Menu
We took a boat around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge. We were surprised how cold and windy it is here. We had a lot of laughs and for some it was their first time seeing the ocean and palm trees. This is the first mission trip for half our group, so it was good to get to know everyone better. When we got to our rooms we had devotions and time to journal and talked about our prayers, our praise and what we are thankful for. We packed Jesus love you bags to have with us for when we are walking the streets of San Francisco to give to those in need and prepped our supplies for our service day tomorrow. Everyone agreed it was great first day!
we took picturesAfter a very long day or serving breakfast and lunch, worship and trying to adjust to 2 hour time change we went back to our room and had devotional time and got to talk about our day and how excited everyone Is for this trip. The next day we woke up and ate breakfast and had to get coffee in for the day and went out the door for our first service site. I was so excited to help people and get to know more people we got to the site amd we met Linda our leader for the week she was so nice and opened her heart for all of us. We went to St. Anthony’s where they help people that are homeless but they don’t call them homeless there they call them unhoused which I loved right away then the main leader Brendan shared us his life story and how he was unhoused through his pwn bad choices and St. Anthony’s changed his life and also shared us all about the place how they feed over 1500 people a day and they have so many volunteers there to help. I was having such a fun time helping people and knowing how much it means to everyone the light in Violets face and the laughter of Sophia meeting all the people, and the smile on Maddie’s face meant the world to me knowing why I was doing this in the first place. When we were there we met very nice volunteers that told us all about why they where there and wanted to be there. When we where done with helping out we went back and talked about how changing it was for us and how different we look at these people that need help and most people don’t know how many there are and there are so many that need us then we went to see the full house house the princesses diaries high school and went to the painted lady’s park then went back to the hotel and had pizza and went swimming and had a great night. Our next site was an hour away so we had a lot of time in the car to bond with each other but most of us just fell asleep when we got there they where all outside waiting for us to come and when we got there they prayed over us and went right to work. This was a church that was the main hub for volunteers helping with the Northern California wild fires and they do alot in their community. Emalee, Adam my mom and dad and I went to wash dishes for there womens shelter and the other half went to help people organize food, unload a food truck delivery and organize the food pantry. A local came in and wanted to pray over us and talk about how much we are helping them and how much they appreciate us. I never feel like it doesn’t but when we were all done with everything we went and listened to other peoples faith stories that they went threw the rehabilitation program that was offered there and how much it changed them. We went to eat with everyone that was at the shelter and at that moment with everyone laughing and soendimgbtime getting to know prople I knew how much every little thing you do can make a big difference in someone’s life. Our second site of the day was the womens shelter delivering all of the dishes we washed for them. We had a volunteer from the shelter tell us her story and how the sheltwr saved her from drigs and sbuse and that the facility they were in now was an old hospital that a company donated 12 million dollars for them to buy amd how God answered their prayers. The shelter is able to offer many services including counseling, family classes, cooking, shopping, budgeting and parenting classes. We helped plant their garden that residents will take care of with the help if a dietician to help them learn how they can take care of themselves. We packed up for the day and went to the Golden Gate Bridge and the second half of Fishermans Wharf. We had in n out burger and made so many memories together and ended pur day again with devotion time together. On our fourth day it was our care for Gods creation day. We went to help pick weeds for a park preserve all of the weeds were over growing and killing the other plants there that is where I heard Maddie get mad .. and Maddie is so sweet and quit and them she said and I quote “ Adam do you want to fight” we all busted out laughing and were having a great time working together and with the locals. After that we went to the Redwoods and the ovean. For most of the group it was first time in Redwoods. It was so peaceful and beautiful and 1500 year ols tress were majestic. Then to the Ocean amd for Vi, Emalee and Adam it was thier first time in the ocean and it was fun to watch them and also if you look at the pictures for that day you can see vi got run over by a wave which was really funny. When we where done there we went back to the hotel and had our candle night where everyone cried and got “ mindyed” where we all talk about where each others light shined this week. It definitely gets emotional and you can feel God with us. Then the next day we packed up all of our stuff to go to our last service site of the trip we went to another church to serve. Some of us painted walls and rooms and others cleaned out rooms for an outreach childrens ministrt they have. They made us a nice lunch and got to know everyone there which was so nice. I am so thankful for everyone helping out the youth with every mission trip and everything we do! With everything changing with my future and figuring out school I know that my church family is going to be there for me through everything – Hello I am Violet and here is a little recap of the amazing trip we went on. Our first arrival day brought us a fun little adventure with trying a new food, cool stores, and ending the sunset with a fun boat ride around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Then headed back to the hotel to get our beauty sleep to start our next day off strong! Furthermore, Monday- Wednesday brought me lots of joy! I loved feeding those in need, cleaning pantries, touring homeless shelters, learning stories behind the make of it all, gardening, weed picking for endangered plants, touching the ocean for the first time, and seeing how thankful and kind people can be when you do your best helping out or simply just being there for them. Finally Thursday we got to paint a church, clean rooms for people to stay and have fresh clothing to wear. The whole time I was there was perfect there was never a dull moment and it filled me with so much love and helped me realize how much joy I get helping others and being around all gods perfect creation’s. And if you’re still reading this I would like to discuss how much this trip has changed me for the better. If I am being honest I never really seen Jesus at work before I left I felt more of I was here on earth and Jesus was up above whatching over. However, after my trip it felt like he was with me the whole time! I felt him as I took trays away when people finished eating asking how their days were, when I didn’t feel like getting up for the day because some days get really hard for me but I’d get up anyways because I was so excited to help everyone, seeing the redwoods and how perfect it was there, calming and refreshing the ocean is, and admiring the airplane ride back as I got to see perfect views of his creations( I spent an hour of the plane ride just looking out the window) the laughter and love we got to share together, really made me realize God isn’t just watching over us he is with us everywhere for the good and the bad he will always be there. This trip made me grow very deeply into my faith!
