The (San Francisco) Bay Area, California
Ever since I moved to California in 2010, I had heard so many great things about “The Bay,” and I was juiced (excited) to be able to finally see what all the fuss what about. In other conversations that we had, Marisha would describe San Francisco as a mix between New York and Los Angeles, which definitely peaked my interest. Upon arrival, I have to confirm that she was very right about San Francisco being a combination of the west coast, laid back culture of Los Angeles, and the go getting, anything is possible sensibilities of NYC. That’s what I perceived from the outside looking in. The skyline of San Francisco, connected to the bridges, in a, sort of, peninsula/island type of arrangement was breath taking, especially around dusk or just as the fog is rolling out.
Being that The Bay Area is so close to Los Angeles, (compared to everywhere else we’ve been this year) we ended up knowing a lot of people there. We had the pleasure and opportunity to stay with one of Marisha’s older cousins, Misty, in the Oakland area near Lake Merritt. Marisha and I loved this area! We have been praying that whenever we get to where we are going, that we would live in a neighborhood that we can walk to local grocery stores, restuarants, workout in etc; so to find our self being able to experience that, if even just for two weeks was a dream come true!
Before I go on, I feel compelled to tell you about Marisha’s older cousin Misty, as she has had a large influence on my wife’s growth and outlook on life. Misty is engulfed in the important calling of ending sex trafficking and bringing their exploiters to justice. She spends a lot of her free time training others to be effective in the ministry Love Never Fails, in which one component is walking the streets of The Bay Area hoping to encounter women who want to transition from the life of exploitation to one of freedom and wholeness. Hearing her passion for these women is contagious, and so is her passion for living a healthy life.
While we stayed with Misty, she taught us how to cook several vegetarian dishes, including pumpkin soup, a fantastic tomato based pasta sauce, a quinoa & pesto dish, and fajitas, which I personally did not know could be so good without meat of any kind. For desert she introduced me to mochi balls, which changed my life. The soft chewy texture on the outside, confronted with the cold creamy taste on this inside is what does it for me. Marisha and I thank God for Misty for showing us just how easy it is to cook vegetarian meals. Yippee!
Since we’ve got on the subject of food, I want to highlight one of the restaurants that we visited while we were in The Bay. The name of it was The Sequoia Diner, and MAN, let me tell you about this food I had there! I had this beet and potato hash that included little bits of bacon, a scrumptious carrot salad, and two poached eggs with rye bread and sweet little jam! The beets turned my whole plate purple, but as a big fan of beets, I loved it. Aside from Marisha’s order of spinach & mushroom omelette with an arugala salad & hash brown, she had the bright idea of ordering a sticky bun for the table to enjoy! It was delectable. I’m glad that our friend Cory invited us.
Corey and I go way back to 2011 when he still lived in Los Angeles. I met him at our church, Faithful Central Bible Church, while hanging out at the youth ministry. Soon after our initial meeting, we found ourselves participating in the same men’s small group, and that’s where we made a lasting connection. Since then Cory and I have both ventured out on our own to do business for ourselves and have consulted each other at various times along the way. At this point, I consider him to be one of my business advisers. He actually put us in contact with a few of the people from organizations that he’s worked with over the last few years.
The day that we hung out with Cory, we also had the chance to spend some time with some more of our cousins from Marisha’s side of the family, Misty’s younger sister (Kendra), her husband (Rashad), their two kids, and Rashad’s father and younger sister, since they were in the area from LA visiting other family members. We spent the rest of the day with them sight seeing down at the Fisherman’s Wharf before taking pictures in front of the Golden Gate Bride in pouring rain and driving down Lombardt Street in the same conditions. Rashad is an avid Chinese food lover, so we had some of his favorite cuisine before ending the night.
The next morning we visited Misty’s church with her. We found it to be diverse, as we have had generally homogeneous worship experiences for most of our lives. We saw a mix of black people, latinx people, white people, asian people, young people, seasoned people, married people, and single people. It was really encouraging and inspiring to see so many people with different backgrounds coming together for one common goal, loving others and worshiping Jesus. Being members of a diverse body of Christians has also, been on our prayer list, so to know that it exists is very encouraging!
The next week it was time to get to work serving youth in the area, so as we began to prepare, we were in contact with a couple that we met in LA through a marriage support group, Landon & Janiece. Landon works for the East Oakland Youth Development Center and was working on plugging us in there. We had already taken a tour there, and was waiting for confirmation from the head woman in charge that it was okay for us to set up shop there. Once we got the confirmation, we planned what our event would look like and were excited to engage Oakland’s future leaders. The East Oakland Youth Development Center is one of the pillars of the community there. Not only do they offer sports activities and food, but they host a very comprehensive list of programs for the students after school. We had a lot of fun doing the concert for the students and asking them about the subjects and activities that they are passionate about. It’s such a blessing being able to do fulfilling work with people you know and love.
