Pasadena Reflections: Lois, Pat S., Kathryn, Sadie, Steve

 Lois Brant, Trinity,  Jefferson

Friends are asking how the trip was and I suddenly realize I cannot describe the trip to them.  I can tell what we did, but that hardly touches what really happened in only one week.

There are so many levels!

·        There were absolutely marvelous people on the trip working with so many Christians.

·        Seeing how a float comes together.

·        The people who saved us front row seats on Colorado Blvd. How do you explain that...how to explain how much work that was..and they do that because?

·        Watching the parade with pride....thinking I did that.

·        The opportunity to witness to people just because we were dressed alike or because our sweatshirt said Petal Pusher.

·        The fun of giving witness bracelets to people, how surprised and pleased they were and how that made us feel. 

·        Just saying thank you to the crossing guards and others that helped us and how they appreciated that. 

·        The look on the faces of the homeless, realizing how they try to take pride in themselves, how hard they have to work to get out of that situation and to be part of the people who are helping them. How do you explain the feelings that we had from that day? 

·        How to explain the renewal of faith and the feelings that I have from this week....and it was only one week!!!

·         I feel like I have 22 really important friends. (I already knew Ellie, Lynn, Sandy, Brenda)

 Special thanks to you, Ellie

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Pat Stofferahn, St. Paul, Ankeny

This trip was so much more than I had expected.  I knew we would work on floats but I never imagined how much we would witness for God.  I know some people thought of this as a vacation but it wasn’t.   The floats were just a part of the trip.  Giving out friendship bracelets, talking to others about Lutheran Hour Ministries, Petal Pushers and nightly devotions were just some of the other things we did.  We were totally immersed in God’s work.  I can’t leave out the trip to Skid Row and the homeless shelter.  Seeing the smiles when we would give out underwear or socks was amazing.  I truly felt we were serving a need.  I came back with a new lease on life.  I know that I can make a difference in my family, my church and my city.  I can’t wait to continue my work for God whatever it may be.  Thank you Ellie, for organizing this trip.

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Kathryn Sprecher, Trinity, Des Moines

Just imagine.  Just imagine a hot meal while sitting at your dining room table.  Just imagine pulling up the covers in your nice warm bed.  Just imagine… The 27 members of the IOWAY team were privileged to visit the Urban Street Mission located in the area known as Skid Row and distribute health/hygiene items as well as undergarments.  We also helped to serve meals to the residents at the shelter as well as those who came in from living on the streets.  I visited with a man who had come to LA to drink himself to death.  I was able to share that, though our lives had followed different paths, God still loved and cared for us.

 This visit followed four days of working on several of the floats, including the Lutheran Hour Ministry (LHM) float, for the Rose Parade.  Theme of the 2012 parade was “Just Imagine”.  The LHM float had the theme “God’s Promise for All“.  Just imagine.  Millions of people either saw the float as it passed down Colorado Boulevard or on television and they read “He who believes in Jesus shall never die but have eternal life“. 

Just imagine how God worked in the lives of those on our IOWAY team as well as those we visited with and those who watched us as we worked to serve Him.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Sadie Heetland, Faith, Adel

When my mom originally told me we were going to California, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into.  Boy, am I glad I went.  Working on the float and talking to all the people was so much fun.  All the work that goes into one float blows my mind! They were just beautiful.  Seeing the final product driving down the street and knowing all the millions of people all over the world watching was very rewarding.

Going to Skid Row was exciting yet sad.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  Some people were very grateful and happy to get anything and others wanted a specific one and wanted the best.  One lady came in with her daughter and was on the phone, not paying attention and pushed her daughter our way.  The look on this little girl’s face was so sad.  She was so scared so I talked first and gave her a health kit.  I asked her favorite color and said pink.  I asked if she wanted a hat and she shook her head yes.  I gave her a pink hat. Her face lit up, she smiled, showed her mom and was so excited.  That made me feel good that one pink hat had changed that girl’s mood.  That was the most rewarding part.  As we left for the day and walked by the ladies who were in the shelter at Skid Row, they clapped, said thank you and all smiled.  They were so happy with so little and we lifted their spirits.

Our group was amazing!  We had so much fun and I am so blessed to have gotten to spend it with them and my whole family.

