LA Parachute Project

Send me on my Way.

2009-08-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen, here I am sitting on a Sunday morning waiting for the car to show up to send us home. It feels surreal that we have reached this point in the trip....the conclusion. Let me start by thanking everyone out there who has prayed for or kept up with the blog, especially our families who allowed us to experience God in L.A. this summer. Its late here and most of the people we know we have made our goodbyes with. Tears of sadness and joy have been shed tonight. My heart breaks for this area, opportunity is not a hard thing to find in these areas, our main issue for all of us concerning our ministry was time. Although we are ready to leave and get back home, parts of us want to stay and see through the relationships we have forged. A bittersweet feeling is perpetually going through me now. If you have followed what we have done this summer it is my prayer that you have been challenged. Challenged in ways that will cause you to put yourself on the line for the gospel. In coming to LA i have learned much, one of the biggest things being the urgency of the message. Sitting back and being comfortable in our faith is not what God has called us to do. When we pass on, there is no excuse I can think of explaining why I lived my life on the sidelines when God called us into the game now. I hope you are challenged yourself to try this wherever you are, it isn't necessary even to leave your neighborhood, apartment complex, or dorm to be on a mission trip. Love people, if we have all the knowledge in the world but not love, we have nothing. If we can do the greatest miracles but do not have love, we are nothing (dont know the reference). Love for the day of our salvation is nearer today than it was yesterday, the harvest is ready.

Some last prayer request that i ask you to keep in your prayers for as long as possible....

Jeff- Josh had a final meeting with him and Bob one of the NAMB people came, they had a great conversation and Bob and Jeff are planning to meet again to talk about Christ! Hallelujah :D

Tony-We gave him a Chinese bible and an english Bible, the team made a group effort to highlight important passages and random quotes that Tony would appreciate, we also wrote him a letter, he was deeply touched by the gift and will be reading that, ask that God will open his heart and mind, we also are going to try to connect him to a Chinese church planter out here

Peter-Pretty much same situation as Tony, it was awesome to give him the bible and see his reaction to it, he was soo deeply touched by it. He told us how much he was going to miss us and told us that it is people like us who will make this world better.

Pray for the association out here, they have some amazing Christ centered people and they need prayer always

Pray for the area...

Pray that our team can learn from this trip and that God will guide us and speak to us about this trip even when we are home

Pray for our safe travel back home

If you have time, ask us what happened in LA, you may be called to this awesome place yourself

Grace and Peace be to you

2009-07-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

Today started out earlier then usual. We had a meeting in Pasadena at 9:00 am and we were told to expect heavy traffic (its LA). We planned to be in the car at 7:28 am and not to expect everyone to be in good moods. Surprisingly we did not snap at each other and survived the drive to Pasadena as we slowly woke up to embrace the day!

Our meeting was with a member of the Mosaic church, Nathan. He is a strengths finder coach for gallup. We all took the strength finder test before we arrived to find out our top five strengths (talents). Nathan talked about how often we focus on our weaknesses rather then our strengths and try to improve at what we are not good at rather then excel at what we are good at. We work hardest and succeed more often when we use our strengths. He referred to our top five strengths as talents because a strength is knowledge plus skills plus talents. There are 34 talent themes and Nathan discussed them all with us. He showed us how important each individuals talents are to the team because we can't all be talented in the same areas. Each person's different talents bring something different to the group which helps it to be effective. In our group it was interesting to see each others talent themes and how they played out in our daily lives. It also helps you understand how each person in the group operates and how the other members can help them use their strengths better. I think it is awesome that God gave us certain unique strengths for his purpose. I enjoy to learn about people and they way they are so this was very interesting to me. We eat lunch with Nathan and Jonathan Stockstill at a place called Zankou's Chicken which had Lebanese food (which made Luke very happy).

After a great morning we decided we needed some chill out time so we came back to the church and had a little nap time or relax time! Its funny how you do not appreciate naps when you are a kid and everyone always tells you, "You just wait one day you are going to wish you could take a nap." True Story. After nap time, Bruce, Josh, and I went to a Dodgers game!!! Thomas, Luke, and Storm stayed at the church had some relax time and an amazing Lupita dinner. I think they even had a slurpy adventure down to 7-11 but the machine was broke (as Storm would say "sad day"). Overall a pretty great day!

So about the Dodgers game... it was awesome! This was Josh's first MLB game and it had been quite a few years since Bruce and I had been to a game... so we were excited. Pastor Jeff and Kendall had scored some sweet free tickets for themselves so we rode with them to the game but couldn't sit with them. Pastor Jeff is probably the most southern person we have met here in LA so far, we blared country music on the way which reminded me of home. Inside the stadium, Bruce, Josh, and I found our seats then went to get Dodger dogs and something to drink... interesting! Anyways we got back to the game... Dodgers vs. Marlins!!! We got to see Manny Ramirez, cheered a lot, participated in the longest wave we had ever seen and really enjoyed the game. Sadly, the Dodgers lost 3 to 6. After the game, we got to watch the fireworks!! The coolest part was we got to go down and stand on the field to watch the fireworks. We walked over to left field and stood where Manny plays and took looks of pictures!!! It was a really fun night and great experience!!

Please be praying for the last week we are in LA. I know that most of us are home sick or at least missing someone so pray that we enjoy the last week here. Pray for the connections we have already made that we will be able to have some amazing final conversations with them in person and be able to get their contact information and continue those relationships when we are back home! Pray for the information and contacts we are handing off to people here in LA that those will be passed on to the right people for the specific person. Pray that this week flows well and as we are faced with some hard goodbyes to people we have become very close to this summer that we will have strength. Pray for the group as we begin to debrief or reflect on this summer. I also want to thank you for all of your pray and support for this summer. Praise God for the opportunity for us to be able to come to LA this summer and learn what we learned and met who we met.

With love,

Kelsey

Status: 2 air matresses down, 4 to go...

2009-07-22T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of the ill as of this morning - Storm (me), Kelsey, Thomas, Josh, and Danny Canales

Thankfully (we appreciate the love and prayers we have received) only I still felt a little sick tonight, but -yay!- Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup to the rescue! Hopefully I will feel in tip-top shape by the morning.

To escape the threat of disease (okay, so I may be a little dramatic, but bear with me - I slept 18 hours today) Luke and Bruce had some male-bonding time. Kelsey and I debated for an hour over going to A Window Between Worlds today, but decided that we shouldn't risk infecting the women we work for because we are not sure if we are contagious.

However, we are hoping that we can be out and about on the field tomorrow. (The exception to this is me because my parents are visiting out here in California and I am going to take them around LA...I am very excited to see my family!)

Of course on the top of our prayer list there is:
1) Health: pray that Josh, Thomas, Kelsey, Danny, and I can recover quickly. Also pray that Luke and Bruce will be spared the sickness, as well as everyone else around us daily.
2) Wrap-up: We have just discovered that we will have a very early morning on Friday, which is to be followed by all-day meetings.
3) To allow great things to be done in these last few days here!

God bless, and please stay healthy!
Storm

P.S. - I wish Bruce could tell you himself of the joy he had last night, waking up numerous times to find himself in a black hole of deflated air-matress...but we have maneuvered the beds again in hopes that this setup may last for the rest of the trip....we'll see... :.D

Home(Sick)

2009-07-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

So, I would just like to start off by telling you all something I have learned about myself since we came out here a month and a half ago. Until this trip, I had never really looked at myself as an "extrovert". Come to find out...I am. I like being around people and doing things. At first glance, this seems like a great quality. But from what I have learned, I am a special kind of extrovert. By special I mean the type that ALWAYS needs to be interacting with the people around me. This doesn't really work well with the rest of the team. You see, most of them absolutely need their alone, "down" time or things aren't that peaceful (haha). And God chose to wire me a bit differently. I understand any normal person would NEED that alone time, especially after being with the same 6 people for 6 straight weeks...24/7...but I just can't do it.

Last night we came in from the Crusades meeting and everyone went into introvert mode...again completely understandable. They had been socially interactive all day and needed to just chill. I of course, decided to annoy the group. Time for an oh-so clever metaphor via Bruce. As I have told my team many times, I often feel like a young puppy dog jumping up and down, running around in circles, wagging its tail while staring at its owner as he reads the newspaper. The rest of the team being the owner of the dog reading the paper. You see, what usually happens is the dog is either ignored by the annoyed owner, locked in its kennel, or taken out for a walk after constant begging. In the case of last night, Josh and Luke took me for a walk...literally. We walked to a near by park where we found some really sketchy people out and about. Thanks to the tacos we had eaten with the Cru folks, we had to cut short our time at the park and make a quick trip back to the church to tend to certain things...

After getting settled again, I decided to annoy the team some more and Josh, along with Kelsey and Storm, joined me for a movie around 11 pm. We watched the latest release of the "Friday the 13th" series. Pretty interesting to say the least. About 20 mins in, Storm cut out because she wasn't feeling well and I was left with the other two. From my observations, Kelsey likes horror movies, as long as there is someone nearby to protect her from whatever is in the movie. Last night, that person was me. To be completely honest, I am fearless. Nothing scares me...except for girls inches beside of me jumping and squealing in consecutive time with the most intense loud jumpy scenes of the movie. The scenes in which unintelligent, young, attractive girls were being chased by Jason were not that bad, but it gets pretty intense when I think Kelsey is being attacked as she gasps loudly and kicks the couch we are sitting on. She was bad enough, but Josh Littlejohn decided he needed protection about halfway through the movie also. I won't go into details, but lets just say that the door to our bungalow needed to be locked as we went to bed.

About 2:30 am, I wake up to furious beating on the door. I slowly open my eyes to see Storm with wide eyes peering into the window looking dead at me. What did I do? Lay my head back down of course, thinking it was just a dream. Thank heavens for Luke, he so graciously got up and opened the door for her so that she may get water for her and Kelsey. You see, they both woke up very sick this morning and didn't sleep any last night. It is either 1) food poisoning or 2) some horrible stomach bug. The diagnosis varies depending on who you ask. But either way, the girls couldn't function today. But being the kind, sweet guys that we are, we took care of them and catered to their every need.

Jonathan Stockstill also came today and we discussed various evangelism and church planting tactics. Our Swedish friend Bennett also joined us unannounced again. Which is perfectly fine. A little distracting, but fine.

After our meeting, us guys grabbed a bite to eat and fetched the girls some Gatorade to rehydrate them. We continued on to Starbucks for Free Pastry Day, but was very disappointed to find the absense of pastries...what a scam. We pretty much took today as our "day off" due to the busy schedule coming up. We have tomorrow on the field, providing the majority stay healthy (Thomas was feeling a bit queezy this evening and went to bed early). And the rest of the week is full of meetings.

So prayer. It works, and we need it.

1) Health. The girls, Thomas, and the rest of us. Pray that takes care of whatever is going on so that we can finish up these 2 weeks like we want.
2) Good spirits. As the title says, we are homesick. I dunno about the rest of the team but I really miss my family and friends back home. I miss Bojangles and mama's country cookin'. It's hard to not look at this as "only 2 weeks left", but instead we should be looking at it as "still 2 weeks left". Just pray that we overcome the homesickness and be in good spirits throughout the remainder of the trip.
3) The current relationships and where it goes from here. Whether it be Jeff and his new age spiritual community, or Tony G and the Chi Kung class. Pray that God opens up more opportunties with them so that we can dig deeper spiritually and leave them with a positive impact on their life. Also pray that the permenant church planters/pastors can take over where we left off and use the information and contacts to continue helping God's Kingdom grow.

I thank you, as always, for the support and prayers. Also thank you for taking the times out of your day to (still) read our blog and care enough about us to do that.

Until Tuesday,
God Bless,
-Bruce

Unexpected Faith

2009-07-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

It's been quite the intense past week or so. With the group dynamics constantly shuffling, the ministry getting tougher and more intense and the thoughts of the final two weeks here...it hardly seems like we have time to think about what's been going on out here.

So, here's my attempt at that. I guess the one big thing that has amazed me out here is how much my FAITH has been tested. I knew coming into this process that this was going to be pretty intense and I would more than likely be stretched out of my comfort zones, but I never expected to find myself questioning my faith, why I believe what I believe and if I even still believe it all.

Bruce and I had coffee with Jeff the other day and it was the most intense two hour conversation I've had in about a year or so. Bruce and I were on the receiving end of about every question you could think of for a Christian. We were asked about Heaven, the sovereignty of Christ, if Christ was the only way, we shared our faith stories...we were grilled. Jeff wanted to know everything he could about our faith stories and why we had faith in them, how we found faith in Christ in them, and how we knew whether or not we were actually believing in something real. It was intense.

Out here in LA most people are pretty self-motivated (motivated for themselves) and it's been difficult starting the spiritual conversations. But, once we've gotten into them, we've found it a lot easier to keep them going. After all, almost everyone we've met (at least for me) believes that any road that makes you happy and leads you to love and being a good person to other people will get you to God. Jeff is the same way. He's a man who goes on spiritual journeys and meditation trips all across the world, just to get in-tune with that 'Oneness' or 'juice' from God. My heart breaks for Jeff, a man who thinks that Christ just isn't enough. Yes, he thinks he's good enough for me and Bruce. But, he also thinks there's tons of other ways to get to God.

In fact, not only does my heart break for the Jeffs of this world, but for everyone who thinks that Christ isn't enough. Words can't express how saddened I am by something like that. The more I think of it, the more I my heart breaks for those that can't get their minds around the fact that faith is as simple as Christ and there's nothing else they need. Just Christ...that's it!

So, I think that's been our job out here as missionaries and as Christians all across this world. Those of you that are reading, its your job too. We're called to preach the gospel of Christ and only Christ. For it alone is all that this world needs. Perhaps we should stop focusing, as a body of Christians, on how best to reach the world with catchy t-shirts, music, books, language, and so on and focus solely on taking the story of Christ to this world. Sure, it'll call for some creativity and ingenuity, but fortunately for us the Creator of the universe is alive in us through the Spirit of Christ!!!

So yeah, that's one way my faith has been tested. I've been pushed to think about over and over again, is Christ really all I need in my life and is He really the ONLY thing I need in life. Each time I question it, I get the same answer. A low, hushed 'yes' that rises to a loud, rejoicing cry of 'YES!'. Indeed, Christ is all we need and all that this world needs.

Secondly, my faith has been tested in ways that God says he's going to move. I've seen God move before, and I've seen Him do some awesome things in the past through people around me and their ministries. What I haven't seen or experienced before is the deafening command I hear each morning I wake up. "Josh, go and I will bless."

Each day on the field has been yet another reminder of how faithful the Lord is and another example of God blessing the faithful. I've seen some of my teammates stretched beyond their comfort zones and then some, and yet God has yet to withhold his blessings on their efforts. It's simply awesome.

While I know God is faithful in blessing our efforts, still myself and I'm sure others on our team have a hard time going out faithfully. We know the Lord will bless us, but sometimes our heart just isn't in it. And each time I catch myself with my heart and mind in other places than the field, the Lord sends a simple reminder (be it a thought, a conversation, etc.) to encourage me to bring my heart and mind back to the mission field that I'm currently on.

I am finding myself living more and more by Hebrews 11:1. When Jeff asked Bruce and I the purpose of our faith, stories and what Christianity was to us. We both had few words. All we could say was its our reason for being, our reason for living, and our reason to get up in the morning. No, we can't always see what God's doing and we can't always see what God has done in our lives at the time...but we have faith that God is there. We have faith that Christ is sufficient enough for us. We have faith that Christ is moving and working in the ways we can see and even more so in the ways we cannot see.

Oops...

2009-07-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

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

I do know where you go, is where I want to be

2009-07-19T00:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day, we had our Chi Kung again. There were three new people today which means that practicing the moves took three times as long, which means...more pain. We were not able to catch the names of the three new faces there today but hopefully we will get to talk to them. It seemed empty today with the absence of Peter, he is in the U.K. till the 29th and we miss him. We were able to stay after and kick the bag and he taught us this new move, he also expanded on the dragon claw teaching. This move scares me cause it is literally something that can kill someone if done right. We stayed over and then finished. I talked with Tony a little bit and mentioned that next week will be our last week doing lessons. We were both sad thinking about it and it makes our time here seem short. We noticed the fruit of our physical labor when we biked up, I did not get too tired biking up the hills.

This past week has been great and God has continued to move in both areas. We are in this crazy stage in our trip where we realize that it is time to get ready to wrap things up. At the same time there are responsibilities that await us back at home, we don't want to be thinking about things there while we are out here but at the same time those things need to start to be addressed. So its super crazy, its hard not to think about the school year that is waiting for us.

I was talking with Luke earlier this week and I was thinking, has this trip been what we were hoping for and can this be a foundation for new parachute projects in the future. After talking to the Campus Crusade people, it has been awesome to hear the things that they have been doing. It was cool to hear about people they have saved and just how they share the Gospel. I felt a little discouraged that our group has not had anyone come to Christ yet and it brings the question, is what we are doing here something that will work? And after thinking about it, we may have not had any conversions yet and no groups have started in the Venice area, but we see the path that is laid if only we had two more months ahead. I do believe with my heart that this process works and can start small evangelically based churches that could change the face of Venice, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles as a whole. So even though we have not had what the common person's requirements for a successful mission trip, I do believe that this trip is a success already and I don't even know what God has in store for us for the last few weeks. I do believe that this new type of church is something that this generation can run with and it has definitely shaped my idea of how a church can look.

Thank you all again for your prayers, here is a list of things to keep in mind when talking to Jesus:

Tony-we are going to get him a Mandarin/English Bible before we leave

Subra-we had a really intense encounter with him lately

Peter-anxiously awaiting his return

Venice Beach

Santa Monica/College

Jeff-Josh and Bruce had intense conversation with him on friday

Window Between Worlds-Kelsey and Storm's volunteer area

Team Unity

Dean-For us to run into him again, we think we could have something good with him

Until next week,

Grace and Peace to you all

Vegetarian Jerky...It Exists....

2009-07-16T01:04:00.000-07:00

If you don't already know this about me - I dislike mushrooms...a lot. I go out of my way to avoid them. If I had to pick between eating a mushroom and stuffing my face with habanero peppers like the guys did the other week...I would choose the peppers any day. So imagine my blissful innocence as Thomas begins to pass around a bag of jerky last night. Luke and he discussed the numerous amounts of things they had learned about Tony that day in his shop - one of them being Tony's decision to forego beef for the rest of his life. And because Tony is such a generous guy, he was all excitement to share his love of vegetarian jerky and send them back to the Church on Pearl with their very own bag. So here I am casually chewing on a bite sized piece of what I believe is likely vegetables and tofu...when someone mentions to me that the thing I had just put in my mouth was actually a piece of fungus....*shudder.* I gulped it down out of sheer courtesy for the rest of the group and quickly grabbed some Apple Jacks to mask the flavor. I really can't think of a wonderful moral to this story or an inspiring quote to invoke deep thought - "ugh" is all that comes to mind...and I don't really have a reason for putting this story in the blog, but it seemed interesting, so what could it hurt?

On to the important things:

The past two days have been wonderful! Kelsey and I have had some amazingly fun times, starting with our trip to the beach with Anuhea. As we became closer, we learned so much about her and her hobbies (which are scarily like mine :.D) and found out about her somewhat-negative past experience in a Christian school and her openness to the laid back idea of having deep discussions in a small group, which is an awesome trait to have in our team's opinion. I can already tell she is an amazingly sweet person and I can't wait to hang out with her again. Kelsey, she, and I have already decided that a repeat of the beach trip must occur before we get on a plane back to NC. I can't wait!

And Kelsey had great discussions with several of the leaders at Window, finding out about their lives, their churches, etc. while carrying out tasks on the computer, printing, labeling folders, etc. My jobs didn't allow me as much time to talk as I was crunching numbers, but I definitely feel that the women appreciate us so much for our work ethic - respect goes a long way out here and I am so grateful that the opportunities have been given for us to show others we care because God cares.

Bruce, Josh, Luke, and Thomas all had amazingly encouraging days. I was so enthusiastic to hear about their days at team time tonight because today was Bruce's day to go out to Starbucks with the "God Story" sign. He got some amazing feedback (both positive and negative) from upwards of 5 people if I remember correctly. We have found as a group that people are very receptive here to those that will listen as they remain firm in their beliefs. Luke and Thomas met with Peter again this morning before he heads back to England for a while, discussing future plans (as well as returning with some pretty intense Chi Kung photos).

Tomorrow we are pushing our day off back a little in order to help an elderly gentleman move his belongings into a truck. Then the group will begin a very difficult task: getting everything we still want to do in LA to fit into the next 2 weeks. The group as a whole has been fighting off the conflicting emotions of homesickness and sadness over leaving so soon. However, we know that this will just strengthen us as we go back to our campus ministry this year and we pray for the continuation of what has been started here in LA this summer.

Always,
Storm

Oh, and because I feel so strongly about it - here are:

5 Ways to Dress Like a Tourist in LA...
1) wear hawaiian t-shirts, high-top socks with sandles, camera on back (or more than one, if
preferred...I have seen up to 3 before)
2) put on fanny packs of any kind (but especially the double sided ones with pockets on front
AND back)
3) adorn yourself with 3 screaming kids, colored sunblock smears, and a baby bag the size of
Montana even though you have no baby
4) carry or wear an "I heart LA/Santa Monica/Venice" t-shirt, hat, water bottle, purse,
bracelet, dog collar, refrigerator magnet, hairbrush, knitting needles, garden hose, and
teapot (all at the same time)
5) wear Chaco's (though they are popular at App, here they get you noticed...not in a bad
way, but Kelsey has had many many questions and comments on hers)

I'm feelin' a bit ANTsy

2009-07-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, glad to see you could make it back to read about another great experience that I have had here in LA...

