We just finished our first MA week in San Diego and while it was full of surprises, it was an amazing week!!
The team of 14 students & 2 leaders arrived at 1:00 pm and we quickly put our stuff in the rooms and headed down to the trolly station to immerse the students into the downtown scene through a creative Prayer Race/Scavenger Hunt. The team was split into 3 smaller groups and given a set of clues for various places around town. While one group strayed WAY off the path, everyone had fun asking people for help and praying for the various spheres of influence.
The students served with a local homeless shelter called Father Joe’s Villages each day. They arose each morning at 5:00 AM (some even earlier) to head to downtown San Diego to serve the homeless men, women and children living either on the streets or in the village. They served with a joyful heart and a beautiful smile. Who am I kidding, they had to get up at 5:00 AM, most of them weren’t even awake yet.
After eating breakfast they headed back to our host church (where the kids were sleeping on the floor) for quiet time and devos. (We might want to revisit this in the scheduling as it tends to lead to sleeping instead of reading the devotionals.) We gathered each morning to glean from the wisdom of Chris Whitler. Chris is from YWAM Modesto and came down to hang with us for the week. He taught our students about what it looks like to offer evangelism through friendship and everyday relationship. He told stories of how sharing a coke with a kid was an example of God’s love and how we are to receive God’s blessings and give it to others, even the person sitting next to you.
The team of 14 students & 2 leaders arrived at 1:00 pm and we quickly put our stuff in the rooms and headed down to the trolly station to immerse the students into the downtown scene through a creative Prayer Race/Scavenger Hunt. The team was split into 3 smaller groups and given a set of clues for various places around town. While one group strayed WAY off the path, everyone had fun asking people for help and praying for the various spheres of influence.
The students served with a local homeless shelter called Father Joe’s Villages each day. They arose each morning at 5:00 AM (some even earlier) to head to downtown San Diego to serve the homeless men, women and children living either on the streets or in the village. They served with a joyful heart and a beautiful smile. Who am I kidding, they had to get up at 5:00 AM, most of them weren’t even awake yet.
After eating breakfast they headed back to our host church (where the kids were sleeping on the floor) for quiet time and devos. (We might want to revisit this in the scheduling as it tends to lead to sleeping instead of reading the devotionals.) We gathered each morning to glean from the wisdom of Chris Whitler. Chris is from YWAM Modesto and came down to hang with us for the week. He taught our students about what it looks like to offer evangelism through friendship and everyday relationship. He told stories of how sharing a coke with a kid was an example of God’s love and how we are to receive God’s blessings and give it to others, even the person sitting next to you.
The afternoons were filled with more serving at Father Joe’s as well as various other ministry opportunities. We talked with people at Horton Plaza, a mall downtown, as well as helped repackage & sort food with Feeding America. We passed out flyers inviting kids from the neighborhood to a Kid’s Kamp in 2 weeks and even painted the outside of the church office & youth building.
After all was said and done, the students walked away with a better understanding of homelessness as well as realizing that appearances can be deceiving. One student had this to say, “This trip for me was super amazing. I learned that appearances might be way different than personalities. I met one family that made a huge impact on me. These people on the streets, homeless, are just regular people, with their own story. It was just so powerful; this trip! Most people would just go home and forget this, but I won’t! I actually felt like God was with us.”
Thank you for your support and continued prayers for our ministry here. Next week we welcome 2 more teams to San Diego as well as sending 5 teams to hang in Ensenada, Mexico. Many more wonderful things to come this season!
After all was said and done, the students walked away with a better understanding of homelessness as well as realizing that appearances can be deceiving. One student had this to say, “This trip for me was super amazing. I learned that appearances might be way different than personalities. I met one family that made a huge impact on me. These people on the streets, homeless, are just regular people, with their own story. It was just so powerful; this trip! Most people would just go home and forget this, but I won’t! I actually felt like God was with us.”
Thank you for your support and continued prayers for our ministry here. Next week we welcome 2 more teams to San Diego as well as sending 5 teams to hang in Ensenada, Mexico. Many more wonderful things to come this season!
For more information about this and our other trips please visit YWAM San Diego/Baja’s websites at www.ywamsdb.org or www.missionadventures.net. You can also contact our registrar at[email protected].
Visit our facebook page for pics of the week and to follow the teams coming for the summer.
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