Hopping and riding

San Francisco, the 28th of April 2009

Last week was my first time to attend the Bible study groups for homeless. I was amazed by some homeless to be that aware about God's word and having love for Christ in their hearts. Some of them had a lot more knowledge over Bible than me and the way they spoke about God was so beautiful. It reminded me of God's words in somewhere in the Bible. I don't know what's the verse but it speaks about people we're gonna meet one day in heaven. He says that there will be many that kind of people we wouldn't consider heavenly here on earth and many of those we would assume to see in heaven we won't. Maybe these kinds of people were a part of what God meant by saying so. It's what's inside our hearts that matter, nothing else.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:20

Mushrooms, fresh ones. Yep, we have them in the fridge everyday. That makes me happy and that is what I'm known for. Strawberries, blackberries, fresh pineapple and melon. I love them. So not all food here is unhealthy.

Every now and then I'm so frustrated with my English. I'm a perfectionist in some things so sometimes it's hard for me to not to sound like an American and ha an accent. Even though I do realize that I'm not from here and all the other non-Americans also have an accent. So I'm trying not to be so hard on myself. And people have told me that accents are cool. I'm so glad that I've studied in Finland cause our education system is so great. Here almost nobody speaks a foreign language and I've studied three languages in addition to Finnish. And I got to do it for free and to start in an early age.

I made a decision to start to wear a wedding ring. Some of the homeless are quite intimidating and asking me to go out with them, bringing flowers and so forth. Sometimes it's even a bit scary. Many of the girls here use a ring and encouraged me to get one. I actually bought a nice silver ring which I love a lot. I can use it in some It's so much easier to tell the homeless not to speak to me in a certain way cause I'm married. And I'm married to Jesus. One day this one younger guy came up to me when I was working at the storefront desk of Ellis Room. He asked if he could stare me for four hours and if he could take me out the next day. I said no and he asked why. So I told him that my boyfriend wouldn't like it. So he told me to tell my boyfriend that he's a lucky man. I looked up and said in my mind: "Jesus, you're a lucky man." Hah, that was funny.

Last weekend was probably the funniest so far. It was full of activity. We had a visitor from Boston at the base for a week and we hang out with her a lot. Sarah is such a lovely girl and I think I'll go and visit her one day to Germany where she's from.

Miriam, Rachel, me and Sarah
at the Dolores park

On Friday night we went hotel hopping which means that we kind of snuck into hotels and took a look over the city from the top levels or even from the roofs of the hotels. It was so much fun. It's weird how you can just enter to hotels here and chill at the lobbies. If you tried to do that in Finland, somebody would come and kick you out immediately.

Hotel hopping

San Francisco seen from Hilton hotel.
The fancy building is Civic Center

Bike riding. that's something that I've done here a lot. So that was also last Saturdays activity. At first we were supposed to go rock climbing but we decided to do it later on. On the week we did some tae bo in the storefront. It was cool and my back muscles were hurting a couple of days after doing it.

Eva, me and Sarah having sushi

I went to a church called the Promised land with a bunch of girls on Sunday. After that we headed to a park to play some music and sing and just to hang out with good company. We took a nap on the blanket and ate some strawberries. It was nice.

Hanging out at the Yerba Buena Gardens

Taking a nap

The whole weekend we stayed up until late at night and slept only a little and I'm starting to go back to my daily coffee habits. I've actually found some good coffee in the US of A. It's mostly iced coffee which was so good on those really warm days we had last week. And you can only imagine how this little girl from the cold Finland loved the heat. I was so happy and enjoying every minute.

I just love the people here. They have become much closer to me these past few weeks. And what I loke here a lot is that people are so encouraging toward eachother. Last Friday i went to do Hot Chocolate evangelism. It happens every Thursday and Friday but that was the first time for me to do it. So we walked the streets of Tenderloin and gave hot chocolate to people and offered them prayers. It was so amazing to see how some of the people were sop thursty for prayer. I was a bit scared to do it cause praying in English is quite hard for me and going up to people and asking if I could pray for them is not the easiest either. Hannah told me that I should do Hot Choocolate more often cause that's how I learn to pray. She was so encouraging, she always is and I like her a lot. So on Friday I didn't pray for anybody but on Sunday while I was wayting this one Rachel outside of the base one woman came up to me and strated to talk. So we talked and she asked if I could pray for her. I put my hand on her shoulder and prayed for her. She almost cried and it was a good moment for me too. It was a little step but it was the first step for me. And I really want to believe that God is able to do miracles in the lives of these people as well as learn more about the changing power of prayer.

