Tuesday, December 31, 2013


Hello friends and family of this awesome Petal Pusher team!

 

Things are getting crazy in sunny California!  As I told you in the last update, there were ten servants in our group who answered the call to work a double shift yesterday.  After devotions, group sharing and bonding time, they drove all the way back to Pasadena to help finish decorating floats after the second shift ended at 11:00 p.m.  They returned to our hotel about 3 a.m. this morning. 

 

The rest of our group headed back to Pasadena by 6:15 a.m.  Those who did the double shift stayed back to get some much needed rest.  Or, most of them did at least.  Hats off to Pastor and Vivian Ernst, who after two hours of rest, returned with us to Pasadena once again!  The only thing I can figure out is that being filmed for Australian TV yesterday has affected Pastor’s judgment!!  J

 

Our understanding was that the floats in our building were to be finished when we arrived early this morning.  We thought we were coming to watch the final judging and to get our first clear view of the floats with all the scaffolding finally out of the way. It didn’t work that way.  Some of the float crews were still working and had not gone home at all last night.  We were quickly brought into service doing heavy work.  The entire building had to be completely cleared of boxes, buckets of unused flowers, sticky glue containers,  stacks of styrofoam flower holders for the vialed flowers, all work tables, and the entire building had to be swept.   All scaffolding had to be taken down and moved by the float building company, Phoenix Decorating. Needless to say, the place was a beehive of activity.  Many of us did more physical work in an hour and a half this morning than in the previous days combined.  I even ended up on scaffolding again helping a volunteer cover some exposed spots with pieces of evergreen boughs.

 

At 8:30 the judges began their work.  The place was totally silent so they could talk to each other.  Our float was the fourth one to be judged and when they were finished we broke out with loud clapping.  The crew chief, Jennifer, was crying as the job was finally completed.  She has done this job for so many years and we have learned to absolute love and respect her so we were emotional as we said our goodbyes for yet another year!  The float is absolutely gorgeous!  It is a beautiful witness to Jesus with exquisite art work by His people and covered with the flowers of His creation!

 

Dick Gast, the LLL man in charge of the Lutheran float, thanked Ellie for sending ten of her people last night and for our coming this morning to help get it all finished.  However, after the judging we were leaving and he said they still needed more help at the other building where floats were being built.  With the driving skills of Pastor Ernst as our leader, we headed over to Rosemont to see how we could help.  Long story short, we joined the chaos in that place and helped where we could although there seemed to be a lack of organization there. It was good to be there and watch those floats being moved out onto the street and getting lined up for the parade.  Most of our group had not been there before and enjoyed seeing the activity there.  The Rose Bowl is visible in the distance from this building site.

 

 About noon we were dismissed so we drove over to Colorado Blvd to have a look at the street which will be one big all-night party.  It was too early in the day for much to be happening, so we headed back to the freeways and returned to our home away from home.  Many took naps upon returning to the hotel.  Some of those who had volunteered for the night shift had gone out to eat and spent time at the beach as well.

 

As we were driving back to Los Angeles we had a call on our two-way radio from one of the other cars.  By cell phone they had been informed that some who had stayed back this morning had turned on the TV and saw an update about the float building in progress.  They saw Ellie and I, David Dose, and Jeanne Kuhlmann standing outside the building waiting for a work assignment!  Now, how crazy is that?  The Iowans on L.A. TV!!  I will admit, not as impressive as being filmed for Australian TV, but TV nonetheless!  Again let me say, “Who would have thunked?”

 

At 4:00 Ellie called a group meeting. She assigned each car load of people a list of things needed from the Dollar Store to finish filling kits for the homeless on Skid Row.  For example, one car was to buy 325 small toothpaste tubes.  Everyone had fun with it, especially when 30 people entered the same store all dressed alike in Petal Pusher shirts!  We do draw attention to ourselves that way.  After that, some drove to Ralph’s Grocery with another assignment.  One was to purchase our evening meal from the deli and pick up the 80 pieces of broasted chicken that was already ordered.  There is no meal at the hotel tonight so we ate as a group in the meeting room.  Another group was to purchase items for our very early breakfast in the morning as we will be on the road for the parade route by 5:15 a.m.  Yet another group was in charge of the tailgate party in the parking lot after the Rose Parade tomorrow.  We learned years ago there is no reason to try leaving Pasadena for at least an hour after the famous parade.  If you do, you only sit in traffic as a million people try to clear out at once.  It is much more fun to have a parking lot lunch and simply drive away when we are finished.

 

The evening concluded with some group games, sharing time and devotions once again.  It is time to catch some sleep.  Some are getting tired to the bone!   We anticipate the big day tomorrow as we take our spot along Colorado Blvd by 6:00 a.m. and watch the famous Rose Parade in the warm California morning sun.  We wish you were here to experience it with us!  To God be the glory!  Have a great time welcoming in 2014.  We will be sleeping by then I’m afraid!

 

As Ever,

Lynn Menz

Monday, December 30, 2013


Hello from sunny Los Angeles and Pasadena! 
We were on the freeways by 7:00 this morning after a great breakfast at our hotel.  We arrived at the Rose Palace and were put to work immediately on various floats.  Most of us were assigned to the Lutheran Hour float for a good part of the day.  The float is no doubt the most beautiful I have ever been privileged to work on.  The detail is beyond description and can only be appreciated by seeing it in person.  I hope you can get a glimpse of the stained glass windows as the float goes by on HGTV.  They, of course, are not stained glass, but made of all organic materials like rice, ground flower petals, beans, and many other things!  They do look like stained glass and are rich with special and meaningful symbols of our Christian faith. 

