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Hello

My name is Markus Haeusser and I grew up in a small town in the Rems Valley called Hertmannsweiler.  I lived there most of my life. In the community where I lived, I worked with different youth ministries. Bringing the hope that I found to people is one of the most important things for me. I want to encourage people through the things God did in my life to find Him and His purpose for their life. I joined YWAM San Francisco in 2003 and worked over those years mainly with youth, street kids and the homeless community in that city.

But how did I get there?

I was born in a Christian home, and as a little child I heard a lot about the bible and about God. In one way I knew that there is a God and in another way I couldn't believe it. After my confirmation I started to go to a Christian youth group. The main leader of the group had a huge passion and love for God and you could see it in the way he lived his life. I looked up to him because I also wanted that happiness and joy he had. One year later I was close to become a Christian, but then this accident happened. My youth group leader was on a vacation in Africa where he got killed by a lion. When I found out that he died, and especially how he died I stopped believing that there is a God. My life went downhill from that time on. My school grades got worse and worse and I started to hang out with people that weren’t good for me at the time.

When I was 20 years old a lady from my church asked me if I would like to help her working with a youth group. I liked the idea and said yes. 1 year after that I had a bad car accident where God really saved my life and made me think. Most people in the car were badly injured, but I had only a little scratch above my eye. It was a total miracle. That day I told God that my life is His. A few weeks after that, I already forgot about my promise. I think one of the reasons for that was, that I didn’t connect with other Christians in our community to learn more about God and to ask questions. Quickly I fell back into my old lifestyle.  I pretended to be a Christian while I was in the youth group but outside the group God was not really a part of my life. Some years later we had a big youth meeting called Jesus house and a guy asked me if I would like to do the filming for it. That week God reminded me at my promise. But I kept pushing it away since it would mean I have to change something in my life. 2 month after my grandma died and I realized that my life will end some day. That night I planned to kill myself, but I decided to give God a chance and ask him to show me if He really exists. A few moments later I felt arms wrapping around me and a deep feeling of peace. God really showed up in my life. That day I gave my life back to him. I asked him to help me understand what it means to live my life with and for him. After that God put people into my life that helped me to grow and learn more about him.

A while after that I went to an information night from the torch bearers. The speaker was talking about that God has a plan and purpose for our life. I felt God was saying that my purpose was fulltime ministry which brought me to YWAM San Francisco. I applied for a Discipleship training school and got accepted. During my time in San Francisco I learned a lot more about God as well as missions. During my school I worked with at risk youth, street kids and the homeless community of that city.  Through working with them  God gave me a heart for those guys. In those 6 month God shared with me more and more that my place of ministry would be San Francisco. After my school I returned to Germany to raise support and return back to San Francisco. But it good harder because I realized more and more that I have to leave all my friends behind and no support came in. So I started to work again with the local youth and got back into my old job. The youth work was very good and important and God used it to prepare me more for the ministry I was going to do in San Francisco, but it was not the place for me to stay long term. San Francisco never went out of my head and heart. In January I applied for a local bible school, because I was confused about what I should do even so god spoke clear direction before. In May I finally went back on track when God gave me another confirmation about San Francisco. I started to raise support again and set a date to leave for San Francisco. It was in September. God provided everything that I needed for going. And since then he was always faithful in providing for me through people.

Over the years I had the opportunity to see many lives changed by his love. On the streets of San Francisco as well as in the short Term mission teams I was working with. His love became more and more real for so many people. And so many people started to see value in themselves.

I wanna encourage you to really follow the things God has for your life. You will not regret it and it will change your life and the life of many others.

Thank you to everyone who helped and is helping me to do this work. God is using each one of you to make a difference in the world by making me able to do his work.

I will keep working in San Francisco as a missionary. I started to develop a program that will help people that are lonely and that will connect them with others. It’s a program that brings connections between different parts of society. I’m excited what Gods plans are with that. Check out the website for more information. www.end-loneliness.org

If you are interested in hearing more about what I’m doing, email me and I will send you my newsletter. You can also download those newsletters here on the website.

Thank you for reading my story.

Your friend

Markus