Getting our feet wet...

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