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 Steve Kruse, Zion, Ogden

 (written 1/3/12 – his dad’s 81^st birthday)
This trip made me more confident and wanting to really go out and witness to get more people at home involved and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

I helped with other floats, but when I did work on the Lutheran Hour float, it really made me proud and wanted to do my very best, for our witness to the whole world. When the float went by on Colorado Boulevard and heard the song “I Can Only Imagine” it brought tears and goose bumps to me.  I was very proud of it!  People that sat next to me praised the float and said, “That was the best. Great job, Petal Pushers.”

Left missing my family and went home missing my new Christian friends. We did a lot of smiling, laughing and crying all together. We experienced many adventures together. The experience made me feel great, knowing we were all showing that we are Christians by God’s love.

Reflections....by Afton, Don, Lynn H. and Jena

Reflections from the amazing Pasadena team J

 Don Hoffman

What a neat experience A-Z!

Ellie, God has given you a great gift and you use it to the fullest. 
Our goal is to make a difference in life for our Lord.  I know we had that chance.  God has opened the door for us to make a difference.  We had the opportunity to help. Now it is up to us to carry through.
At Skid Row, it was neat to see the eyes of children as we opened packages of socks and underwear. 
I would recommend a follow-up visit next year.
The Rose Bowl game was great.  Couldn’t have had a better seat!  Wrong team won, that’s okay. J

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Jena Nahnsen

Working on the Rose Bowl parade float was an amazing experience, especially since I could spend it with such a fun group of people.  Seeing the whole process of the making of the floats and watching them go together was phenomenal!  Some jobs were interesting and a pain at times, but they were worth it in the end.  At one point, I worked on the head of a T-Rex and it was a pain but was totally worth it because that float won an award!  Seeing the final product go down the parade route was indescribable.  It’s awesome being able to say I worked on that float!  God gave us the ability to help and it’s a great, fun way to witness and be a servant of God.

 Skid Row is a real eye opener.  There’s no way you can understand the situation going on there unless you go and experience it for yourself.  It’s so great to see how the people’s faces lit up when we gave them just the littlest thing.  One man who was a resident at the Rescue Mission told us his story of being addicted to drugs and how he’s now part of a rehab program.  Then he prayed for us and I thought that was really cool.  God blesses us with so much!

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 Afton Kahler

This trip meant a lot to me in so many ways. I am glad I got to experience this with my grandma and uncle. The best part was making new friends with the group. We were all family for a week. Working with people on the floats was very fun, getting to know them, and how their faith is in Jesus Christ. Jesus is in our lives as we go from day to day. The scenery was one of God's gifts to us to experience.

My faith has strengthened from being on this trip. I believe strongly that Jesus died for our sins, and forgives us. Everything happens for a reason, with God's will. The memories from this trip will last a lifetime. If you believe in Jesus your life will be awesome! :)

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 Lynn Heetland

This has been an amazing trip for my family.  We have not taken many family vacations but this is one my three girls will never forget.  I am so glad that we were able to do this together as a family and with the extended family of everyone on this trip.  We have shared so many stories and many, many more laughs.  Life is so busy that we don’t take time to slow down and enjoy it.  We all need to do more of it.  We truly have so many “things”, but somehow seem to think that we need more and more.  I hope and pray that each of us will look for other ways locally that we can help the needy and homeless.  I was fortunate many years ago to be one of the many people that toured the floats before the parade, but still had no idea of everything that goes into making the floats.  Every day was a totally new and different adventure as we were given new floats to work on and various different tasks from gluing or cutting or placing flowers.  It was so exciting at the end when all of our hard work was further beautified by the addition of all of the fresh flowers.  The flowers so drastically changed the way the floats looked.  We were all so blessed to have been able to work on several floats.  How proud we all were of our specific parts of each float as it went by us during the parade!  I was especially proud to have helped with the Lutheran Hour float.  What a great way to get God’s message of eternal life in front of so many people!  Words cannot express the fun that we all had on this trip.  My group, the ‘Red Light Runners’, shared so many laughs during our daily road trips.  Never a dull moment!

A special “thanks” needs to go to Ellie for all of her hard work in organizing these wonderful adventures and thanks also to each of you for making this trip so memorable.