It started off just as normal as any other day. The usual: wake up, breakfast, make fun of the way Kelsey looks in the morning, etc. We were expected to have a meeting with Ken and Bob around 10:30 this morning. They had quite the time with LA traffic so they didn't make it to the Church until about 11:30 or so. That was completely fine, because some of the guys that stay here at the church were watching a great "wake up and embrace the day" movie...Death Race. So I of course joined in the viewing party and lounged on the sofa. About 20 minutes in, I started itching in various places of my body. Some on my neck, a few places on my back under my shirt, my upper leg. I didn't think twice about it, just scratching a bit, until I prop my feet up and turn on my side. At this moment, my life flashed before my eyes. As I looked out in front of my face, I saw a winding river of blackness. My body froze as I realized what exactly was going on. The pieces of the puzzle was coming together now. I was itching so much because I was laying upon a sea of little black ants, or as I like to call them, Monomorium minimum.

You see, here in Southern California, these little guys are EVERYWHERE. As a matter of fact, I just now found one crawling on my foot...I dunno what it is about this place. So as I lay there for the eternity of 2 seconds, I wonder where else these little guys are venturing on my body...little did I know what awaited me. I jump up and start brushing my body off in a flailing fit in between the audience of the movie and the television screen. So there, 4 other guys watched in awe with blank stares of confusion on their faces while I ran about convulsing across the room. Eventually Josh cautiously asked "what are you doing" and that is when I explained the situation at hand.

Moving on, I sit here constantly scratching every little itch or tingle that I feel while writing this. I am sure those of you reading find yourself doing the same. Aaanywaaay...Bob and Ken walked through the door and we assembled the team. Today's meeting was a bit different than usual. Not only did we direct the point of conversation towards the biblical evidence of the qualifications needed to enter heaven's gates, but an older Swedish gentleman named Bennett walked into the room yelling something about a bake sale. You see, Bennett has been a member at the Church on Pearl since "ninteen seventy-four". He speaks with a strong Swedish accent and is not the quietest speaker by any means. After a short confusion of the bake sale and his visit, we found out (thanks to Bob who was the only one not shocked enough to speak) that the church had actually posted on bulletin an advertisement for a bake sale this morning. Un-luckily for Bennett and the whole city of Santa Monica, there would be no bake sale taking place this at the Pearl. With some short dialouge with the very social Swed, he asked the question "how does one become a missionary". This is when stuff 'got deep'. He of course was referring to us, a group of missionaries that has traveled across the nation to love the people of LA. But what he soon found out is that one can be a missionary, right in your own community. I know this sounds a little juvenile, but I think we sometimes tend to forget that simple fact. Sometimes we focus too much on the people around the world that need to hear about Christ's love, and we forget and overlook those people with the same need right infront of our very eyes. I'll let you chew on that for a bit.

After the meeting we said goodbye and were off to a late lunch and a couple hours on the field. Thomas and Luke had some good quality conversation with Kung Fu Tony and found out that his son is actually a Christian. Cool huh? We'll be praying that God will show the guys a clear 'next step' with Tony and the many other contacts they've made in Venice Beach.

Josh and I had some quiet time at a local coffee shop and ran into Ian, the guy from the Crusades group out here. It was nice to see him again and I am excited to continue our relationship with him and the many other friendly people we met last night at their meeting. We are supposed to be meeting with Jeff soon for our first church service, but he hasn't returned Josh's email. I think I can speak for Josh and I when I say that we are getting pretty excited about what God has in store for this. I hope he responds soon so that we can further our relationship with him and maybe have something to pass on to the permanent church planters here.

Storm and Kelsey spent the day at the beach with Anuhaya, a girl they were introduced to. I won't go into details about that, but instead leave that for Kelsey and Storm to discuss on the appropriate blog days. I can say though that she was interested in the idea of a bible study sometime in the near future. Just pray that God be will be working in her life and preparing her and the girls for what is to come.

Tonight was capped off with some group bonding time and a little bit more "counseling" as we tried to come up with some solutions to the problems we discussed last night about the team dynamics. So what did we do you ask? A 1 a.m. run to Wendy's to stuff our faces with hundreds of calories before coming back and crawling in bed. What can be more physcially and emotionally healthy than that? I recommend trying that sometime if you don't do that on a regular basis. I'm pretty sure Dr. Phil endorses it.

So as I think about the great sleep I'm gonna get tonight, I want to leave you with a few things to pray for.

1. Tomorrow, Josh and I are going out to the coffee shops and I am going to be manning the sign that Josh handled last week. Pray that God gives me comfort and wisdom during this. I am pretty nervous and I am trying to just rely on Him and trust Him to speak through me. Also just pray for some good opportunities and conversation with the people we come in contact with.
2. Pray for each group's patience and encouragement. As we watch time fly by, we are trying to figure out how to tie the loose ends and have something to pass on once we leave LA. Pray that we can just trust God with this and have faith that he will take care of everything as he always does.
3. Our team dynamics. This is a great team of people that I love very much. I couldn't have picked a better group myself and I know God has put us all together here for a purpose. Just pray that we will embrace these 3 weeks that we have here together and to keep each other in good spirits.

Thank you all ONCE AGAIN for everything. Your prayers and support mean so much to us.

Until next Tuesday, stay safe and keep your bug spray at hand.
God Bless,
Bruce

We Are Family: Lessons from Crusaders.

2009-07-14T01:45:00.000-07:00

"We are family, got my brothers and my sisters with me."

The theme of the past couple of days with the 6 of us has been community. Or, should I say the lack there of. I'll just be bluntly honest and say we've all enjoyed one another's company for the past 5.5 weeks, but having spent 24/7 around the same 6 people has gotten to all of us and tonight it boiled over.

Our day started as most others. Breakfast, team time/devo, field time and then we came back to the church. From the church, the 6 of us went to a dinner that the Santa Monica Summer Project Mission Team of 67 Campus Crusade students holds every Monday night. The team and I have met several of their teammates over the past few weeks and we met some more on Sunday. We were invited to go to a dinner with them tonight and to join them for their worship service. So, we did.

I'll be honest again here and say most of us had preconceived notions of what tonight was going to be like. We, our team, and the Cru team have different ministries here in LA and different ways to go about ministering to the people here, so most of the 6 of us had ideas that were quickly proven wrong. When we arrived it was the awkward "Who are the 6 new kids" stare from 134 eyes. It was a little intimidating, but most of the people quickly introduced themselves and it got a little more bearable to be in a room full of people where it was obvious we were the outsiders.

So we split up and ate with the Crusade team members and then joined them for their worship service. Afterwards, we mingled with some of the Cru team members and made some great personal relationships and connections.

This all has a point I promise. Actually, it has two. So, let's just jump into those. It's 1:52AM here in LA and I'm tired.

So:

1 - We realized that the community that these 67 students had was incredible. Living with 67 of the same people for 24/7 seems quite overwhelming. But somehow their group (at least at first glance) seems to be dealing with that in an amazing way. We watched them all get along with one another and know one another, and it was a blessing to see them grow closer to the Lord, the people out here in LA, and to one another all in community. One of the most frequent questions that all 6 of us got was "What's it like living around the same 6 people all day every day?" And while I doubt the Cru people knew what they were REALLY asking, thoughts started racing through most of our team's minds and helped us to realize that when it comes to community in our group of 6, the past couple of weeks has been pretty shiesty. So, when the team got back and had team time, we addressed the concerns, troubles, annoyances and frustrations that each of us were feeling with our community. After almost 3 hours, it seems like we've hashed it out and things are on a much better foot. I know all 6 of us feel like we've made some pretty progressive plans to get better about our community with one another. In fact, Storm said something that touched me more than I expected. She said "Thank you guys and girl for being a part of my first experience with siblings. It's been fun." And then it hit me. We are here as brothers and sisters in Christ and lately we hadn't been acting as a family. After tonight, no longer are we 6 friends, cohorts or anything else...we're brothers and sisters for one another here on the field, in our personal walks with the Lord and in our group times!

2 - The second thing that I personally got excited out of the time with Crusade group is another reminder of the centrality of Christ. What I mean is this: Christ is the single most important common denominator between any two groups or persons of the Christian faith. The group of 67 Crusade students and the 6 of us are here for the same reason: sharing Christ's love. It was a blessing to be reminded that while they may have different ministry views, we're still here with the same passion and heart for the same person: Christ. Being in fellowship, worship and community with them tonight helped our team realize that God is definitely working in big ways, and in ways that we hadn't even seen coming. So tonight, I feel as though I've not only gained 5 brothers and sisters from my team, but also 67 Crusade Team members who have blessed us and encouraged us to live urgently, seizing every opportunity to share the gospel of Christ and to passionately pursue Christ at all times!

So in almost-closing, I want to share this scripture:

Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory." Romans 8:14-17

One of biggest blessings of salvation in Christ is an invitation to the membership of the Holy family. We're no longer individuals, but are now a part of God's family. We're together with our fellow brothers and sisters in faith, and with the big-man himself, Christ. However, this membership must, again I say must, come with a cost...ourselves. We're not invited to share in God's glory easily. We're called to intentionally join in his sufferings the same way he intentionally came to earth and lived a life that lead to the cross in order to achieve the glory of God. So, as fellow members of God's family and brothers and sisters in Christ, I leave myself with this thought for myself, my team and you readers...

What are we intentionally doing to put ourselves in harm's way and live a life that leads to the cross?

Uh, Oh! It's Those Crazy Christians Again!

2009-07-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Awesome readers! Has Jesus been good to you today? He's been the Bomb over here in LA! I'm just sayin' that we kinda serve the flippin coolest God EVER!!! Wonders! Why the enthusiasm? CAUSE MY GOD IS MOVING!!!! And it's cool to be apart of that and see it happening.

I wish I could tell you all the sick nasty awesome ways that God it at work here, but in reality I can't. Partly because if I told you all the ways He's been working that we have seen in our 5 weeks here this blog would take 5 weeks to read. AND partly because I really don't know all the ways that He's moving. He's kinda got a better big picture view than I do. Go figure?! Crazy, right?

Today I woke up, looked at my phone, realized we had 11 minutes to be at Tonys for our Chi Kung lesson, jumped out of bed, punched Thomas' hip, ran out the door, knocked on the girls door, said "Storm we gotta go!" and the proceeded to dress as quickly as possible(back in my room of course, not the living room... that'd be awkward.)

Despite the initial rush in the morning, today was great! We had a good lesson, and met knew people! We met this cool guy who does martial arts choreography for movies here in LA. He had a cool name. His name was Luke. =) The other group had great Jesus coffee shop talking/praying action going on. All in all, a good day. Sunday is a day of rest, but for us it's more like half a day. We get Thursdays as an actual day of.... well... not rest, but a day off anyway. =) Today was alot of reflection on the upcoming week. Everyone has alot lined up for the upcoming week of Jesus spreading. I'm PUMPED!!! I think saying any of the names of God is like a super pumpin' pep talk... or something. What if I said like, Lord,... ooooo... goosebumps of Holy Spirit power!

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FAN-FLIPPIN'-TASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!! So Peter knows that we're Christians now. We told him that love is the greatest thing in life, like livin' by it. He said "It's amazing that at such a young age you all have such an amazing grasp on what life is all about." And then we ended up talking about the idea of house churches, and he wasn't appalled by it! I think we may have some awesomeness of church planting in the works! Peter leaves for jolly ol' England on Wednesday, but we get to have tea with him before that. We get to see him again during our last week here. God has blessed this relationship so far. Pray for more.

OK,
HOW DO WE PRAY? you ask me?
Pray for churches to get started here. Lives to be saved. People to be discipled. Jesus to Move!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask or imagin, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." - - Ephesians 3:20,21

Happy Birthday Josh!!!!!!!!

2009-07-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

This week has been great, it has been one of the quickest here in L.A. I think. Only three weeks left but we are all anxious to see how God will use us in these last few weeks. And to make everything even better, Josh was born today....22 years ago. HOORAY!!!!

So anyways, God has definitely been with our team throughout this week. Friday was great for the Venice team, we ate breakfast with Peter at Gilberts, which is a mexican place. God was with us in the conversation, we talked about lots of things. We found out that Peter is involved with a Daoist community, he considers himself a Daoist but uses the term loosely. He picked us up at the church and upon finding out that Luke's dad was a pastor in the middle east, I think he knows that we are all Christian which was a conversation opener. We talked to him about the state of church today and how there is other forms of church, like house churches, and he seemed to be open to that.

Unfortunately, Peter is leaving for England this Wednesday for two weeks so we will not get time with him as much as we hoped for. On the bright side, we met Ted who is a close friend of Peter. Ted had an accident ten years ago which caused him to be partially paralyzed but he can move for about two hours a day. We caught up with him and Peter on last Wednesday by coincidence (God inspired I think), and he was extremely open to conversation. Supposedly his social circle has diminished due to his disability so he seemed really touched when we talked about talking with him. We talked a little about churches and he seemed extremely receptive to it as well. So the game plan is to keep in touch with Peter as much as possible and while he is away, talk to Ted and maybe we could start some sort of group with them. I am extremely excited about the potential in this situation.

Friday after breakfast was awesome as well, we had tea with Peter and sat out on the grass with him. Storm and I got snagged by Sandra before we were able to join them on the grass. Sandra explained that she has a sister in the hospital, who has cancer and her entire stomach has been removed. The sister's name is Phyllis and we asked if we could pray for her and her sister. Then I explained that I am a Christian and then we ended up having a conversation that lasted over thirty minutes where she basically unloaded her life on me. She attends a gnostic church (I am not aware of what a gnostic church stands for and I should do more research on that) she specified that it was not an agnostic church and that she isnt quite a "believer" but she likes the speaking. She sells water paintings in Venice and is not going to be out there too often this summer but if we see her again hopefully God will bring us some fruitful conversations.

Today we did Chi Kung and it was great. My knuckles got swollen from punching the bag so much. We had tea and conversation but nothing spiritual came up today. And here we are...it is now Sunday and I think our whole team is so ready to see what is ahead of us for the week.

Things to pray for:

+Peter

+Ted

+Venice Beach

+Sandra

+Phyllis

+Jeff (Josh and Bruces connection in Santa Monica for starting a possible new church)

+Santa Monica (and the college)

+Tony

Thank you all the people who have been praying for this trip and the people that we have been talking to, I have truly learned the power of prayer here and we appreciate that you guys are willing to aid us with Jesus power.

Grace and Peace

Dios es increible!

2009-07-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

God is amazing! jussayin. I am so excited about the growth that has occured in all of us this trip! For me this week has been really exciting. Boldness is something that I have been reminded constantly of and continuously praying for it this whole trip. I have been frustrated with myself for my lack of boldness when normally I will talk to anyone. I have been excited this week because I was finally able to tell my fears to be quiet and that I was going to go talk to Weihung before I talked myself out of it. This was such an amazing feeling for me and I thank God for that! I still would ask you to pray for boldness for me. The conversations that God has blessed me with have shown me a lot. Yesterday at Six Flags I was able to talk to a Guatemalan woman, Cara and play peek a boo with her baby girl, Megan. We both only spoke a "pequeno" (little) of each other's language but through signs, motions, and the little bit I remembered from taking Spanish in high school we were able to communicate. It was amazing to me how God allowed us to communicate with such a large language barrier. That was such an exciting feeling!!! They were such a sweet family. We had such a great time at Six Flags! On the rides we felt the greatest possibility of death (aka the ride Tatsu) where it was literally like flying through the air we did a lot of praying, screaming, or laughing uncontrollably depending on how we each handled fear. We have strength in knowing that God is always with us whether riding roller coasters or talking to people about our faith.

Storm, Luke, and Thomas had a breakfast date with Peter this morning which I understand was the most amazing conversation they have had since they arrived in LA! They all seemed very excited about the conversation but are disappointed that Peter will be leaving for a little bit. Thankfully he will be back before we leave though!

Storm and I volunteered this afternoon at A Window Between Worlds! We are really enjoying this place! The ladies that work there are so sweet! Tomorrow they are having a big event The Music and Art Festival 2009 so today we were crazy busy preparing. We loaded lot of cars with items for the event, printed out instructions, contemplated throwing a printer out the window, made signs, and tried to lower every one's stress level. They all did such an awesome job of staying stress free and super organized! Tomorrow (Sat.) we are going to be backup volunteers at the event if someone doesn't show up or if they need other help!!! It is going to be a lot of fun!!!

Josh and Bruce hung out at coffee shops this afternoon praying and brainstorming about Monday when they do the sign again! Luke and Thomas hung out with Tony at his shop for the afternoon! I believe they all had a great day!

We came back and hung out until dinner time! We had pupusas in honor of Josh for his birthday tomorrow! I know we have complimented on the food we have ate a lot but it really has been amazing especially tonight!!! Storm and I worked on our Spanish some more which is always a lot of fun and creates a lot of laughs! Then the group went to see Transformers!!! I thought it was good!!

Be praying for...

Pray for the urgency. Time is flying by literally we only have like 3 weeks left which kind of freaks me out to think about. Pray for the relationships that we have built that we will find the connection point so that they can continue when we are back home. Continue to pray for the relationships as they are still growing and that the spiritual conversations will be easy to have.

Pray for boldness as we talk to people. Pray that we will be very intential when starting conversations and when talking about spiritual matters.

Pray for LA that people will be more receptive to converstations about God.

Pray for the conversations that Bruce is going to have on Monday with people at the coffee shops with the sign. Pray for Jeff, Josh's new friend, that those conversations and meetings continue to be well. Pray that they will be able to have church together and lead to other meetings with friends.

Pray for Chi Kung lessons tomorrow as Luke and Thomas talk to Tony and continue to gain his respect and start God conversations.

Pray for the ladies that work at a Window Between Worlds that we will be able to have conversations with them about God. Pray that the event flows well for them and that they raise money for domestic violence shelters.

Pray that we are continually sharing God's love with people we come in contact with to the point that it becomes a way of life for us!!!

Thank you for reading our blogs and supporting us through pray it means so much to all of us!

Love,

Kelsey

1,2,5, no....22 blocks and no Chinese food!

2009-07-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

As you may be aware, I am a little...okay, a whole day late on getting my blog up. After 2 meetings, 4 hours of hectic volunteer work, and an intense (but heartfelt, I am sure) team time, I just crashed. How lucky am I then that I blog on Wednesdays so I have our free day to redeem myself?

The past week has been a mass of craziness - it's been a rollercoaster ride getting through it all. Speaking of rollercoasters, those are exactly what Josh, Bruce, Kelsey, and our buddy David went on ALL day today (it is 11:00 pm and they are just getting dinner). They found this amazing sale on tickets for Six Flags and decided to spend their day fighting two-hour-long lines and repeatedly plunging to their death...(sorry, I much prefer waterslides so I am a little biased). Luke, Thomas and I had some chill time at the church until lunch time. Then follows this EPIC adventure to walk around the corner to a Chinese restaurant Luke had seen previously. So we walk......14th street.....and we walk......22th street.......and we walk.....36th street...NO Chinese! Sadly, we trudge back to the Subway we had spotted and discuss Luke's possible delusions as we chomp into the deli goodness. We ate dinner at an Arab restaurant and I experienced my first ever Shawarma wrap. They were tasty - much like the gyros we sometimes get on Venice Beach.

The part of the evening I wasn't expecting was the deep discussion Luke, Thomas and I began to have on open-theism at Starbucks afterward. I can't even explain the jumble of thoughts in my brain right now as I consider for the first time the ideas of "falling from grace" and the quandary of God as an All-Powerful being v. a Merciful being. Interesting concepts that I will now have to ponder for days, weeks, and months to come...

However, conversations on controversial spiritual beliefs are only one of the challenges that have come up this week for the team. After the push and encouragement from Ken and Bob, the team has really risen to the challenge of overcoming the fear of beginning conversations and bringing up spiritual topics. Team time has been especially focused on spiritual growth within the team. Josh, as the leader, has led us in opening up with our testimonies and truly thinking about the way Christ has influenced our lives. Many people when they hear the word "testimony," automatically think of the generic "how old were you when you were saved?" or "tell all of the bad things that have happened in your life" or "give the perfect Christian answer." But in reality, a testimony isn't about telling a story from your perspective or a chronology of your entire life... it's about looking back and figuring out where God was in your story, what he means to you because of that, and deciding where to go next in your walk with Him.

There has been relational growth as well as spiritual growth, too. Last Sunday we each gathered gifts to bring to our "house church" type meeting, and mine was a little out of the ordinary. I challenged every member of the group to spend the days before our next meeting figuring out the ways in which they value and appreciate every other member of the group. Yesterday, we sat in a circle and focused our time on each person individually - telling them things that they may or may not have known about themselves, but that show how much we care for each other throughout all of the busyness and craziness of living together for a whole summer. To be honest, I didn't expect my suggestion to fly, but the team was very willing and had a great time experiencing some time focused solely on them and their merits. I can't think of a better encouragement to others than to be shown that they matter.

Tomorrow (if we can get the three who went to Six Flags out of bed,) will be filled with field and volunteer work. We can only ask you and thank you a million times for the wonderful prayers we have gotten - especially as there are many individual meetings and personal discussions occurring in the next couple of days.

Love to you all - and check maps for existing restaurants before setting out on foot! :.D
~Storm

"She spoke Chinese with a 'Bell-Jing' accent."

2009-07-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

Dearest friends,

Today was a pretty good day, I'm not gonna lie. It started off as usual with the most important meal of the day. As we were devouring a plate full of deliciousness, we watched as thousands of people made their way to the Staples Center for MJ's memorial service. I would just like to point out that Lou Ferrigno was interviewed. He was the King of Pop's PERSONAL trainer...how sick-nasty-awesome is THAT?! One would think that with having an ex-Hulk as a trainer, Michael would have been a lot more buff...

Aaaaanyway, after watching a bit more of this spectacle, we made our way to our separate areas. Josh and I took on Montana Ave and the coffee shops. Luke and To-Mas were dropped off in Venice. And Kelsey and Stromboli (Storm) walked over to Santa Monica College.

For Josh and I, today was a pretty much a day of processing. We had to go over what we had learned about yesterday with the sign that we had made, and the people Josh had talked to. Josh had e-mailed Jeff (from Agapa, the spiritual community) and set up a meeting for Friday between 2-4 pm. They should be sitting down for about an hour or so just discussing in more detail about what we are doing here. It'd be really awesome if we could get together with Jeff and some of his friends and just have some good conversations and share our faith with one another. With that said, just continue to pray for this situation and for Josh as he will be meeting with Jeff one-on-one Friday.

Thomas and Luke had a pretty slow day up until about 30 minutes before we picked them up. They stopped by Tony's (Chi Kung master) shop just to say hello. Tony ended up offering them some tea which lead to some good conversation. Soon after Peter and his friend Ted showed up at the shop where they all got to hang out together. This was the guys' first time meeting Ted. Apparently Ted and Peter were martial art buddies until an accident almost paralyzed Ted. Now he spends the largest part of everyday on his back to build up spinal fluid just so he can walk around a few hours a day. The really good news is, he lives pretty close to Santa Monica College, which is right across the street from where we stay (and if you have been keeping up with us then you probably already know that). So hopefully Luke and Thomas will be seeing a lot more of him. Also, Peter is going to have breakfast with Storm, Thomas and Luke Friday morning. So keep them in your prayers and ask that God bless them with good conversation and fellowship.

Finally, Storm and Kelsey had an interesting day over at SMC. Storm was approached by a guy named Moses. He initially asked her if she was interested in coming to a bible study, similar to the guy last week. Come to find out those guys are connected. Storm explained what we are doing and if they find the time they may check that out sometime soon. While this was going on, Kelsey decided to go talk to a girl that was by herself. Her name was Weihung, or Wei. She just graduated from Beverly Hills High School and is taking summer classes at SMC. Her and her family moved to the US from China when she was 8 years old. Kelsey informed us that she spoke Chinese, but that she had an accent from "Bell-Jing"...

Let me take this time to explain. Bell-Jing is the city in which the 2008 Summer Olympics were held. It is the capital of the People's Republic of China and the second largest city in the country, after Shanghai, with a population of about 17 Million people. Some people may pronounce the name as Beijing, but Kelsey's AMAZINGLY accurate pronunciation of "Bell-Jing" was spot on...we think she just got Belgium and Beijing intertwined, which is very understandable.

Back to what's important. Kelsey conversed with Wei for about 2.5 hours and ended up finding out she was Atheist/Agnostic. She had grew up Bhuddist but her family had only practiced it because of tradition. Hopefully they girls will be able to continue to see Wei and build a relationship with her while we are here.

Well, tomorrow we meet with Jonathan Stockstill around 10:30 am and then Kelsey and Storm are taking off to volunteer while us guys go out into the areas a while. Ted Knapp will be meeting with us also in the afternoon/evening for a dinner meeting from 4:30 until 8 pm or so.

Ok ya'll, it's late. I hope this wasn't too unbearable to read. I usually try to throw in more humor but I am per-itty tired. I promise I will make up for it. We definitely appreciate the prayers and encouragement from you all. I will leave you with a few things to continue praying about:

1- Team dynamics. Living with and seeing the same people all day, everyday for a month gets a little tough sometimes. I doubt anyone of the others would say it on the blog, but I pull no punches (that's a lie). But I am sure they all are feeling the strain too. We all love each other but just pray that we continue to show it haha.
2- Opportunities. Opportunities. Opportunities. Whether it be from meeting new people to good discussion with those we have met. We know that God is definitely working and has been. And with faith and prayer He will for sure bring great things out of the next 4 weeks.
3- What happens after we leave. We are half-way finished with this awesome adventure. We still have a lot of time left, but we must start thinking of how to hand this off to the right people once we leave so that they may continue what we have started. We are not sure how that is gonna work yet but we are figuring that out.

I love you all and I thank you once again for everything.
God Bless,
B-Ruce

A Sign.

2009-07-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me just how God works. Sometimes, I expect big things and its in the still, small moments that I hear Him the most and sometimes I expect nothing and God hits me with boulders that I didn't see coming. Well, today, I wasn't sure quite what to expect.

At our first meeting with Ken & Bob a story came up about how Ken sat in a coffee shop one day with a sign that said "Tell me your God story and get a free coffee." When I first heard this story, I was a little skeptical. First I thought to myself "Doesn't that only attract Christians?". Next I thought to myself, "How can he afford that?" and finally, I thought "What a weird way to get people to talk about God." Well, about four days later as I was sitting in a coffee shop and reading Brennan Manning's "Signature of Jesus" (a book on what it means to be a disciple) I was reading a chapter about 'celebrating the darkness'. The general jist of the chapter was if you find yourself surrounded by darkness, loneliness and a place void of everything comfortable...then you're probably right where God wants you and desires you to be. Manning goes on to talk about how it's only when we use our faith that we have faith and its only when we enter into the 'darkness' that we push back the darkness and how if we're not intentionally putting ourselves in those dark places, and if we don't find ourselves in the 'dark' a lot...then we're probably not committed to the lifestyle of a disciple.

As I was reading this chapter, I began to think about Ken's story and I was challenged. What was I doing to intentionally put myself in harm's way for the sake of Christ, others and love? The answer was deafening...nothing. I began to think about Ken's story and how it seemed to be a great way to put oneself out in the darkness. So, I shared my thoughts with Bruce and he and I began to pray about it starting last week. Throughout the rest of the week, anticipation and excitement grew about the idea of doing this "God Story" sign, and we knew that it was something that God was calling us to be obedient to. So, we decided that today, Monday, would be the first day we did it.

So, we did it. I guess the story of today really started last week and picked up intensely yesterday, Sunday. I began to think a lot more and pray a lot more about what this meant for mine and Bruce's faith walks. We were about to put ourselves out there for people to comment one way or the other about our faith, make faces at us, agree, disagree, love and hate us. For me, it was undoubtedly the first time I'd ever done anything like it...which is pretty sad at the age of 22 (Okay, this coming Saturday I'll be 22. I'm rounding!). My whole last year of college was spent trying to pursue holiness, and what this "God Story" sign thing has taught me is that I was only getting half of the picture of holiness. God's greatest commandment to us is "Love God, love your neighbor.'' My senior year at ASU had been all about the first half, and completely missing the last half. Sure, I loved those around me that were easy to love (most of the times) like family and friends, but if I really think about it...I hadn't gone out of my way to love those that didn't deserve it or that I didn't know needed it. I hadn't put myself out there for the sake of love of others and God. So, today was my first step in the second half of God's greatest commandment. At least that's how I'm looking at it. Don't get me wrong, I in no way think I've got all of the first half of it down pat...but the second half of it I haven't really touched at all. Until today, I never realized how much of God's presence I was missing out on by just being obedient to the first half of God's greatest commandment. This past year was the first time that I really felt like I was surrendering my life to be with God and it was a blessing to be in the presence of God in so many ways. But after today, I've learned I was only experiencing a small portion of God.

So, let's get down to the logistics of what today looked like. It first started with some intense praying as I lay down for sleep last night. Then, I woke up this morning early to have some quiet time, preparation time and more prayer time. I was nervous as all get out when I woke up, so I knew I was going to only be able to go through the day with two things: God working through me and the prayer and accountability of those around me. So, I sent out a mass text to my prayer support group asking for extra prayers today, got a shower and prayed all morning, and wrote out the sign which eventually said "Tell me your God story (good, bad, believer, or non-believer) and get a FREE small coffee of your choice."

So Bruce, Kelsey, Storm and I piled into the car and went to Montana Street. We dropped the girls off at Peet's coffee to spend the day. We decided it may look a little weird and be awkward for people there if they saw a group of four people walking up, talking and taking up 2-3 tables while one of them put a weird sign asking for God stories. So, we dropped them off and Bruce and I headed to Starbuck's down the road. We got there and in my prayers I'd been praying for the outside table right beside the door going in. Weather isn't ever an issue (it never rains here) and it was a beautiful day for God to do His work. The table is probably the most seen table and probably the best location to bee seen. So, sure as God is God, we walked up and it was open. I put my stuff down and taped the sign on the back of one of the chairs. Bruce took a table inside. You see, Bruce and I had decided that it would be best if we were both at the same coffee shop while one of us did the sign thing and the other one of us prayed all day for the other person and the people they would be talking to. So, it worked out that I was the guy with the sign and Bruce was the prayer warrior.

So I sat down and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited. I definitely got some interesting looks. Some people went so far as to laugh out loud at such an 'obsurd' idea I heard it called. Some people gave the friendly smile. Some people saw the sign from their cars at the intersection, slowed down and read it. Some people gave looks of confusion. And still, others read it and kept on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. These looks kept up for about an hour and a half. Then Surinder (pronounced Surrender) sat down beside me. She looked at me and said "Is that yours?" I nodded. "Why?" My response came from nowhere other than Christ. Its weird really. I couldn't have thought of the answer I gave her, but through the prayers of those at home, Bruce, my teammates, and so on...God began to speak through me. I said something along the lines of "Well, I think everyone has a story and someone needs to listen to it. Someone needs to say 'Hey, I love and care about you, but more importantly so does God.'" Again, the response just flew out of my mouth and I was surprised myself. Not at how good of an answer it was, but how I could feel the presence of God settling on this conversation.

The conversation picked up and Surinder began to tell me about her life. She is of Indian descent, but lived in Canada most of her life. She followed a guy to LA, broke up with him and found another one and got married. She's been in LA for 8 years now and is still loving it. She's a Sikh follower (http://fateh.sikhnet.com/s/SikhIntro) and her husband is a Buddhist. Due to some life difficulties (death of her mother, back surgery) she's had some troubles lately with starting her business. But, she's hopeful and excited about where it's going. That was pretty much the depth of our conversation. She talked in detail some about her Sikh faith, but if I tried to get into those details on here, it wouldn't make sense. So, check out the provided website. Anyways, after she left I was excited. I'd been praying and I know others were too, that God would send at least one person today, and here one person had come and gone. We had some pretty good conversation, it was spiritual, but it wasn't too in-depth.

I'll admit, at first I was a little discouraged by the lack of depth to the conversation. I guess I had gone into today thinking that God was going to do VISIBLE great things. I expected tears, I expected salvation, I don't really know actually...but I think I was expecting more than what the conversation with Surinder was about. But, after she left and I began to process, here I was and already in a matter of a 20 minute conversation, I knew about this woman's faith, family, business, and recent hardships. God had far exceeded my expectations and there was no way I should have tried to keep Him in such a box.

So, after Surinder left and I got over the discouragement, I got really excited. I promise, it's hard to explain, but after that on the sidewalk outside of Starbucks, I knew God was there and ready to do some work. So, I sat and waited for the next conversation. It would be another two hours before another one came along.

In that tw0-hour time period though, there were several more questions of why I was doing this, what was the 'catch' or purpose, and so on. One lady thought I was writing a screen play. When I told her what I was really doing, she smiled sweetly and said "Oh that's so cute. You're so sweet." Except, it was kind of like the "Uh, how do I take this. What do I say now?" kind of thing. Either way, I was encouraged because she'd taken the time to ask.

So, during those two hours I kept praying "Okay God, I've got one under my belt. I feel comfortable talking about it. Now, just send one more. Just send one more..." then my prayer began to repeat itself. In fact, most of my prayers today were all repetitions of one another. I've never prayed the same few prayers for so long, but never once did they seem redundant. Instead, I found myself feeling like I was communicating with a God who was letting me delight in His presence.

So, after two hours of praying "Just one more. Just one more, God." Two more came along.

Bruce and I had planned to go at 3 o'clock and it was about 2:00 when the second conversation came along. We'd been at it since 11AM, and here it was 3 hours later and starting my second conversation. It started with a "That's different," comment by one man named Adam. He'd seen the table, read the sign and said "I'll think about it. Let me get my coffee and I'll be back." So, while he was getting his coffee, I prayed "Okay God, speak through me and bless Adam!" When Adam came back, he didn't take a seat but wanted to talk. He and I talked for the next 10-15 minutes about his story. Actually, he claimed he didn't have one. He was an athiest/agnostic (he said he was each one, but never made a clear distinction) with one goal in life: rid the world of all organized religion. His first question was, "So, you must be an evangelical Christian with a evangelical goal in mind?" To this I responded yet again in ways that I don't think I could have normally thought of. "No sir. I'm a Christian, yes. But, I have no purpose here other than to listen and hear your story and let you know that God loves you and I care and love you as well." He paused, and stared for a second. "Wow, I've never seen that approach before." He then commended me on being able to be a Christian but not one who was shoving it down anyone's throat. He'd never encountered such a Christian before. Then he said, "You know, I'd love to sit down but all I could offer is a debate and you and I both know we don't want that. I know I'm right and I know you think you're right." So, I agreed. I didn't want a debate. So, I asked him some more about his atheist/agnostic views and why he hated organized religion. Simply put, he thought it was all hypocrisy. When I said I agreed to some extent, again he was stunned. He asked me some more about the whole "love" thing and if it was real. I said yes, I do love the people around me and do want them to know that God loves them too. From there, he told me his 'message' for me: atheists and agnostics love too. They're not people who hate and are angry all the time. In fact, in order to be a true agnostic/atheist, you must adopt a humanist view of loving your neighbor. After his brief message, he again reiterated his disdain for organized religion, and how his main purpose in life was to get people like me to lose their religiosity. Let me say here that never once, again I say, NEVER ONCE, was this an argument or confrontation. It was two people dialoguing in a respectful manner about their beliefs (or lack there of). So, he told me some more about how he wanted to be an agent of change for the Atheist/Agnostic community and to encourage more love and less religion, in fact that's why he was getting his master's in "that stuff". So, I told him that much like him, I wanted to be an agent of change in the name of God and for the sake of love. Just like he wanted to be the 'different' atheist/agnostic, I wanted to be a new face of organized religion and to show that there are people out there that aren't about steeples, money and politics (those were his lists). At this point in the conversation, he was stunned again. I don't think he expected what I said. So, he again commended me on my non-confrontational manner and idea of 'witnessing'. His closing remarks were "You know, if there is a 'God' or a guy who can be so creative, then he must be pretty cool. If you really can create perfectly the eye of a bee to the design of a sunflower, then he's one f*#$ing cool guy!" My response was "Well, I believe in that God and guy, and you're right...he is one f'n cool guy." He smiled and said "Well, that's alright then." We shook hands, and peacefully parted ways. Thank you Adam!

After Adam left, a man sitting next to me looked over and said "You know, you handled that beautifully. I don't think it could have been better to be honest." He left his seat and sat down in front of me in 'the chair'. He asked a little about what the premise of the sign was, then proceeded to tell me his 'God' story. His name is Jeff and he's a writer. He cares a lot about the wellness of people and just published his first book on it with his brother. So, yesterday in a restaurant a woman and he kept locking eyes and he finally approached her. She said he'd looked familiar but didn't know why. Then he asked her if she believed in 'preminitions' and she said yes. Eventually, their conversation ended with her encouraging him in his new journey of writing and he couldn't help but think that was a Divine sign that God wanted him to do what he was doing.

So, Jeff and I began to talk. I asked him about his spirituality/faith and he willingly shared. He's a part of a faith community out here in LA, Agape, that is a spiritually driven community. Most of their texts come from the Bible, but they share some from the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual texts. He began to ask me a lot of questions on why I was out here, what I was doing, what it meant for me to love someone, what I considered a 'successful' day of showing a Divine love, what I wanted this trip to lead to and so on. I was pretty open with all my answers. I told him I'd come out here with a group of college friends in hopes of starting a church. First and foremost, our priority was to love at all costs and our end goal was to get a church going. He seemed very interested in this idea and how it wasn't about being in a building with a steeple, but a faith community that sharpened one another in the presence of God and encouraged one another through the Spirit. He compared what we were trying to do to much of his faith community. I tried to avoid the comparisons, but he took them there sometimes. Fortunately, most of our conversation was on what it meant to love people, how we experienced God (him through wellness {yoga, proper dieting, meditation, etc.} and me through nature), and how LA was a place in need of a lot of love. So, eventually I got his contact information and have some tentative plans to get together with him again. He again encouraged me in how I approached Adam and in what my team and I were doing, then he went back to his table. Once he got there, we just couldn't stop talking. He gave me some GREAT tips on being a writer and I'm excited about where this new friendship may take me. Already, I've been exposed to a new idea of 'spirituality' out here and tons of new spiritual conversations.

I'm hoping that Jeff and I can get together again (possibly with some of his friends) and really wrestle over the matters of God together. I know it will be difficult (one of the contributors to the book The Secret is one of their leaders) because while he is kind of the 'as long as love and obedience to God is there, you're doing good' mindset (this including all religions), I'm of the 'Christ and His love matters most" mindset. So, I'm hoping for some more conversations and getting to know Jeff some more!

I could definitely talk a lot more about today. But, I'll close with this: for the first time in my life, I knew what God meant by love Him and love my neighbors. You cannot participate or rejoice in the presence of God by only loving Him and not our neighbors. We're missing half of the picture of God if we do that! So, today was my first step in that direction of surrendering myself at all costs to be in the presence of God by loving Him and loving my neighbors. It was an intense couple of days being in constant prayer, spiritual conversation, and participation in a relationship with God...but it has definitely been a blessed couple of days. I feel like I've learned more about God in the past couple of weeks than I did all year trying to read and memorize scripture, pray a lot, meditate a lot, fast, and 'be holy'. So, I challenge you readers to practice all of the Great Commandment. For if you don't, then you're missing out on all that God has to offer!

So thanks for making it this far in reading. Thanks to those of you that prayed all day long. I want to especially thank my prayer group for being faithful prayer warriors and especially Bruce. I believe wholeheartedly if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been able to say and act the way I did today. Today wasn't about me doing or saying great things, but it was definitely a group effort of practicing boldness and courage to sit in front of a sign all day...asking for a God story. So, thanks team and I love and appreciate you all!

Some things to pray for:

1 - Another day of the sign: Bruce is going to do the same thing this coming Friday at another coffee shop. He'll be doing the talking with people while I pray. Start the prayers now because the more the better! Pray for openness, obedience, words, wisdom and courage!

2 - Jeff: I look forward to more conversations with Jeff and hopefully some of his friends! Pray that God would bless me with more opportunities to talk with him and share with him!

3 - The Adam's of this world: It breaks my heart to know that organized religion has driven people to the point of making their life goal to disband it. Pray that God would forgive those that forced it on Adam and that Adam would one day meet that ''pretty f#*$ing cool God" that created the sunflower and bee!

(Okay, so I know I said I was done but one more 'praise the Lord' thing. One of the things Bruce and I were worried about was financially being able to pay for an infinite amount of coffee if God brought an infinite amount of people our way. Not once did any of the 3 people or any of the other aside conversation people ask for their coffee. They just wanted someone to listen and someone to love them! So, we've been blessed and have the funds to buy a lot of coffee, but today was not the day that we had to use it!)

2009-07-06T01:24:00.000-07:00

Today both teams went out into the world and had some good conversations in each of their areas. Three of us went and hung out in coffee shops talking with people and three of us went to chi kung. We're all enjoying our new outlook on our ministry here. Thanks to Ken and Bob we are all getting a huge kick out of working for Jesus. WHOO HOO!!!

We had a wonderful church experience today as well. The team is really coming together as the body and learning how the church according to the gospel should be. I'm enjoying it alot.

So I'm only gonna throw out one prayer request today. Pray that our groups would mobilize the people we are reaching into a church. The best thing for our areas would be active, mobile believers at work there. That requires us to be the ones to do that. Whether finding stale believers or making new ones. I'm hoping for both. Pray for that. Pray hard. Pray with Faith. Pray with Hope.

God's blessings on you all,
Grace and Peace,
Luke =)

Happy Independence Day!!

2009-07-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

Happy fourth of July!

We had our Chi Kung lessons today and there was a smaller class size than usual due to the holiday, they turned out good. We learned how to pull someone's trachea out with our hands. We are excited about continuing that relationship and we are getting more and more of Tony's respect. The rest of the day was fun, we had a cookout at Rosita's house. Hispanics are the best cooks ever, just gonna throw that out there. Then we watched fireworks and almost got blown up, i was scared for my life. But it was a great time and it was fun to join in the Hispanic church's community.

Keep praying for our areas and the relationships that we are forging, thank you guys for the support.

Only four weeks left.