In awe

San Francisco, the 21th of April 2009

I'm just so grateful to get to be here. I remember crying to my mother during Christmas holidays because I didn't know what to do with this spring. Somehow I knew that God had something special to planned for me. And now I live in San Francisco. Every week I get to experience so much new things and get to see amazing places. I've just been in awe about everything so many times. I'm starting to fall in love with this city and already planning when to come back here. God is such a fulfiller of dreams. It's funny how you sometimes think that everything is always gonna go the way that they've gone in the past. But God has come to give us future.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares
the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

That's a bible verse that really spoke to me last fall. Cause sometimes I tend to think that things will never change. Even though I didn't want to think like that but on some unconscious level i did. So I just tried to stick to what is written cause that's the truth in spite of my feelings. And now I think that I've learned a bit more about that. God is a good God and wants only good things for His children.

Performing on Broadway

Last week I worked with many different things. I made some lunches, prepared some rooms for visitors and worked in the office. On Friday afternoon I was signed to go for a prayer walk to the Pacific Heights with Saeng from Thailand.

A look to the Ocean from the Pacific Heights

Up on the hill

The Pacific Heights is an area where rich people live. Because of its beautiful surrounding, hills and awesome houses, there has been filmed many movies also.

This place is known from the movie Ms Doubtfire

It would be a dream place to live. It was almost like in movies; people had gardeners taking care of their beautiful gardens and it was so peaceful all around.

Houses of the area

In the middle of the week I reseived a gift card from the Journey church I visited on Sunday. The card was for Peet's coffee and tea shop which is a local coffee shop chain. They wanted to send it to me and welcome me to their church by having a bevearige on them. And it sure did make me feel welcome and happy. It was so kind of them. That is something that we should also be doing in my home church back in Finland.

Our Saturdays have turned out to be active days here. This Saturday I went for a bike tour with Hannah and Manny. Biking is very popular here and if I move back here, I'll definitely get one for myself. Bikes here are different from Finland's. Almost everybody rides a racing bike and I got to ride one too.

My ride

It was so cool riding the same lanes with cars and buses. We cycled around the city; through Chinatown, through Little Italy, by the Ocean, through many different parks, by the Palace of Fine Arts, up to a very steep hill, down the hill and so forth. I got to see even the famous fog of San Francisco for the first time. It looked so cool. I've never seen anything like that in my life before. It covered almost the whole Golden Gate Bridge and continued out to the Ocean.

The fog covering almost the whole bridge

The fog seen from the North Beach,
I think it was that beach

When riding a bike in San Francisco it's almost impossible to avoid uphills. They were quite killers but it was worth it. And a good work out is always welcome.

The Palace of Fine Arts

There's this one Thai food place callet the Old Siam just a block away from my home. After the bike ride I was starving and went to get some veggies, tofu and peanuts with rice. It was so good. I think thai food is my favorite.

The rest of the Saturday night I spent hanging out with people at the base. We played killer uno and watched a movie. I'm starting to feel more relaxed here around the people and really like them. This place is beginning to feel more like home and that's nice.

My friend Luke lives in a building that has a pool and a hot tub on its roof. On Sunday I headed there with three lovely girls Eva, Mindy and Holly. We spent sun bathing and swimming for a couple of hours. It was so nice cause the weather was extremely hot. The temperature went up to 95 Fahrenheits witch is 35 Celsius degrees. We don't even get that war weather during summers back in Finland. So you can only imagine how much I enjoyed. Hope i caught sun tan on my skin. Yey, this year I get to have a long summer.

After coming back from the pool I headed to the center for coffee and to see some shops with Eva and Holly. They're both dts student. Eva is from Australia and Holly is an American. Me and Holly are quite alike in many things. It was a nice day and I was really happy to get to spend it with such such great girls.

Sunday I was the first time that I pumped into some Finns here. I've met plenty of Swedish but they were the first from Finland. I got to speak Finnish with them for a minute or so but it felt funny. I have wrote and thought in Finnish but haven't spoken it ever since I got back from Redding. I think I even made some tiny mistakes which is weird cause it's my native language. Another thing that I noticed was that I spoke like an American. Here people are more excited and use stronger words when describing something. So I was telling them about me starting to fall in love with the city and hoping that they have a great time here. Well, now that I say it, it doesn't seem like such a big of a deal but in that moment I noticed that this culture has affected me in some way.

