““The Rescue Mission helped me grow as a man.”

After his parents divorced, Miguel’s mom struggled to provide a suitable place for them to live. “My mom didn’t speak English,” he says, “but she’s a great woman, a hard worker.” They made the best of their situation, living in a garage.

Sadly, Miguel struggled as he grew older, due to the lack of stability and fatherly guidance in his life. Miguel turned to his peers for direction… and picked up some destructive habits that led him down a difficult road.

Miguel became a father when he was just a teen, and he began selling drugs to help support his young family. Unfortunately, it was a lifestyle that ultimately led him into homelessness. “I just wanted to be with my kids,” he says. “When I couldn’t, I didn’t care about my life anymore. I didn’t want them to see me all dirty from being on the streets.”

When Miguel experienced a vision from God in his despair – “a bright white light and rivers of living water” – it awakened his faith and desire to change. He found the support and structure he needed at the San Diego Rescue Mission.

“They treated me like a student,” he says. “I had a clean bed, new socks, and people who truly cared about me.” Through our Mission Academy, Miguel received counseling, job training and faith-based support that helped him heal spiritually and emotionally.

“The Rescue Mission helped me grow as a man.”

Today, Miguel is saving up for a place of his own, where he can have his children visit him. He gives back by cutting hair for other residents and serving on our street outreach team. “It’s probably the first time some of these people have had physical touch in a long time,” he says. “I want to be there for them.”

This Easter, Miguel has a new direction for his life. Thank you for lighting the path forward for him to experience a future of hope and peace! “God brought me into this place. I am blessed.”

To read this issue of Mission in Motion, click to download.