In Christ, Lynn Heetland

Pasadena Update #3

Pasadena 2011-2012 Update #3
Greetings Everyone,
Saturday, December 31, started early with wake-up calls at 5:00 A.M.  What a way to start the last day of the year!!  It was still so very dark and very foggy.  We had a quick breakfast set out especially for our group at the Residence Inn since we were leaving so early, short devotions and left the motel at 6:00 for the Rose Palace on special assignment.  One of the float judging events is judging the workers and how well the crew chiefs are using their volunteers.  The IOWAY group was chosen to come early to be the workers for this judging before the rest of the shift workers reported for duty.
After an hour’s drive, all five IOWAY vehicles rolled in right on time and reported at 7:00 A.M.  We were disbursed to various floats and put to work.  The judges arrived shortly afterwards to begin their first look at the floats.  Final judging is when the floats are finished tomorrow.  We had a long day because of the early start but so much was accomplished and the floats are progressing nicely.  The shift that followed us will finish them for judging tomorrow morning. We left the Rose Palace at 3:00 but before we left, we took a group photo by the Lutheran Hour Float.  The scaffolding had been removed and the float looks so great!
 Today we did a great number of interesting jobs.  My jobs included crawling up onto the City of Los Angeles Float with a can of white glue, a box of celery seed and a sponge.  The legs of one of the dinosaurs on the float is covered with celery seed and I touched up and finished any bare spots I found.  Later, Jennifer, the crew chief of the Lutheran Hour Float asked me to take a crew and bring over 2,000 pink roses, hot pink roses, and two colors of Gerber daisies to the float.  Many people from our group spent the next hours adding them to the float.  Everyone did an awesome job arranging.  Some put evergreen boughs around the float and some added asparagus fern greenery.  A number of others worked all day petaling, a very tedious process where you glue individual overlapping carnation petals onto a surface.  Some worked on large rose forms that will be added around the bottom of the float and others worked on the sign on the float, covering each 3-D word with overlapping carnation petals. 
Other tasks our group did today on various floats included adding carnations, blowing into roses to ‘fluff’ them before installation, cleaning float surfaces of spilled seeds by blowing them clear, gluing bark on trees, carrying huge flats of roses and other flowers from the flower tent, getting dry materials from the seed tent, arranging moss, gluing rice, flax seed and tiny peas onto float surfaces.  Popping carnation heads from their stems was another activity today.  TV stations are sending reporters to report on the progress in each building. Lois had her hands photographed close up while she worked on a detailed project and Pat and Delores were interviewed by KXNO TV.
When we left work we drove to the Soup Plantation in Pasadena for our evening meal, a wonderful place to eat.  Then we journeyed the hour back to our ‘home area’ and went to the $.99 Store to purchase personal care items for the homeless who we will be serving on January 3^rd.   27 crazy Iowans, wound up after a fantastic day of excitement and all wearing matching sweatshirts, created quite a stir in the store!  Can you visualize over $755 of soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, razors, etc. in shopping carts with each item costing just $.99?  With our tons of stuff in toe, we headed back to the hotel for assembling the health kits, devotions and sharing time.  Joe Mitchell, one of the main members from Christ Lutheran Church surprised us with a visit while we were meeting.  His church is a Nehemiah church where Ellie and the gang work during the summer mission adventure.

We finished our evening by toasting each other for the new year with sparkling grape juice and headed to our rooms exhausted!  I doubt very many will stay up to see the new year arrive.  In the morning we are up early again heading for the other building, Rosemont, where floats will not be finished until later in the day so there will be work to do for our group.  It should be another very exciting day to see the floats drive out of the building and see their animation begin to work for the first time.
There you have it, a brief summary of the happenings of the IOWAY group on the last day of 2011.
God’s Blessings and Happy New Year,
Lynn Menz 
from Ellie:  I received a call this evening from Ardie, a friend who we work with each summer at Christ Lutheran Church.  He shared that his grandmother had died a few minutes earlier.  Please pray for Ardie and his sister Andrea.  Their grandmother raised them.  I suggest that those of you reading this who know Ardie and have worked with Ardie and Andrea at Christ Lutheran write or contact them.  The IOWAY group is very important to them.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pasadena update #2

December 30, 2011

It is work day #2 and we arrived at the Rose Palace at 8:00 and got to work right away.  Some were in the flower tents cutting and placing them in vials and putting them in flats.  Others were taking plastic off bunches of flowers for others to use.  People inside were cutting potatoes in half and letting them sit outside to dry to put on the float for cobblestone roads.  Others bunched baby’s breath for snow on the HGTV evergreen trees.  We were able to spend time to observe other floats place flowers along with brussel sprouts, squash, exotic flowers, coffee beans and many other organic products.  We met the Lutheran Hour speaker, Pastor Seltz and had time to talk and take pictures.  He will be on the float.