A couple of blog posts ago, I mentioned to you all how I ended up rapping for the family that helped us put up our tent in Yellowstone, do you remember that? No? Well, I did. And it was epic, lol. I bring that up to share with you that that family ended up connecting us with people from the Boys & Girls Club in San Francisco. Yes! That really happened, haha! God is so good! I say that because all year long we have been in communication with a woman that I met that was the director of that Boys & Girls Club and our visit there never materialized, but who knew that this very nice family from Wyoming would have lived in San Francisco for some time?! C’mon man. God is the MASTER planner. I just want to encourage you that if are in a situation where you feel like God is calling you to a place where you can’t possibly plan out the journey that He’s asking you to embark on, just trust Him as your planner. Plan everything that you know to and let Him connect the rest. Man, God is so good.
As I digress, we immediately were plugged in with Notes for Notes, a non profit organization working out the SF Boys & Girls Club that teaches students music theory, music production, recording techniques, and engineering in general. We ended up doing a concert there, and doing a Q&A session with some of the older students afterwards. This was by far one of my favorite parts of this whole tour, getting to see young minds being nurtured and given a platform to explore their gifts. I didn’t feel like I had that as a student, so I am very passionate about seeing students thrive in their gifts as early as they want to. In fact, I am working with two of those students right now as I am in planning stages of a new body of music. It’s going to be a super blessing for me if I can introduce more people to their work as they continue to get their feet wet.
After we talked about music and their goals and success and how to measure it, I had the pleasure to meet a young rapper who wants to glorify God with His message. What are the chances that he would be scheduled to record the same day that we would be there?! Again, shout out to the MASTER Planner! We talked about his goals, his heart, his vision, and some practical ways to improve his craft. That was also a blessing for me, as I found myself bumping my head a lot when I made the decision to honor God with my music. He just graduated and the world is in front of him, so if I have the opportunity to speak into his life during this time of testing and transition, I am happy to, especially if it can grow him in his relationship with God.
Next we had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend that we met in Los Angeles at our church who recently moved to The Bay and is now engaged. The restaurant that they picked was right around the corner from us, so close that we should have walked. It was good meeting his fiance’ and hearing the story of how they met and their plans for the future. They also put us in contact with A LOT of organizations while we were in town. One of the organizations was The Way Church, which is home to their youth ministry, Charged UP!
Before we get into our time with this special bunch of students, let me tell you about their leader, Tanisha Shelton. I have never met anyone more joyous, happy, and motivated to work with youth. She was peppy, excited, and a genuine pleasure to be around, which I have learned is essential to serving the youth. She was also very passionate about them, which is contagious. Marisha and I loved how much of a community this youth ministry was. After the concert, where we focused on boundaries and accountability, we talked about where in their life they need to have better boundaries, and it was encouraging and beautiful to see how much they support one another, as they shared some pretty vulnerable things. We certainly made a connection with Charged UP that we pray to revisit many times in the future.
After pouring out what felt like all of our energy to those incredible students, it was time for date night before preparing for our last session in The Bay. For date night, we took the 3 mile walk around Lake Merritt during the sunset and talked until our hearts were full and our stomachs were empty. I love those times with Marisha, when we are by ourselves, aimlessly exploring nature and each other simultaneously. I’m definitely one of the most blessed men alive.
After our walk, we went to pick up gelato from a nearby shop on the way home. Once dinner commenced, we began planning and praying about our time with the students at McClymonds High School, in Oakland. I can’t lie to you, I expected this particular session to be very challenging. Why? Well because the teachers and students alike had warned us about one of the classes that we would be engaging with and their was a cultural barrier between us that brought up times in high school when I had felt like an outcast. While praying about it, God assured us that everything would be fine, and fun, and that we should be confident about what He was asking us to do; because at the core, every kid wants to feel seen, heard, and inspired. We ended up having a really good time performing for and talking to the students of McClymonds High. I certainly would return if the opportunity presented itself.
With that last session under our belt, it was time to drive to Paso Robles, California, our last city of the The Great Unknown Tour 2016, to visit my brother in law and his children before heading back to The City of Angels!
(written in a loud, crowded Starbucks in Gardena, CA on 11/12/16)
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