Third Week

Hello! I’ve been living in the tenderloin almost three weeks now and I feel more at home and welcome than ever. I’m building so many great relationships with not only the staff and students but the men and women on the street as well. Daily I’m walking in the streets and conversing with everyone that’s willing. Which is the majority. I’m getting to get to know so many of the guys and there life stories and backgrounds. Often times they’ll finish the conversation off with asking for money, but offering to buy them a hamburger sometimes suffices. Not only are their stomachs getting filled but it also gives you the opportunity for more conversation. I’m not out here to save every man and woman I see on the streets. But rather build lasting relationships with them and show the light of God threw my own life. The twelve students I’m with feel and live the same.

Part of the program I’m in also includes twelve hours of class time each week. We have a new guest speaker come in every week and speak on specific topics. John Bills from L.A. was the speaker for last week. He spoke on the Character and Nature of God and how it relates in your lives. This week we have Patrick Dodson visiting us and speaking on Using the Gifts Gods Given and Hearing Gods Voice. All the lessons thus far have been really beneficial. I have been thinking and processing a lot of the information. There are just so many aspects of God’s Kingdom my eyes are being opened to.

“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but You remain;
And they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will fold them up,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not fail.”
Hebrews 1:10-12


Mindy Reyes, Holly Geber, Katie Greenawalt, and I have decided to pursue pioneering a ministry to the women in the tenderloin. We have started hanging out with woman on the streets on Wednesday nights to talk and get to know some them. We want to begin taking a woman out to dinner each month. Doing a movie night at the base week or just having snacks and coffee and just making these women feel loved. There really is no ministry designated specifically to the waman here in the tenderloin and we would like to change that. The hope is that through us God can show his love to these women.