  We have handed out Jesus bracelets to share our faith with others.  There has been a lot of good times and lots of laughter and hugs.  It has been an amazing trip so far and we are so excited to be here.  After we got done working our shift we got to visit Hollywood’s finest and see the star’s prints at Grauman Theater.  It was a great experience and had a good opportunity to witness our faith.  We feel very blessed to be here and cannot wait to see what the remainder of our time here will include.  God Bless.

 Lynette, Chelsie, Kayla and Sadie Heetland

PS:  Tomorrow we have the honor of decorating during the prejudging of the Lutheran Hour and Home and Garden floats.  It is a ‘work in progress’ judging. The only downside is that we have to leave the motel at 6:00 AM. The final judging will be at 7:00 AM on Sunday in the Rose Palace. 

#1 Pasadena update

December 29, 2011

Hi and greetings from sunny California,                         

 On Wednesday we flew from Des Moines to Denver and then to Los Angeles.  After claiming our luggage, and every piece made it just fine, we headed for Enterprise where we picked up our 5 vehicles.  From there we drove to El Segundo to our California home.  Everyone settled in, ate the delicious dinner prepared by the hotel, and most went to Ralph’s grocery store for supplies they might need this week. Many of us sat outside near the pool to visit and share late in the afternoon just because it is the end of December and it was warm enough to just wear our petal pusher sweatshirts. We did it just because we could!   We know Iowa is also having warm weather, but it’s much nicer here.  The smell of freshly mowed green grass greeted us as we arrived at the hotel.  Seems like summer and we love it!

 Later that evening we sorted all the items we had brought from the churches in Iowa to get ready for our time to help serve the homeless on Jan. 3^rd.  We had piles of toothpaste, wash clothes, combs, school supplies, tooth brushes, deodorant, soap, lotion, etc. all around the room.  What a beehive of activity.  The pastor and his wife, Gerald and Kimberley who work with the homeless on Skid Row, came to meet us at the hotel and to share about their mission work. 

 This morning we ate a great breakfast at the Residence Inn in El Segundo where we are staying.   Then we were off on Freeways 105 and 110 with our five vehicles and drove to the Rose Bowl building where floats are being constructed.   We saw hundreds of fellow Petal Pushers as we arrived and hundreds more other volunteers. Many were high school age, all waiting to enter the building and begin work on decorating the floats.  Petal Pushers are volunteers who donate their time and talents to help spread the love of Jesus by decorating the Lutheran Hour and other floats that will head down Colorado Blvd on January 2^nd this year because the parade is never held on Sunday.

 We decorate not only the Lutheran Hour float, which most of you know is the ONLY Christian float in the Rose Parade, but we decorate others as well.  That donated time is credited to the Lutheran Hour float which helps pay for the expenses of the Lutheran float.  Pretty cool deal. Someone had a great idea on that!!!!  This is the 61^st year of proclaiming Jesus to the world by way of the float in the Rose Parade.

 Some of our group worked for hours on scaffolding putting silver leaf on the Bank of America float while the rest of us worked to get the silver leaf ready by removing leaves from the stems, trimming them, and putting glue on the backs of each one.  I would hate to guess how many thousand leaves we prepped that were glued to the float!  It is a huge float so watch for it in the parade.  Hopefully they will mention the silver leaf that covers so much of it and see what a great job our team did with it.   The best channels to watch the parade will be HGTV and RFDTV because they usually show the entire parade.  Some network channels conveniently decide that it is a great time to go to commercial when the only Christian float is heading toward them down Colorado Blvd.

 We worked hard from 8 to 3 and had a great time interacting and visiting with others who are working on this float with us. Most of us took breaks to visit the flower tent where there are truck loads of flowers waiting to be placed on the floats.  It is indeed a sight to behold!   When our shift ended, we trained the next shift and left for the day only to drive in rush hour traffic back to our hotel in El Segundo. We were almost back when Ellie decided to take everyone to the ocean for a short time.  Unfortunately, fog had moved in and it wasn’t so pleasant as we had wanted, but the young among us took off shoes and socks and were in the ocean, just to be able to say they did it.  By this time it was getting dark so hundreds of flash photos were taken with girls jumping on the beach when waves hit.  A good time was had by all even if it was for only a few minutes.

 Back at the hotel, we had a few minutes before supper was served.  The room was filled with laughter and frivolity from our group as we waited.  It was so much fun to see everyone have a good time.  Later we met in the meeting room the hotel graciously lets us use while we are here and we had some fun activities, shared ‘pows and wows’ about our day, and absolutely laughed our wheels off again!!  This group is such a fun loving bunch.  Everyone is bonding and connecting as a team.  Ellie closed with devotions on the theme “Life”.

