August 2nd,2006
All I can say is wow! Yesterday hurt, broke my heart into ten million pieces, I don’t think I will ever be the same, from the amazing tour and story of the Dream Center, to my afternoon outreach to the team that adopted me to my evening outreach.
I was so encouraged by the story of the Dream Center, two young guys (19/20) came to Los Angeles from the Midwest, never had they ever experienced a place such as this and here they were getting shot at, chased by pimps and completely attacked by Satan, yet they pressed on, they continued to follow the plan God had for them, they had very little money, but by the Grace of God they were able to buy this campus! I see the people here and how excited, full of joy and filled with love they are and how they are all here by the Grace of God, and I know that it is by no coiencidence that God has me here experiencing this. We toured the campus yesterday morning and it’s just so amazing the things that are happening here.
I was adopted by a team from Florida yesterday morning and they’ve really made me feel like a huge part of their family, which honestly I think coming here alone was a great thing but at the same time it’s tough to experience some of these things alone. Our first outreach was the Food Truck, basically they have these huge (think UPS) trucks and they are filled completely to the top with food there is a middle aisle where the team stands to pack the food. There are 100 numbers distributed and those 100 people get food, and all the leftovers are put at the end of the truck to be distributed freely it’s supposed to be a smooth process, but really it just turned into semi-organized chaos, people were pushing, shoving, mauling us, mauling each other it was insanity, it hurts to know that I have so much I take for granted and these people were fighting over three peppers and a honeydew.
We eventually had the chance to talk to these people, but there was a huge language barrier but there were times when we could decipher what was going on. I met the cutest, frailest woman she was probably in her 70’s and so beautiful, I just wanted to pack her up and bring her home with me. On the way back to the Dream Center we stopped to give this family some food and pray for them, they were the most loving family the boys names were Dennis and Jerry ( Jerry had autism), the moms name was Myrna, the mom and the grandmother, whose name I don’t remember, but they were very poor, but made a wonderful meal for us to take back to the Dream Center, gave us Gatorade, popsicles, ice cream bars and water! It was such a beautiful thing to watch them want to serve us so much when we were there to serve them.
When we arrived back to the Dream Center and literally had about 20 minutes between outreach and dinner, immediately after dinner we went to Skid Row, this is where I saw and experienced things I am not sure I was ready for, a pimp beating his prostitute, many people shooting up with needles right in front of us, people smoking crack pipes out in the open, drugs and sex everywhere, a prostitute who was much younger than me sold her body right in front of me. It broke my heart, men and women were outraged that I would want to share my awesome God with them! People in the deepest darkest pits of life, people who used to be successful business owners, war veterans and world travelers, living in the most horrible nastiest place I have ever seen.
On the way back to my dorm I lost it, I just couldn’t hold back the tears, the pain, the heartache I felt for these people. The fact you couldn’t walk down the the sidewalk because of tents, the boxes and mattresses and whatever else these people could find to make “homes” out of, people were fighting over boxes.
I stood in front of the Midnight Mission, the Union Rescue Mission and on the corners of both San Juan and San Pedro, in front of the row of porta-potties where prostitutes turn tricks all of the stuff I read about in the articles before I came here, I even met the woman who the report wrote about in the articles. It’s crazy!
I think the two people who I will remember the most from last night are Willie he was this really cute man that we prayed with and gave them bread and in turn he gave us some candy, none of us will be eating it for obvious reasons J! But I saved it to put in my journal so I can always remember to pray for him. The other man I met who I will remember is Otis, he’s a war veteran he would have talked all night if I’d let him! Not long after I met Otis it was time for us to head back, Eric drove us back through Skid Row and the further you went the worse it got, when I got back and was laying in bed I couldn’t stop crying and praying for these people. My heart was aching and I had horrible dreams all night long.
It was hard to eat breakfast this morning thinking of these people and this morning we experienced something even more crazy, we experienced something even more crazy, we did discipleship. We worked with three guys from the discipleship program and we did a 3-mile adopt-a-block, we basically walked three miles from and around the Dream Center and cleaned the streets, we swept up needles, condoms, pieces of what appeared to be shotgun shells and baggies filled with remnants of white powder, it was awful to think of the things that took place there earlier. About 45 minutes into the walk, we heard gunshots about a block away, and about two minutes later ambulances and fire trucks speeding by! Talk about being scared, but out here you just have to trust! Trust that God is going to take care of you.
This afternoon we went to Hollywood, the people you see there are so eclectic the people here are so eclectic in general, but the goal of this outreach was two things, one to reach the homeless youth of Hollywood and also to learn about the new and upcoming religion especially in California Scientology, Lord listening to the woman giving the tour it was so hard not to tell her the truth, explain to her how amazing you are Lord, but the purpose of us being there was too really be educated about this new religion so that we know what we are talking about when we encounter people who believe this! The exhibit was beautiful aside from what they are teaching there.