Californian film business sneaking into my life

San Francisco, the 16th of April 2009

I was talking with one man in a park a couple of weeks ago. He told me about Lucasfilm and that they have their headquarters here in San Francisco. So I wanted to know what this Lucas films was all about and searched their website. I found out that they have quite an amazing internship program and while performing it, you get even paid. Doesn't that sound good! It would be so awesome to do that. Gotta start finding out how to get a working visa cause that's what I'm gonna need if I want to apply for that program. Well anyways, I'm not gonna apply there right now but if it's God's will, maybe some day.

In any week now I'm starting to edit this one video project here. The base director Tim Svoboda is getting Final Cut to the base any day now. Final Cut is an editing program that I like using the most..well, the only one I know how to use. Me and many others think that it's the best editing program there is. We already have a beautiful Mac with a huge screen on the base, so I have good tools to work with. It is good that we're getting Final cut cause it's something Dillon gets to use here later on too. Maybe I get to train him into using it as well. Yey!

I met today this one guy Forest who's here with one Mission adventure team. After playing killer uno we started talking about different things and one thing lead to another and he told me that he is also involved in film industry. His mother is a production designer and has worked with Terminator and so forth. So Forest told me that he could take me on a tour in movie studios and other places here in California. That sound so great and I would love to see all those places. Isn't is just wonderful to meet new people. I got all excited. What else has God in store for me besides that!

No one will ever do it again

San Francisco, the 14th of April 2009

Another week here is over an a new one's already started. The Easter week passed me by but it didn't felt like Easter until Sunday, cause I'm not used to have this kind of weather around me on Easter.

Last week I was working in the Mission Adventure team as their cook. So I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Cooking is not my favorite but it was cool to get to know all the team members better. That's something you get to do more in kitchen that in any other place.

When working in the kitchen the week schedule is a bit different from everybody else's. I got to wake up every day at 6am, even on Saturday. But I had some hours off during the day to use it for something else. Some day's I tried to hunt for a good cup of coffee with a result of one almost good cup at a local bakery place. This American coffee is just too strong for my taste. But I did like frappuccino which is a total hit in the States. But it tastes a bit like milk shake so it's not like real coffee.

Heading down to Stinson beach

On Saturday we went for a hike. First we drove all the way down to Stinson beach. That's an hour's drive away from the city. The first four miles of the hike was redwood forest and it felt like hiking on a forest of The lord of the rings. It was a good workout cause it was pretty much only uphills.

Ready for a hike?
Manni, Kristy, Laura and Hannah

The forest of the Lord of the rings

Little and bigger fiords and waterfalls
were all around

The next three miles was oak woods and meadow. It was so beautiful. We got to see many waterfalls and a lot of green plants. Felt like being in a jungle. But hey, I'm a tourist and have never seen a real jungle.

Looks like being in Switzerland

Taking a break and admiring the view

On a rock cliff almost in the end of the hike trail.
Look at the view out to the ocean.

I really enjoyed the hike though it was a lot of work. But it keeps me fit. The hike ended on the Ocean beach. I wanted to see whales and sharks but didn't. But I did see a warning sign about raddle snakes. I'm so glad that I didn't see a living one on a hiking trail. It would have scared me so bad!

Stinson beach

In the evening of Saturday we headed for Hannah and Manni's for a fondue night. It was so nice to hang out in somebody's apartment with friends cause that's what I love to do back home. This was my first time I got to do it hear so it felt like a real Saturday. I really liked it and their apartment as well. If I lived here for a longer period of time, I would love to live in a place like that.

Fondue

On Sunday I went to a church named the Journey with Dillon and her girlfriend Cherie. The place of the church was quite near to TL. I think it's a theater and in some ways it reminded me a lot of the building that Suhe used to have their Sunday services.

At the service they showed this one video they had made. It was a video to which they had been interviewed people on the streets asking about the meaning of Easter; is it still relevant today. The answers took my by surprise. Every person that we would consider as a normal wealthy person would answer something like what's the meaning of Easter, no I don't think it's relevant anymore or I think it's just about bunnies. But then there were these two men, I think they were homeless, who answer so well. They said that they've got nothing else in this world anymore and that they won't give up Jesus. The other man's words were really wise when he said that nothing in this world he's suffering from is not as bad as what Jesus went through. Jesus did all the work on the cross; He carried all our sins. No one will ever do it again. No one will ever do it again.

Is it like this in today's society? That we don't want to have anything to do with Jesus unless were on the bottom? Why is it that people don't realize needing Him even though they had their lives together and were doing well? Is it like this back home in Finland, that people don't even know the meaning of Easter anymore? If it is, we sure have a lot to do; were have a big field for us to plough.