 
Many of us spent the day creating dark, medium and light pink rose displays across the back of the float.  Others spent the day gluing light green silver leaf and creating tiles for the roof, a monumental task!  Yours truly was actually up on scaffolding again this year putting uncounted roses into floral displays towards the top of the back of the float.  The crew chief on the ground would shout directions from her viewpoint to create symmetry and consistency from one spray of flowers to the next. 

 
We drove back to Los Angeles when our shift ended and hit rush hour traffic, but eventually all seven of our vehicles made it back.  After maybe an hour of relax time, we ate our evening meal in the Residence Inn meeting room.  We spent time sharing the highlights of our day with each other as we shared some of the beautiful moments of this day’s adventure. 

 
There was a young lady and her camera man who filmed Pastor Ernst as he was creating one of the beautiful rose displays on the float.  When they were done filming, I talked to the young lady and found that she had a very interesting accent.  It turns out that she is from Australia and was filming for one of their TV stations!  Who would have thunked??  You just never know what to expect on this mission adventure.  Others were able to share their faith with visitors who streamed through the building all day.  Our float is the first one the visitor sees as they climb to the top of the catwalk and peer down onto the unbelievable scenes below.

 
Ellie led devotions this evening and did an excellent job if I say so myself!  It had been requested by the Lutheran Hour crew chief that Ellie call her after devotions around 9:00 this evening to see how the second shift was progressing.  The final judging is to be done at 7:00 in the morning so all work must be finished tonight!  As expected, they need more help through the night and 10 brave members of our group are heading back for another work shift beginning at 11:00 p.m. tonight!  All floats in the building must be completed tonight and Petal Pushers are working on eight of them I believe!

 
Those who are not heading back to work another shift will leave at 6:00 a.m. and be there to see the judging take place.  It is a special time as the whole building goes silent while the judges spend a few minutes at each float for the final judging.  When our float has been judged and the judges bell is rung, Petal Pushers break out with hoots, cheers and clapping!  Sounds a little goofy perhaps but you have to be there to understand.

 
So, it is off to bed tonight for most of the team so we can be up bright and early.  We will no doubt say a special prayer for those in our group who will be heading back to work again tonight!  I will hopefully be bringing another update tomorrow.  Good night from sleepy Los Angeles!

Lynn Menz – Petal Pusher extraordinaire



 

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Pasadena Update


Hi Everyone,

Sunday morning came early for about 25 Iowans and 6 other brave souls from different states.  We met in the Residence Inn for a very early abbreviated breakfast menu since we had to be hitting the Los Angeles freeway system by 6:30 this morning.  Residence Inn normally serves a fantastic breakfast but set out some simple items for us at that early hour.

 As we got into our cars, instead of zero or below, we were greeted by temps in the 60’s!  Hate to rub it in, but we loved it!

 After our caravan of 7 cars negotiated the California highway system and found our way to Pasadena, we began our day by attending the worship service at the Lutheran float in the Rose Palace building.  LCMS president, Matthew Harrison was the pastor and God’s spirit was indeed in attendance!  He delivered a short, but powerful sermon followed by powerful singing.  I have been to several of these Sunday morning services like this but never have there been so many people.  Instead of the normal 50 people, there must have been in excess of 200 or more.  Our day was off to a great start.  One member of our group, Pastor Ernst, was asked to do a service at the other building, Rosemont, and he gladly served as guest pastor for people in that building!

 
We did several jobs during our work shift.  About half of our group was taken to the flower tent where they vialed roses for most of the day getting them ready to put on the floats in the next couple of days.  Others were cutting status flowers while still others cut yellow straw flowers.  Some of us glued rice onto a railing on the Lutheran Hour float.  I had a job of gluing kidney beans on a window casing on the float, something I had never done before.  Towards the end of our shift, some of us began gluing mums to be glued onto the lead float in the Rose Parade.  It is being constructed in our building and was behind schedule and Petal Pushers were called in to give it a boost!

 
We left the Rose Palace about 4:00 when our shift was over and drove further into Pasadena to eat at the Soup Plantation.  We left totally stuffed and satisfied.  At this writing, we are resting before going to the meeting room for devotions and discussion of thoughts of the day commonly known to IOWAY people as “pows and wows.”

 Tomorrow we will drive back to Pasadena for another work shift, beginning at 7:30.  I know we will be amazed to see how the float decorating has progressed by the work of the night shift.  Temps are high here which affects the way flowers open and the time to begin installing the final roses is being adjusted by the crew chiefs.  We look forward to having all the floats we are working on look absolutely magnificent as they head down Colorado Boulevard in Jan. 1.  The Lutheran Hour float is a knock-out this year with such beauty and intimate detail.  We wish you could be here with us to see it take shape!

 Tonight we will begin the task of sorting all the items we brought in our mountain of luggage to share at Skid Row on Jan. 3rd.  Many churches and individuals sent money for that purpose so a trip to the local Dollar Store may also be on tomorrow’s agenda as we fill all the towel kits we have with us for the homeless on Skid Row as we show God’s love to them in that special way.

 God’s blessings to each of you!
Sincerely,
Lynn Menz