Monday, January 2, 2017

Pasadena Update--December 31



PASADENA MISSION TRIP #3 – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2016

Can you believe it?  We could eat breakfast at a normal time and at our leisure this morning.  No, we were not trying to sneak something past Ellie, it was our relaxed schedule created by our fearless leader herself.  I went down for one of the hotel’s fabulous breakfast meals at 8:00 this morning and enjoyed it very much.  There was time for that cup of coffee at leisure and even a Pepsi chaser.  Could life get any better?

Actually, it would have been even better and more enjoyable had Ellie accompanied me but she was busy organizing our room.  Now that is another subject and I am not going to go there except to say that she and I are a team.  Nevertheless, one of us has trouble with chaos and one of us seems to be energized by it.  I will let you ponder that and draw your own conclusions.  

The reason for the extra time this morning is because we worked the second decorating shift today which didn’t begin until 4:00 in the afternoon and ended about 11:00 tonight.  It could make for a short night but let’s not worry about that right now.  Does that mean a morning of calm and peace for us to enjoy the amenities at the hotel?  No, of course not.  What are you thinking? 

Ellie had us in a meeting at 9:00 and then into our shuttles for the 99 Cent Store purchases needed to complete all the items to be given to the homeless later in the week.  We all brought extra suitcases of items provided by God’s people back home.  There was also a good amount of money sent from congregations and individuals wanting to be part of the mission adventure.  Have money, must spend!!  Shopping ladies, shopping!!  I know this had to be music to the female ears.  But, and this is just a personal comment of mine, shopping wouldn’t be a great adventure for me even if I liked shopping.  But that is just me.

Another point of interest just came to the forefront of my little brain.  The guys on this trip have a “rough row to hoe” as they say.  There are only 4 of us on this team of 35.  I find it rather enjoyable visiting with and getting to know all these fine ladies. 

I must present some insight on our after breakfast meeting this morning.  I know there are those readers back home anxiously awaiting all the nitty-gritty stuff about the trip.  For their sake I will try to give you an understanding of that hour and a half activity.  As previously stated, we all brought stuff to give homeless people at Skid Row later in the week.  We had brought and already sorted tons of those items and they were in suitcases and spread out on tables in our meeting room.  Other items had been sent directly to the Union Rescue Mission building in Skid Row because we could not physically carry all of it.  In order to further complicate things, some items had been sent to the hotel ahead of time as well.  Still, much had to be purchased at the discount store in Hawthorne   That is the reason for our shopping trip this morning.

Before shopping could begin, we had to know what we needed to complete the towel kits we brought.  Most of our extra suitcases were labeled back home with pieces of tape telling the contents.  I am not sure if the airline baggage handlers know how to erase notes on tape, but somebody does.  Some were no longer readable.  Some suitcases were filled with miscellaneous items that needed to be counted.  It is really hard to explain so it will make sense but those who are on this trip will understand.  Everything had to be counted and recorded so we knew what was needed to complete the kits.  However, that would be way to simple.  There were items we didn’t have enough of to give to the groups coming through the homeless hand-outs we will be doing.  The task of the day was to figure out what we had to purchase today.

Okay, just let me start over.  Maybe this will make more sense.  At one point during this free-for-all process of counting, recording, stacking, bagging, trying to understand what Ellie had in mind, etc., I was about to jump up and make an announcement.   Would everyone who is energized by chaos all around just keep working.  Everyone else please follow me for we are going to leave now!

It’s hard to admit, but it is unbelievable how well the shopping trip went at the store.  Once we sorta/kinda had an idea what we needed to purchase, volunteer groups of ladies were assigned to tasks.  One group was to purchase 168 toothbrushes and another was to select 300 combs but they had to not be too long.  You don’t need to know all the details but I think you get the idea. 

I decided to take photos of this crazy shopping operation.  Try to picture it.  Thirty five, no longer young, people ready to shop, all in matching red sweatshirts pouring into the store and grabbing shopping carts.  Isn’t that a scary image?  That is exactly what happened.  Only in California with Ellie!

I will admit I am going to have to apologize for the image I had about this whole thing.  Can you believe it all went extremely well?  Everyone seemed to enjoy this part of our bonding experience.  Some groups came to the register with a shopping cart filled to the brim with bars of soap!  Now, you don’t see that everyday.  Then there were the toothpaste ladies, comb ladies, toothbrush ladies, deodorant, etc. etc.  The tapes from the register were very long.  They scanned every item, no multiplying involved!  The smile on the manager’s face got bigger and bigger as each cart came through. 

We dropped off our loot at the hotel and headed for Pasadena in the rain once again.  Remember that this is drought stricken California.  We ate at the Soup Plantation, gorging ourselves to get strength for our decorating shift scheduled from 4 o’clock to 11 in the evening.  We worked on many floats including the Sikh, the Hockey float, the Odd Fellows float, the Farmer’s Insurance float, and of course the famous Lutheran Hour float.

The progress on the Lutheran float was absolutely amazing!  It literally took our breath away as we entered the building at 4:00.  The two shifts since we left the day before had worked miracles!  Many from our team returned to work on the float as the day crew was released.  It was all about putting on vials of roses and applying finishing touches.  We are looking forward to seeing it come down Colorado Boulevard on January 2nd.

Our shuttles picked us up a little before 11:00 but not before cold had descended from the hills.  It seemed to stream directly into our building and into the flower tent as the temperature dropped into the 40’s.  Some of our group had been sent to the flower tent to put iris flowers into vials and their hands were basically frozen.  The flowers loved it but we didn’t.  Our shuttles took us into the night as we headed back to our hotel in El Segundo.  We arrived shortly before midnight, most of us barely aware that we were about to usher in a new year.  I was so tired that I dropped into bed ten minutes before the magic hour of midnight.  When I awoke early the next morning, it was 2017 even if I didn’t welcome it in.  Sleep was more important.

God’s Blessing to all of you and Happy New Year from the IOWAY Petal Pusher Team!

Lynn Menz –  A tired and cold Petal Pusher – I have worked with petals galore!!












No comments:

Post a Comment