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

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.

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!)

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!!

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.

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

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.

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