This is a memory verse that was given to me at the church.

Then the angels spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "
I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here!
He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen.
Matthew 28:5-6

The gate of Chinatown

I got to visit Chinatown on Sunday too. I've read somewhere that the Chinatown of San Francisco is the biggest in its kind in the States. Go and figure. Well anyways it was a lot of fun. From now on I now where to do my vegetable and fruit shopping. The quality is probably not the best in the world but they sure are cheaper and eatable.

Girls doing grocery shopping in Chinatown

This continent is full of things that I've never tasted back home in Finland or at least am not used to eating. Girls that I went to Chinatown with took me this one place they had been telling me about earlier. I got to taste a mango smoothie with tabioca. Tapioca is from somewhere Asia and it is these little jelly balls among your smoothie or tea and on the bottom of your mug. You eat them at the same time when sucking in your drink with a straw. I really liked tapioca, yam.

It's tapioca time!
Savanna, me, Andrea and Kristy

It's amazing how God often speaks about the same thing through different ways and situations. I got a book at the Journey church cause I was there for the first time. So I started to read it one night. The book is about discovering a joy that's more precious than gold.

The Kingdom of heaven is
like treasure hidden in a field.
When a man found it, he hid it again,
and then in his joy went and sold
everything he had and bought that field.
Matthew 13:44

The man in this bible verse was so excited and happy about the treasure that he had found, that he was willing to sell everything he owned just to get the treasure. He had it on his mind in every action he performed after his discovery; his eyes were fixed on in getting the treasure.

The next day after reading this, we had our worship meeting and Steven, one of our staff members, spoke exactly about the same thing and pointed the same bible verse. We shouldn't be storing up treasures on earth, we should be investing on things that have eternal value. Our earthly things will either leave us while we live or we leave it when we die. Either way we will loose it, it's inevitable.

So the man in this bible verse was willing to give up everything he has and that is because he understood that he would gain something much bigger. He made short-term sacrifices to obtain a long-term reward. It cost him everything but it gained him everything that mattered. Everything.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and dust destroy, and where thieves break in
and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21

Greed and living a wealthy life has also been one thing that I've talked of with one homeless man that I went jogging with the other day. So I think God has been preparing me to have some wise words from His heart to share. And I know He wants to speak to me about this issue as well. His plans and understanding is just so much higher than what my human brain can ever understand. And sometimes it just amazes me to see Him working this clearly and speaking of some certain topic. It makes me smile. Everything is in control and it's so good to know that somebody much bigger than me is in charge of this all.

Pros and cons

San Francisco, the 9th of April 2009

People have much more tattoos in the States than in Finland. Statistics say that one person out of five has a tattoo. I have considered getting one, especially last summer, but now I'm not sure anymore. Here they don't seem to be a unique thing; it's really common to have one. Though I still do like them. Well not all of them but some.

People are more polite here. When entering doors, people are used to holding them for other people. I'm used to walking quite fast and passing people on the streets. So every time I pass somebody in a crowd and someone happens to be in front of me, the other person apologizes to me as if it was his or her fault; even though it is all for me to blame.

There's a lot more sugar and fat in everything. Milk has more fat, chocolate milk has more sugar. People add more sugar and grease in almost everything they make. So even though you were eating perfectly normal food, it probably has a lot more unhealthy things in it. Maybe it's just because everything is so much bigger in America. Everything has to taste bigger also. Well I use water to make the taste a little smaller.

Everything is much faster here. I've been baking cakes a lot this week for Friday's Love feast but I wouldn't exactly call it baking. People in America are used to have all the dry ingredients in a package. You only have to add water, oil and eggs in it and the dough is ready. It's fast but it's not the same kind of baking that I'm used to. This is a culture of fast food, so maybe that includes baking as well.

Small talk. Some may consider it as a negative thing but to me it's fine. Even though it's just a habit, I think it's good to have people at least talking to each other; they're not sitting still and staring out of the bus window without even looking at anybody like Finns do. People chat to strangers in parks, in restaurant lines and pretty much everywhere. It makes atmosphere a lot more relaxed.

This is the first time that I've really had to pay attention to the way I dress myself. And that is all because of my own safety. Here in the area of Tenderloin aka TL, I wouldn't go out wearing a tank top and a mini skirt. I always remember to have my shoulders covered. I can wear almost none of my shorts. This is a big city and a bad area so me and other girls have to be careful here. After exiting these two surrounding blocks things get a bit better and girls don't have to be as cautious there anymore.

