May 18th Prayer Update
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
Thank you for praying God's provision for our ministry! We've been blessed with an outpouring of items for our blessing bags. The needed essentials have been organized in preparation for our bag-assembling event on Sunday. Having just five blessing bags remaining after our last outreach this could not come at a more opportune time. We are grateful for the team of people scheduled to help us assemble the bags this coming Sunday. With only one or two people packing bags, this quantity of supplies would represent many hours of work. With our team of help we expect to pack 1000 blessing bags in under two hours. Many hands make light work!
We are continuing our format of highlighting a couple of key stories from our outreach. Nevertheless we are giving names of people we interacted with on Saturday and ask you to please lift them up in prayer. Those names can be found at the bottom of this report. Again, thank you for your continued prayer for all aspects of this ministry.
Sandra’s Story
We have a praise report to share about our recent Bible study participant Sandra (pictured with new bible study supplies). During our study with Sandra, she didn't seem to have a desire or interest in getting off drugs. But since that study, it seems that God has been working on her heart. Our team has made an effort to stay connected with Sandra. She is now enrolled in a detox program. She has been genuinely thankful for our relationship with her and our help. Catherine from our team challenged her with a quote from Charles Spurgeon, "There must be a divorce between you and sin, or there can be no marriage between you and Christ" to encourage her to turn from her addiction so she can pursue Christ. She has told us she started to experience numerous trials creating hurdles to her entering the program but she has persevered in her commitment. We are thankful for the opportunities to pour love and care into people beyond our Saturday morning outreaches when they make steps to make significant changes to their situation.
Bob’s Story
Our team had a great conversation with Bob (above and right). He said he had a church background when he lived in Washington. He went through a separation from his wife and then stopped attending church. After asking a few more questions about his church experiences he admitted he had never made a profession of faith. Having received a complete gospel presentation Bob said that he was ready to ask for forgiveness of his sins and commit himself to following Jesus. He was led through a sinners prayer and he seemed to make a genuine confession of faith. Only God truly knows his heart but we were encouraged by this interaction. He was given a Bible and a plan for where he should begin reading. Please pray that the seeds of faith sown produce genuine fruit. He expressed an interest in attending both our RV bible study as well as church on Sunday.
We frequently find homeless folks living in their car.
Deonté’s Story:
We were thankful to have a significant conversation with Deonté. While he has a clear grasp of the gospel and agreed with every point he isn't living a life that honors the Lord. He is estranged from his wife and children. He has been shot five times and has glass embedded in his body. He knows he is not in a good place with the Lord. Our team challenged him to consider making changes in his life. Please pray that the questions posed to Deonté would cause him to recognize once and for all his need for forgiveness of sin and the salvation only found in our Savior.
Pray for these individuals who took Bibles. We ask that you pray that they would read the Bibles provided.
Teresa - Bible, reading glasses, assigned her the book of John
Marisa
Trevor
Anthony
Daniel - interested in contacting Bay Area Rescue Mission
Kate
Pray for these people who were friendly but declined Bibles. We pray that they will be more open on our next outreach.
Jacob
Gusavo
Nacho
Daniel
Kelly - willing to do a Bible study with us, We've known her for 13 years.
Kareem
Dennis - lost his wife of 13 years, gospel conversation.
Gina - accepted an 'Our Daily Bread' (pictured below)
Jered
Jarret - wants to have an intellectual conversation and not spiritual
Cyprus - seemed open to coming to church
Vanessa - recently got a job
Emmerson
Holly
Deonte
Chris
Jen
Zach - health concerns
Danielle
Pray for these people who were closed to a conversation that God would work to soften their hearts before our next outreach.
Donny
Connie
Antonio
Tony
Carina
River - 15 year old
Al
Mary
E.D.
JOIN US!
Our Next Outreach is June 1st 2024
Please consider serving during a Saturday Outreach in one of the following ways:
1) Prepare Lunches
2) Serving at the Homeless Camps
3) Volunteer Breakfast
4) Cookies for Volunteers
Our ministry is a labor of love with the main purpose of providing gospel hope through practical means to the homeless. Thank you for serving alongside of us!
We continue to pray for those who might be able to contribute a small additional monthly gift of $25 or $50 a month to help with ongoing Hope680 expenses, including our ministry supplies, offices, and RV maintenance. We are trusting God to continue to provide through you!
FYI Our Executive Staff and Leaders (including Toby and all team leaders) are unpaid volunteers - all donations go 100% towards the running of Hope680, including administrative contractors, our facilities, and RV maintenance costs, as well as ministry supplies.