2009-07-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

When we arrived here we thought eight weeks was going to be a long time and we have been surprised by how fast the weeks have flown by. Now we are down to four weeks and constantly reminded of the urgency of our mission and that we need to be bold about that mission.

Fridays are our days to meet with Ken and Bob, so that is how our day began! We talked about what we had been doing since the last time we talked. I think most of us felt disappointed that we didn't have a ton of exciting stories to tell Ken and Bob. Together we did an exercise where we all split up and brainstormed ideas about what we would do if we had four weeks left to plant a church and to come up with questions to start a conversation. The ideas that we thrown out there were great but Bob said something that made since and that was "Think lean and fast." He was trying to remind us that these spiritual conversations don't have to be well planted out but rather let them happen where they are. We are called to show God's love to people and to intentionally initiate conversations with them. Sometimes I think that we allow fear to get in the way which in reality is ridiculous. I mean what is the worse that could happen to us?? Rejection. I liked Bob's answer to that question which was "death but then we will be in heaven so is it really the worse." In my opinion we know this and we have been told this numerous times but somehow when we are about to start a conversation with people we chicken out. They challenged us not think twice but rather to just go and start a conversation. We are praying that God will give us courage and boldness. They suggested that we set a daily covenant with God to talk to two people before we eat dinner and to make these conversations very intentional about talking about God. I think we felt challenged by this conversation so that we will be more bold about talking to people. It is not about being comfortable but rather about taking that leap of faith and talking to that person God has put in our lives.

After this conversation some were ready to jump out there and get started. Thomas and Luke headed out to Venice on our newly repaired bikes (thanks to Jeff). They decided to talk to the Christian Science people and after learning about their beliefs could be called unsaved. After their conversation today they got an invite to come back and talk. On the boardwalk in Venice they talked with James, the painter, again and got a lunch invite. Success!!!!

Josh and Bruce went to the Starbucks to have God conversations in the coffee shops. Bruce was bold enough to ask a man setting near him if he could pray for anything specific for him. Prayer is such an important part of missions. Storm and I hit up the laundry mat (It is amazing how much laundry there is between six people) and did the group laundry. While Storm and I were having an intense conversation about what we believed with each other we knew that a woman near us was listening. Later she talked to us about laundry and told us a little bit about her children but unfortunately the conversation did not go farther than that. Then the four of us went to Starbucks on Montana. We did a lot of people watching and processing.

We came back and folded laundry....fun fun! Then after dinner, we decided to go to the beach to watch the sunset and play frisbee. Thankfully we had a glow in the dark frisbee!!! This was actually fun as opposed to folding laundry. We decided we wanted some "treats" so we went to McDonalds which turned into an interesting experience. If you ask Josh or Bruce they might say that we dodged a bullet but the rest of us would just say we were a little sketched out by the guys we saw that borrowed Josh's phone. Then we came back and chilaxed (combination of chill and relax)!! Altogether a great day!

So if you could continue to pray for us that would be awesome!!! Specifically for....

boldness.... that we will intentially start spiritual conversations with people that we come in contact with.

courage.... that we will not fear talking to people because we all are completely capable and should have nothing to fear especially with God on our side.

relationships.... the relationships to grow that have already been started and the ones that are still to come. That they will be open to spiritual conversation. Pray for the people we are going to be talking to that God puts in our pathway.

Pray for the people in LA.

With love,

Kelsey

"Life can swallow you whole" - a survivor of domestic violence

2009-07-02T00:37:00.000-07:00

Today was a field work day. After our new routine of breakfast, some form of caffeine, and a few pages in our daily packet devotional (compliments of Bob), the group prepared for another day of intense missional experiences. And intense it was...

Luke and Thomas were the first to be dropped off at Venice Beach for the day. Kelsey and I were dropped off a little farther down the strip as well for some quiet time and our new volunteer work at a place called "A Window Between Worlds." Josh and Bruce then headed to a street in Santa Monica where they planned to frequent coffee shops for meaningful conversation.

Kelsey and I were early for our 12pm volunteer appointment, so we had some quiet reflection time in Cafe Collage (to Luke and Thomas: We got there first! :.D hehe). Then we began the walk towards the most peaceful, residential road in the Venice Area. The non-profit organization is located in an apartment/house complex that looks really secretive at first glance. You would honestly never know it was there if not for the small label on the intercom box out front. (Let me just start out by saying that having to use one of those intercom systems to be "buzzed" into a place was a really cool experience and made me feel extra important.) Then began the amazing process of learning all about the place.

We took a tour and met Cathy, the woman who founded A Window Between Worlds, which trains leaders in art therapy to help out women and children who live in shelters because they are or were victims of domestic violence. The place is completely covered in this amazing artwork that inspires everyone, no matter the talent of the person or the materials used. Kelsey and I met the 7 or 8 women who have basically trained over 200 leaders that take the program back to just as many shelters around the United States, "even Alaska and Hawaii" (they were fond of telling us). Our jobs for the day consisted of cutting out paper hands for an event coming up, painting envelopes, addressing and stuffing the most personalized thank-you letters I have ever seen an organization make into beautiful envelopes, cleaning and re-molding colored clay, and carrying art books from the office into the training room.

Because of my love of art and Kelsey's passion for social work, we enjoyed everything about the place and hope to become even more familiar with the people in it. The most outgoing and bubbly of the group, Christy, has already made a special bond with Kelsey over the song "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts and showed us her own spiritually-filled artwork, which Kelsey is hoping will lead to more conversations about the subject in the future. I can't even explain how it affected me to hear and read about the stories of women and children survivors of domestic abuse while seeing the artwork they created - basically unearthing their deepest secrets, fears, and hidden lives. It's amazing the blessing that I have in my parents and loving family.

Though our work was simple and repetitive, just doing those easy tasks seemed to be a Godsend to them - they were so sweet, even giving us hugs before we left (something I haven't seen a lot of here when knowing people for such a short time.) I know Kelsey and I both enjoyed the day, finding our niche in different areas of the work we did and interactions we had. We plan to go back every Wednesday and Friday.

Team time tonight unearthed some struggles for all groups, however.
Here are some areas for prayer:
1. Both Josh and Bruce, and Luke and Thomas have dealt with the disappointment of having several of their key people of outreach being strangely absent for the past two days.
2. Schedule frustrations have come up due to lack of our key mode of transportation (aka. our bikes are broken...sad day.)
3. Issues with finding the "right words to say" and ways to broach more spiritual conversation.
4. Distractions of all kinds.

We are doing our best to remain encouraged and energized for each new day. As the team is figuring out how to effectively and purposely "love" as Jesus did, we want to thank everyone again and again for their continued love and support of us.

Blessings, Storm

I don't drink coffee...sort of.

2009-07-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

HI!

As you all know, I fell down out of the shower last week. Just a quick update, I am officially NOT sore any more and feel comfortable standing while bathing now (thanks to the shower mat).

This morning started quite early for Josh and I. Around 5:30 this morning we woke up in order to get my new friend Amber back to the airport. Oh yeah and Sara...she was leaving too (thank goodness). No I'm kidding, they are both great people and devoted blog-readers of the LA Parachute Project. I am lucky to have met them and they are certainly part of the team now. I am actually Facebook friends with both of them now, which I take pride in. They'll probably want to hang out with me again once school starts back in the Fall. I could probably spare some time out of my busy schedule to see them again...

Upon our return from LAX Josh and I got about another hour of sleep before waking up to breakfast burritos via Lupita. They were "violently" delicious as Luke would say. After the meal, the team sat down together to do a few pages of the devotion that Bob gave us. Before I go any further I want to give you all something to think about from the packet.

Someone once remarked:
"I was going to ask God why He allows so much suffering and injustice
to continue in the world. But I decided not to because I was afraid He
might ask me the same question"

That was the first thing in the devotion that we read this morning, and it has been running through my mind all day. I won't dive into that right now because of all there is to say about it, but I will say that Bob's devotion is teaching me a lot of things that I thought I knew but is vividly reminding me of. I think that sometimes we forget that we are here on earth to LOVE one another. We often get caught up in satisfying ourselves and our selfish desires. I am definitely guilty of this myself, but Romans 12:10 says "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

After our devotion we set out to our first day on the field since last week when we started making the changes to our strategy. Kelsey and Storm walked over and spent the day hanging around Santa Monica College. They told us of some interesting people they saw on campus and the hangouts at which people spend their time in between classes. Tomorrow they are both actually going to do some volunteer work in the inland area of Venice. You will hear more about that in tomorrow's blog.

Luke and Thomas spent the day in Venice Beach. They got to talk to a few people that they were hoping to have conversation with, including the artist that Josh felt pulled towards. Turns out he is a pretty cool guy and is looking forward to seeing Thomas and Luke in the near future. They also had some good conversations including an Egyptian man that was actually a believer and went to a local church. This is definitely some exciting and encouraging news.

Josh and I hung out on Montana Ave here in Santa Monica. This is where a lot of the locals spend their time away from the tourists. We've discovered that coffee shops are THE place to be. We'll be spending a lot of time there for the next couple of weeks, and the funny thing is...I came into this trip hating coffee. I still hate coffee, but I have found ways to get around it. Such as getting a 10,000 calorie frapuccino (for the glory of God of course). I gotta fit in, ya know? We spent the morning in Starbucks and after lunch we walked a couple of blocks up towards Peet's Coffee and Tea Company. But on the way I stopped by the Barber Shop to get a quick haircut. It is there where I met June, a very petite Asian lady who has been cutting hair for fifteen years. I am not sure how long she has been living in the US, but she probably told me and I just couldn't understand. She seems like an awesome old lady, but her accent was pretty bad. You see, she kept asking me how long I have been here in LA and I kept telling her almost a month. I had no idea why she kept asking me the same thing over and over so I also kept replying the same. As she turned me around towards the mirror and yelled a bit louder "do you comb your hair to the side?", I then realized that she really didn't care how long I have been in LA, but only which way I part my hair...

Josh and I left Peet's a bit early because we were both physically drained, and the people there were a bit more interested in their Macbooks and iPods than anything we had to offer. So we came back and took a much needed nap. After an awesome dinner most of us went out to get a few groceries and a little piece of home, Krispy Kreme donuts. The rest of the night included our team time and a game of Spades between Kelsey/Josh and Luke/Myself. Luke and I won of course.

Well it is 1:04 in the am here, and we have another big day tomorrow. The room is lit only by the backlight of my PC and the air conditioning is making its low humming noise that puts me to sleep every night. I need to get up and work some of these donuts off in the morning but before I go, I will leave you with some things to pray about.

1. That God continues to bless our team with excitement and good spirits. I think I speak for the whole team when I say that I look forward to what He has planned for us in the next few weeks.
2. That He provides us with good opportunities to love other people and conversation in the areas that we are working in, and that we have the boldness and wisdom to find and jump on those opportunities.
3. For June, the lady who cut my hair in the barber shop. I know I joked a bit about her, but she really seems to be a kind old lady. I don't know her story or where she stands spiritually. I don't know if I will ever see her again, but I pray that God blesses her in her life.
4. Finally, for us Christians to put other's needs before our own, especially non-believers. And that we show the same love for someone that we do not know, as the love that we would show our own brother.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.
God Bless,
Bruce

An Expensive Lifestyle.

2009-06-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

These past few days have been especially intense, blessed and amazing. We, the team, have grown a lot and are refocused on what we came out to accomplish here, which is to love in LA. We're all really excited about the future and what it holds for us these next several weeks.

Today started off with another awesome meal via Lupita. I'm sure you're all expecting us to say something about how amazing breakfast is, so here's my input once again. It was basically like a host of angels doing the Cha Cha Cha Slide on my tongue palate. Yeah, it was that good. It's actually one of my favorite meals she cooks: spinach & pepper omelets, hashbrowns, sausage, bread and fresh fruit.

After breakfast the team started the day off with doing this new devotional packet that Ken and Beb left us. So far it is all about the love of Christ. We only did the intro, so I'm sure some more interesting stuff is coming down the barrel on it. After the devo the team went prayer walking at the Venice boardwalk and then over to Montana St. in Santa Monica. This was a unique PW experience for a couple reasons. First, we had two new members with us. Sara Nichalson and Amber McKenzie joined us out here in LA for a few days to come visit and see what LA had to offer. They went on the prayer walk this morning with us which I thought was pretty awesome. I'm sure (actually, I know since we talked about it) that it was a culture shock for them, and you'll have to ask them about what their thoughts were, especially on the Venice area. It was especially awesome for me to have those two people with us. They came out to visit here with me and it was a neat experience having them join our team. Our team definitely felt encouraged by their presence and excited to see other ASU faces. Also, they two of them are in my prayer group of close friends and relatives and having been praying for our team on a regular basis. So, I think it was a neat opportunity for us and for them because not often do members of a prayer team get to go and experience the mission they've been praying for over the past 3 weeks and have committed to over the next 5 weeks. I also truly think it was a blessing for me to see how they reacted and responded to the ministry our team has going on out here. One of the most difficult things our team has discovered over the past few weeks is how to explain what we're doing out here to people back at home. Surprisingly, not many respond well to "Loving people in LA." But, once Sara and Amber got to stay with us for the past few days, I'm convinced they know more about what I mean when I try to describe what's going on out here.

Anyways, thanks Sara and Amber for coming out here! Also, our prayer walk was different because 3 of our bikes are broken, so we walked the whole way. This may seem trivial, but for me as I've processed the day I think the Lord was at work. We've been talking lately about what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ and how to love people with the love of Christ. We've come to the conclusion that it may lead us to some pretty dark and dirty paths, and we must faithfully choose what we would do. One day recently when discussing this, we talked about the African pastor who wrote an eloquent last journal entry of what it means for him to be a disciple. In it, he quotes: I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. The part that has rung like a bell in my ears over the past few days was the "smooth knees" part. It hits me because it's like God is continually showing me just how dedicated my life must be in order to be a disciple of Christ and lover of Him and all people around me. I must sacrifice my comfort, my pride, my well-being (financially, emotionally, and physically if need be) in order to love boldly, live loudly, live holy, and follow Christ. When I'm forced to see just how rough I've made my knees and just how little I've put myself in the way of harm (spiritual attacks, failure, etc.) I see how far I've got to go to live as Christ.

The lifestyle of a Christ and people lover is not one that is cheap. No, it comes with a cost...and an expensive one at that. We're to love at all costs. When Ken asked me to explain that saying, all that came to my mind was loving boldly and loudly so that I would move beyond the fear for myself. In order to make these next 5 weeks to be as successful as could be, I must love harder, more passionately, more intentionally, intently and deeper than ever before and the ONLY way to love that hard is to hide in the shadow of the cross of Christ. For in fact, love doesn't lead us to green pastures and daisies, no it leads us to the same path it lead Christ...the cross, death and fortunately...resurrection in the image of Christ!!

So anyways, all that had a point to our prayer walking. As I've been thinking about the costs I've paid (which are pretty shallow at this point) I've been wondering when the Lord would bless me with an opportunity to be blessed with the blood, tears and blisters of our Lord. So, today as our bikes were broken and we went prayer walking...we walked a lot. And, I being the planner-aheader kind of guy *NOT* decided to wear some sandals, at which point my feet now have blisters and are ever so sore and tender. Each step I take now hurts, but I'm not frustrated about it. Instead, I find myself being reminded of the brokenness I saw in Venice, of the Money God I continued to see in Santa Monica, and of the freedom of the Lord that was promised to these people here in Venice and Santa Monica. So, my knees may still be smooth as before, but my feet are my reminders of what it takes to be a little faithful in prayer, even when it gets physically demanding (walking isn't too bad...but I'll be honest, I was used to biking the whole way).

Finally, prayer walking was especially interesting this morning because as I was pouring in the Spirit while walking through the areas, He opened my eyes to some new things. First, there was a vendor in Venice who was an artist and selling to raise funds for Support the Local Venice Artists. I'm not sure if it was a foundation, organization or what...but this man caught my heart. I felt this tug to be in prayer for him and to think about possibilities for anyone on our team to approach him one day. Secondly, a new shop opened up in the Venice boardwalk. In fact, it's going to be a huge hit. It'll attract lots of customers, lots of people who are lost, and lots of people who are looking for a good time. It'll also attract people struggling with addiction and with no source of visible hope. Yes, another medicinal marijuana house was celebrating its 'grand' opening today on the strip. All I could think about was just how much of a hold Satan has on this place. It's deafening. Finally, the Lord opened my eyes to some more of Montana street. As Luke told you yesterday, Bruce, Kelsey and I found a new spot in Santa Monica. It's pretty much the first 14 or so blocks on Montana St. and all of the locals seem to hang out here. Just days ago I was frustrated we hadn't seen the local hang out spots, but today and yesterday the Lord blessed us with this street. There are several coffee shops, cafes, bakeries, and restaurants that the locals frequent. So, I'm pumped about the upcoming days of ministry on Montana St.

After prayer walking Luke, Thomas and Storm took half a day to recuperate from their intense Kung Fu/Chi Kung lessons they've been taking. Bruce, Kelsey, Sara, Amber and I went site-seeing for the last half of the day. We went to the Beverly Hills area, Rodeo Drive, saw the Hollywood sign, saw the two famous theaters for movie premiers, went to downtown Hollywood to walk the Star Walk and saw a flock of people still lining up to see Michael Jackson's star. We got the chance to pass by his star and we saw his star surrounded by a four foot deep pile of crap (sorry, but it was...flowers, cards, posters, etc.). It's amazing how many people love him, but didn't know him. If only the streets of LA would cry out for a man named Jesus Christ the same way they did for Michael Jackson!!!!!!

After getting back from sight seeing, we had another delish dinner. Then we had team time which went really well. We debriefed the day and talked some about how to connect the gospel and normal conversations. Then we just hung out for the rest of the night, which by the way included a sick-nasty-awesome dance party lead by Bruce Bentley III. Thanks B-ruce!

So, thanks for making it this far. We love and appreciate all of your prayers. Here's some specifics to pray for:

1 - Venice. Satan's grasp got bigger today as another house of addiction opened up. Pray for freedom from those addictions and pray that the team members ministering there would be able to help people find that freedom in Christ!

2 - Montana St. - Kelsey, Bruce and I are going to try going around to these local hang outs in the upcoming days. Pray that through God's love and grace we would be able to minister to the people where they are and increase the Kingdom in a mighty way.

3 - Random Guy - For some reason the Lord wants me to pray and think about this guy in Venice, so pray that the Lord would work in his life and in any opportunities to speak to him.

4 - Tattoo Guy - I've been to a Starbuck's on Montana a few times, and two of the 3 times there I've seen a gut with tattoos. Immediately the first time I saw him, I knew the Lord was calling me to talk to this guy. I know this because I thought of tons of questions, things to say and ask, and felt completely at peace about this man. He seemed to know a lot of people around him, had a fun dog and was an open personality. Yet, I wasn't obedient the first time nor the second time I saw him and felt the Lord calling me to talk to him. So, pray for opportunities and pray for boldness in me that I might seize the next opportunity at all costs, especially the cost of myself.

Bloody Knuckles For Christ! =)

2009-06-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

Eventually I'll explain the title, but for now I'm just gonna let you know that mine were the bloodiest and I've resisted uploading a picture of it. =) Also, for more fun Chi Kung/Kung Fu stories, read the very bottom of this. Today was awesome for both teams and in case someone hasn't informed you of this yet, God is da bomb diggidy! (yes I just said that)

So I'll start with the Santa Monica team. Today they went to a new part of Santa Monica and discovered somethin awesome. I think they almost could have had a Steve Erwin moment(God rest his soul) when they pulled up to Montana Rd. "Cricky! We've lost the tourists and found the locals! Be careful now, we don't know 'ow friendly they ah just yet." Basically they left the prominad and hung out at coffee shop central. Bruce, Kelsey and Josh went to different places and got to observe and talk with people and all three of the are totally STOKED about it. They've been brainstorming all day about fun ways to get to hang out with people and talking about the encounters they had today. God is definately using them!

The Venice Beach Team had a BALLER day. We got to our Chi Kung lesson a little early and Master Chen definately gave us the family treatment. Peter was there hanging out with Tony's wife and daughter and Tony had tea and "Chinese cakes" waiting for us when we got there. Some 12 people were their for lesson which meant we had alot of new connections to make! We may even have and in with one of the medical marijuana places. How sick would it be to have a marijuana house turned into a church smack dab in the middle of Venice Beach!?!?!?!?!?! In between the Chi Kung lesson and our Kung Fu lesson we had an awesome 30 min conversation with Tony about his life and why he's teaching us the way that he is. He's taken the three of us and made us his special students. We are basically the teachers pets of the class BUT it's because we understand his heart for what Kung Fu is and he knows it. Most people just want their cheap self defence lesson. God is definately using us there. Then once that was done we went and spent 30 min with Peter walking and talking about his life and his views on religious and cultural things. HOW SICK NASTY IS JESUS?!?!?!?! Two awesome convo's in one day!!!!!

While we were in our Kung Fu lesson, the Santa Monica team was having church with one of the church planters out here. Everyone was encouraged to share a gift (bible story, verse, random story, etc...) with the group and to divuldge personal details, followed by group prayer. They said it was awesome, and we had that in our team time tonight. I loved it.

Later in the day we went out to a nice Italian restaurant to celebrate Kelseys Birthday. They even brought her out a cake! Afterward we went and hung out on the pier and took a ride on a ferris wheel! Yay for my fear of heights! It's ok, I'm a big fan of doing things you hate or eating things you hate so that you get over it. By the third time around I didn't care anymore. =)

So I'm gonna us random numbers and stuff for my bullets points of prayer because organization freaks me out sometimes.