Back home I'm used to smiling at people but in TL it's not wise cause they might take it in a wrong way and you might end up in trouble. So I usually just walk purposeful without minding people making comments of me. That is something that happens every day. But at least I'll come back with a good self esteem, hah. There's at least one guy in the midst of the homeless that wants me to be his girlfriend. You can guess what my answer in that is.

Sun warm generosity

San Francisco, the 7th of April 2009

A week has passed since my last blog post. Feels like time is flying so fast. I've already been here over two weeks. Nine more weeks to go. Sounds a lot less than a bit over two months.

Last week I worked with the usual stuff; in the office and in the Ellis room. I got also some training for hospitality and kitchen duties. On Thursday we had food pantry again and Love Feast on Friday. Love Feast is an event for homeless where we provide them a spaghetti lunch. They really like it. Sometimes during the week I felt a bit frustrated, cause I didn't have a proper schedule for my work. So I pretty much had to figure out on my own where to work. This week I do have a schedule and due to having plenty of Mission Adventure people around, I'm helping them out in the kitchen and cooking. Nothing I'm really excited about but still fine.

I've slept quite much during my stay here which is so great cause I don't have time to do that so much in Finland. Another thing that's different for me here is coffee. And I hate do disappoint some of you my friends, especially my roommate Saara, but I've tried to cut back drinking coffee. I have drunk only four cups of it during these two weeks. So maybe that has also something to do with my sleeping habits. But I sure have to say, that I really enjoyed the cup of latte and oatmeal I had in Sturbucks on Sunday. Though I do prefer the coffee with milk foam and my breakfast oatmeal I'm used to making at home. It's funny that in Finland oats are probably the cheapest thing one could buy in a grocery store, but here they cost quite a lot.

Sunday's breakfast and lunch; a perfect pair

I really enjoyed the weather we had here last weekend. It usually is quite windy here in San Francisco but now we had the most beautiful days. I just love the sun and everything that has something to do with it.

On Saturday we had a barbeque for residents of the old people's home that's here in our neighbor. Some staff and dts members were playing music there as well. It was pretty much just hangin out in the patio and bathing in the sun.

Staff and old people at the BBQ

Girls from YWAM base; Linda, Justine,
Jaylon and Amanda hanging out in the patio

Dan and Steven playing at the BBQ

After the barbeque I headed for Baker beach with my roommate Angela. I really liked it. It's close to the Golden Gate Bridge and it was the first time for me to see it that close. It was so beautiful out there. Looking toward the Ocean, having sand of the beach warming my toes, watching big waves hitting the shore and seeing hills on the opposite shore. It was almost breath taking.

The Pacific Ocean

Baker beach

Waves; one surfer was trying to catch them.

You can see the Golden Gate Bridge from the beach

My pants got wet

On Sunday I went to a Sunday service at Christian City Church. It was so good to go to a meeting outside the base and get to worship. I really liked the service but still want to see some other church here also. There is so many churches from which to choose.

During the weekend I spent a lot of time in the park with some girls from the base and alone. I just loved the weather and wanted to make the most of it. Hope I've caught a bit of tan.

Union Square

Generosity is one thing that has really spoken me lately and that is a thing that the homeless here have made ma think of. They have almost nothing for themselves but still when gaining an extra pair of sun glasses, they're willing to give them forward. It is amazing how we, in our own wealth, become so mingy. Even when it comes to giving our tithes though we know it is the right thing to do. It's sometimes hard. But we should be thankful for all the things we've been blessed with and give out with joy. It's not our money, it's God's money. Especially on these times of economical difficulty, we as christians should stand as an example to others when it comes to giving. Cause we do believe and know that God takes so good careof us and blesses every single penny or act we do for Him.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that you through His poverty might become rich."
2. Corinthians 8:9

Jesus had all the riches of heaven but still He chose to come down to live on earth as a human. He loved us so much that He didn't want to give anything to Himself; He was willing to loose it all just to gain our love. So why should we keep anything to ourselves?

Giving out with a rejoicing heart is also so important and of that the Bible speaks in this verse.

"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings
were put and watched the crowd putting their money into
the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,
worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus
said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the
treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but
she, out of her poverty, put in everything
—all she had to live on."
Mark 12:41-44

There is this young homeless man Joe that comes here almost every day. He's been sad for not having a belt cause he'd really need one. So I decided to buy him a belt. I just wanted to bless him by doing so.