We began the day bright and early and headed south of the city to a place called Daly City. Our plan was to work with habitat for humanity to minister to both our fellow volunteers and supervisors while giving us the chance to pray for those who will be receiving the home we worked on. This particular sight was a condo complex with 32 homes. Each future resident must put in 500 hours of work as their down payment and then commits to giving 1/3rd of their income as their monthly rent. This allows people to continue to make their payments even if times are hard.
Upon arrivals we were asked to volunteer for jobs. Our group split up into three of the 5 offered jobs. I ended up on the insulation team. (I think the sucker the people who have never done any house building before into doing this job... not knowing all of what it involved I happily chose it because it needed the most people to help.) I will say I enjoyed the people I got to know... the insulating not so much. I was blowing blue jean out of my nose for the next three days! Once again I had some great chances to share so it was totally worth it! I'm sorry to say I can't remember his name now (I can picture his face but that doesn't help any of you) but I was able to speak to a gentlemen there to gain experience about Christianity before I even arrived at my insulating sight. He had just been to a Catholic church last week for the first time ever. He told me he was searching out what he believed and thought he would give it a try. I got to explain why I chose a Baptist church and I think it gave him a few things to think about. Please pray that he would hear the truth of the Gospel and find salvation!
Once we had received instructions I got to work with a small group of high school seniors from LA. None as far as I could tell were Christians. I got to talk to one boy Johnny an international student from China about his beliefs more in depth. He said he didn't believe there was anything so I was able to ask what he thought would happen after he died. (Thank you Evangelism 101 with Dr. Pate!) He said he thought he would go to heaven. I found this a little humorous (on the inside of course) but I was able to share with him my thoughts on life after death. Please pray specifically for Johnny to pass the Toffel (sp?) an entrance test international students must pass to enter college in the United States. Please also pray for a campus ministry to find him and minister to him next year.
My final good conversation at habitat was with a girl named Audrey. She was a pleasure to work with. She had some social problems but she figured out quickly that I was a trustworthy person. She would come to me and ask what needed to be done next. After a while we were able to get into some spiritual conversation. Knowing that she would be going back to LA the next week I suggested that she try out a Baptist church. She told me she would (and based on our short time together I think she will) Please pray for Audrey that she is welcomed into whatever church she tries and that the Holy Spirit would prepare her heart.
Some people got more fun jobs than insulation :)
After a long day at habitat we headed over to FBC San Francisco for their Wednesday night dinner. We were able to spread out to meet different people who showed up off the streets for a meal and try and be an encouragement to them. I was so impressed with this ministry! They offered a free hot meal bathrooms to clean up in and as one man told me an environment where he felt like he could catch his breath for a few minutes. It's amazing how easy it is to take 4 walls and a roof for granted. I was able to meet a great new friend that night named Francis. We talked about sports for about 30 minutes and he could name every big player who had come out of Mississippi even though he was originally from New York. I asked if he was going to stay for the bible study later and he said he hadn't really thought about it. I told him I was going and that I would love him to join me. He said ok and I prayed he really meant it. He found me about 30 minutes later after he finished his meal and we headed over to the small group forming in the corner. He listen as we sang and didn't say a word through the entire lesson just listened. I took a few peaks at him and noticed he had found himself to the book of John and read through the first 10 or so chapters. After it was all said and done I was able to get him a Bible to keep and ask him what he thought. He said he heard some things he had never heard before and that he liked it. Please pray for people to follow up well with Francis. Please also pray that he comes back again for the weeks to come. Selfishly I would finally ask you to pray for me that I will see Francis again to follow up with him myself since we hit it off so well.
Thank you to everyone who lifted this Mississippi team up in prayer. Please know that God was moving in powerful ways as a result of it. I am so glad I got to be a part of it and am thankful for boldness the Holy Spirit gave me to speak the words He wanted me to say. We will miss this group dearly. One final way you can pray for us that we also shared with this team is for more workers to be sent here. As you can tell from even this one blog people are willing and ready to hear the good news they just need someone to tell them! We can't depend on them finding there own way into a church we need to meet them right where they are. So Please pray for San Francisco and the people God is calling to come and share the good news here!
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