8) Pray for our relationships in Venice Beach (and those to come)

#) Pray for the relationships in Santa Monica (and those to come)

T) Pray for us to grow, recharge, charge(w/ the gospel), repeat

*) Above all, pray for the advancement of the kingdom.

If you skipped to this part, you're a real man. So what's with the bloody knuckles title?
Story 1:
Tony made Thomas, Storm and I each do three oh so fun exercises to help build our bodies into Kung Fu machines. First, there was this stick that had a four foot string with a 2 1/2 pound weight on it. We had to hold it up at arms length and roll it up and down. It sort of works your fore arms but mostly a random muscle on the side that we use to block punches and bow staff blows. Second is a ladder that we have to kick our legs up on and stretch ourselves on. This ladder is my nemisis. He makes me do it way more because he says "You're body tight. You need to practice mo and mo. Soon you be better." It hurts like crap but it's working. I touched my toes today for the first time in my life!!!!! Last is the bloody knuckles deal. He has us punch sand for about 10 min so that it causes controled fractures in our knuckles that will heal and become stronger. That way when we punch it will have more pow to it. He told us "If it hurt, don't stop. Keep doing." So we did. Storm stopped shortly after she felt pain, but me and Thomas just kept going. Basically we did it till we bled and that was not what he'd intended. Apparently you shouldn't do it till you bleed. Just until your knuckles are neon pink. It's ok though, he has this chinese medicine that works like magic. AMAZING!!!
Story 2:
So yesterday we learned five out of eight steps of a fight sequence that you can't get out of. Basically at the end of it the person will have the wind knocked out of him, will have been punched in the face twice, one knee kicked in backwards(yes broken), and we will land in a stance that is ready to take on a second attacker from behind. Yeah, it's beast.
Story 3:
Today we learned how to block a kick with our bare hands, retaliate with rib breaking punches, and then take on two other attackers with similar blows.
Story 4:
My favorite quote from Tony is "You watch Kung Fu movies, they fight 30 minutes, no one die. That's Bull $#@&!(which I have to admit is funny to hear through a chinese accent) I teach you, 1, 2, 3, over!" However, today he explained that to us further with my second favorite Tony quote. "I don't want you to be a hero. Heros die. But I want you to know that you are not a coward." Which translates into this: don't take what I teach you and go looking for a fight. You don't need to go willingly into battle when it can be avoided. But you also can't wimp out. If a loved one needs protection, or if you are stuck in a corner, defend yourself and win.
Tony is the jam. I'm fortunate to have him as a master. Please pray for his salvation.

He who forgets, Will be destined to remember

2009-06-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Heyheyheyheyheyhey!! Saturday!! We had Chi Kung lessons today and they were amazing!! There was a class of about six there. Peter was there and today we got to get another conversation with him, he has told us that he loves other cultures and people groups, I have noticed that he seems intrigued by eastern culture so i asked him about that. Convo went pretty well but got sidetracked a little but it was a good step to maybe a more spiritually led conversation. Tony knows we only have 5 weeks left so he is giving us 1 hour extra lessons for free!!! Which means three believers with Tony and sometimes Peter :) Pray for those opportunities. So we learned actual Kung Fu and when Tony told us that it was hard I kinda blew it off cause Im 18 and he's in his late 50's. If you want something else to pray about, pray that our bodies dont break in half doing this training, Im pretty sore.

Today is Santa Monica's 4th of July celebration called Celebrate America and there was 10,000+ at the event and we agreed to help with the Church at Pearl's stand where they gave out free glow sticks and invited people to church, which worked out pretty well, I hope that more people will show at his church. We watched a fireworks display and talked to some campus crusade people from ASU!!!! I know what you are thinking, App......NOT!! They are from Arizona State, but App is the real ASU. Anyways we hung out and also celebrated Kelsey's 19th birthday which is pretty amazing that she was able to make it this far. Her parents were nice enough to supply us with party gear.

Anyways, we have had a week full of God speaking to us and giving us new directions and new perspectives, pray for that to continue and also for us to continue to listen. Pray that whatever happens in the next week that to God be the glory, Amen

Grace and Peace

Happy Birthday Kelsey

God is love...

2009-06-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful breakfast, we waited on Ken and Bob, two house church planter specialist in LA. I believe it is safe to say that the group felt unanimously encouraged after the meeting this morning.

We started out talking about how the church is not a building but rather it is a body of believers. The church planting they do is based out of the book of Acts. The churches they have planted are in homes. Everyone in the church participates in every service by bringing something to talk about with them. They have interactive discussions so that everyone is involved and learning. Rather than telling someone what to believe they talk it out and it is all about the interaction.

Bob told us a story about a weekend retreat he went on to learn about sharing his faith. After showing up on the second day they were given an assignment. The assignment was for the participants in groups of two to go take a car drive 150 miles away where they knew no one in the area, take no money or means with them, and to bless at least one person in this area, spend the night and drive back the next day. The idea was for them to go up to people they meet and show them they cared by asking them about their stories. By showing God’s love to people and investing time in people’s lives spiritual conversations were started and people were blessed. When we first came to LA we knew that we were here to share God’s love with the people here but sometime in the midst of all the different expectations we lost sight of that. It was freeing to be reminded that we are here to love on people, something we can all do. God is love and we have been called to share his love. I think that we all needed to hear this. It is so great to know that we all have strengths that God has given us to be used by him.

After the past few days we all needed some processing time. We went to different places coffee shops, parks, etc. to think about what we had just talked about. Storm and I took a tour of Santa Monica College with Anuhea, our new friend, to see the opportunities in this area that is right across the street from the church we are staying at. After dinner, it was cool to come back together at team time and talk about how we felt about today to find out that we all felt encouraged by today.

We finished off the night having some group bonding time watching a movie called “Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus” which some might say it was "epic" if they made it until the end without crashing (You would have to ask someone else).

So please be praying for us…

1) Pray for us as we share God’s love with the people of LA.

2) Pray for opportunities as they continue to come about and that God will lead us where he wants us to be.

3) Pray for Anahea as we continue to build that relationship.

4) For the Celebrate America event tomorrow where we will be helping out the Church on Pearl but also hanging out with people in the community.

With love,

Kelsey

Mission In Progress

2009-06-25T01:40:00.000-07:00

Team: Parachute Project LA
Assignment (Day 18): Alone Time, Self and Team Analysis, Realistic Application in Near Future
Status: In Progress - Step One Complete!

So today was all about quiet time with the Lord. In the last few days I feel as though we have been hit hard with some challenges, tough topics, and realizations. As we have just hit the 2 week point in our mission, it has been necessary to reflect on the things we have been doing here, their effectiveness, and compile a mental list of the people and resources we have here (which are many - I am sure I have mentioned the bonfires and the moon bounce...oh and the amazing people :.D hehe). This way we will be able to refine and narrow the focus of our group to the areas that are working best and allow each team member to work to their strengths.

So, after losing Kelsey for 30 mins (no joke - we looked everywhere before finding her in the unfinished 2nd story of the church we are staying in), everyone set out in different directions. Josh took the other four group members to find spots on the beach, he went to a coffee shop to hang for a while, and I stayed back at the church for the afternoon. To be honest, I was at a loss of where to start this morning - I didn't know what to pray for or where to open my Bible. So I spent a few minutes checking my e-mail and responding to some messages I had, but still no booming voice of God telling me something clearly, such as "lead the people of Egypt across the desert for 40 years!" or "go eat PB&J!" so I was stuck. Then I thought about how Luke, Thomas, and I have made a plan to read 2 Corinthians, so I turned there and was surprised to find that my bookmark was there. I had already begun reading it a long time ago before life and second semester got difficult and busy.

I began reading where I had left off: Chapter 4, verse 1, which says,
"God, with his mercy, gave us this work to do, so we don't give up."
Woah, there God! - could you be any clearer? I just don't get it.....

So, basically, I was dumbfounded to have found the most applicable verse for the present situation, and it kept me reading on into the next couple of chapters with insight after insight of perseverence in the face of non-believers. That gave me the confidence to look at a list of volunteer opportunities Josh had sent out, and I found a website I overlooked for an Art Therapy group that helps women and children who have been victims of domestic violence. I called them and can't wait for a callback or a trip to the place itself!

The group soon joined together for team time again and, after showing off the fun tan lines that some of us will have come fall semester, we discussed our individual days and defined some of our personality traits, strengths, and passions. This has allowed us to make some decisions on where are hearts truly lie for the rest of the 6 weeks here.

For example, (and this is by no means complete or fully accurate), some of our thoughts for the future are:

1. Luke - Venice Beach 6 days a week
2. Thomas - Venice Beach 6 days a week
3. Josh - coffee shops, hangouts, help in individual areas, leader responsibilities
4. Bruce - Santa Monica, UCLA (possibly), other college campuses, or volunteering
5. Kelsey -volunteering
6. Storm - volunteering during weekdays, Venice Beach weekends (Qigong baby! :.D )

We are still looking at many uncertainties, but the team is enthusiastic to put these plans into action.

To celebrate the end of these intense few days, we had a great time cooking shish kabobs, hot dogs and s'mores with the wonderful people of Church on Pearl and went to the movies for a fun night on the promenade.

We can't think everyone enough for the prayers, but they are gratefully received!
Until,
Storm

2009-06-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

Just as I got in bed and was ready to see what dreams I had in store for me tonight, Luke informed me that today was Tuesday...my blog day. So here we are haha. This morning I did NOT want to get up. Partly because I had stayed up with Thomas playing online hold 'em poker until almost 3 am, but also because my body was aching...

***The following paragraph contains explicit detail and slightly disturbing yet hilarious images.***

Last night around, I dunno, 12:30 am I decided it would be a great time to take a shower. Little did I know what awaited me. Two fellow teammates had gone before me earlier in the evening upon returning from a beach volleyball game. As I stepped into the shower and closed the curtain I noticed that the surface was unusually slipperier that usual. This was due to the fair amounts of sand mixed with water. I of course thought nothing of it and proceeded with my bathing activities. As I turn around to get the bottle of shampoo, my foot loses traction and I reach for the walls for stability. Just as I thought I had saved my own life, my other foot slipped away and backwards I went, into the shower curtain held only by plastic rings. Many thoughts went through my mind as I was falling, most of which I will not share with you all, but one thing in particular was racing through my thoughts. "Will these rings hold my weight?" For those of you who do not know me, I am quite a large fellow. Plastic rings are not something someone of my size would want protecting them from life and certain death. To my surprise the rings held, yet the bar that the rings were attached to did not. There I am falling back-first wrapped in a plastic curtain into a bathroom floor that is MAYBE 3.5 feet wide. As I hit the floor I realized what had just happened and as I gathered myself I noticed that my head missed the toilet by about an inch (thank The Lord). As I lay there in my soak and wet birthday suit, I realize that I am closer to God at THAT point, than I have been any other time on this trip. I will spare you the details on how I fixed this predicament (ask me later if you like), but I will tell you all that the first thing out of my mouth after about 30 seconds of laying there was "I'm okay". This was to insure that Stephen (whose bathroom I was in) did not stumble upon a sight that he would NOT want to see after a loud booming noise.

I realize that story doesn't seem relevant to the parachute project and what we are doing here in LA, and let me assure you that it doesn't. But I certainly thank God for getting my out alive. And I now I will never take a fall-free shower for granted, neither should you.

Today Jonathan Stockstill visited us for our weekly meeting. We just discussed some things that were going on with what we have been doing. We basically decided what things are working and what things are not. We also discussed being where we need to be at this point in time, and planning ahead so that we can leave them with something when we leave. A large part of conversation was about obeying God and trusting him with everything instead of relying on ourselves (which is something we should all think about). After a lunch at Taco Bell, Luke, Thomas, Kelsey and Storm took our laundry to a laundromat while Josh and I ran some errands and came back to the church to help with some landscaping that Scott (our friend from Jimmy's church that is from Tennessee) was working on. I personally feel that the least we could do for these great people here at the church is help out doing what we can. They are trying to spruce up the place by doing a bit here and there which can really go a long way in the church's image.

After finishing up we had some much needed down time and an awesome dinner. The rest of the night was kind of chill, and included a trip to the 3rd St Promenade with Josh, Storm and Kelsey so that I could get some t-shirts and we could just enjoy the evening out. Upon returning, we had our team time which was a lot more than I expected.

Our conversation tonight was pretty deep, and to sum it up for you, we are going to kind of rework the way we are doing things. Our strict schedule of 2 teams being in Venice and Santa Monica will change. We do not know how yet, but we are going to focus on how we can truly apply ourselves and utilize our potential the way we feel God wants us to. Updates will come later, and tomorrow we are taking the day to process our discussion and establish what changes need to be made.

I ask that you pray specifically for these changes that will be made. This is a pretty big turning point in this project and hopefully it will better glorify God and His Kingdom. I just ask that you pray for God to open our minds and hearts to let him guide us in the right direction. I also ask that you pray for Josh specifically. Him being the understood leader of our team, a lot of pressure is put on him. He has been doing an awesome job and we couldn't ask for a better cheif.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. Though we may not see all of what God is doing, He is definitely working here in Los Angeles.

Until next time, take care and safe showering.
God Bless
-Bruce

A Breakthrough or two...

2009-06-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I could really do justice to today, or especially the past 4 hours of my life. But, I'll try.

This morning started off as usual...delish b-fast via Lupita. Then, we were planning to go prayer cycling again. Well, my stomach decided to hate me and sent me to the Pot about 6 times this morning with the runs. I know, I know...you just HAD to know that right? Anyways, I decided to stay back while the team went prayer cycling. While they were out, I decided not to waste the time and did some more research, phone calls, and internet-looking for possibilities for us to partner with a big NPO for something for the community and also for Bruce, Kelsey and I to be able to volunteer on a regular basis with. So, all of those have been a dead end so far. I even looked up volleyball lessons, surf lessons, and yoga/spiritual meditation lessons. The cheapest thing was $40 and hour per person. The most expensive almost $400 for two months.No responses and no emails back, no classes we've found so far. Nothing. It's hard not to be discouraged when you see the Venice team taking off and doing awesome things, but alas...the Lord never fails in His ways. I know that neither Bruce, Kelsey nor I have been too disheartened and are faithful that some way, some how, we'll find a way to be just as affective as the Venice team.

Anyways, after the team got back we headed to UCLA's campus to hang out, do ministry, pray...all that good stuff. We ate lunch together then split up into Bruce, Luke, Thomas and Kelsey going out and doing stuff and then Storm and I went and sat at one of the coffee shops on campus in hopes of seeing tons of new students (it was their first day of summer classes).

Storm and I sat at different tables. I'm not too sure what Storm did, but I started working on devo time for the group later tonight. We'd talking about the need to address spiritual warfare, and so I started digging in the Word and looking around at how to help the team out with it.

After the team got back together, we came back to the church and got dressed and ready for some intense beach volleyball. After volleyball, we came back for dinner, team time and Jesus-awesomeness (that's for Luke).

We got back from the beach, Bruce, Esau and I were sitting at the dinner table waiting for dinner to get finished. Esau began to show us photos on his phone and the stories behind them. One of them was of Esau and a pastor-friend in Mexico.

This particular pastor-friend in Mexico had been captured by the Mexican Cartel and held for two months for a ransom of about $1 million. So, they kept this pastor for two months and kept demanding money, and despite the local church's best efforts of only $700,000 the Cartel wasn't letting him go. Then on the last day of his captivity the Cartel decided to end his life. So they brought him into a room in a house and were discussing his death. As they were doing so, a girl of about 13 came in and began to pray. This caught the Cartel off guard and were confused. So, four of them decided to kill her. The four guards, with different kinds of guns, all tried to shoot her...yet as she continued to pray, ALL of the guns jammed and wouldn't fire. The guards stood amazed. Then, the girl looked up from her prayers and said "You can't kill me. I've got God here with me and you can't touch me." The guards began to tear up and turned to the pastor, dumbfoudned. They began to talk to him as he had tried to share the gospel with them over the two months of captivity. The guards, in tears, gave their lives to Christ, let the pastor go and turned back to the girl. They asked the girl why she came and she simply answered "Because God sent me." Neither the guards nor the pastor had known the girl before.

Bruce and I sat in awe. Goosebumps lined my shoulders and spine, and I was filled with hope. Prayer is definitely powerful. I know, even though the Santa Monica team hasn't had tons of breakthroughs in the area, they're coming. I know this because we're praying for it and so are TONS of people out there for our team. So, I'm encouraged and excited and ready for a breakthrough that the Lord will provide.

After dinner, we all got showers then met for team time in the guys room, as usual.

We debriefed the day, then moved into the conversation about Spiritual warfare. It didn't go as expected, but it well exceeded any expectations I could have had in the first place.

I started the conversation, figuring we'd get to talking eventually about the ways that Satan individually attacked us and our team. It certainly got to that point...but got even further. We discussed everything from suffering, to temptation, to affliction (physical and spiritual illness), to self-esteem issues, and to the disconnect in language that guys use and that girls use when it comes to spiritual warfare.

You see, guys connect really well to battle terminology so we've learned. That's why we love action movies. We could talk all day about beating down the gates of Hell with the battering ram of prayer, while the girls are just left aside and not as excited or connected to the concept of spiritual warfare. Not to sound sexist, but guys get the battle imagery...girls don't. I guess it's got it's pros and cons. Anyways, we left the battle imagery behind and continued to discuss the importance of awareness.

In Ephesians, Paul begs believers to want to have eyes, ears, minds and hearts to see the 'heavenly realms'. The same realms that Christ entered into through His death and resurrection, the same realms that Satan resides in (but, God still has dominion over him [Eph 1]), and the very same realms that through our faith in Christ we are now exposed to. You see, when we have this faith in Christ, we're thrown into a new, spiritual world. We see much more the intensity of nature and just how creative God is. And, we also are thrown into a world where Satan hates us and does all that he can to thwart God's task He's given us or to break our faith in the Lord.

The team started looking at the whole picture of things. We starting putting the battle terminology with rationalization. Storm brought up a great point, she's got an uncanny ability to rationalize things as do most women I think. Storm looks at stories of 'demon possession' and can rationalize it as schizophrenia or seizures (the stories in the bible). Whereas we, guys, look at those stories and see attacks from Satan to thwart God's plans. So, we started looking at situations of temptation, affliction, and so on from both angles.

Simply put, faith isn't rational. Take the story of the girl and the Mexican cartel. Take God's creation. It's hard to rationalize such things. But, on the other hand...Hollywood and the media have done a great job of super-SUPER-naturalizing the spiritual world as great entertainment and something all the more physical and real and easy-to-believe instead of looking at the rational side of things.

So, I'm going to pick on Storm again in order to merge the battle and the rational language. Since we've been here, Storm has seen herself as a not so good evangelizer. She views it as a weakness and a downfall. But, I view it as something different. She rationalizes her inability to evangelize and I see it as an attack from Satan. I, a guy, sees it as Satan attacking her and pulling her into doubt and self-esteem issues. This takes her focus away from seeing just HOW GOOD of an evangelizer/witness she is. It plants seeds of doubt and self-esteem issues. It tells her she's not good enough or not whole through the way God created her. Satan convinces her she's not good enough, so she's shy and timid about doing it. BUT...Storm is quite the opposite of a bad witness/evangelizer. She's actually kick-A at it! She goes into Chi Kung lessons twice a week, is building relationships with this guy who is all about the Chi and is their Chi Kung master. She puts herself out there and into relationships with her classmates. She has even ben the one (not Luke the Evangelizer) to set up a lunch date for the team and a guy in their class, and their Chi Kung master. Now, I don't know about you...but having the guts to put yourself out there like that seems like a pretty darn good witness/evangelizer to me! Regardless of what any spiritual gift inventory says. Besides, most of those things view Evangelism as a "Hey, do you know Christ" kind of thing. Which by the way, Luke has an uncanny ability to do effectively, hence Luke the Evangelizer.

So, the team began to connect the whole thing. We, as a team of missionaries and as every-day-believers, ought to have a spiritual awareness of what's around us. We should be weary of over-rationalizing things yet open to the whole picture of what's going on. We ought to be on guard every day that the Devil wants us to fail. But, we must also be concious every day that the Lord is at work.

We had some great breakthroughs tonight in team-time. Storm, for the first time (don't hate me Storm for telling this) finally started to find the confidence we the team have seen in her. She began to see that through Christ, she's been able to do great things...regardless of what her self-esteem or Satan was telling her. It moved her and I saw not wet eyes of sadness or doubt, but of hope and peace knowing that she was complete in the Lord! So, amen for that breakthrough! Kelsey, Bruce and Thomas all had some great breakthroughs as well. Luke and I brokethrough and saw that spiritual warfare is ONLY one side of the coin when it comes to the spiritual world. If we get too focused on what Satan is doing, we can lose sight of what God is doing as well!!

So, today was great. I've been praying for a while now that our team would continue to click and grow together, and tonight is another testimony to what prayer can do. I saw tonight someone become free from the ways that Satan was afflicting her and hopeful of what's to come. I saw someone tonight connect the bigger picture and keep his eyes focused on the individual acts of suffering and pain. I saw growth in our team and saw Christ glorified through our fellowship.

So, I'm not exactly sure if any of the above made sense....but I hope it did. God did some big stuff today and for that I'm grateful! Thank you for your prayers, for if it weren't for them...we wouldn't have had the breakthroughs we had tonight!

