It's hard to believe that our lectures and outreach in San Francisco are completed. We leave EARLY Monday morning for 3 weeks in Istanbul, Turkey, 3 weeks in Rome, Italy, and 1 week in Milan, Italy!
Starting in January we welcomed 6 young people into our lives for 6 months of mentoring and reaching out to our neighborhood in San Francisco. We and the students have gone through 3 months of lectures, including topics on God's character, Relationships, cross-cultural ministry, etc. The students have been growing so much. It's emotionally exhausting for us, as the school leaders, to keep the schedule going, as well as help carry the burdens of these young people and walk through some challenges with them! We love to see them grow, and we love to see them understanding who God is and how much He loves them and wants to touch others through them.
We've also been exposing them to the neighborhood that we work in, the Tenderloin! We've served countless cups of coffee and hot chocolate to the homeless on the streets; we've also served diligently for the last 3 weeks at about 5 different immigrant-run small businesses in the neighborhood! God has provided some amazing friendships through these times.
Justine and one of the students befriended an amazing woman from Yemen who runs her own grocery store. We prayed about going to ask her if she needed help cleaning or stocking her shop and then when we introduced ourselves she immediately embraced us and told us how her knee was recently sprained and she has not been able to get anything done. She is a Muslim woman and she knows that we are Christians. It's been amazing to build a strong bridge there and to show God's love to her in a desperate time of need! (She's also going to teach me how to make some amazing ethnic breads when I return from outreach!!)
Jason has befriended a young man from Algeria who pulled him aside at the shop that he was cleaning at and asked him if they could be friends, that he had found it hard to make American friends! Jason has been hanging out with him (along with one of the students) and will continue that friendship also when we return from Turkey & Italy. We love San Francisco and how diverse it is. We get to meet and have relationship with people from all over the world!
Justine, the three girl students, and one female staff have all been reaching out to those trapped in prostitution on the streets! These have been some amazing times. It all started out by just bringing out home-baked cookies at night and now some of the prostitutes are our friends on Facebook. One of our new friends told us that they had been on the streets for 18 years now and how they long to go back home to Mexico (where they are from) to live with their family and own a salon. There is much pain and rejection in their pasts, but we are praying that our attention, our consistency, and our friendship extended will allow God to begin to heal those wounds. These also are friendships that Justine and the other staff are able to continue after the students leave!
NOW, onto what we will be doing for the next 7 weeks! In Turkey we have many great opportunities lined up to serve organizations who are there long-term. Some of those opportunities include: sports ministry (soccer aka football mostly!), ministry to recovering victims of human trafficking and refugee women (a jewelry business that gives them an alternative option to provide for their families!), English teaching, etc.
After 3 weeks, on May 16 we will fly over to Rome, Italy. There we will be teaching English classes at a local university, serving at a family ministry, English lessons for children and their parents, art lessons for the kids. We also are going to be serving at a homeless drop-in center (it's with an Episcopalian Church) very similar to YWAM's homeless drop-in center here in SF!
Then for our final week in Milan, we are going to partner with YWAM Milan to reach out in the gypsy camps, as well as some more English teaching.
PLEASE be praying for our team! Pray for opportunities not only to serve practically (which we have those in abundance), but to show and share of God's love and desire for relationship. Pray that our team does not hold any grudges against one another, but stays honest and vulnerable and unified. Pray for Jason and I that we are able to lead well, with wisdom and discernment. Pray for our energy, our health, and for times of rest.
We are excited to return in June to tell all of the stories of how faithful God is!
