January 7th 2023 Prayer Update
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
God blessed our team with a break in the wet weather, which made our morning much more fruitful. Many gospel seeds were laid, and we pray and trust that God will water and grow the ones that He has determined will come to faith.
We continue to pray that this ministry brings God honor and glory. Would you please continue to pray that our teams would have discernment in their conversations? When it's the appropriate time to evangelize, to encourage, or if necessary, to rebuke. We have the desire to know how to best serve our homeless community.
Please don't forget about our Walkathon on Saturday, January 28th. More info is at the bottom of this update.
This set up of tarps and personal items belongs to Mike and Macro who are living across the street from Target. They accepted food, blessing bags, and sweaters. They didn't share any prayer requested but our team prayed for their safety and secured their tarp for the oncoming bad weather. We can be praying this act of kindness will build a foundation for further conversation in the future.
X-ray requested prayer for his ongoing health issues and other friends’ health as well. He is starting to ask serious biblical questions, and prayers and he continues to think about his eternal destiny as we continue to visit him regularly. He needs to understand that time on this earth is brief especially since his friend Lorna recently passed away. We want him to know Jesus. Prayer for the blinders to be removed. Through our frequent visits with X-Ray, he knows with certainty that we love him. We are thankful for that connection.
NORTH CONCORD TEAM
Irv is in a tent. The owners of Bay shore let him stay on their property so he can stay out of the rain. He wanted prayer for getting a job in construction and carpentry.
Eric was pretty closed off to the gospel. He believed that Jesus isn't the only way to heaven. There should be another way. No movement toward the gospel on this occasion and he walked away quickly.
Our team connected with a friendly man named Jason who shared that he and his girlfriend are in a clean and sober living output program. Jason has the desire to get back with his kids who are ages 5 and 8. He is currently living in a mobile home.
Our North Concord team spent quite a long time with Joey. He told the team he is a 'Christian.' The team encouraged him to read the Bible and we pray that God will call him to true saving faith.
Maya and Jose - Maya has been seeking employment, and currently applied at various nearby companies but she still wants to fine-tune her resume to be spot on for what she’s looking for. We prayed for her next job, the softening of her relative's hearts, and that Jose‘s job earnings would increase. With two incomes they would be able to move into a rental and leave their homelessness behind.
CENTRAL CONCORD TEAM
Our team encountered a mother looking for her homeless daughter Melissa. This mother and Grandmother were driving around searching for Melissa all around Concord. It was a heartbreaking story. We pray that God would grant Sue success as she looks for Melissa.
Our team found Hannah with abrasions on her face. She appeared to have some mental problems. We would appreciate prayers that God would help to stabilize her mind and allow her face to heal.
Our team came across several Spanish speaking homeless on this occasion. We would love to have a bilingual volunteer so that we can better engage these folks in meaningful gospel conversations. We were able to hand out several Spanish Bibles along with blessings bags, coffee, and jackets.
An example of this was Juan and Checko who was quiet and a bit shy with our team but seemed grateful for the food offered.
Sam was given information about the Bay Area Rescue Mission and he seemed interested in that. We prayed specifically together for housing for Sam and that he would go to the mission.
James was a gentleman whose team was able to boldly share the gospel and prayed that he would accept Christ. We are praying that seeds were planted even though we had the added challenge of some drugs in his system at the time of our conversation.
Anthony didn’t come out of his tent on this trip. We've known Anthony for several months. He shared in the past that he has congestive heart failure. Our team left supplies for him outside of his tent.
Teresa was very conversational with our team. Our team gave her a super large print Bible and some reading glasses and our team prayed for her. She was very grateful to see our team. We were able to leave with a few extra lunches.
Pittsburg Exploration Team
We were excited to send an exploration team to Pittsburg for the first time. Our team was able to find a large encampment of seven tents.
Pocahontas (pictured above) was given a very clear gospel presentation and spoke with our team in-depth for 10-15 minutes. The team provided her with 2 flashlights, a bible, a bookmark, and other general supplies. They prayed for Salvation and read Psalm 28 with her. Pray that she reads the Bible that she received on this outreach.
We encountered Sammy who wanted a Bible, and prayer and listened to the gospel. Sammy's request is reconciliation with his 3 kids that he is not in contact.
Marcus shared that he has 4 nephews who were killed in the last few years. He was given a bible, a blessing bag, and some water and the team prayed for him.
Lady was given some tangible supplies along with a gospel tract in a blessing bag.
One of our hopes in going to Pittsburg was to find Barbara (previously from the Martinez encampment) who was given housing at Motel 6 by the county. Barbara was glad to report that her lung cancer test came back negative but she is waiting on a future knee surgery. The team provided her with a new Bible. We can pray that she reads it.
The team found three ladies sitting outside under a canopy at Motel 6 who were very happy our team arrived.
Ellen: Older lady (late 70s) - friendly, really happy, really appreciated the food, blankets, jackets, water, bible, and hot coffee. Happy for prayer and our team prayed the gospel for her.
Renita was a woman in her 40’s-50s who shared that she had 5 kids (2 passed away, 3 remaining) and requested prayer for reconciliation with them. Happy that the team was there. Said she was sad and worn and depressed and that she didn’t want to be there.
Jan approached our team and shared her favorite Bible verse ‘Jesus wept.’ The team gave her a blessing bag, a large print red-letter Bible, and a pair of reading glasses. The team prayed for her and she prayed as well.
We were encouraged by our success in Pittsburg and we would love to continue to serve there as the Lord provides opportunity. It was exciting to make new gospel relationships!
Scotty - He shared his history; has been shot 5 times, and injured many other times. Been in prison (drug deals) suffered a lot and is mad at God. He took some bible courses while in jail and he said that he has read the full Bible but has some strange beliefs about God being the 'sun.' Our team mentioned to him that maybe God is allowing his suffering on earth to get his attention and keep him from suffering for eternity. As the team departed he quietly said that they brightened his day. Prayer that he would release his anger, that he would seek and find the true God of the Bible and turn from his anger to praise.
NORTH CONCORD
Our team checked in on 'Two Knives' and expressed that he didn't not appear to be in good shape. The community in North Concord fenced him off to help protect him from injury or theft. Our team gave him a sleeping bag
Jerry Jr was able to hear a full gospel presentation a few weeks ago. He shared that he has been struggling with anger and nightmares.
Stacy seemed to have a more mild response to a Christ centered conversation. Our team hopes that is evidence of a softening heart. She admitted to still struggling with drugs and alcohol.
Frank claims to be a Christian but didn’t want to talk about his faith or beliefs indicating to the team that he doesn't have a genuine saving faith. We need to pray for his salvation. He is trying to get into an apt. and he needs a doctors note to get disability.
Lonny and Nikki, we’ve been praying for them since our last interaction that they would be able to see their children more and that has transpired, praise God. They also told our team that they've been reading their bibles. We pray for God's continued work in their situation.
Please consider signing up for our next outreach on January 21st. We have open slots to bring a breakfast item, pack some lunches or bake some cookies for our volunteers. We greatly appreciate your help.
We are still looking for more than 30 people to sign up for our Walkathon on Saturday, January 28th. We would love to see whole families get involved! The deadline is January 13th so we can have enough breakfast for all participants.
Thank you for your faithful prayers, support and encouragement! We are so thankful for every person who reads and prays through these updates! You're a crucial part of Hope680 and you bring Glory to God through your prayers and service!