A roadtrip to Redding

San Francisco, the 1st of April 2009

So I went there, I made my way up north to Redding for the weekend. I made the decision to take off on Thursday evening, rented a car and so I was ready for some days off.

My Californian vehicle

Friday's traffic jam in San Francisco

It was so fun driving in the States. There were four lane highways and a lot of traffic. Especially when leaving cause I left at 4pm. So you can just image the traffic jam that I had to face; a weekend about to start and everybody getting off from work. Well after five hours, after enjoying all beautiful views on my way and after a quick stop at a local gas station, I finally made it to Redding. It was so nice to see familiar faces!

Redding is a city surrounded by amazing mountains and nature. A little over an hour's drive away there's a place for snowboarding at Shasta mountain but then in the city it gets really warm and you get to do other stuff. Motorcrossing is one thing that Saara and Sami like doing. Lake Shasta offers its own entertainment also. But enough with advertising the city.

Redding and its beautiful view

On Saturday after eating at In 'n Out, we started a roadtrip to see the Burney falls. The whole trip took the whole afternoon but was so worth it. Isn't God just so creative with everything around us! And that's all for us to enjoy.

"Did You rise the sun for me?
Or paint a million stars that I might
Know Your majesty?
Is Your voice upon the wind?
Is everything I've known marked
With my maker's fingerprints?"
Hillsong United

Kirsi, me, Sami, Saara and Maria,
Mount Burney behind us


If you want to see what the falls were like, you're gonna have to check out the video below.
Such a bad quality.. nothing compared to HD or Red One, the ones I'm used to.

In addition to mountains, Redding is famous for its Bethel church. I got to visit that place for a couple of times also. The atmosphere in there was so warm; everybody was really friendly and I felt so welcome there. It was such a good time for me and after the weekend I felt so blessed. I got prayed for many times by different people and was so encouraged. It was so good to hear good things from God about me after a hard week and after having even questioned a bit of my coming here to the States. I had done that even though I had a total peace in moving here and knowing that this was what God wanted for me this spring. Sometimes you just get confused about things. Even though I'm not having the feeling of being alive for this work, I'm sure of being in the right place at the moment. And I do enjoy being here, more and more every day. Some of the homeless are really amazing personalities and I like them a lot. Unlike in Finland, here all the homeless aren't drunks. In Finland we just have so much better social system that takes care of people. Here you can be on the top of your life owning a house worth of many million dollars and having a successful carrier on one day and the next day the streets become your living room. That's not only a story. I know a person here just like that and it makes me sad.

Mountains seen from the porch of Bethel church

Pastor Bill Johnson was preaching at the Bethel church on Sunday and he had some good things to preach about. One thing I really want remember later on is to learn to celebrate other's victories. As christians we're a body of Christ so that means the victories are also ours. So why wouldn't we be happy for the victories?

Another thing that spoke to me while my stay at Bethel church was to soak in God's presence. It isn't always about doing things for Him and having to say something. It is just so good to hang out with Him and to soak in His healing luxury. It is so healing and relaxing. God just wants to embrace us with His great love and let us lie on His strong arms.

It was nice to hang out with Saara and Sami and get to know this Finnish girl Kirsi. It was really nice to get to know new people as well. This one guy (he's actually from Finland too and I've seen him so many times without never gotten to know him before) invited me to come and see their dance performance on the first weekend of April. It would be so nice! So I think I might travel up there again in a month.

Eero, Saara, Sami and Kirsi having
thai-food in a park next to a local skate pool

Oh boy I miss dancing and wall climbing as well. It's only a couple of weeks since my last dance class but still. Just started jogging yesterday. I wen for a jog by the bay along Embarcadero. Itwas so good to get back to training. I cannot afford taking dace classes or going climbing but still want to keep in condition. So I have to come up with some cheaper alternatives. Last night I did sit-ups and push-ups in my room and not forgetting to mention standing on my hands by the wall. One of the homeless, an athleet and in really good condition, told me to go jogging a bit earlier than I did yesterday. He said that it's not that safe jogging by the bay after eight o'clock which was the time I was there. It's good to have homeless people looking out for me.

Near Union square,
a five minute walk from my home,
lots of fancy and expensive boutiques;
the place were all shopping is done

The Embarcadero; this is where I go jogging

Views on my jogging path

The food's so different here. They serve goodies, pantries and chips almost every day here. I try to avoid them as much as possible, otherwise I'm gonna look so different when coming back to Finland. Everybody is always laughing at me cause i put water in my cerial to low fatten the greasy milk. Hah, I'm a weird Finn :D

Yes, I've been to Sturbucks

But overall, the weekend was so great. I consider it as a gift from God. He's so pleased when people want to follow Him and surrender all dreams, future and everything for Him to take care of. He wants us to be open to Him and to what He has in store for our lives. And this is my prayer that I would learn more to let go of things and would grow more into trusting in Him with every single thing in my life. He's plans are so much bigger than what mine could ever be. I've seen Him fulfilling my dreams of which this moving to the States is only one example. He's so faithful, oh so faithful and I want to give thanks in equal measure as I've been blessed.

P.S. Robert, from now on I will use the photo razor you sent me. Thanks mate! :)

A market place

San Francisco, the 30th of March 2009

Last Thursday we had this thing called the food pantry. It's a weekly thing here. Food pantry means that we give out food for homeless people. Everybody has their own station to work at. My station was apples.

My apple station and Luke's potatoes

It was a lot of fun! We did it together with one Mission Adventure team from Hawaii (there's a new team coming in every week). They were cool people and it was really nice to get to hang out with them. They brought in this base a little more energy.

Well, back to food pantry.. It was really nice to get to interact with the people coming here. They were mostly Chines and we learned how to say each fruit and food supply available in Chinese. The people were really glad to hear us use their native language. And if such a small gesture can bring happiness into their day, I'm gonna keep doing it.

