Update from Los Angeles - #1

Greetings everyone from California! 

This is Spencer writing tonight! This is our third night here in CA and we have failed to give you an update on what we've been doing (partially my fault because I told Ellie I would help her do this!). Anyway, we have been SUPER busy here getting ready for VBS next week at four different churches along with packing health items for Saturday to be handed out on Skid Row. We thank God for all the amazing experiences we have had so far! We are a smaller group this year, but we are mighty! We can do a lot of work and we have been very productive in everything we've done so far!

Here is a little synopsis of our time so far... Enjoy! :)

We left the Des Moines Airport via Southwest Airlines around 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and flew to Chicago-Midway where we had a short layover. The flight to Chicago was fairly short (less than an hour), but we made up for it during our flight to LAX. We arrived in Los Angeles at around 7:30 (California time -- 9:30 IA time) so it was about a 4 hour flight time. We were preparing for VBS during the flight looking through VBS skits and the lessons. 

Once we were in Los Angeles we took the shuttle to Enterprise to pick up our cars. There Kimberley and Gerald so graciously came with their big truck to pick up our 18 suitcases. We piled in the cars and headed to 'our home' where Kimberly and Gerald provided us with a wonderful BBQ meal here at the Residence Inn. We prayed together, thanking God for safe travel to LA. We also thanked them for helping us out tremendously! After we were done eating we took a group picture with them. My church (Zion, Arcadia) and Immanuel,Schleswig gave money to be spent for a chicken dinner on Skid Row for the homeless - for this Saturday and for the chicken for next month. 

After we said our goodbyes, we went to Ellie and Doris' room for devotion. Here we talked about "What does it mean to serve" or what comes to mind when we say "Serve". We had many good answers - such as serving in volleyball, serving a meal, mission trips, serving in the armed forces, and how God serves us. We then asked ourselves "Is Serving God Easy?" Think about it. Do you find serving God to be easy? I guess it depends on the type of person you are. For some of us it was yes... for others it is harder, which is okay. Serving God is something we all need to work on and an area in our lives in which we can all improve.

On Wednesday we woke up fairly early to start working in our churches. Before heading out we did a devotion in Ellie's room where we sat in silence for 5 minutes and just talked to God. Sometimes we think we get so overwhelmed with everything else in our lives that the first thing we don't have time for is God. Ellie had a good point -- God gave us 24 hours in a day and we can't take 5 minutes most days just to sit and have a conversation with our Creator? We are all guilty of it sometime or another, but once again it is something we can work on and become better at. Many times we say "I keep forgetting" or we think (or better yet we WANT to think) that it is about me. Needless to say, it is not about 'Me'. It's about God... Same thing, we're all guilty of it, but we need to work harder at making God our Number 1 in life. We ended by asking God what our "Marching Orders" were and what we can do to serve Him. 

We then went out and started preparing at our churches. We will be doing VBS at Christ and Hope in the morning and St. Philip's and Faith in the evening. This week, though, we are preparing for VBS, talking to church leaders, canvassing the neighborhoods, preparing crafts, and figuring out who is doing what. Our theme is "Set Sail With Jesus!" so we have a bunch of cute crafts planned along with a funny skit. 

Wednesday afternoon was pretty relaxing -- most of us were still suffering a little 'jet lag' so we took a nap and met up at 4 p.m. to sort items for each of our churches. We divided up all the craft items and the skit supplies to make sure we have enough of everything for all the churches. After we sorted through the items for VBS we headed down to the hotel lobby for supper. The hotel provides a meal every evening. Last night they grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, and chicken breasts on their outdoor grill. They also had potato salad, coleslaw, and chips. Since it was sprinkling (something it never does here in CA during the summer -- last night on the news they were talking about "record breaking rainfall" here in LA -- needless to say their 'record breaking rainfall was literally a trace of rain... that was the official amount!) we all enjoyed our meal inside. 

Once we were done eating we headed to Ralph's, the local grocery store to stock our rooms with snacks. When we came back we worked hard sorting items for Skid Row. We made just about 100 complete health kits before we ran out of shampoo. We counted everything up and are planning on making another 200 health kits! That's 300 total! That's CRAZY! Only God could have a master plan like that to send 9 people from Iowa with a bunch of supplies and make 300 health kits!

We closed our evening with devotion, thanking God for our ability to stay strong and not grow weary while we were working hard. We crashed last night after a long day's work. 

This morning we were all up at about 7 a.m. and had devotions at 7:30. We looked at a couple bible passages. Galatians 5:19-26 are instructions on how to live our lives from God along with Philippians 2:1-5. A verse a lot of us found intriguing this morning was Philippians 2:3 "Don't act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves." Honestly sit back and read that verse again... "Humbly think of others as being better than yourselves..." Sometimes, and I'm guilty of it too, we want to think we are better than everyone else, but that isn't what God says. Paul writes that we need to have the same attitude as Christ.

Colossians 1:15-17 says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers - everything has been created through Him and for Him. He existed before everything and holds everything together. Ask yourself this question -- Who are you relying on? I can tell you tonight that we need to rely on God, and honestly who wouldn't want to rely on God after reading those verses? It says He existed before everything and holds everything together! It's not about me, it's not about you, it's about God. Give him 5 minutes tonight, tomorrow morning, and everyday from here on out and talk to him. What's going on in your life - family problems, health problems, financial problems. Rely on God as he "Holds everything together." 

After our morning devotion, Ellie's group left for Christ while the Hope group stayed and put together craft samples and decorated some items for the classrooms at Faith. We left for Faith at about 9:45 and decorated our classrooms there. We headed back at about 1 or so and took a little nap while the Christ group went out and bought more supplies for Skid Row so we can finish putting the health kits together tonight (actually -- the others are upstairs now while I am typing this putting 200 more health kits together!) 

Our group (the Hope group) left this afternoon to talk to the leaders at Faith about their plans for VBS and get everything organized for next week. We canvassed a little and will return tomorrow afternoon to finish some final things before starting VBS next week!

Well, that gets you caught up through 8:43 p.m. Pacific Time :) I better go help those girls pack some health kits! Goodnight everyone!

Continue to keep us in your prayers and give God 5 minutes tonight and tomorrow.

Blessings everyone, 

Spencer 

Heavenly Father we thank you for keeping this amazing group of individuals safe in California. Be with them as they go about their way tomorrow and throughout the next 10 days. Lord, I ask that you help them lead as many children as possible to your love and help them teach about the ultimate sacrifice you have given -- the death and resurrection of Your son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Be with the community of Los Angeles, the people of Skid Row, and the faithful volunteers at the different churches as they prepare for the events in the next few days. Lord, I ask that you be with the families of the IOWAY volunteers. Protect them and keep them safe as their family members are spreading your peace, love and compassion to children and adults in inner city LA. I ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen.