Tis the season!!! Merry Christmas and almost a happy new year. So in just four days... Or less my friends will be leaving for Thailand and Vietnam. Oh my God!!! It's still so unreal to me, but hey got to be jolly! So this week has been centered around Christmas. We did something new this week for the ministry at the base. We get to wash people's feet. It's a new thing and some of the people is still uncomfortable with that, but I hope that this will continue.
So since it's Christmas the base also feels like it and our ministries kind of feel new even though it's the same routine. We do the usual like hot chocolate and goes out to the streets to just evangelize. What makes this Christmas special is not that I get to spend it with some other "mini-missionaries" but I get to spend it in an American way. Breakfast with everybody in a Christmas setting, presents (I got a pajama!), and it's my first time spending it away from home.
BUT!!! My family came on the weekend and I finally get to see them. I was happy and I definitely miss them. I've been blessed with my mom's friend, which I call Aunt Judy. She's just an amazing woman of God and I wish her the best with her journey with God. I'm also blessed to spend my Christmas with my family in San Francisco.
This is a short blog and I just want to wish you guys a Merry Christmas and don't let your passion for God stops in Christmas. Let it burn throughout your life so the others may see. Have a blessed week and thank you for all your support! See you next year!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Fourteenth Week
Two more weeks and then my friends will be leaving for Thailand and Vietnam. I knew it when I came here. At first it wasn't a big deal, but now I truly understand that I've grown attached to them as partners in ministries. It will definitely be different without them being here, but life will move on and I'll look forward for what God has in store for me.
Sorry for getting ahead of myself there. Just thinking out loud... So a quick look of what has happened this week. Everyday has been raining and it won't stop until the end of the year. Another forecast is God's blessing will also keep on raining. So a lot of this week has been focused on unity as a group no matter what. A lot of students here also have trouble financially and as the day is closer we can feel that the enemy's attack is getting fiercer towards our mind. There are some tensions among the group because of this, but as we address the problems and just speak our mind towards each other we can just feel a sense of security and a little bit more peace.
So to make things short our ministries this week are focused on our group. It may sound selfish, but it was needed. Outreach won't get easier, especially for them overseas. So the least I can do is also pray with them and just be there to support emotionally.
The weekend has been exceptional. My friends came to visit me here and we even performed in a church. I get to meet new people and I also get to share what I'm doing in San Francisco and what YWAM is all about. They were so blessed to hear something like that. I was happy that I could just be a blessing from my testimony. They knew how bad the community that I was living in. They even told me to be careful. So I'm thankful for the protection that God has given over me all this time.
I guess that's all for this week. A lot of interns have gone back home so YWAM is kind of short-handed with people. Some of us have to work in the ministries at the base. It's all good though. Thanks for reading and please keep on praying for me. Thank you for all your support. I love you all and I definitely miss you.
Sorry for getting ahead of myself there. Just thinking out loud... So a quick look of what has happened this week. Everyday has been raining and it won't stop until the end of the year. Another forecast is God's blessing will also keep on raining. So a lot of this week has been focused on unity as a group no matter what. A lot of students here also have trouble financially and as the day is closer we can feel that the enemy's attack is getting fiercer towards our mind. There are some tensions among the group because of this, but as we address the problems and just speak our mind towards each other we can just feel a sense of security and a little bit more peace.
So to make things short our ministries this week are focused on our group. It may sound selfish, but it was needed. Outreach won't get easier, especially for them overseas. So the least I can do is also pray with them and just be there to support emotionally.
The weekend has been exceptional. My friends came to visit me here and we even performed in a church. I get to meet new people and I also get to share what I'm doing in San Francisco and what YWAM is all about. They were so blessed to hear something like that. I was happy that I could just be a blessing from my testimony. They knew how bad the community that I was living in. They even told me to be careful. So I'm thankful for the protection that God has given over me all this time.
I guess that's all for this week. A lot of interns have gone back home so YWAM is kind of short-handed with people. Some of us have to work in the ministries at the base. It's all good though. Thanks for reading and please keep on praying for me. Thank you for all your support. I love you all and I definitely miss you.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thirteenth Week
Lucky thirteen!!! Well... This week is probably the most interesting week so far. Not only that we're finally immersed with ministry fully, but we also had an interesting weekend. This saturday we were woken up at 6 o'clock to find out that we're doing a "Homeless Plunge". It's simple. We're going to be homeless for the whole day. We went out with no shower. No brushing your teeth. No wallet. No money. No electronics. The only thing you have is the clothes that you slept in.
We were divided into groups. I'm grouped with Jason and Kelsee. We were still tired from the activities we were doing. So we decided to go to a hotel lobby to read the Bible, but we get kicked out cause it looks like we were about to sleep (Well... It's most likely me.) We decided to get a breakfast in the homeless shelter just like other homeless people. It was just humbling to know that what we're experiencing is not even half of the experience that these people experience. We're only out for eleven hours. We were told that if we really want to see how it feels like we should at least do it for three days out in the streets.
After we took our breakfast we went around the city, and it was a little bit raining so we try to find some cover and ends up just talking to each other. We were lucky to be in the mall, because we don't LOOK like a homeless person. We simply looked like teenagers goofing off. The homeless people aren't so lucky. They were quickly judged and discriminated by the way they look. After that we decided to get lunch at another homeless shelter, but we decided that it's better if we volunteer to help them distribute the food.
It was a blessing, because the place that we volunteer at is christian-affiliated. They house some people from the streets that are recovering from addictions. They also give them free education. Those people are given free housing, food, and clothing. They repay them just by helping them. They knew how hard it was to live on the streets and they want to show the other homeless people that they've been through what they've been through. It was a touching moment.
Kelsee and I volunteered with some other people that volunteers to wash these people's feet. At first, I was disgusted to wash these people's feet. Some of them probably has foot infection, but as I wash their feet. I realized that these people are human too. I end up talking and I developed such a compassion for this people. At the end of the day I realized that I'm not even disgusted. I love these people with the love of God.
I guess that's all for this week. Thank you for reading and I'm excited also because this saturday, some of my friends are coming from San Bernardino to visit. And please keep praying for me spiritually, emotionally, and financially. I miss you all. If any of you would like to Skype, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll try as hard as I can when I get the time. God bless you all!
We were divided into groups. I'm grouped with Jason and Kelsee. We were still tired from the activities we were doing. So we decided to go to a hotel lobby to read the Bible, but we get kicked out cause it looks like we were about to sleep (Well... It's most likely me.) We decided to get a breakfast in the homeless shelter just like other homeless people. It was just humbling to know that what we're experiencing is not even half of the experience that these people experience. We're only out for eleven hours. We were told that if we really want to see how it feels like we should at least do it for three days out in the streets.
After we took our breakfast we went around the city, and it was a little bit raining so we try to find some cover and ends up just talking to each other. We were lucky to be in the mall, because we don't LOOK like a homeless person. We simply looked like teenagers goofing off. The homeless people aren't so lucky. They were quickly judged and discriminated by the way they look. After that we decided to get lunch at another homeless shelter, but we decided that it's better if we volunteer to help them distribute the food.
It was a blessing, because the place that we volunteer at is christian-affiliated. They house some people from the streets that are recovering from addictions. They also give them free education. Those people are given free housing, food, and clothing. They repay them just by helping them. They knew how hard it was to live on the streets and they want to show the other homeless people that they've been through what they've been through. It was a touching moment.
Kelsee and I volunteered with some other people that volunteers to wash these people's feet. At first, I was disgusted to wash these people's feet. Some of them probably has foot infection, but as I wash their feet. I realized that these people are human too. I end up talking and I developed such a compassion for this people. At the end of the day I realized that I'm not even disgusted. I love these people with the love of God.
I guess that's all for this week. Thank you for reading and I'm excited also because this saturday, some of my friends are coming from San Bernardino to visit. And please keep praying for me spiritually, emotionally, and financially. I miss you all. If any of you would like to Skype, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll try as hard as I can when I get the time. God bless you all!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Twelfth Week
Here it is!!! The first week of outreach finally ended. It was so fast for me.I can't believe it went by just like that. It's been such a crazy experience and a humbling one at that too. The whole week has been an adjusting week as we transition from our lecture phase and its pretty cool. We've been bonded together and tested a lot. It was just pure intenseness.
