Oops...

So oops... I forgot to write the blog yesterday so this week Saturday is going to come before Friday!!! Anyways...

Thursday our usual day off included helping someone from the Hispanic church move furniture from his old apartment to his new condo most of the day. We were amazed by how sweet one of their new neighbors were when he brought us water because he said we looked like we were working hard. It was extremely nice of him and well appreciated. After a physical draining day so of us had our day off on Friday instead.

After dropping Storm and I off in Venice, Josh and Bruce headed to Starbucks to prepare for their conversation with Jeff. From what I have heard it was an intense conversation in a good way. Keep praying for their connection with Jeff. Pray that they will be able to have church with him and some of his friends before we leave.

In Venice, Storm and I went to Cafe Collage to have some quiet time before volunteering! We walked up to a Window Between Worlds and were bussed in (which is still amusing after a few weeks). We did lots of tasks like sculpting clay into different colors for an art project, sorting through notebooks to make sure all of the papers were there, and making journals. When we made the journals we got to use this super cool machine which was very awesome!!

We have made such good friends working here. It is so cool to know that they respect us so much for all of our hard work after knowing us for such a short amount of time. I don't know how many times they tell us thank you for helping. We couldn't have found a better environment to work in. They are always so encouraging to each other. It is also so awesome to be apart of something so great that uses art as a healing tool for domestic violence victims. I personally have a lot of respect for Cathy, the founder of the non profit, it took a lot to build up this organization and make it successful. She had an idea along with the help of others to incorporate two things that she loved and she did it. She went around the country and started these Windows programs. She learned many stories about victims of domestic violence. I think this is so amazing! I would love to have lunch with her and learn more about her story and life because she has been an inspiration.

While we were working Storm and I were talking to one of the other volunteers. She had grown up in LA her whole life. She went to school at UC Berkley and loved San Francisco. She graduated last May (as in 2008) with a degree in Psychology and then decided to travel for a year. She went to Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. She meet her boyfriend who is from England in Australia. We were able to talk about the differences in growing up in NC compared to California. We were also able to ask her about her experience with religion. She said she had went to youth group when she was in middle school and felt that people were very hypocritical and closed minded about things. We told her that hypocritical Christians also frustrated us and that was not what we were about at all. We said that we thought sharing God's love was what was more important and she agreed. She was interested in learning about different religions and why people believe what they believe (the Psychology aspect). So pray that we will be able to have more conversations with her.

We came back for some of Lupita's amazing food!! Then we decided to go do something fun as a group which means we had to make a decision.... funfun!! We finally decided on putt putt but not your regular putt putt..... GLOW IN THE DARK PUTT PUTT!!! It was so much fun we played three games changing groups every time! It was such a fun place with everything in neon pink, yellow, orange, blue, green, and of course the black light! We even got a glow in the dark glove which was awesome to give high fives with! It was a great time!! Then we decided to go to IHop after that which I am pretty sure you can only go to late at night (lol). We had some yummy food like pancakes!!!! Well I was a good day!!!

So what can you be praying for... well...

boldness... in conversations with people we meet.

connections that we have already meet that these people will become persons of peace and be interested in learning about God and starting a bible study.

community we have formed that it continues to grow and that we will be remain each other's support systems.

as the trip is coming to an end pray for everything to get tied together.

pray for all of LA!

With love,

Kelsey