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.