sitting on the bed with the children all face to the wall why? I said to the lady why do you send me? why don't you find one of the agencies in town there are missionary agencies there are there are lots of people in Hong Kong doing missionary work why don't you find one of them? they've got resources, I don't and she said I'm sending you because I know you care about them that's that's a terrible responsibility but it's a great joy nobody ever got saved by an organization was saved through Jesus and that's what people want to know not is there a church