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!
