Wednesday, April 10th-Sunday, April 14th 2013
This is a week that I will never forget.
I was privileged to go on my first mission trip that week. From Nampa, Idaho to San Francisco, California.
I was not sure what to expect. I had traveled to San Francisco several times with my family when I was younger, but I know my parents wanted to shield me from some of the "not so pretty" parts of town.
Being on a crammed charter bus for 12 hours was a lot to handle, no extra seats meant being cramped and uncomfortable. (Just enough space to get a bit of homework done in between some movies.)
Arriving just after midnight, I stepped out of the bus at New Life Church of the Nazarene and could smell the ocean air. I had missed that. The Delta Breeze was something I grew up with. Living 2 1/2 hours from San Francisco, I was still practically home.
That night we were assigned our groups that we would be traveling with. After winding down we all got a few hours of sleep, laying on the floor of that church.
Our group's first assignment was helping Operation Open Hand make hot and frozen meals for the homeless, and for those who have diseases that prevent them from making meals for themselves. Our group stayed there from about 11a-4p. During that time we made over 500 meals and packaged hundreds of frozen chicken breasts for them to be delivered as well. 500 meals does not sound like a lot, especially for the millions of people who live in San Francisco, but that's 500 people that were touched because of the work that we did. They may not know us, and we don't know them, but they were able to have a meal because of the work that we did with Operation Open Hand. Pictured below is my badge that I wore while I was there:
Here is OOH's website for more information about them: http://www.openhand.org/about-us/locations/
After dinner, we went to Sunset Youth Services to meet with the leaders there, whom we also partnered with for our entire trip. We got to see the work that they do with the at-risk children in their neighborhood. In their one square mile from their facility, there is a population of over 100,000 people--with many teenagers who have been kicked to the streets. Their mission is to have and create a safe place for them to grow. They specialize in CD records and culinary arts to teach them valuable trades.
Check them out: http://www.sunsetyouthservices.org/
Thursday morning, we went to Glide Methodist Memorial Church to help give breakfast to the homeless.
I had never done a soup kitchen before. Working on the food line, seeing those and directly affecting the lives of those who were hungry and "homebound" as OOH referred to them as (instead of homeless). In two and a half hours, we provided 680 meals for breakfast. At first, my particular role in the food line, seemed mundane. But as the people came in for breakfast, I began to understand why my role was so important. I was towards the end of the food line--I provided the coffee mugs for the home-bound to drink. That morning was particularly a cold morning. Everyone of them drank coffee to warm themselves up. I felt privileged to be able to provide that for them.
http://www.glide.org/ They are always looking for donations to be able to be able to continue the work that they do.
Later, we went to a piece of property in the middle of the city that was being turned into a community garden. Our job was to set the foundation and get the property ready for a community greenhouse. 4 hours of hard work in the sun as absolutely worth it. (And so were the sunburns.) The area in which we were at, there were many unkept houses and it was a low-income area--a greenhouse and garden was needed. Although I burned in the sun, I do not regret it. Because I know the hard work helped those designing the property for the neighborhood.
And for dinner, our group went to the Castro District. For those not familiar with this district, it is also known as the "Gay District." Many gay bars and restaurants and businesses that are openly supporting those in the GLBT community.
One particular store that our group walked into was a "Giants" store. They advertised for the Giants Baseball team, but walking in, there were many more bongs and cannabis related items. This picture I took was just one small section of the right wall in the store. If you put about 7 of these pictures back to back, then you could get just some idea of how many bongs and pipes were in this store...
Eating dinner in the Castro, helped me realize a little more about this community and really had me thinking about how the church treats them. I am still meditating and trying to figure out where I play into a role of helping them--but I have been thinking more and more about my calling and it seems to be opening up, not just to the deaf, but to the GLBT and to other marginalized communities that the church as a whole is leaving out of the dust. Jesus is probably shaking his head.
Saturday was a special day--after two days of working, we could see other parts of the town and just be "tourists". However, the first place we all went to was the YMCA: this was our only shower on our trip. I have never felt so refreshed.
We went to go across the Golden Gate Bridge and see the entire town from a touristy spot. Very beautiful town. :)
We next, spent the evening in Pier 39. Most of us ate at Hard Rock Cafe. Awesome food. (The atmosphere on the other hand I particularly didn't care for. I've never been one much for hard rock music, but our waitress was super nice.)
Sunday, we went back to to Glide Methodist for a worship service. I've never been to a church like that before. It was nice to sing the worship songs with them, but it was overwhelming for me. Everyone was just so into the songs and worshiping God that it was a very impressive sight. They let everything go and worshiped God with every fiber of their being.
On the way home, I did a lot of reflection (and movie watching) about my week and how awesome it was.
We walked miles a day, worked hard for others and potentially impacted thousands of lives in our 4 day stay. If everyone has the opportunity to go on one mission trip: DO IT.
Something I learned: we don't have to leave our own country, our own state or our own neighborhood to be able to go on a mission trip to help others. There are hurting people everywhere (Yes, even in the United States) and its important for us to live out Jesus' calling.
