Kaleena Christensen

From Rooftops to Redemption: The Story of Kaleena Christensen

There was a time when Kaleena Christensen’s whole world was a rooftop.

Sacramento had already been rough. By the time she drifted down to San Diego, life had collapsed completely.
Addiction pulled her down like a riptide, and homelessness became her normal.

Nights were spent under the open sky, sleeping on the top of buildings—Tower Records, or that tattoo shop on 16th and Broadway.
From up there, the city seemed far away, and for a few hours, the rooftop felt safer than the street.

But rooftops are lonely. And the spiral always goes down.

Eventually, there were arrests. Handcuffs. Concrete cells. A heart so heavy that she wondered if life was even worth trying again.

 A Grandmother’s Faith, A Church’s Open Door

In those gray days, a memory wouldn’t leave her: her grandmother’s faith.

Her grandma’s hands folded in prayer, her Bible always nearby. That little seed, planted long ago, started whispering: “Go find a church. Maybe there is still hope for you.”

When Kaleena was granted permission to leave jail on Sundays to go to worship, she began looking.
The first Lutheran church she tried—she didn’t feel seen there. She almost gave up.

But the second one changed everything.

Hope Lutheran Church in Linda Vista.

That morning, she walked through their doors carrying all the weight of her story—tattoos, shame, fear—and braced herself for rejection.

Instead, she was welcomed.

Not just by one or two people.
By the whole church.

The smiles, the hugs, the warmth—they looked at her as if she was family.
Kelly, in particular, became a friend right away. She saved a spot for her, introduced her to others, listened without judgment.

In a world where people crossed the street to avoid her, Hope Lutheran crossed the room to embrace her.

And Kaleena kept coming back.

Then came the sermon.
One Sunday, the pastor spoke about The Fisher King—a movie where a homeless man’s life, in ruins, becomes a picture of redemption.

It was as if God Himself said:
“This is you, Kaleena.
I see you.
I love you.
And I am not done with you.”

 Step by Step – A Life Rebuilt

From that day, change began. Slowly. Painfully.

Sobriety came one day at a time.
She started classes, even while incarcerated—GED first, then a certificate in mental health and social work.

Imagine her:
walking into a classroom for the first time after years on the streets,
books in her hands,
hope rising like a small flame.

Assignments. Lectures. Exams.
Each completed page felt like another brick in a foundation God was rebuilding under her feet.

When she finally graduated—she stood there, cap and gown, tears in her eyes—Kaleena knew this wasn’t just a piece of paper.
It was a miracle.

 A Phoenix on Her Skin

Her arms once carried the evidence of pain—scars from years of brokenness.

One day, she decided to cover those scars, not to hide them, but to transform them.
On her right arm: a phoenix, wings spread wide, rising from the ashes.
Soon, on her left: a dragon, a symbol of the darkness she had walked through and left behind.

Those tattoos are not decorations.
They are a testimony.

“Three and a half years ago,” she says, “I was a lonely, homeless addict.
Today I have a good job, I’m SDSU-bound, surrounded by amazing family, friends, and my church.
By the grace of God, I am a whole new person with a whole new future.”

 Called to Give Back

It wasn’t enough for Kaleena just to be healed.
She felt God calling her to help others walking the same hard road she knew so well.

At a Lutheran women’s retreat, and later at the Best Practices conference, she met Eleonora, another woman with a heart for the homeless.
Within a week of each other, both became missionaries with the Mission Society of San Diego.

The Mission Society saw her story and her heart and said:
"Kaleena, you belong on mission. Let’s do this together."

Since then, they have been walking alongside her, mentoring her, training her, and helping her shape what is just the beginning of a larger ministry.

 The Brown Bag Project

Out of Kaleena and Eleonora’s friendship came The Brown Bag Project.

It started simple: care bags with food and essentials for people on the streets.
But in Kaleena’s heart, this is only the beginning.

The Brown Bag Project is the first step in a much bigger dream: to build a ministry that reaches the very people she once lived alongside—those still on rooftops, sidewalks, under bridges.

For her, the bag is just a key to open a door.
The real gift is presence.

She sits down, listens, prays, and says:
“I know what this feels like.
You are not alone.
God loves you.”

 A New Life, A New Mission

Today, Kaleena walks back under the same bridges and past the same rooftops where she once slept.

Only now, she walks with purpose.

The same God who found her on a rooftop now sends her as a messenger of mercy.

And this time, she is not walking alone—she has a church, friends, and the Mission Society of San Diego at her side.

She says:

“By God’s amazing grace… I’m doing okay.
And now I get to help others believe that they can be okay too.”