Culture Shock

If you all are like my parents, you are probably anticipating this post & have been waiting.
San Francisco is a beautiful city. I met a man on the airplane, and I let him know that I was going to live on Ellis Street (in the Tenderloin). He could not believe that they would allow us to live in this part of the city, because of the crime rate & homeless population. Yet I haven't felt threatened or scared so far, and I don't think I will be. These homeless people are just looking for people to talk to and for an open ear to hear their pains & sorrows. 


I met a lady yesterday, broken & torn to pieces. She was most likely an alcoholic & had a drug addiction, her daughter has cancer, and the closest thing to her is her cat, Speedy. My heart broke for her, I could not imagine the pain she was going through... as we were talking to her she said "I don't want to see my daughter...." and she couldn't finish the sentence, I looked at her and said "You don't want to see your daughter in pain" she burst into tears. Us, as a group prayed for her & her cat, Speedy, numerous times & after we brought her back to her SRO, where she could feel safe. God was so evident in a time like that & I know that he will continue to do that, through all the homeless people that we meet.


Some Tenderloin facts are 
- many people in the Tenderloin live in SRO's (standard room only), these SRO's state that they are "hotels" on the exterior, yet the truth is, the rooms are just big enough for a bed & maybe a dresser if lucky. People are smoking & doing drugs in the hallways & the living conditions are horrible.
- the Tenderloin is about a 7 X 7 block area.
- there are 90 plus "massage parlours" in the Tenderloin, which is just a name cover for sex trafficking.
- San Francisco has the most homeless per capita in all of the USA.


We have gone on numerous prayer walks, through the Tenderloin as well as Union Square, Chinatown & Little Italy. We went out on a Hot Chocolate run yesterday, handing it out to the homeless people, we didn't make it 100 feet away from our building and our hot chocolate was all gone, but that didn't matter, because we did what we were supposed to, and we met some amazing people on the way.


I will keep you posted on all of the exciting things that are happening here in the city of San Francisco, which has a 2% christian population..... a city of 800,000. 


Tessa