Some things you can continue to pray for:

1 - More breakthroughs: There's still a lot of growing to occur in each of our teammates! Also, Bruce, Kelsey and I would love a breakthrough in the community here in Santa Monica. So far, the search is coming up dry. But, after today's testimony to the power of prayer, we're hopeful and faithful that indeed, a breakthrough IS coming!

2 - Lunch with Peter: Storm, Luke and Thomas will be getting lunch with their Chi Kung classmate sometime soon I imagine. Pray that the Lord would send himself ahead and till the ground for great conversation and opportunities to be made known!

3 - Continued rest: The team is finally finding balance in the days, but we're still realizing just how exhausting this trip is. Not only physically, but emotionally, spiritually and mentally. We're doing good to not kill each other so far, so pray that the Lord would continue to provide rest for us...because we definitely need it.

4 - Santa Monica

5 - Venice

I thank ya'll again for your prayers!

in Him and until next Monday,

LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!!

2009-06-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

Sitting down to write this post, I had a funny image running through my mind that I feel is all to accurate, people just don't realize it. God has been doing some pretty awesome things on this trip, and there is much more to come, I'm certain of it. Two weeks in and already there are deepening relationships being formed. Two weeks in and God has already blessed our efforts with a plethora of ministry opportunities that we never could have expected. So what is that funny image that was in my mind? Well, each day that we are here we bike, walk, or drive around talking to people and praying for the areas we're in. Creation is, I feel, God's biggest "Here I am!" billboard/sign to people. Santa Monica and Venice Beach are two of the darkest areas I've been in, so very very lost. There number of Believers in California is minimal, and in there areas, nearly non-existent. The odd thing is that both of these locations is right next to the ocean/beach. OH MY GOODNESS! Could God be screaming any louder to these people via His creation? I feel like as we're here God is yelling "Hey, hey you, hey! Look up here Look up here Look up here! Hey, you guys! Look at me Look at me Look at me!!!!" And everyone is just walking by, completely unaware.
We're here to bring about that awareness in the Almighty, Powerful Name of Christ.
Josh and I flew in to LA this morning at 9:30 pacific time. Yup, we woke up at 5:30 Eastern time to catch our 5 hour flight. And neither of us slept well the night before. Josh got around 2 hours of sleep, and I got none, so we definitely passed out this afternoon for a few(ok, more that a few for me) hours in order to recouperate. Once we woke up though we had the team give us the low-down on what's been going on. In a nut shell GOD IS BEING AWESOME!!! But for those of you who like detail, I'll try to be more specific. =)
Today in Chi Kung lessons Tony offered the Venice team an extra hour a week(free) to do actual Kung Fu since we only have 8 weeks with him. He's taken a particular liking to Thomas, but Storm and he have both worked hard this weekend at earning his respect. And, needless to say, they've earned it. Peter (one of the guys there) is wanting to get lunch with us sometime this week to!
The Santa Monica team has been implementing their strategy changes and they've been pretty successful! The relationships they've built with the waitresses in the area have continued to show growth and results. But seriously, who could resist Bruces bod, Joshes natural charm, and Kelseys bubbly personality? The team rocks! Tomorrow we're calling the volunter programs to get them hooked up with that so they can have even more of an affect on the community there. Oh those servant leaders. =)

So what can yall pray for?
1) MORE SICK NASTY AWESOMENESS!!!!
2) Tony and his wife (Chi Kung Master)
3) Peter (British martial arts teach and photographer)
4) Melissa (waitress)
5) Tracy (waitress)
6) The churches that are already here to continue to grow
7) Us to form new relationships and start churches here ourselves

We love you all and are always appreciatative of your prayers,
Peace and Love,
Luke =)

I am still living with your ghost, Lonely and dreaming of the west coast

2009-06-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

Lupita made us another super delicious breakfast which inlcuded pancakes today. We had our Chi Kung lessons today so we biked down to them. They were really good today, I think our instructor is starting to notice a lot more and the connections we make there are getting deeper and more numerous. Storm actually invited one man (Peter) to lunch with us sometime and we got his number and visa versa. So that was awesome, Bruce and Kelsey came with us since a third of our team is missing (Congrats Puck and Kelly (who probably wont be reading this)) and we got lunch at the Gyro place which was like being smacked with a blast of Greek goodness (or wherever Gyros are from). We rode through Santa Monica and watched part of a concert, it is the 100th anniversary of the Santa Monica pier so there is a series of concerts and stuff. They did a cover of Lady Gaga's Poker face so we left. We did not do a Prius count but Im sure if we did there would be another ridiculous number. We got back to the church and helped Scott put bricks down for the new courtyard they are building. Essau came back which made us happy, he went to Kentucky and they saved 650 people!!! Thats awesome!! We went to the Hispanic talent show after that and the top winner won 500 dollars. The band that won was Essau's two kids and they sounded awesome. Ben the middle son can drum better than anyone I could ever imagine who is in Middle school, he is ridiculous. The talent show was fun, trying to hear a sermon in Spanish is always an interesting experience. We went to an In and Out Burger joint and let me spare you the questioning in your head and anxious anticipation, Cookout beats In and Out, any day. We look forward to our teammates coming back tommorow, we really miss Josh and Luke.

Some prayer requests:

1.) Fathers ( my dad is amazing and he deserves more than one day)

2.) Peter

3.) Tony

4.) The church we are staying at is having an event on the 27th and we need to capitalize on the opportunity for more outreach

5.) Outreach opportunities in general

6.) Santa Monica

7.) Venice

8.) Puck and Kelly just got married :)

Happy Fathers Day!!!

cheesecake... yummy!

2009-06-19T22:46:00.001-07:00

Well this morning started out like many others with an amazingly awesome breakfast made by the wonderful Lupita. Then it was time for some research so we looked up non-profit organizations that we could get involved it. We also needed to type up some of the demographics we had gathered in the Santa Monica and Venice areas for future reference. After that some of us who do not particularity enjoy research were ready to head into the field.

So Thomas, Bruce, Storm, and I headed out on our bicycles, our form of transportation without our lovely driver here for the next two days. Josh and Luke are back in North Carolina for Puck and Kelly's wedding (Congratulations from the LA Team by the way)! They are missed greatly by the rest of the team especially Thomas and Bruce without their cuddle buddies! Well we decided to stick together today and venture to Santa Monica.

At the Promenade, I felt like God had placed a lady on my heart that we had passed a few times before that had a sign that read "Hungry". Today I finally decided to listen and not let fear be an excuse. Storm and I went up to the lady and introduced ourselves. Her name was Jennifer and she was from Washington state. We asked her if we could get lunch for her. She asked her boyfriend to watch their dog so she could go to Subway with us. As we were walking and talking she began to open up to us a little bit. She told us she had traveled down to LA with her boyfriend in hopes of ending up in Texas. They had found the dog in the bushes and used a lot of their money to care for the dog. Jennifer and her boyfriend have been camping out for two or three months. She told us that she didn't really get along with her father who had raised her to dislike her mother. She was finally able to meet her mom and realize that they had a lot in common. She talked about how she liked to stay away from Venice because she wanted to stay drug free. We felt like this might be a way of life for her. I hope that this is a relationship that can grow.

While we were hanging out with Jennifer, Thomas and Bruce decided to grab lunch at Barney's Beanery. Their waitress, Melissa, evidently wanted Bruce and/or Thomas depending on which one you talk to. God only knows what went on during this guy bonding experience. Storm and I meet up with them and had some team reflection time in Barnes and Noble. Then we began our trek back to the church while our legs screamed at us the whole way. It was time for us to take some showers, rest, nap, and wait for the Knapps.

Ted and Kerrie Knapp picked us up and took us down to Redondo beach to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. This was a new and enjoyable experience for me. We meet their friend, Chris who was from Trinidad and spend some time in Canada. He is an associate pastor in the area. We also found out that he also enjoys snow which is a rare occurrence to share that similarity with anyone in Southern California where it is sunny the majority of the time. We were also able to explain that they didn't have to apologize for the gloomy June weather because it was hot compared to Boone weather. The dinner allowed us to tell the Knapps about what we have been doing, while having a great dinner. Of course you can't go to the cheesecake factory without having some cheesecake, so Thomas and Storm split some Key Lime cheesecake, which was a little crazy for me, and Bruce and I split the 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake which was yummy! Who know there were so many flavors of cheesecake. I believe it is safe to say that we all thought that we might explode literally after eating tonight and could barely walk to the car. They also drove us to see the association office in Inglewood. At the office we were able to see a map of Los Angeles County and were all amazed at how large LA really is.

We are constantly reminded in LA how much people focus on money and image as we drove around tonight. Keep praying for those who worship money as their god. Also for finding ways into these people's lives that think they have everything they need.

When we got back we had our team meeting and hung out with people from the church. Storm and I are constantly practicing/ learning Spanish with our new friends from the Hispanic church and Lupita. Bruce and Thomas were able to hang out with our friend Steven, who is constantly working around the church to better it and the community. It is encouraging to see these people who are passionate about Christ and who have a heart for this community.

Keep praying for the connections being made and as they begin to grow. Pray for Jennifer and her boyfriend. Pray for new ideas and an opening of hearts in the Santa Monica area. Pray for connections and relationships in Venice. Be praying for the team as we are constantly faced with darkness. Pray for boldness and courage in talking to people.

Kelsey

Thank You Al Gore...

2009-06-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Today was our day off and on our bike ride from the beach we counted 67 Toyota Priuses, that is not an exaggeration....67!!!

"Enough With The Honking!" and Other Various Missives

2009-06-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

Even though Bruce has decided that he is destined to live here and make it on the big screen (or at least be a male model,) he does admit there is one thing about LA that could make it a deal breaker.....The Car Horns!.... *insert omnious music* I can honestly say that there is no other place on this earth in which drivers become so overcome with fits of twitching that cause continuous force to the center of any available steering wheel within ten feet. Honking occurs so much that I suppose the locals must consider the noise to be background music. I can't say that I felt the same as I was the recipient of a cacophany and other interesting gestures today while attempting to start my bike uphill from a stoplight. And tonight, while riding to Target, the group discovered that it is a requirement for all drivers in LA to have psychic powers. It seems that every individual can predict when a red light will suddenly turn green and expect to be moving forward before that change happens. The above has probably been the largest culture shock for me of the entire trip.

However, that has only been a small part of the day. This morning began the implementation of a new schedule for the team. Together we had all decided to try a longer, more involved field work time, beginning today. After breakfast, each small group ventured out to their areas via bicycle and spent the hours until 6ish meeting people in the area, making new relationships, eating lunch, enjoying the beach, and deciding on a spiritual quiet time to recharge. Thomas, Luke, and I were excited to have a more personal discussion with Tony B. that included some of his goals and beliefs in life. We feel that he is much more receptive towards us now that we have separated ourselves from the random tourists that flock the beach every day, showing genuine interest in the area and the people.

After eating lunch in an almost secret nook of businesses that we found and spendng some time chilling on the beach, we frequented Cafe Collage again. While there, Thomas, Luke, and I decided that as a small group we would work through 2 Corinthians in the afternoons, both for our benefit and to attract meaningful discussion among the customers there. With that plan intact, we made our way back to the church for some individual quiet time/naps. We felt as though our new schedule took a lot of the pressure off of us time-wise and that our day was a success. I can only leave you with one afterthought: I thought I would add that "Bistro" in LA = "bar." (We found that out the hard way....)

During our team time, Kelsey, Josh, and Bruce discussed their day scoping out a larger area of Santa Monica and looking for alternative ways to reach the locals. A good portion of their time, however, was spent on brainstorming and idea-making for an amazing opportunity that has just been handed to us. Jonathan Stockstill recently mentioned an enormous celebration soon to occur in the area (10,000 people to put things into perspective...). What an awesome way to make an impact on the community! We are gratefully asking for prayer in this undertaking as we search for ideas and resources.

The night ended with basketball and a bonfire in the church parking lot (Thanks a ton, Steven!). And what's a bonfire without ooey gooey s'mores?! It was a great way for the everyone who is involved directly with the church on a daily basis to kick back and hang out for a while. And we even have hopes for a moon bounce in the future...that will be a fun blog entry I'm sure!

Thanks and love to you all!
Storm

"It's for medicinal purposes"

2009-06-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hola Amigos!

Once again thanks for tuning into our daily blog. Today was a big day, there is a lot to say, it's almost midnight and I haven't had a nap today...soooo lemme get started. (Yes it rhymes. Thank you I'll be here all summer.)

So the morning started off with the usual series of slaps to the snooze button and the o-so-wonderful Lupita cooking up a storm. Speaking of Storm, we learned that she gets a little aggressive when face-to-face with balloon animals at the breakfast table.

After breakfast we started getting ready for our guests of honor, Steve Canter and Ronnie Fox from NAMB. They were supposed to be here around 11 am, so it was a pleasant surprise when I walked out of the bathroom while brushing my teeth and Josh was formally introducing himself due to an early arrival (but I don't think it affected their first impression of me...)

We soon after sat down with these great guys and also Jonathan Stockstill, our local supervisor. We discussed how things were going so far and how we were really excited for what God had in store for us AND for this area. There was also a constructive criticism time for us to say what is working and what is not working. It was pretty simple because we had pretty much made lists of that sort of thing the night before.

After our meeting it was definitely time for some grindage (food for those who have not been to California). Steve made the mistake of telling us that the bill was "on NAMB". So the team, being the kind and considerate people that we are, decided to go to Johnny Rockets burger joint on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica. Sadly, Johnny Rockets was per-ity packed during the lunch hour so we walked over to Barney's Beanery (where Josh, Kelsey, and I ate on our first day in the field). I of course got the Hawaiian burger again, and some of the others such as Josh decided to follow in my footsteps and do the same. Lunch was a good time for fellowship. We had great conversation about anything and everything. We even watched Gaelic football (look it up) on the flat-screen TVs...which was AWESOME. Steve even looked up the rules for it on his sweet iPhone.

After leaving the beanery we took a walk through the Promenade and down towards the Santa Monica beach and pier. This of course is where Josh, Kelsey and I will be doing our work in the field. We showed Steve and Ronnie around a bit and headed back to the car to go down to Venice. After finding a parking spot with great ease...not, we took the gentlemen on a stroll through the Venice Beach boardwalk. There they found all of the diversity I'm sure they have heard so much about. My favorite part was the attractive young lady in front of the Kush House yelling "get your marijuana here" and handing out some coupons of some sort. As you all probably know by now, the drug is legal in the golden state as long as you have a prescription...which is easily attainable at your local doctor's office. We jokingly asked Steve and Ronnie if the NAMB health insurance would cover our doctor visits and prescription drugs so that we might further our reach to those people...jokingly...

So anyway, we said our goodbyes and expressed our gratitude to our visitors and headed back to the Church on Pearl. Pastor Jeff of the Anglo church here informed us that the city of Santa Monica was hosting a 4th of July celebration in the neighborhood on Saturday, June 27th. The fire dept. called him wanting permission to use the church parking lot to set up booths and food vendors. The Church on Pearl is going to have a booth set up also that day. Jonathan suggested that this would be a great opportunity for ministry, AND a good time to go ahead and advertise a community gathering in the future that would be put on by US. There is probably going to be close to 10,000 folks at this shindig next Saturday so God has definitely blessed us with a prime opportunity. The team will be deciding on what our plan of action is and also ideas for the community outreach gathering in the next month or so.

The evening was pretty chill here at the Pearl. We had a great dinner compliments of Lupita and some good conversation with Brittany (Pastor Jeff's daughter) and her boyfriend/our neighbor Stephen. After that it was team debriefing time where we just caught up on what needed to be done and our thoughts on today. After that it was time for a little royal rumble between the guys, minus Luke. I don't think the girls were too impressed but luckily Kelsey was dragged into the fun. I'm almost positive she enjoyed herself.

Well I'm getting a bit tired. I don't think I missed anything of importance and I hope it wasn't TOO unbareable to read. I do want to leave you all with some things you could be praying for:

-Encouragement. It is always nice to know we have a lot of people behind us on this and we are not just on our own. Steve and Ronnie made us feel like rockstars today. A lot of people are expecting good things from this team and I know that great things will come, but sometimes we do get a little frustrated if things aren't going the way we had planned.
-Opportunities. God has already been blessing us with some great stuff. I think that this 4th of July celebration will be a great time to get out and meet the community. There are going to be TONS of people there for us to get to know. Also, pray for us as we kind of plan out what we will be doing as far as community outreach in the future.
-Relationships. We have certainly established relationships with some significant people around our areas, but pray that God blesses those people and works in their hearts so that our relationships with them can grow.
-Parachute Project and NAMB. Steve and Ronnie told us of all of the other teams scattered throughout the United States. This particular project is certainly a trial and error type situation and everyone has their own strategies. Just pray for those other teams and that God blesses them as much as he has us here in LA. Also that NAMB and the directors of parachute project can learn what works and what doesn't so that they can improve this project for the future.

Ok that's my time. Once again thanks for your prayers, they really do go a long way. Until next Tuesday, God Bless.

Bruce

Suit Up

2009-06-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Here we are a week in and it is incredible how far we've come, what we've already learned, and what the Lord is already doing! It's simply amazing.

I struggle now even to find a starting place on how to debrief the past week. All but one mission trip I've been on in the past would have already been over and done with and I'd be at home by now...back to reality. However, here we are with one week down and 7 more to go. Our team has already talked about how our mindset has changed from '8 full weeks of ministry' to 'ONLY 8 weeks left of ministry'. Our urgency is still at charge and we still feel a dire need to live missionally in every action taken, word spoken, thought had, and day lived.

Along with the Lord blessing us with a mindset of urgency, He's given us a whole new set of eyes and ears to see the people around us. Obviously if you've read Luke's blog from yesterday, we're seeing people, areas, lifestyles, and groups of people that we're not used to or that are in some serious need of the love of Christ in their lives. The same rings true for the Santa Monica team. The 6 of us total feel, see, hear, sense and just know that the love of the Lord is what these people here need and we are urgent to lead them to it!

Today was only a reminder of the urgency we must live with, new set of eyes and ears, and ultimately how when the Light is taken into the Darkness, the Darkness pushes back.

This morning we woke up, had breakfast and went on a new adventure. We, the team, like to think it was an original thought...so we're coining the term of Prayer Cycling. Basically what we did was we took the 6 of us into the two areas, Venice and Santa Monica, and spent a couple of hours riding and walking around in prayer for the areas, people and opportunities that the Lord will present us with.

While we were Prayer Cycling (see, it has a ring to it!) we met a guy named Kurt. He was with an AIDs organization and was in the Promenade trying to raise funds to sponsor a trip to the Sudan area to drop off about $32 million worth of supplies for people suffering from AIDs. While the team felt compelled to give, we'd not been expecting to donate money and none of us had anything to donate to him. But, what he donated to us was huge. We got to talking and told him where we'd come from and what we were here for (he was a Christian, so we felt comfortable telling him the whole reason we're here). He gave us a quick sermon that changed each of us on the spot. It's a little funny, but it works. He told us about the H.O.L.Y B.I.B.L.E, which stands for He Only Left You Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. From there, it transitioned to a warning that when light goes into darkness, forces we can't explain push back and that every morning before we go out to be the Salt and Light, we should suit up with the armor of God. As Kurt was reminding us of this valuable lesson I thought to myself "What kind of leader am I!? We haven't even thought about the Suit of Armor in our conversations of spiritual warfare!"

After this great reminder and advice, we finished up our prayer cycling journey and my mind began to race and wonder. My thoughts lead me to thinking about how I'd failed the Lord in I know at least two opportunities He had given me. I failed them because of my attitude and my doubts in my abilities as a witness. These thoughts of failure pondered and stayed there for a while today.

After prayer cycling, we came back and got showers and piled into the Knapp Mobile (the name of our car, which was graciously lent to us by Ted Knapp). We headed to the college campus of UCLA. Here, we walked around the area, had lunch and got a feel for what the students, ministry possibilities and community were like on campus. It was an awesome site to see such a huge, beautiful campus full of people on a day where classes hadn't even yet started. So, the team is excited about the possibilities to come at UCLA!

About halfway through the tour of UCLA, the team hit the same roadblock it has been hitting every day around 3pm. For the first week of LA, we've been given so much new information, experienced so many new things, met so many new people, learned so much, though in new ways, been taken out of our comfort zones, and on top of all that...we've been given a notebook and another book of stuff to do in our "down" time. Well, around 3pm every day our down time consists of about an hour or so nap so that we're not moping around in Venice or Santa Monica and completely useless. So, we hit the 3 o'clock dead zone and everyone started getting cranky with each other, frustrations rose (as they do most days around that time) and tensions started to mount. We got back to the church, all went to our beds and took some 'me' time. I chose to hop on the bike and ride down to a coffee shop about a mile away.

When I got to the coffee shop, I realized how drained I was, how tired I was of the team, how frustrated I was with myself for missing out on those two opportunities the Lord had clearly given me, and how drained spiritually I was. I'd gone almost the whole week without opening my bible more than a couple times. It just seemed that every time I opened my bible, I was too drained to even try and take in anything new that might cause in-depth thinking. This realization today at Starbucks began to bother me...and bother me A LOT!

