IOWAY: Individual Outreach with Adults and Youth

Pasadena UPDATE #3

Tuesday morning dawned early for thirty-four, purple shirted petal pushers from the Midwest.  The California sun was still sleeping as we filled the breakfast area of our hotel at 6:15, trusting the sun would eventually catch up with our schedule.  There was time for a quick breakfast and then into the meeting room for a short devotional and prayer to start off our day. 

Out to the parking lot where eight rental cars roared to life and lined up, their drivers and copilots eagerly anticipating the day’s adventure out onto the California Interstates and our arrival in Pasadena at the Rose Palace.  Even though it was early morning and sleepiness still covered many of us, I could sense rising excitement for the day that lay ahead.  The day would be a first for most of the Petal Pushers, an adventure not very many people ever get to experience.  Finally, with everyone’s two-ways turned on, we were off and running.  As we left the parking lot the sun was just beginning to tickle the tops of palm trees along the way and our new day had dawned.

Onto El Segundo Boulevard the eight-car caravan went, then a right onto Sepulveda and a few blocks further we merged onto California I-105.  A few miles up the road, we fed through the tangle of cement ribbon highway I like to call the spaghetti works where we change to I-110 and head north, eventually driving past the tall buildings of downtown Los Angeles and into the dry canyon country as we near the city of Pasadena.  It’s an exciting drive past man-made and natural wonders.   Interstate 110 ended and became Arroyo Parkway so we were nearly there and ready for what God had in store!

We were called into the building, given assignments, and we became part of the hum of the place as we adjusted to our new roles.  Some in our group went to the flower tent where thousands of flowers awaited preparation.  Our team worked to vial pink and then yellow roses.  Over two thousand roses were stripped of their leaves, stems cut to length and inserted into plastic vials of water.  Phil laughed that he finally became a stripper!  It was his job to strip the leaves from the long stems.  Sandy and Roxie cut the stems to length and inserted them into vials.  It was a special day for Sandy because it was her birthday and everyone in the flower tent joined together and sang happy birthday.

Many of our team members trimmed the tiny ends of purple status flowers for later use.  Others removed flowers from long stems of Christmas Red Mums and put glue on them.  They were glued onto the Lutheran Hour float later.  Many of our group worked on the City of Los Angeles float gluing flowers on the lower parts while Larry, Gene and Staci worked high in the air on scaffolding above the float.  Darwyn and Heather were also on scaffolding on the Lutheran Hour float gluing brown beans into rows high over our heads.

When our shift was over about four o’clock, our caravan of cars drove to the Soup Plantation less than two miles away for a meal.  We headed home in the dark only to be involved in the worst traffic jam I have ever seen out here.  We crept along for maybe twenty miles before we could move at normal speed the last ten miles or so.  It was quite a sight as we drove slowly past downtown Los Angeles with all the towering high-rise buildings and their myriad of lights.  It was a slow end to an exhausting day on the road.

 We met in the meeting room of our hotel for devotions and discussion of the day’s events.  Ellie led a Bible study based on the book entitled “Joining Jesus on His Mission.”  We shared stories of the day’s events.  Following are a couple of examples.

A petal pusher in the flower tent encouraged a bunch of petal pusher workers to sing, “Jesus Loves Me” while they were working.  A teenage girl who was placing bunches of flowers on the table to be processed said in a matter of fact sort of voice, more to herself than to anyone else, “I have never heard that song.” Was God at work there today?

Later two of our group in the flower tent got into conversations with some young people who were on rehab from drug challenges and were able to visit and share with them because they knew people in their own lives who had similar challenges.  As they parted ways at the end of the shift, the young man told them thanks for being part of their journey. Was God at work there today?

At the Soup Plantation a worker told one of our group that he was impressed with our large group because we didn’t leave a mess in the restaurant.  The crew chief for the City of Los Angeles float specifically asked members of our group to please return and help again tomorrow because of the job they did today.

At devotions I asked people to briefly share impressions of the day we just had experienced.  A few were written down including, “totally awesome” and “overwhelming” and “unbelievable expectations” and “what a way to reach out to other volunteers.”

I have a personal story to share.  As our shift was ending a nicely dressed lady came up beside me and asked what float it was as she pointed to the Lutheran Hour float.  I told her and she motioned to the guy who was following her.  I turned around and saw a TV cameraman begin shooting video of the young lady.   She began pointing to the float and talked into a microphone in a language I could not understand.  When she was finished, I asked what she was filming and she told me, this time in English, she was filming for Direct TV and was covering the Rose Parade in the Vietnamese language.  You never know whom you will meet or what will happen next in this arena.  Had I known what was about to happen I would have shared much more about the float and the Petal Pushers but evidently it was enough for her story.

Tomorrow we will be doing a repeat of today but I am sure there will be more interesting and challenging things happening.  Again, time will tell what is in store.  It’s time to get some sleep because we need to be on the freeway as the sun rises again tomorrow.  God’s blessings from California!

Lynn Menz – Petal Pusher in the much warmer land of palm trees, sunshine and no snow!