Wahoo I Made It!

Greetings all from sunny beautiful California! After an incredibly long 4-day journey across the country with my two amazing parents I arrived in the Bay Area two weeks ago. Thank you all for praying for our safety as we traveled. We had a great trip and I loved seeing some of our beautiful country while talking and jamming to some tunes with the two greatest people I know. Mom and Dad I cannot thank you two enough for taking time away from work, for spending the time and money to go with me, and for all the love and care you have poured out to me all these years.

            After getting settled, the city directors Kim & Jason did not waste any time preparing the other apprentice named Kat and I. We hosted our first group last weekend so the normal 2-week training was completed in 4 insane days. Part of our training consisted of learning the city by mapping out everywhere we had to go and dictating directions to the other city staff that pretended to not know how to get anywhere. We also visited and practiced framing the various service sites that we will be working with throughout the year. We also just had to learn a lot of logistical aspects of hosting which required us to do a lot of reading from our over 300-page handbook. The most enjoyable part of our training has been visiting all of the ethnic restaurants that we take groups to each night for dinner. My favorite place by far is our Indian restaurant in SF called Naan N’ Curry. I loved ordering in Spanish and stumbling through a conversation in Spanish with our waitress at the Nicaraguan restaurant we take groups too. It is so great getting to eat amazing food every night and since it is part of our training CSM pays for it. =)   

My roommate/ the other apprentice Kat and I hosted the group last weekend together and despite our fear beforehand it actually went very well. We had a group of 10 junior highers from the small town of Susanville, California. They were a great first group and were gracious to us for any small first time mess-ups. We went with the group to a day home for children ages 2-5 in the rough area of West Oakland. The day home is such a light in a dark place as they provide fabulous childcare for children of low-income families. We also took them to the San Francisco Food Bank where we sorted rice and got to converse with some of the other volunteers. We also passed out socks and hygiene kits in an area in San Francisco where a large number of homeless individuals hang out. Along with giving them something to meet their tangible need, we also got the opportunity to pray with some of them who asked for prayer. The highlight of my weekend was getting the opportunity to pray with 3 homeless individuals. As we held hands and came before the King in the middle of this busy street and prayed for one another I felt the physical presence of the Holy Spirit. Even writing about this experience now gives me chills. Despite the group leaders pleas to not do it, the group also got the opportunity to experience something we call “City Search”. City Search is essentially a block of time where the group gets to experience the city and the complications of living on the street firsthand as they walk around the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. They are given questions they can ask individuals as well as two dollars each for lunch. Although 2 dollars may sound like a decent amount of money, in the expensive city of San Francisco there is very little that this money can buy.  They are to engage in conversation with individuals and learn about God’s children that may be very different than what they are used to. Kat and I did not join them on this activity but we did get to experience it for ourselves during our training as the two of us got to meet some fascinating, hilarious, and intelligent individuals that call either government housing or the streets home.

After the group left we were back to more training. Last week was much more relaxed training although it still consisted of many 10-12 hour days. We spent this week visiting more organizations and restaurants we will be working with. We also spent time taking various personality tests and discussing our strengths and weaknesses as CSM staff members and how we can best work together through that. We also discussed conflict management and learned how each of us views and handles conflict. It may be because I am interested in Psychology, but I absolutely loved that learning not only about ourselves but also about the people we will be working with was a part of our training.

We had another group here this weekend but Kat and I were not the primary hosts for this group. The 2-year apprentice named Becky and another city host from a year ago came up from LA to host this group. Although we were not in charge of hosting them we still participated in some of the activities they did so we could experience more of the organizations. We served at a dinning room in Oakland with the group as well as delivered meals with an organization called Project Open Hand. Project Open Hand delivers hot and frozen meals to elderly individuals as well as to individuals living with HIV/AIDS or other diseases that prevent them from being able to attend another meal program. This experience was incredibly eye opening as we got to go into the SRO Hotels that many low-income individuals live in. The Single Room Occupancy Hotels or SROs for short are structured like dorm rooms where each individual or family gets a single room that isn’t much bigger than a dorm room. The SRO Hotels have community bathrooms and usually share a kitchen with their entire building. Many of the SROs were built after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco as temporary housing for individuals and have remained as low-income housing. Individuals can rent an SRO from anywhere between $400-$800 dollars a month. In the Tenderloin district where we were delivering these meals many individuals call an SRO home. Walking into these buildings gave me a glimpse into the lives of many individuals and families that are living in the Tenderloin district. Music blared from many of the rooms and smoke billowed out from under the doors of many rooms. The group did other activities yesterday but Kat and I got our first day off since we got here. I enjoyed the much-needed rest as well as enjoyed learning the neighborhood on a long run around the area.

            I have really loved getting to meet some of the amazingly strong and loving individuals at many of these organizations. One woman named Marshelle or as the kids call her Sister Marshelle is particularly remarkable. This woman works with the Bay Area Rescue Mission in Richmond at their after school drop in center called King’s Club. King’s Club gives children in grade school up through youth in high school a safe place to come after school to socialize and work on homework as well as learn the good news about Jesus. The love this woman has for these children as well as the expectations she holds the students to is spectacular. Part of my apprenticeship with CSM is to find an organization to work with part time throughout the year. I am heavily considering working with Bay Area Rescue Missions through King’s Club throughout the year. Please pray for me that I will be given clarity on whether or not this organization is where God has me.

             I am sorry for how long this post is and I am even more sorry for how long it took me to write on this. Rest assured that I did not die on the way out here but instead have just been incredibly busy. Things should be slowing down here as we wrap up training, so I will have more time to keep all of you updated about my time in the Bay Area. Overall it has been amazing learning about the city and getting to know all the wonderful people I will be working with this year. God is good! Please continue to pray for me. Specifically pray for my health as the late nights and early mornings have caused me to develop a pretty bad sore throat and cold. Also pray for some of the organizations I talked about and for the city as a whole. If you got this far than you must really love me! =) Anyway that’s all for now folks! Hope you all are doing great!