To get to the L. Ron Hubbard exhibit we parked at the Mann’s Chinese theater and walked about a mile down the Hollywood Walk of Fame! That was kind of cool! On the way back to the van, we saw two very young undercover cops do a drug bust in the middle of the sidewalk, Crazy! We also saw two “rent-a-cops” giving this homeless woman a hard time, which I wanted to tell them to leave her alone but then I realized who knows what she did. But when we got back to the van there was so much to talk about because some of us did the homeless part of the outreach and the rest of us, did the scientology museum. The people we met and encountered that day were amazing!
I unfortunately got sick while on outreach! So I was not allowed to go on tonight’s outreach, I was told that I had to get bed rest, I am truly bummed, but obviously I needed the rest and there is a reason I am here and not there.
I beg you Lord, to give me the strength to go on Lord, please God allow me to get the rest I need tonight, so that I will be 100% ready to serve you tomorrow, Lord!
Lord thank you for allowing me these amazing opportunities here in Los Angeles, Lord thank you for breaking me, taking me out of my comfort zone and giving me the words to share you with the people I meet, thank you for the friendships you are forming here Lord, thank you Lord for the beautiful sunset you allowed me to witness tonight that calmed my heart. Lord most of all thank you for sacrificing your life for me, father so I could be here today.
“This is your life are you who you wanna be, this if your life is it everything you dreamed it would be, when the world was younger and you had everything to lose!” –Switchfoot.
Father here I am again in tears completely broken, I try to be strong but I am not as strong as I thought please God tell me that as the days pass by it’ll get easier, the tears won’t come so easily? It’s okay to cry for them right? To think about every story I have heard and cry because they are all so sad, yet all so different, so unique but so real, and each one of them a testimony to the person they came from. I think of Pres, Alfred, Esteban and Ysidro (all men in the discipleship program), the men who get excited to see us in the morning, at lunchtime and at dinner, who we get too do outreaches with and whom we “bump” into on campus. I think about how much joy is in every single on of them, and how they came from the places we are working in the deepest, darkest pits of life and how much in love with our amazing God they are now. Thank you Lord for these men and women in the discipleship program Lord, who you are using to encourage us. These people make me think about the people I am meeting here and how maybe just maybe someday they will be there with me rejoicing in you Lord, father thank you.
Prayer Request: Please Father, allow me to be patient with Kerri Jo (A member of my team), Father God, please allow me to be more open minded about her story, where she’s been, where she’s going and her life father. Thank you.
All I can say is wow! Yesterday hurt, broke my heart into ten million pieces, I don’t think I will ever be the same, from the amazing tour and story of the Dream Center, to my afternoon outreach to the team that adopted me to my evening outreach.
I was so encouraged by the story of the Dream Center, two young guys (19/20) came to Los Angeles from the Midwest, never had they ever experienced a place such as this and here they were getting shot at, chased by pimps and completely attacked by Satan, yet they pressed on, they continued to follow the plan God had for them, they had very little money, but by the Grace of God they were able to buy this campus! I see the people here and how excited, full of joy and filled with love they are and how they are all here by the Grace of God, and I know that it is by no coiencidence that God has me here experiencing this. We toured the campus yesterday morning and it’s just so amazing the things that are happening here.
I was adopted by a team from Florida yesterday morning and they’ve really made me feel like a huge part of their family, which honestly I think coming here alone was a great thing but at the same time it’s tough to experience some of these things alone. Our first outreach was the Food Truck, basically they have these huge (think UPS) trucks and they are filled completely to the top with food there is a middle aisle where the team stands to pack the food. There are 100 numbers distributed and those 100 people get food, and all the leftovers are put at the end of the truck to be distributed freely it’s supposed to be a smooth process, but really it just turned into semi-organized chaos, people were pushing, shoving, mauling us, mauling each other it was insanity, it hurts to know that I have so much I take for granted and these people were fighting over three peppers and a honeydew.
We eventually had the chance to talk to these people, but there was a huge language barrier but there were times when we could decipher what was going on. I met the cutest, frailest woman she was probably in her 70’s and so beautiful, I just wanted to pack her up and bring her home with me. On the way back to the Dream Center we stopped to give this family some food and pray for them, they were the most loving family the boys names were Dennis and Jerry ( Jerry had autism), the moms name was Myrna, the mom and the grandmother, whose name I don’t remember, but they were very poor, but made a wonderful meal for us to take back to the Dream Center, gave us Gatorade, popsicles, ice cream bars and water! It was such a beautiful thing to watch them want to serve us so much when we were there to serve them.
When we arrived back to the Dream Center and literally had about 20 minutes between outreach and dinner, immediately after dinner we went to Skid Row, this is where I saw and experienced things I am not sure I was ready for, a pimp beating his prostitute, many people shooting up with needles right in front of us, people smoking crack pipes out in the open, drugs and sex everywhere, a prostitute who was much younger than me sold her body right in front of me. It broke my heart, men and women were outraged that I would want to share my awesome God with them! People in the deepest darkest pits of life, people who used to be successful business owners, war veterans and world travelers, living in the most horrible nastiest place I have ever seen.