So, I opened my bible and just began to read. I read through Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and some of Galatians. I wasn't trying to power read and be super religious, I just wanted to find myself engulfed in the word of God for a little while. So, I found comfort in just reading. I wasn't reading it too deeply or for any new, great knowledge...but just reading to find comfort in my Maker's arms again. As I began to read, my mind and some scripture lead me to my frustrations. Perhaps I hadn't been maximizing all the blessings the Lord had given me so far!?

For example:

The Lord has blessed me with 5 amazing, Godly individuals surrounding me who want nothing more than to see this area enter into the Kingdom of God! They've been such an encouragement and it's been a true blessing to see how all 5 of them have grown in such big ways!! Kelsey and Storm are getting more and more comfortable talking to people they've never met and more and more comfortable 'evangelizing' even when they thought they couldn't. They're so humble about it and see so much growth, but I don't think they realize how much guts they have doing what they're already doing! Storm, who was scared to death of evangelism a week ago today, is already living life and becoming a part of a Chi Kong Master's life, who is all about the chi! Kelsey is continually amazing me as she finds more and more comfort in starting conversations with people. Bruce and Thomas are growing vastly as well. They're the jokesters of the team for sure, and offer so much to the team...but I don't think they realize just how much. I've seen Thomas and Bruce both take on this maturity that I've never seen them have before. They're genuinely loving and caring for these people out here and are 100% genuine in their thoughts, input to the group, and their ministry out here in LA! It's amazing! And Luke, one who is never good at set scheduling, book work, or anything of the like (he'll admit this...so I'm not telling you anything he wouldn't) has become so well adjusted to the schedule we've had this past week. He's taking the days as they come and is doing great things. He's also an incredible voice and leader for the Venice team. What he, Thomas and Storm have done in that area already is simply incredible!

So, the Lord's blessed me with these amazing 5 people to be here with...yet over the past few days, the dynamic of the team have been weird. There's been divisions and frustrations and joking (but in reality, it's serious) that have added to the tensions. I have found myself feeling left out, secluded and set a part from the group. So, as I was reading and thinking and processing today in Starbucks about all of this, something that Luke said and something that Kurt said this morning hit me.

About 3 or 4 days ago, Luke and I were talking and he said "You know, I can already tell how Satan is going to attack us. One, our doubting and two, our team dynamics." Then, I thought about Kurt who said "Suit up, because forces you can't imagine and haven't seen before are going to be giving you pushback." Then...it clicked for me today. Satan has been at work in me already. I've contributed to the dynamics of the group and I have let my doubts talk me out of seizing opportunities the Lord was already giving me. So, I processed and thought some more on those things for a while.

After my time at the coffee shop, I came back feeling refreshed. We had dinner as a team and then Luke, Bruce and I headed to Target (we drink a lot of water and Dr. Pepper!). After Target, we had probably what I would say as the best team-time yet.

We got in, and I read a passage from Ephesians 5 and 6. It talked about how we're to separate ourselves from the ways of darkness and are to live as the Light. Then, we talked about the armor of God. I confessed to the group my shortcomings and doubts and how I was feeling about the group dynamics. From there, it was as if God himself showed up. I was worried about this conversation, but knew it had to happen so I'd been in prayer about it. Well, the Lord took it away and amazed me once again. I was not the only one in the group feeling and sensing these self doubts or group tensions. From there, we talked it out and let the conversation end on a high note. We're all now on the same page in terms of dynamics and are much more aware of how each other is feeling, what causes those feelings/dynamics, and what are some ways to avoid them! We discussed new ways to do ministry and how to make sure we have both our down time, and our rejuvenating with the Spirit time.

After this awesome conversation, the team talked about the previous week, what it was looking like and some positive things and some suggestions we would have for the NAMB people tomorrow. (By the way, the NAMB people are coming tomorrow to check in on us). From there...we took a break, goofed off and laughed and then got back to work debriefing today (UCLA/Prayer Cycling) and preparing for tomorrow with the NAMB guys.

Now, here we are in the guys room, chatting, laughing and taking in all that the Lord has for us. It's been great tonight...reconnecting with the team, pushing Satan back and letting him know that he can try his darndest, but we will stay aware and united for the sake of bringing the Kingdom to Venice & Santa Monica! The group is back together, the tensions are gone and we're rip roaring and ready to go for the next 7 weeks. We're dressed and ready in the Armor and prepare now more than we were 7 days ago to take on Satan full force in whatever ways he can think of. Satan doesn't stand a chance with God on our side and with the 5 other individuals here with me!

So, today offered a lot. A new look into a new area (UCLA), a new prayer method (Prayer Cycling) and some moving forward to what is to come (forgetting tensions and doubts from the past). I'm reminded of where in Philippians where Paul says "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Though Satan has buffeted and trials have come, our team is pressing on toward the goal of bringing the Kingdom. We will not waver in the face of these doubts, trials and temptations...instead we will recall the days like today, where frustrations were high and yet the Lord prevailed. We will recall the days that weren't so great, but we persevered.

Some things to pray for:

1 - Team Unity: That the Lord would continue to bless us with amazing community and honesty with one another.

2 - Team doubts: That we will boldly go where the Lord leads us, regardless of what the costs may be.

3 - Venice

4 - Santa Monica

5 - Continued rest and rejuvenation: That the team would be able to find rest in the Lord when we're drained, especially when we're tired and can't seem to push on. Also, that we would be committed and faithful to our daily walks with the Lord in these upcoming 7 weeks, rejuvenating us spiritually!

Suffering -> Perseverance -> Character -> Hope

2009-06-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

So this blog post signifies the end of our first full week in LA. Wow. We all started off thinking that 8 weeks was a long time, and now we only have 7 left... the urgency of the gospel now has a new meaning to us all.

We were told before we got here that the expectations were low. "This is a pilot project. We don't know how well this will work. It may not work. It might work really well. We don't know." And when told about the areas we were given it was said "These are the darkest areas in LA. We haven't been able to get a church started in any of them. Several experienced church planters have come and spent lots of time and money into these areas with no success. A few salvations would be considered a huge success. A church plant...miraculous." They were right.

I read Ephesians 3:20 a week or two before we got here and it reads "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us..." hmm.... might we be having low expectations here?

The first time we walked through the Venice Beach area, Thomas asked me "So what do you think?" I believe my initial response still stands true, "I see a collage of paths, all of which lead to hell." I've been in some spiritually dark situations and places, but Venice takes the cake. Muslim mosques, Hindu temples, Pagan rituals, Satanists.... Venice still takes it. There is a half to 3/4 of a mile stretch that is only about fifty feet wide, and it is owned by Satan. I mean owned. Darkness abounds there. Drugs are openly sold, tarot card and palm readers everywhere, cosmic humanists, jews, muslims, hindus, crystal ball readers, sex addicts, drunks, disfigured, mentally insane, homeless, artists, dancers, poets, drummers, atheists, taoist, buddhist, native americans, shop keepers, wiccans.... need I go on? It's not that some of those couldn't be Believers, it's that none of them are. The other day Storm, Thomas and I started walking after a quick group prayer and within fifty steps I said "Should we prayer walk this area first? I feel some serious oppression right now." Both Storm and Thomas exhaled, almost gasp-like, saying "Yes, please!" It wasn't because we just really wanted to pray, we HAD to.

Josh, Kelsey and Bruce have targeted Santa Monica. Though they don't have the same number of crazy religions or druggies and stuff, their area is harder to get conversations going because people aren't open to talking with anyone. Both areas have serious amounts of very blatant spiritual activity going on. Both teams have had to adapt, attempt and re-adapt their strategies in order to see what works best, with who, and where when it comes to evangelism there.

So I guess now the question running through your mind is "Luke started this blog hinting at optimism. Why, then, did he start talking about darkness and difficulties? How is a church, or even a new believer, going to come out of those situations?" And the answer is simple: Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. You know the cliche bible verse "If God is for us, who can stand against us?" (It's the one people say all the time but they never genuinely believe or live out) Well this group genuinely believes it. Thomas read a verse to me the other day (it was the one particular day that Satan was just ticked off at us and didn't want anything we did to work or give us hope). The verse comes from Romans 5:3-5. It says "...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Now for your part. I've been reading in 1 Samuel lately. Lots of battle scenes there. I've read about people fighting with swords, spears, battle-axes, pitch forks, hoes, and even ox goads. Well, we don't really do that anymore, as believers. Instead, we pray. Yup, spiritual weapon numero uno is prayer. When people pray for us, we can tell. We people pray for those that we're going to encounter, we notice even more. God is going to work wonders in LA. Sick nasty awesomeness is coming, we just have to be faithful to pray.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I encourage you to continue to be faithful warriors for Christ.

The three things that are most needed to be prayed for are:
1) Protection
2) Opportunities
3) Guidance

(Jonathan Stocksill suggested it all start with the same letter, to prove that I'm Baptist. So if you prefer, it can also be stated as Protection, Possibilities, and Providence)

May there be great victory in the name of the King,
Luke =)

Perseverance brings Hope

2009-06-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

So, today was a good day. Lupita, who is the greatest cook ever cooked us breakfast again, prepared it early because Saturday's is the day that she works. We all proceeded back to bed after breakfast and then had our quiet time.

Tony who is a Taoist, is one of our connections that we made walking through the Venice strip. Our group decided that learning Kung Fu would be a great in to getting to know Tony and possibly the people in the class. We prepared ourselves spiritually prior to the lesson for a potential dark situation because he seems to hardcore believe in his Taoist ways. We learned that we are actually going to learn Chi Kung which is more about accessing your inner "Chi" or life-force. I was glad to see that we were three of the only four students there. We met Peter who is a middle-aged British man and is a photographer for celebrities. Hopefully there can be some development with him while we take lessons.

We started the lessons and he explained to us the power that can be drawn from the "Chi." The lesson was probably one of the hardest workouts I have done in a while. All the moves require deep concentration and muscle control. As the lesson continued, I realized that this Chi is actually more like a superstition. He kept asking us if we felt a tingling in our fingers, which was simply the blood rushing back into our fingers. The movements are based on fluid motions and a good balance that originates from the gut area, which is where ones Chi comes from. We learned a little more about Tony after the lesson finished. We still have thirteen lessons left and we all see those as thirteen more opportunities to talk to him about Jesus.

Hunger was setting in after the lesson so we went to subway. After that we went prayer walking down the venice strip. We saw the other Tony who was busy singing or rapping or whatever. We made eye contact with us and I commented on his funky top hat thingi that he was wearing. When we turned to walk back through the strip, Luke talked to a Tarot-Card reader named Shelly and that was good. Storm and I engaged in conversation with these rock collectors whose names I cannot remember. They weren't interested in our conversation so we walked on.

Josh's group picked us up and we headed back to the church. Apparently, the other group is not having luck with the approach that our group is taking. Today they decided that a new strategy needs to implemented for their area. They are not discouraged at all in fact they are quite enthusiastic about being creative and finding new ways to get connected. We came back and got some more Z's in.

Essau's family has been asking us to go do something with them since we arrived here so we went to the beach and played volleyball. We had a lot of fun messing around and spending some time in the sun. We had papusas for dinner, I probably completely misspelled that. They are a Salvadorian dish and they kinda taste like tamales.

Tonight we all went to Santa Monica to the promenade. The Jesus argument people were their again but a smaller crowd was around them this time. After looking around and analyzing the situation we continued on. We went to Barnes & Nobles to get Luke a Taoism book so he can connect with Tony. I looked at some of the books about the law of attraction because we heard the other Tony talking about it and I learned more about the subject.

We headed back to the car and listened to the same guys arguing with the non-believers. They definitely come off as closed minded and ignorant. They use non-sensible logic to explain God. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 1, Paul writes about how the Lord put the wisdom of the world to foolishness. It astounds me that these Christians want to use the same logic as these non-believers to try to argue people to heaven. I have more to say on the matter but I do not want to rant.

All in all we had a pretty God-filled day. Here are some things that would be good to pray for over the next couple days:

Josh's team finding new ways to connect to people in Santa Monica

The two Tonys

Santa Monica

Venice Beach

UCLA

Peter (the British photographer)

Bruce

Shelly

Grace and Peace

That's all it takes...

2009-06-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today started off at 7:00 AM for Bruce, Josh, and me. After Bruce washed his hair "for the ladies" (that he might see at 7 AM) we started on a morning bike ride down the the beach and back. This time we found a route that consist of minimal hills which made me very happy. We were all a lot less sore today. When we came back from our bike ride we all had an amazing breakfast consisting of potatoes, eggs, quesadillas, and amazing fruit salad prepared by the wonderful Lupita.

Then Bruce, Josh, and Thomas went on a Target run (because if you ask where to find a Walmart you will be laughed at) to pick up some supplies. The rest of us stayed at the church and did more people research. Storm research volunteer possiblities with art and dance. Luke decided to do more research on Taoism, Kung Fu, Chi Kung, and Feng Shui to be more effective in talking to the people he had meet yesterday. Taoism focuses on finding inter peace and connecting with the universe. I researched and called the community center to find out more details about volunteering there. We played volleyball because some of us needed some practice before we hit the beach to use it as a ministry. Then we left for an Italian lunch in town.

After lunch, Bruce, Josh, and I dropped Thomas, Luke, and Storm off in Venice and drove back to Santa Monica. Today both groups felt Satan imposing on our day. Being one of the first days of the weekend there were a lot more people out. It made it harder to talk to vendors when they were busy with customers. Both groups discovered that it will be easier to talk with vendors during the week when they are less busy and that we were going to have to get creative on the weekends. Thomas, Luke, and Storm talked with the two Tonys again but had a hard time because of the busyness of the vendors. One of the Tonys, a Tao master, invited them to take Kung Fu classes tomorrow which will be a great way to connect and sounds like fun. Sadly, they were even unable to walk in their usual line formation, or "boy band walk" (copyrighted by Storm) because of all of the people.

At the Promenade, Bruce, Josh, and I were a little intimated by the large amounts of people that all seemed to be in a hurry. The original plan of hanging out in the coffee shops soon failed because of the lack of space. We sat outside for a little while and watched the people as they walked by. Then Bruce and I decided to walk down to the pier to check it out. As we were talking on the way down there we sat the goal of talking to a homeless person sometime on the route. So as we got closer to the beach we saw a man who was living on the beach and went to the pier to get him a sandwich and water. When we returned we met the man named Willy but he did not want the sandwich or really to talk to us so we kept walking. Then we saw a man digging through the trashcan nearby so we decided to talk to him. We offered him the sandwich and water and began to talk to him. His name was Jason and he was from Asheville, NC (ironically) and had road a bus out here about 4 weeks ago. He was living on the beach and playing his guitar. We had a good conversation and he told us we could come back anytime.

Back at the church we had a spagetti dinner (my favorite!). We ate dinner with the Hispanic church members and were able to talk to them. Then we decided it was time for some group reflection time so we headed out to the Promenade. Satan continued to impose on our day. When walking down the Promenade we saw a group gathering and went to check it out. Here we found a very frustrating situation and a reason why so many people are turned off by Christians. A man who tried to defend Christianity by bashing other religions, who was opposed to listening to the other side, and who was so incredibly fake. He was very illogical and rude. As Josh noted he didn't even mention God's love the whole time we were standing there. We are trying to tell others about God's love and it baffles me to see someone who doesn't even understand God's love for all people. He gives people the negetive view toward Christians. I did find it to be ironic that the man happened to be standing under a poster with the word "DARKNESS" on it.

While standing there Luke meet a man named Manny, who he began to speak to in Arabic. Luke explained that what the man was saying was ridiculous and that Luke was a Christian. He was a Muslim from Egypt but had many Christian friends and was turned off by these fake Christians. Thomas was also bold to talk to other people standing there and see what they thought about what was being said. Our group talked about how in the future it is a good idea to stand on the outskirts of the crowd and talk to the people about how we believe that what the man was saying was ridiculous and we were Christians, so we could help people to see God's love.

Obviously our group had a lot to talk about during our reflection time. Everyone seemed discouraged by the things we had experienced today. We talked through what we had just saw and what had happened today. We talked about how we needed to keep each other encouraged because we are each others support system. The group decided we needed to have a day where we prayer walk the areas all together every week to push the darkness out. Also that we need to make sure we pray every time we leave to go out into the darkness. We know that Satan is pushing so hard because God is doing something amazing or is about to do something amazing and we were encouraged by this thought. We realize the huge impact prayer has on what we are doing.

So continue to be praying for us as we are going into the darkness.

I am very thankful for this group of real believers and encouraged to see what God is going to do. The ride back to the church from the Promenade brought us back into an encouraged mood after the intense laughter always present in the group.

Kelsey

Getting our feet wet...

2009-06-11T22:59:00.001-07:00

Simply put, today was awesome. After a rough day yesterday, hearing tons of new information and taking in tons of new sites and scenes, and being completely overwhelmed by what's been happening, today was a great kickoff to the next 7.5 weeks!

We woke up, ate breakfast as usual then had an early team time. We talked about what volunteer opportunities and people groups we found while we did research yesterday. From there, we finally got to get to work...real work.

Most of our time here so far has been traveling around, checking out the areas, being told about the areas and people, being told where to go and what to do, being asked tons of questions, and being trained for what the next 8 weeks would look like. So, this morning was a huge relief and new source of excitement as it was finally time for the team to get to work!

Like Storm told you guys yesterday, we had quite the long bike ride yesterday afternoon and Bruce and I had gone earlier in the day...sooooo, all of our legs, buns, and arms were sore to the max today. So, we decided to let our bodies recoop and drove. Bruce, Kelsey and I dropped Thomas, Luke, and Storm off in the Venice beach area this morning then we headed to the Santa Monica area. What the next two and a half hours held for us was amazing. We finally got our feet wet in the ministry we were going to be doing around here for the next 7.5 weeks!

I'll start off with the Venice area. Thomas, Luke and Storm all felt drawn to that area yesterday. I'll admit, when we got there and I sensed the weirdness/darkness there I thought to myself "Luke will do great here!" Not that Luke's weird, dark or anything like that...he's just amazingly gifted at working in those kinds of areas. What he's been able to do with the PSA at ASU is absolutely amazing, so I knew he'd be great to work in Venice area and so did he. Thomas and Storm were with him as well. Thomas has been discipled by Luke for the past year, so he's had some great training in being open and witnessing boldly and without fear. Storm was the girl with Thomas and Luke. I have been so impressed with her so far on this trip! From the get go, she knew that evangelism was a weakness and not a spiritual gift of hers (which she openly admitted), but I've already seen so much growth in her it's awesome! Anyways, as you can tell from the blog yesterday Storm was quite taken by the Venice area. I think she was full of fear and excitement, comfort and discomfort all at the same time! So, when she went with Luke and Thomas, I was excited to see how she would do. I knew she'd be in great hands with Luke and Thomas and sure enough, the three of them already accomplished great things!

First, they met two guys, both named Tony. One Tony teaches karate, is always ecstatic, happy, personable and is the guy that seems to know everyone in the area. The other Tony was a into the Law of Attraction, had some pretty neat beliefs, was pretty nice to the three of them. He said they must be attracted to him for his positive aura he was admitting. He also worked on the Obama campaign and traveled around the country quite a bit. The three of them had great conversations and left with an invite to join a karate class and an invite to come hang out with both of them anytime. They also found out about a spiritual community Agape, where people go and discuss their views on life. So, needless to say...two hours after just being up and down the strip once proved to be awesomely blessed! Luke and Thomas took turns with Storm talking to the two guys while the other one prayed. So, I think the Lord was definitely at work and getting things started off on a great foot!

So, while all of this awesome stuff was happening in Venice area, Kelsey, Bruce and I were in Santa Monica. We walked up 4th Street then headed to the Promenade. (INSERT SIDENOTE...the six of us were also prayer walking at the same time when we weren't talking with people or anything) At the Promenade, I decided it'd be a great place to shop for a bathing suit. I'd come all the way to the West Coast of 8 weeks and forgotten one. So, we went into the Quicksilver store where I bought two bathing suits and shirts. When we walked in, a girl told us about their sale of buy 3 get 1 free on anything. So, I lucked up and got a great deal on all those clothes. Anyways, while I tried on bathing suits, Kelsey and Bruce took charge. The same girl that told us about the sale going on started talking to Bruce. So, Bruce opened up conversation and found a lot of interesting things out. For instance, Debbie (the girl's name) lived in NC, went to UNCG for 3 months, knew where ASU was, and loved to hike and camp. She moved out to LA with her boyfriend so that they could get closer to the beach and be able to surf. From there, Debbie introduced Kelsey and Bruce to Charlie at the counter. He was born and raised in the LA area, went to San Diego for college and knew a lot about the area. We stayed and talked to them for about 10 minutes and left with an invite to come hang out with them while the worked during the week (they're apparently not too busy), Charlie briefly saying something about hiking with us, and some great ideas on hang out spots for people our age around here in LA. Apparently, most of the people in LA are younger adults and are always out and about. So, that was exciting. Who knew Jesus could use bathing suit shopping right!?!

From Quicksilver we went to eat at Barney's Beanery, a cafe/bar in the Promenade. Here, we met our waitress Tracy who told us about some more hang out spots and the cool stuff they did at their restaurant. They have Pool Night, Wii Sports Night, Guitar Hero Night and Rock Band Night. It's apparently a great place to come hang out, play games and meet people. So, we're pretty pumped about that possibility!