On Wednesday, Mike and I was just asking God where to go and just let us talk to someone. The whole day seems to be pointless as we walk around and just had a prayer walk around the city. Mike and I ended up talking about how great God is and how thankful we should be for what He's doing and stop thinking on what He's not doing. It expanded to just describing how great God is. As we were talking about how creative God is, we accidentally walked to a place called the Palace of the Fine Arts, which was amazing. It looks like a Greek building and we were just amazed at how detailed the building is. If a human is capable of doing that, how amazing is God capable of doing much more than that. We ended up seeing an artist who's painting the building. We asked God to give us the courage to talk to the man, and we did. Talking to him also brings a lot of revelation of what we've been learning.
Hot chocolate ministry is also good. There was a team that came from Montecito and I'm in a group with two of them. It was good to just show them what we do in YWAM San Francisco. We met two old ladies and it was good that they appreciate what we do and it encourages me to do what I do. They are just thankful that we would go out and do something for the less fortunate and especially shocked when we told them that we just want to love them.
On Friday, we had a scavenger hunt, but this time it's different. We're divided into groups and we're not given any clue. We're supposed to pray and ask God for the clues. So, Jason, Kerttu, and I prayed to God and we got these words:
- Go left
- Random bus
- Gas pump
- Palace
- Fields
It didn't make sense, so we decided to pray to God and after that we went outside and went left because we got the word left. We got to a bus stop with perfect timing and took the random bus and decided to sit until the end of the destination. We arrived at Fisherman's Wharf, which is a tourist spot and we decided to have a prayer walk and just walk around. As we walk around we saw a statue of a person standing next to a gas pump. We were just surprised and decided to go inside the building and talked to people. We did and we also get to pray for them. We kept walking and we found a place called "Neptune's Palace". We just sat there for a while before we talked to another man and we heard about his daily life. It was just good and it strengthen my faith that God can work with just simple words like that.
The atmosphere is beginning to be tensing up because of the outreach. So I ask you guys also to pray against any enemy attacks. I also want to thank everybody back home who's supporting me by prayer or anything else. I can't wait for the second week of outreach to get started and I hope you guys will keep praying for me. Thank you! God bless all of you!
On Wednesday, Mike and I was just asking God where to go and just let us talk to someone. The whole day seems to be pointless as we walk around and just had a prayer walk around the city. Mike and I ended up talking about how great God is and how thankful we should be for what He's doing and stop thinking on what He's not doing. It expanded to just describing how great God is. As we were talking about how creative God is, we accidentally walked to a place called the Palace of the Fine Arts, which was amazing. It looks like a Greek building and we were just amazed at how detailed the building is. If a human is capable of doing that, how amazing is God capable of doing much more than that. We ended up seeing an artist who's painting the building. We asked God to give us the courage to talk to the man, and we did. Talking to him also brings a lot of revelation of what we've been learning.
Hot chocolate ministry is also good. There was a team that came from Montecito and I'm in a group with two of them. It was good to just show them what we do in YWAM San Francisco. We met two old ladies and it was good that they appreciate what we do and it encourages me to do what I do. They are just thankful that we would go out and do something for the less fortunate and especially shocked when we told them that we just want to love them.
On Friday, we had a scavenger hunt, but this time it's different. We're divided into groups and we're not given any clue. We're supposed to pray and ask God for the clues. So, Jason, Kerttu, and I prayed to God and we got these words:
- Go left
- Random bus
- Gas pump
- Palace
- Fields
It didn't make sense, so we decided to pray to God and after that we went outside and went left because we got the word left. We got to a bus stop with perfect timing and took the random bus and decided to sit until the end of the destination. We arrived at Fisherman's Wharf, which is a tourist spot and we decided to have a prayer walk and just walk around. As we walk around we saw a statue of a person standing next to a gas pump. We were just surprised and decided to go inside the building and talked to people. We did and we also get to pray for them. We kept walking and we found a place called "Neptune's Palace". We just sat there for a while before we talked to another man and we heard about his daily life. It was just good and it strengthen my faith that God can work with just simple words like that.
The atmosphere is beginning to be tensing up because of the outreach. So I ask you guys also to pray against any enemy attacks. I also want to thank everybody back home who's supporting me by prayer or anything else. I can't wait for the second week of outreach to get started and I hope you guys will keep praying for me. Thank you! God bless all of you!
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