On the way back to my dorm I lost it, I just couldn’t hold back the tears, the pain, the heartache I felt for these people. The fact you couldn’t walk down the the sidewalk because of tents, the boxes and mattresses and whatever else these people could find to make “homes” out of, people were fighting over boxes.
I stood in front of the Midnight Mission, the Union Rescue Mission and on the corners of both San Juan and San Pedro, in front of the row of porta-potties where prostitutes turn tricks all of the stuff I read about in the articles before I came here, I even met the woman who the report wrote about in the articles. It’s crazy!
I think the two people who I will remember the most from last night are Willie he was this really cute man that we prayed with and gave them bread and in turn he gave us some candy, none of us will be eating it for obvious reasons J! But I saved it to put in my journal so I can always remember to pray for him. The other man I met who I will remember is Otis, he’s a war veteran he would have talked all night if I’d let him! Not long after I met Otis it was time for us to head back, Eric drove us back through Skid Row and the further you went the worse it got, when I got back and was laying in bed I couldn’t stop crying and praying for these people. My heart was aching and I had horrible dreams all night long.
It was hard to eat breakfast this morning thinking of these people and this morning we experienced something even more crazy, we experienced something even more crazy, we did discipleship. We worked with three guys from the discipleship program and we did a 3-mile adopt-a-block, we basically walked three miles from and around the Dream Center and cleaned the streets, we swept up needles, condoms, pieces of what appeared to be shotgun shells and baggies filled with remnants of white powder, it was awful to think of the things that took place there earlier. About 45 minutes into the walk, we heard gunshots about a block away, and about two minutes later ambulances and fire trucks speeding by! Talk about being scared, but out here you just have to trust! Trust that God is going to take care of you.
This afternoon we went to Hollywood, the people you see there are so eclectic the people here are so eclectic in general, but the goal of this outreach was two things, one to reach the homeless youth of Hollywood and also to learn about the new and upcoming religion especially in California Scientology, Lord listening to the woman giving the tour it was so hard not to tell her the truth, explain to her how amazing you are Lord, but the purpose of us being there was too really be educated about this new religion so that we know what we are talking about when we encounter people who believe this! The exhibit was beautiful aside from what they are teaching there.
To get to the L. Ron Hubbard exhibit we parked at the Mann’s Chinese theater and walked about a mile down the Hollywood Walk of Fame! That was kind of cool! On the way back to the van, we saw two very young undercover cops do a drug bust in the middle of the sidewalk, Crazy! We also saw two “rent-a-cops” giving this homeless woman a hard time, which I wanted to tell them to leave her alone but then I realized who knows what she did. But when we got back to the van there was so much to talk about because some of us did the homeless part of the outreach and the rest of us, did the scientology museum. The people we met and encountered that day were amazing!
I unfortunately got sick while on outreach! So I was not allowed to go on tonight’s outreach, I was told that I had to get bed rest, I am truly bummed, but obviously I needed the rest and there is a reason I am here and not there.
I beg you Lord, to give me the strength to go on Lord, please God allow me to get the rest I need tonight, so that I will be 100% ready to serve you tomorrow, Lord!
Lord thank you for allowing me these amazing opportunities here in Los Angeles, Lord thank you for breaking me, taking me out of my comfort zone and giving me the words to share you with the people I meet, thank you for the friendships you are forming here Lord, thank you Lord for the beautiful sunset you allowed me to witness tonight that calmed my heart. Lord most of all thank you for sacrificing your life for me, father so I could be here today.
“This is your life are you who you wanna be, this if your life is it everything you dreamed it would be, when the world was younger and you had everything to lose!” –Switchfoot.
Father here I am again in tears completely broken, I try to be strong but I am not as strong as I thought please God tell me that as the days pass by it’ll get easier, the tears won’t come so easily? It’s okay to cry for them right? To think about every story I have heard and cry because they are all so sad, yet all so different, so unique but so real, and each one of them a testimony to the person they came from. I think of Pres, Alfred, Esteban and Ysidro (all men in the discipleship program), the men who get excited to see us in the morning, at lunchtime and at dinner, who we get too do outreaches with and whom we “bump” into on campus. I think about how much joy is in every single on of them, and how they came from the places we are working in the deepest, darkest pits of life and how much in love with our amazing God they are now. Thank you Lord for these men and women in the discipleship program Lord, who you are using to encourage us. These people make me think about the people I am meeting here and how maybe just maybe someday they will be there with me rejoicing in you Lord, father thank you.
Prayer Request: Please Father, allow me to be patient with Kerri Jo (A member of my team), Father God, please allow me to be more open minded about her story, where she’s been, where she’s going and her life father. Thank you.
Photo:Mobile Food Bank Neighborhood
No comments:
Post a Comment