After lunch, we picked the other three up and headed back to the church where we met up with Emily, a church planter out here. She drove us around the West LA area, Westwood (which is where UCLA is), Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and back to Santa Monica. We got to drive up the famed Rodeo Dr. and eventually parked in West LA and did some prayerwalking. One of the things we noticed in the West LA area is that it was incredibly residential with a lot of housing in it. So, the team was kind of iffy on what kind of impact and opportunities we would get. Luke made a great point, stating that the best ministry would come through living among them and working with them. Anyways, on a much brighter and exciting note, the team was jazzed about UCLA.

We all feel pretty drawn to UCLA and are looking forward to working up there a couple of days a week. Speaking of the days of the week, we came up with some sweet loosely organized scheduling in the days to come. First, let's talk about team time.

We drove down to the Santa Monica strip area, parked in a parking deck and walked to the beach. From the beach, we did some reflecting/prayer-walking to the Santa Monica Pier. Here, we had team time and did some processing on what we'd seen in the day. A lot of us felt like reality was continuing to set in as today was the first day we got our feet wet with the ministry we'll be doing. We were pretty pumped after leaving team time, knowing that when you guys and we pray for opportunities, the Lord has opened the flood gates!!! Also, a two hour nap this afternoon after riding around in West LA seemed to do a lot for the group morale. That's probably the hardest I've slept in a looooong time!

So back to the sweet schedule/opportunities that the Lord is already at work in. We decided (very loosely by the way, we're pretty flexible haha) that we'd spend 3-4 days in our areas (Venice/Santa Monica), a day volunteering, 1-2 days at UCLA, and having a day off a week, which NAMB has so graciously given us. Some of us were concerned that by putting a schedule, even loosely, on the ministry days here may limit us. But, ultimately we decided to give it a try because of the urgency to be here.

It's a funny thing, the whole urgency to get ministry done thing. When we got here Monday, our mindset was "Oh man, 8 weeks! That's SO much time to get work done and be out of NC! We've got tons of time!" Then, today we all caught ourselves having this sense of urgency and excitement as we were talking and saying things like "We've only got 7.5 weeks left now," "We've got to get started since we only have 7.5 weeks left!" It's funny, we were all excited earlier about seeing the areas, but now we're ready to get going with the ministry. After seeing what today was like and how blessed it was, we're all jumping at the bit to get going.

In fact, here it is midnight in LA and we're all up and still on this excited high on what the next weeks hold for us! We're done with the learning the areas and now in 'go' mode. It's going to be awesome!

As I close this reflection time up, I am amazed at the power of prayer. I hope you guys realize that what you're doing at home or wherever you are is helping us out here! If it weren't for you supporters pouring over the Spirit in prayer, asking for opportunities and blessings, today wouldn't have been possible. Today, our team saw and tasted the the Lord was good. Now, we're ready to jump in and take in as much as possible. We're ready to be used in whatever ways the Lord needs. We're recognizing more and more the power of prayer and what it can do. In fact, the association here has had about 85 people prayer walking the area for us for about the past month before we got here. Then, they set up a prayer time (10:02AM in LA) for us and the ministry that the Lord would have us blessed with. Prayer...it's leaving me speechless now. All I can think of is John 14:12-13, yet again. In the name of Christ, through His Spirit and ya'lls prayers...I KNOW deep down that the next weeks will continue to unfold as blessed as can be!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Through them, you are partnering and joining us in this war against Hell that the Lord is waging through and in us. We are literally knocking at the gates of Hell, letting them know we're here to stay and here to do some awesome work...and through your prayers we stand strong, supported, encouraged, and enabled...so thanks again!

Things to pray for:

1 - People we met today: Charlie & Debbie from Quicksilver; Tracy from Barney's Beanery; the two Tonys from Venice; and the spiritual community, Agape!

2 - Continued opportunities: That the Lord would continue to provide us with open doors with the people we met today and people we will meet.

3 - UCLA: For some reason, all of us have a special interest and pull towards this campus. So, pray that the Lord would bless that, the campus of UCLA, the students, soften hearts and open minds! Summer session for them starts June 22nd, so pray for the professors and students as well!

4 - We all realized today how beneficial a rejuvenating nap could be. So, pray that the Lord would continue to provide rest for us through and in Him!

Thanks again and know that we love and appreciate you all!

in Him,

Josh

Please pass the fruit salad....again and again...

2009-06-11T00:16:00.000-07:00

The guys on the trip (minus Thomas who wanted to sleep in) had decided last night that they were going to bike to Venice Beach this morning. I decided to get my "I am woman hear me roar" attitude and go with them. FAIL #1...Kelsey and I woke up to her ringtone (Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts for all of you country fans out there), took one look at each other and hit the pillows hard - thus sleeping in and unleashing all-male havoc on LA at 6:30am Pacific Standard Time. Only God and those guys know what occurred without the presence of the women. I have learned not to ask. :.D

After receiving the hospitality of the Canales family's shower, I was inducted into the long journey of learning how to cook from Lapita this summer (I already have my first recipe, watch out Appalachian State). I cut up the fruit for the amazing fruit salad that was served this morning...along with pancakes, omelettes, cereal, toast, and of course, the ever-present Salsa! As you can tell, food is going to be a regular discussion at the beginning of this blog. And guess what is coming next? Lunch! Ted, Karrie, and Jonathan introduced several of the local pastors and those involved with the ministry around western LA by taking us to the restaurant closest to the heart of Forrest Gump, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. After being served by the friendliest and bubbliest waitresses this side of the Mississippi, we had some serious discussion about the goals and plans for the summer. Relational ministry seemed to be the topic of choice due to the unfamiliarity of ASU BCM's type of outreach programs in this area.

Interlude of FAIL #2: In attempting to tell Esau that I did indeed enjoy the food but was not very hungry (Si, pero no tengo hambre) it came out as (Si, pero no tengo hombre). Yes, instead of telling him that "I have no hunger" I told him "I have no man." Note to self: work on pronounciation....

After lunch, a local pastor, Jimmy, was nice enough to sit down with the group and give us an amazing Biblical explanation and visual diagram of the religious backgrounds of California and the issues which arise from that. I was shocked to hear that 80% of people in some areas have never heard the story of Jesus. To me that sounds like a scenario one would find in a foreign country, not in America which was founded "under God." I realized how much our approach to discussion and even political correctness would have to change in order to affect change in this area and incite interest in the local population.

Our last goal of the day, to travel back to Venice Beach and get to know the area blossomed into a complete tour by bike, complements of our gracious guide Billy. Little did we know that this trip into Los Angeles' hippie version of Chinatown and travelling the beautiful coast would turn into a 3 hour excursion. I told the guys, who had not been expecting to be back on a bike again today, that I have never been so grateful to be a woman before (The amount of soreness incurred on the trip had the guys calling each other their "butt buddies"). However this is where FAIL #3 comes in for me. The Sparknotes version of the story goes as follows: Storm had not ridden a bike since she was 12. Storm thought that the saying "Once you ride a bike, you never forget how" was true. Storm was wrong. Therefore for a time, Thomas, out of the kindness of his heart, was forced to ride a pink bike complete with a green frog on the handlebars and squeaky breaks while Storm re-learned the skills of steering and pedaling. Okay, end of third person speech and humiliating story.

Our team time was by far the most significant for me yet. I feel as though things are coming together as we learn about our spiritual gifts, which areas of ministry we each struggle in, and how these aspects relate to the work we are choosing for the summer. It is helping me narrow down a field of work from a broad topic such as art to a more defined summer volunteer job. Even though I am worn out, sore, and tired, I feel like the progress we are making and the excitement I am feeling at the end of this day requires me to finish this post with a word that is the opposite of FAIL. I'm thinking maybe ANTI-FAIL, UNFAIL, or maybe even SUCCESS!

God Bless, Storm

"Team, I have a feeling we're not in Boone anymore..."

2009-06-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, today has been a long yet exciting day. We definitely started off on the right foot. I'd like to just say that Lupita (the hispanic minister's wife) is one amazing cook. And the best part is, she LOVES to cook for people. I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but the woman I marry one day will love to cook for me...I'm jussayin.

Even though the eggs, sausage, diced potatoes, homemade salsa, and endless fruit filled my life with sunshine on a gloomy overcast morning, BUT the team also witnessed an endless slap war between Thomas and Josh, a bamboo sword fight, and the voting off and dramatic return of our fearless leader. By the way, I am offically co-cheif. Josh said so.

We were blessed with a visit from our supervisor and new found friend Jonathan Stockstill. Thanks to the o-so-wonderful LA traffic he was about 45 minutes late, so he wasted no time getting to work as soon as he arrived. Jonathan is a really cool guy. He is passionate about what he does and he honestly looks like he should be on television. Maybe not a hit series on a large network, but at least a TNT drama series or an infomercial host.

So the team along with Esau and our neighbor Stephen sat down with Jonathan and answered a few personality/character questions. He wanted to know what our dreams were and what we were passionate about. We also had to describe ourselves with ONE word. Thomas of course stole my word, "approachable", so I had to come up with something really quick and couldn't quite make sense with it. I actually don't even know if I gave him one word, but instead a few babbling sentences which in turn lead to the team and Jonathan (whom I had just met) making jokes at my expense. No worries though, I am used to it.

After about 2 hours of housekeeping discussions and getting to know Jonathan, the team went to lunch at Pancho's Tacos. I got the Loco Burrito...it was crazy! After our delicioso lunch we ventured off to the area of Santa Monica we will be working to scope out the people there. We walked through "The Promenade", an upscale shopping area. There we found many street performers and the team was introduced to a man from Oklahoma who started a "Jesus Booth" ministry back in the 90's. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is a small booth with signs reading "information about Jesus Christ". I was a bit skeptical about it, but it was pretty legit. After the promenade we visited the pier down at beach. Again many street performers which included a disco dancing old man who had limited dance moves...and limited skill, but Jesus loves him just the same.

The people in Santa Monica were a lot different than the type of people I am used to. They didn't really smile, nor did they seem very approachable. It was as if they were on a mission. They had to get somewhere, and get something done...fast. I am used to the more laid back attitude of the south. This came as a concern for the whole team. We fear we will struggle with approaching and maintaining a relationship with the people in that area.

Upon returning to the church, we were feeling even more overwhelmed than we had been, so Josh and I took a bike ride around the area. I hadn't riden a bicycle since I was probably 12 or 13 so it was nice to get back on and see my ability to balance and pedal was still there. The highlight of my night was mine and Josh's personal martial arts lesson by an awesome guy named Sean. He is one of Stephen's friends and I hope to get to know him more. I may even use martial arts as a way to build some good relationships for ministry, who knows.

Some things we will be praying for, and things you can pray for us too are:
1-Continued prayers for the people in the areas we will be working in: Venice, Santa Monica, and West LA. Pray that God will be working in their hearts while we prepare to get out there amongst them and spread the gospel.
2-That as we explore those areas, we discover opportunities that we can use to build solid relationships with. This is probably going to include volunteering our time with some point of interest to each of us. For me, I am going to be looking for an organization helping the homeless. Not only would I be meeting the homeless and sharing God's love with them, but also the people that are already giving up their time to help those in need.
3-That God will give us the wisdom and confidence we need to approach the people of the region. They are a lot different than what we are used to, and this is definitely out of our comfort zone.
4-That we get enough down time to relax and recharge. The last two days have been really overwhelming. There is a lot of information to take in, and we have realized the task at hand. This along with the jet lag has been a draining effect on our day-to-day. I just don't want this to continue as our time here is short and our work is long.

By the way, I am very thankful for the awesome people God has us working with. From Ted Knapp, to Jonathan, to Esau and his family. They are definitely some of the nicest and compassionate people I have ever met. I also wanna thank you all for your continued support and prayers. Until next Tuesday, take care and God Bless!
-Bruce

A Little Southern in LA...

2009-06-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we got into LA today and I cannot express in words how amazing it has been already. Most of our team has been quite anxious and nervous about what we're actually going to be doing, but truth be told...it's all up in the air. We were set at ease when we were told we could do no wrong and that any efforts here would be appreciated at all. More on that later...but for now, let's update ya'll on the people here.

We're definitely in LA haha! I got on the plane from Ohio to here, and every single person in First Class was on their blackberry, doing last minute emails and talking. They ALL had blackberries too by the way. It makes my flip phone look pretty retro! When we landed in LA we were greeted by the Director of Missions, Ted Knapp, his wife Kerrie, and a pastor D.D. They may be some of the nicest people I've ever met. In talking with them, they feel like we're truly a God-send and have made us feel like we've been a part of their ministry for years. It's been completely welcoming!!

I did however make my first Southerner mistake already at dinner...I said "sir." Apparently in LA, no one ever responds with a "yes sir/mam" "no sir/mam." Instead, it is always a ''uh huh'' or "yeah" or "no". While I was sure that my mother would hate Ted for telling me to drop those habits of southern politeness, deep down I was excited because I felt like a rebel!! When I was just losing my southern roots and politeness I was comforted by D.D. For the first time on our trip and in thinking about this trip, I realized I'm out of the south, which means no more sweet tea. Our team began to discuss this when the waiter mentioned we could add fruit flavors to the tea, but still...we knew it wouldn't suffice for some good 'ole sweet tea. But, I'm guessing D.D. could pick up on this. He said "Oh no. I make the best sweet tea ever. Come on out to the hood, we'll treat ya right. Black eyed peas, barbeque ribs. We'll do it up for you!" So, it's comforting...I'm still not too far from some good country cooking and a big glass of sweet tea. I just have to go to the 'ghetto' to get it haha!

After being picked up at LAX and eating dinner at California Pizza, we then headed to the church we're staying at here in LA. We were greeted by more warm faces and friendly people. The Hispanic Church Planter, Esau and his family were here to greet us. They're our neighbors here on the church grounds. It's Esau, his wife and three boys. They'll be the ones providing our food in the morning and at night, and from what we were...it is going to be some delish food! On the other side of our building is a couple of young guys who live on the grounds and help out around the church in any way possible!

Its been amazing so far and the team has definitely felt welcomed. It's been awesome to see how the Lord is already at work too!

Let me explain. We'll be working in Santa Monica, Venice, and West LA areas. These three areas of LA will be where we put all of our ministry efforts. When Luke and I asked the Director of Missions with the association we're working with about the previous efforts we got this: failure. So far, to our understanding, any church planting efforts that have been started here in these three areas have all failed. One of the biggest issues for this area is money. One of the churches that is on their feet in this area pays $16,000 a month to rent their building, and have to pay $6 a car that parks there for parking! Apparently, all sorts of experts and church planting pros from across the country have been in these areas to do work, and all of them have brought hundreds of thousands of dollars, and still...nothing has worked.

When Luke and I shared our conversation about this area with the team, a sense of peace came on us. It may be weird, but for some reason we're all relieved in knowing that they don't really expect anything other than that we do what the Lord puts before us. I say 'anything other than' as if it were a small task, but it is comforting knowing that our focus and the people out here and their focus is solely doing what the Lord puts before us. The Director of Missions, Ted, proceeded to tell us that he really truly felt like our team of 6 college students was a God-send and that we were what they've been waiting and praying for. They've been doing prayer walking for the past couple of weeks in the 3 areas we'll be working with. It's so awesome to see that the Lord is blessing this trip already. Again, I see an importance of prayer. A team of about 30 people have already been cultivating the grounds out here with their prayers, and praying that the Spirit would do awesome things.

It's midnight here in LA, 3 am in NC and I cannot express how excited I am...at least not in words that would make sense at this hour of the night. But, know this fellow readers of the blog...our team greatly appreciates what the Lord is doing and what He is using you, our supporters, for. Please continue to be in prayer for us as we continue to see how the Lord is working.

Here's a list off the top of my head of stuff to start praying for:

1 - Humility: If even the professional church planters can throw thousands of dollars and tons of time in this area, and not accomplish much...how can we, 6 ASU college students, do much? May the Lord bless us with His Spirit in ways that only HE can!

2 - Santa Monica/West LA/Venice: These are the three areas we'll be working in. Pray that the Lord would spread His Spirit and begin to open up opportunities for us!

3 - Strength: We got in LA and were immediately overwhelmed with info, excitement, the Lord, and so many other things. These next few days will be about training, adjusting to LA and the surrounding areas, and getting ready to start going out. So, pray that we'll have continued strength to make it through the next 8 weeks without being too overwhelmed mentally, spiritually, physically or emotionally.

Thanks again to you reading and supporting our team through updates. As another BLOG update for ya'll (I had to throw something Southern in there!) each of the teammates will be alternating days to write here. So, the schedule looks like this

Mondays - Josh Littlejohn

Tuesdays - Bruce Bentley

Wednesdays - Storm Stuart

Thursdays - OFF DAY

Fridays - Kelsey Morris

Saturdays - Thomas Chavez

Sundays - Luke Summey

Greater things are coming...

2009-06-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how when God wants his people to do something or to think about something, he'll send his fires of conviction in big ways. Well, I think its pretty safe to say this happened to our team over the past couple of weeks.

The team is:
Storm Stuart
Kelsey Morris
Luke Summey
Bruce Bentley
Thomas Chavez
and me, Josh Littlejohn

Over the past couple of weeks as we've prepared for this journey to LA, we've all been communicating via facebook and email. Well, in one of these recent Facebook messages I was sharing how I felt like God was going to do big things with us in LA, however...we couldn't do it alone. In order to accomplish all that God has in store for us, we were going to need a support group of prayer. I shared how I had this revelation (driving along I-85 at high speeds, talking w/ Jesus...you know, the safe stuff) and as the team began to respond in our conversation via messages, I was overwhelmed with this sense of peace. Each one of our team members had the exact same revelation, a need for prayer support behind us, over the past week. I don't know why I thought this was such a 'big' revelation, but for some reason I've found a lot of peace. I already see the Lord working in so many ways in our team, and I can only get more and more excited about the things that are coming ahead in the next 8 weeks we're in LA.

Speaking of those things that are coming, I can confidently say that they're going to be great. How great? I don't yet know. But, they'll be great. Our team was sent a package of information about where we'll be and in it was a preparation devotion for LA. It's a 10-day study on the fruits of the Spirit. Well in doing it, I came across a passage that has really been settling hard on my heart and mind lately. I actually found it because I looked at the wrong verse, but I'm pretty sure that it may have just been for a Higher reason { :-) } . Anyways, that passage is John 14:12-14 and it reads "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

I came across this passage the same day that the Lord began to work on my heart about this prayer stuff. I was reading the passage and I had to re-read. Did it REALLY just say that through faith, anyone will do what Jesus had done? And that because of His giving up His life on the cross, we're invited to do GREATER things than He? SURELY not. Surely, surely the Lord didn't put that in John for me or anyone else. Surely we cannot achieve greater things than that of the Lord...right?

Well, the more and more I ponder (and I caution myself in fear that this may be seen as preposterous to some) the more and more I'm convicted. What kind of man of faith am I if I don't have enough faith in the works of the Lord that I too cannot do such things in this time in LA? What does it say about my faith if I'm already counting the strikes against me, doubting what God can do, and looking for reasons to escape this calling in the life of every Christian?

This whole past school year's theme in my life has been about the "pursuit of holiness", and this passage has only pushed me harder into the thought that we, as Christians who strive to live in faith, can achieve holiness, just as Christ did. I find myself however, burdened and convicted because I'm not so sure my faith can stand up to those that are faithful enough to do greater things than Christ. Let's be real, after all, do you see me (all 200+) walking on water? Healing the sick? Casting out demons?

While the rational side of me says "No, your fat tail won't be walking the Pacific while you're out there." ... there's something inside of me saying "Josh, don't count yourself out. Don't count any believer out." Now, will I be walking across water...probably not, and that's not the point of this passage I don't think. But, I can't really express in words the amount of excitement and conviction in my heart, knowing that when in Philippians we're told that we can do all things through Him, that we REALLY can do ALL things through Him!

This passage has renewed me, taught me, and reminded me the ways of the faithful are unlimited; not because of me believing really hard...but because the Spirit of Christ will be going before us, fighting in/with us, and empowering us to do great things in LA. And, none of those things would be accomplished if we didn't have the support of those praying for us and our team being in prayer constantly over the next 8 weeks. Every time I think of this passage lately, I want to hit my knees in reverence and appreciation that Christ has given us the power to do great things.

So, let the great things come...whatever they may be. May our team stay humbled and confident only through the Spirit of Christ and may we be faithful enough to believe that through that Spirit of Christ, the possibilities are endless in LA!

For those of you praying for us, here's some suggestions for the upcoming few days:
1 - Humility for our team. May we not forget that only through Christ can we accomplish those great things that we're called to achieve!
2 - Open eyes, ears, and hearts. May our team always be aware of the possibilities to plant a seed or reap the harvest around us!
3 - Sending the Spirit before us. May the Spirit of God go before us to LA, softening hearts and opening minds, windows and doors of opportunities.
4 - Discernment. May our team know and see the opportunities, seizing them for all that Christ has created these opportunities to be.
5 - Take off. May we have safe travels on Monday as we take off at noon out of Charlotte. May we also begin to see those opportunities the Lord has in store for us, even en route to LA!
6 - Great things. May the Lord bless LA and the lives of LA where we'll be working (West LA, Santa Monica, Venice) in big and mighty ways. May He move in only ways that He can and may He change lives in only ways that He can!

On a personal note, I want to thank each and every one of you who are praying for our team members and I. Together, as we hit our knees in prayer and bathe this trip and the city of LA in prayer, I truly believe that God will bless this trip and the ministry we've been called to! So, thank you for joining us on our trip in Spirit and prayer and thank you in advance for the support, love and encouragement!