"It's for medicinal purposes"

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