YWAM

So this past weekend I took a group of my students to San Francisco, for an inner city mission trip. There is an organization by the name of YWAM (youth with a mission) who are based in the city and minister mainly in the tenderloin district all year round and they have weekend trips for schools and churches. We did different activities, the first was passing out hot chocolate to street kids and to the homeless Friday night. Our goal was not just to supply a hot drink, but also to make connections, talk to the people and pray for any who wanted. Saturday we went out with a bucket full of cleaning supplies and asked local corner businesses if we could help them clean their shops. In the afternoon we passed out free bottled water with scriptures in union square. It was very interesting to see the difference in peoples reaction, in union square people were less trusting and not really wanting to interact with you even if they took the water, it was the homeless and the outcast who were actually much friendlier. Saturday night we past out hot chocolate again just in a rougher part of town were people were smoking crack and doing other drugs right in front of you. We talked with a few people and prayed for a couple also as they shared their stories with us. The experience was a great one it opened my eyes not just to the needs of people but also to the humanity and feelings of people who I would normally try not to make eye contact with for fear of my safety or fear of being asked for money, the opportunity to talk with them really gave me different perspective. The staff at YWAM is amazing, it's a group of young people dedicating their life to ministering to the city and all their funds must be raise by themselves. Remember however ministry opportunities are all around you, there is always someone who needs a lift, a kind word or even just a smile, so get out there and treat your life as a ministry.