Mark’s Success Story

For the seven years before I came to the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, I had been homeless on the streets of Kansas City. This was the result of escalating drug abuse that started when I was 15.

During those seven years, I saw Kansas City grow increasingly dangerous. It wasn’t safe to live on the streets anymore, and some of my acquaintances from that life were murdered or died. I grew more and more afraid and finely reached out to family members for help.

My brother told me he had bought me a one-way ticket to Salt Lake City. He thought I would be safer there and might be able to find help. That ticket marked the beginning of God changing my life through the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake.

When I arrived in Salt Lake, I had no intention of altering my lifestyle. I thought I would continue panhandling, living on the streets, and getting money for drugs or alcohol. But my first day in Salt Lake, I realized it was much different than Kansas City.

In Kansas City, the police and building security didn’t care if you panhandled or slept wherever you wanted. But in Salt Lake, I would sit down to panhandle, and within a minute or two, someone would ask me to leave. I spent a hard night on Salt Lake’s streets.

The next morning, I asked someone I saw walking on the sidewalk where I could get breakfast. The man happened to be a member of the Mission’s New Life Program. He told me I could eat at the Mission and mentioned that they had a free program to help people get off the streets.

I went to the Mission for breakfast, but I was so dejected that I ate and left. However, what the man said about the New Life Program stuck with me. As I sat on the streets, I prayed to God for help. After that prayer, I felt God empower me to get up and walk back to the Mission. I shared my situation, and they told me I could apply to the New Life Program.

The moment I sat down in the Mission’s chapel, I felt at peace. I realized this was the best place for me, and a huge burden was lifted from my chest. God answered my prayer that day, and after attending several Bible studies and chapel services through the New Life Program, I eventually accepted Jesus into my life and began a true relationship with God. I knew I couldn’t change without Him.

I found great joy in living in relationship with God. Before, I had known about God, but I had always blocked Him out of my life. I realized that, unlike the last 30 years of my life, which were full of crime and drug use, there was nothing wrong with the way God wanted me to live. Instead, it was a joy-filled life.

Through the program’s work therapy, I became a cook in the Mission’s kitchen, and it was a blessing to feed so many people in need each day. As someone who had always been a loner, I found camaraderie at the Mission and at my local church, Gospel Grace. My church family doesn’t look down on me because of who I used to be. I don’t feel judged there, and I love the preaching.

My brothers text me often, and it feels good to have real relationships with them again. When I graduated to the employment phase of the New Life Program, I got a job as a cook at a sit-down restaurant. It’s a good job, and it feels good to be working and making an honest living. I was able to obtain my birth certificate and ID, and I’m working towards getting my driver’s license. As I work at my new job and live at the Mission, I’m saving money for the first and last month’s rent on an apartment and hope to save for a car.

It’s a blessing to be surrounded by the staff at the Mission and the other men in the New Life Program. It’s inspiring to hear their stories and see how God is changing their lives. It’s also encouraging to see people who have gotten off the streets, found jobs and entered housing, achieving long-term sobriety.

I want to thank all the supporters of the Rescue Mission. Your generosity created the place where God led me to find a relationship with Him, His people, and a new life. Your kindness has meant so much to me.