Sang penkoo, that's three apples in Chinese.
Don't know how it is written though.

Diamonds in the dust

San Francisco, the 26th of March 2009

Yesterday I went out for a prayer walk with two girls from our staff. Laura and Hannah. It was so good to get outside and get to walk on the "normal" side of the city for a while. We sat down in a park and the sun was shining and the green grass smelled really good. It was like a very invigorating moment for me.

When coming back to the base I was just feeling so good. Did God really change something in me during that 45-minute walk? I hope He did cause I want to reflect God's love to these people He's put into my life here in the States. There starts to be many familiar faces among all the homeless and some of them call me as their finnish friend. That is nice.

This is my neighborhood, the better side of it

Houses in San Francisco are really beautiful

Apart from working in the Ellis Room, I've been working in the office that is right next to Ellis Room. My tasks here are sorting out the incoming mail, answering the phone and other kinds of office work. The homeless come here often to chat and to use the phone, but they're are not allowed to come inside the office.

Mailboxes

I got to talk with this guy named Dillon who works in the staff for Mission Adventures. We have many interests in common and it was good to get to talk about media stuff after a week's pause. Hah, I always think that I need a day off of them but nope..I like doing what I do. They're gonna start doing more media stuff here at the base this spring. We'll see if I'm gonna be involved with that in some way. That'd be great.

This morning we had an intercession meeting with all staff members and dts group. We prayed together that we would love one another cause that's what God wants us to do.

" I command these things to you, that you may love one another."
John 15:17

And that's so true, cause we're a one big family, the body of Christ, so we should be loving, encouraging and helping eachother instead of being against one another. It was so good to bless everybody in small groups. The girls in my group said to me that they really wanted to take me out to see and explore the city. That'd be so great and am looking forward to it! We were thinking of doing in now on Saturday but now I'm not sure if I'll be staying in the city for the weekend.

Two friends of mine are in a bible school in Redding. It's like a four-hours-drive up north from here. I've heard so much good about their church and definitely would love to go there. It's just quite expensive to get there. Either I need to take a bus there, wich takes like seven hours cause it stops at every possible station and costs almost 100 dollars or rent a car which would be easier but costs even more. So now I'm still considering wheter to go there or not and how to get there. The weather there would be much sunnier than in San Francisco so that would be awesome aswell!

I'm not that scared here anymore, hah and that's good. It's only this Ellis Street that is scary but I think I'll manage it. God will protect me.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
Psalm 23:4

Isn't it cool, angels, they're God's staff. They work for God and He is always on our side in everything and wants only good things for us, so that means that angels want also good things for us. God loves us so much.

I know that even though I could have chosen an easier way than the one I'm wandering today, God has such a good plan for me. He wants me to grow and wants me to use everything that He's given me into He's good. That is also my will. The few days I've been here have bee the most eye opening time. My life in Finland is such a luxurious life. I have so many things to be thankfull for. I consider myself as a really blessed person.

A crash between two cultures

San Francisco, the 25th of March 2009

So here I am now, in San Francisco. Have been here for two days already. Many of you may wonder what this whole thing with me moving to the States is all about. Well.. I had this situation in my life, that it would have been possible for me to get a job and to do my job internship for my studies. So I was praying that God would lead me to a place that He had planned for me this spring. The chorus of one song that's on WOW 2009 cd describes quite well what I had been praying for a long time.

"Take my dreams, go on and give them wings.

Lord with You there's nothing I cannot do. "

Some musician

One Saturday at Wake Up, which is the youth service at my church, God started to talk to me about doing mission building for Youth With a Mission. He said to me that what if you did it now and worked for me for a while instead of waiting to do it after graduation. And so I started to look for different possibilities, sent the applications and got accepted. Less than a week after been accepted, I already sat on a plane and was heading for the States and San Francisco. I was so excited.

Arriving here was a huge culture shock for me. From the airport I took an airtrain, switched to a bart (that's San Francisco's subway) and took a cab to take me to Ellis Street where the base of YWAM is located. As I was stepping out from the cab, I noticed that somebody was sleeping under the window of the building not fancy at all, in which I was supposed to be living the next two months. The base is at the Tenderloin area which is the worst area of San Francisco: a lot of poverty, homelessness, drugs and prostitution. So it's something so different from what I'm used to in Finland. I'm still too scared to walk alone outside, but I think it'll change as everything starts to be more familiar here.

Ellis street

Homeless outside YWAM San Francisco
aka my home

On the first day I was working in the Ellis room, which is a room open for homeless people every week day. We were handing out them some coffee, water, juice and pastries as well as chatting with them. It was quite overwhelming to see all these people. I even met the man that slept under the window. He's John and he's been coming here for a long time. I have heard so many other unbelievable life stories as well. There's this 18-year-old guy that comes here. He's from Alaska and had been making some bad choices lately, so his parents gave him 500 dollars and sent him to San Francisco to get a job in a week. They wanted him to grow up. And now he's here hanging out with homeless people at Ellis Street and in its neighborhood. He's not taking any drugs or using alcohol and we're praying that he'll get a hold of his life.

It hasn't been easy here, but I ve only been here for a while. If it was for me I would just run back home and live safely in there. But on the other hand I know that God didn't send me here for no reason and if I did go back home already it wouldn't be obeing Him. I think this will be so good time for me. And God has encouraged me with some words from His heart.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of

the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Matthew 25:40

So I know that I'm doing a valuable work here and everyone's been so greatful for having me here. I didn't pray for God to lead me to a nice and luxurious place, I was asking Him to use me.

When hearing that this is my first time in the States, everybody's always reminding me that it's not like this in all the places in America. I'm hoping to see the other side of this continent aswell.