Merry Christmas all! So much has happened since my last post .. the outreach in San Francisco not only began, but is almost over! We have really had great experiences here in our city and exciting encounters with God!
Over Thanksgiving, we had a fun day of cooking, friends, and family. We had all of the YWAM staff here, some family members, the DTS students, and our friends from the streets come in and enjoy in a wonderful lunch that was prepared by people here at the base! It was a great day of fellowship and fun for the people of YWAM and the Ellis Room.
Then outreach in the city started the next week! We have a lot of different things that we do every day of the week! We do hot chocolate ministry every Tuesday and Friday night, I volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club on Friday afternoons, and my main focus other than those two ministries has been another ministry called Because Justice Matters, (BJM). BJM was pioneered by one of the staff here in San Francisco, and it focuses on trying to bring justice to women that are victims of trafficking and domestic violence. We put on a Christmas Women's Day Party for the ladies of the Tenderloin, which included crafts, dinner, gift bags, and last but not least, the Christmas story. Through this time of fellowship, we had two women surrender their lives to Christ! Thanks, Lord!
I am also doing other work with BJM, such as leading prayer walks of teams that come to YWAM for Missions Adventure weekends. The prayer walks that we go on are to the Massage Parlors that are located throughout the Tenderloin, Chinatown, and Financial Districts of San Francisco. These "Massage Parlors" are actually undercover brothels that are run and are able to stay open because it is very hard to legally prove that they are in fact brothels. (Although it should be pretty obvious when there are beds instead of massage tables, and when the clients have to be let it by a doorbell). We want to see this industry be gone and pray for restoration of the girls involved.
Since it is Christmas, there are many things that need to be done, so I'm going to wrap this up real quick. We take off for Thailand on Thursday and our team is super excited to see what all God has for us over there! The main prayer request for our team right now is health restoration, we have all been fighting colds and different illnesses, and since it is communal living, it seems to just cycle. Also, pray for continued unity, because that is one of the big things that the enemy seems to attack on outreach teams.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers! God bless you and Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
DTS so far
Let me start by stating who I am and what this blog's purpose is! I am Gabby Hurt, born and raised in central Illinois with two wonderful parents, a sister whom I love, and a niece that is my world. However, in September, God made it possible for me to make a new home in San Francisco, California, at least for the next few months. I was very excited to come, but had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I live in the Tenderloin, which if you Google that or or look it up on Wikipedia, you can get a pretty good idea of where I live. To make things more intimidating, I walked into the building that I live in to the entire first floor being a huge common area with couches, pool tables, a ping-pong table, and an air hockey table with homeless people hanging out and making themselves at home.
My first reaction to where my new home was, "Oh no, I've made a huge mistake," but I could not have been more wrong in that statement.I've learned to love these people that are here, but it is definitely a choice everyday. I've also learned that there is no way I would be able to live here on my own strength, and it is amazing how the Lord fills you up with His love and His strength when you call on Him.
Anyway, I'm just going to hit a few of the highlights thus far, because otherwise this first blog would be way too long and no one would ever come read it again, nor would anyone finish it. Discipleship Training School has been such a blessing. Every week during the first 3 months a speaker has been flown in to speak on different aspects of discipleship or the Christian walk or God and different aspects of His character. It has been such a breath of fresh air learning basic truths that I've always been taught in a deeper way and learning new things daily.God is so good! Also, I am truly blessed with the YWAM community that has been hand-picked by the Creator to be in this season of my life. Every week, we do about 12 to 15 hours of lectures and do a bunch of different ministries in the city. Some people work in the Ellis Room, (our apartment building) putting together Bible studies, other people do street evangelism, other people go to North Beach to meet people and build relationships, a lot of the boys play basketball at a local school with the people there, and my roommate Kelsee and I go to the Salesian Boys and Girls Club to tutor and help with arts and crafts! It has been such a blessing and we have totally fallen in love with the staff and the kids there.
This is actually our last week of lecture, then we will begin doing full-time outreach in the city for the month of December and then we leave December 30 for Thailand for 4 weeks followed by 4 weeks in Vietnam! I don't really know exactly what all we will be doing in our city or overseas to be honest, but I know God is working extraordinarily in every single one of us, and He will put us wherever He wants us to be!
So, there is my first official blog, I hope it wasn't too short, too long, or too boring for anyone! I'll be sure to update it regularly though, now that I finally got around to putting one up! God bless! :)
I live in the Tenderloin, which if you Google that or or look it up on Wikipedia, you can get a pretty good idea of where I live. To make things more intimidating, I walked into the building that I live in to the entire first floor being a huge common area with couches, pool tables, a ping-pong table, and an air hockey table with homeless people hanging out and making themselves at home.
My first reaction to where my new home was, "Oh no, I've made a huge mistake," but I could not have been more wrong in that statement.I've learned to love these people that are here, but it is definitely a choice everyday. I've also learned that there is no way I would be able to live here on my own strength, and it is amazing how the Lord fills you up with His love and His strength when you call on Him.
Anyway, I'm just going to hit a few of the highlights thus far, because otherwise this first blog would be way too long and no one would ever come read it again, nor would anyone finish it. Discipleship Training School has been such a blessing. Every week during the first 3 months a speaker has been flown in to speak on different aspects of discipleship or the Christian walk or God and different aspects of His character. It has been such a breath of fresh air learning basic truths that I've always been taught in a deeper way and learning new things daily.God is so good! Also, I am truly blessed with the YWAM community that has been hand-picked by the Creator to be in this season of my life. Every week, we do about 12 to 15 hours of lectures and do a bunch of different ministries in the city. Some people work in the Ellis Room, (our apartment building) putting together Bible studies, other people do street evangelism, other people go to North Beach to meet people and build relationships, a lot of the boys play basketball at a local school with the people there, and my roommate Kelsee and I go to the Salesian Boys and Girls Club to tutor and help with arts and crafts! It has been such a blessing and we have totally fallen in love with the staff and the kids there.
This is actually our last week of lecture, then we will begin doing full-time outreach in the city for the month of December and then we leave December 30 for Thailand for 4 weeks followed by 4 weeks in Vietnam! I don't really know exactly what all we will be doing in our city or overseas to be honest, but I know God is working extraordinarily in every single one of us, and He will put us wherever He wants us to be!
So, there is my first official blog, I hope it wasn't too short, too long, or too boring for anyone! I'll be sure to update it regularly though, now that I finally got around to putting one up! God bless! :)
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