 Now most are sleeping so I will attempt that as well.  5:30 wake up comes early here in California.  That is even before the sun comes up!!  Tomorrow we will work in the other building where floats are being created, the Rose Palace.  This is the building where the Lutheran Hour Float is being decorated so hopefully some of us may get to work on that during our shift tomorrow. The weather man is promising another day in the mid 70’s and sunny all the while we are here.  No rain on the parade this year!

 So, I am signing off after two days of this IOWAY mission trip.  Time to sleep for we have big jobs tomorrow.  Not only will we be decorating floats, but Ellie has challenged us to all take a number of witness bracelets on our arm tomorrow and witness to people and have them all given away before we return to the hotel tomorrow night.

Good night from the western edge of the continent!!
Lynn Menz

Photos from the Journey

SKID ROW!

What a day!!!! Saturday, July 10 was a day that will be remembered for a lifetime by our team. We left the hotel wondering what we would see, what we would experience and how it would affect us. Our caravan of four mini vans made its way into the inner city of Los Angeles to an area called Skid Row. It is an area where 8,000 – 9,000 homeless people live. Some live in shelters and most live on the street. We joined Gerald and Kimberley Fortier who go once a month to minister, feed and cloth people on Skid Row. We met in a fenced-in parking lot of the Union Rescue Mission on San Julian Street.

The day started with a circle prayer by all the volunteers. Then Gerald and Kimberley had a church service. Our IOWAY team sang a few songs. The Skid Row ‘guests’ were offered a Bible. We distributed the ones we ‘marked’ to guide the person through the Bible to learn of Jesus love.

After the service, the people were given a substantial meal. IOWAY provided 200 bananas, 200 bottles of water and $250 for the purchase of the broasted chicken. The $250 was a generous gift from the adult Bible Class at Immanuel Lutheran Church at Schleswig.



After the service, each person was given an opportunity to pick out clothes that they needed and we distributed health kits. Then they opened the gate and let ten at a time come into the area for food, clothing and health kits. The people were so very grateful for what they received. As I work with the homeless I continue to hear the term, “new homeless”, referring to the many individuals and families who recently lost their jobs and find themselves homeless. We met people who ‘had it all’—the house, cars, boat, job, etc and they lost everything when they lost their job.



Some of you reading this may expect that we saw lots of drunks and drug addicts. We did not. I am sure there are many on the streets, but we met basically people like you and me who are in need of help. The thing that broke my heart was seeing the families. Many parents were trying to keep their family together. In some cases the parents have a job but the job does not pay enough to support their family.



We worked with David, a man who has a heart for the homeless. He works to find jobs for the homeless. He shared with me that he is currently working with a homeless Mom with six children and with three homeless teens to find jobs for them. I personally met the teens. It is sad to hear stories about the homeless but it takes on a new meaning when you meet, pray with and hug the homeless teens.



When we returned to the hotel, we spent two hours as a group discussing our experiences of the day. It is hard to put emotions into words, but I think the following will give you a good understanding of the experiences as expressed by members of our IOWAY team. Ellie Menz



1. The day made me feel guilty for all of the things that I am blessed with. I have a place to call home and I can afford clothes and food. I’m only seventeen and I have a job. There are so many adults with much more experience and a better education than me and can’t get a job! I have so many things that I don’t even need when I could have used that money for something much more important for someone who is in need. It also made me sad to see all of the people and how hungry they were and how they had to wait for hours just to get a decent meal. I was amazed at how appreciative they were to just get some clothes and maybe a pair of shoes. I felt sad that so many had to be turned away because we ran out of food. Also, that many of the people can’t help that they are homeless, and have just fallen on hard times. Angela Jolly, Norwalk



2. Even though lots of clothes were donated to the people on Skid Row on Saturday, large women’s sizes (18-22W sizes) are hard to find. A large woman came up looking for size 20 & 22. Through God’s mercy, I picked up one of the many bags and guess what size was in that bag? All the clothes in that bag were size 18 to 22. Doris Nahnsen, Schleswig



3. I was assigned to work at the gate allowing people to come in and out. I was cursed at and heard many depressing things, but I was astonished to see and hear how hungry people were. People were so hungry that they were crying, cursing, swearing, and even fighting over just the concept of hunger/food. After awhile, I saw a woman vomit on the street. It was probably from malnutrition, drinking or some disease, but within minutes people were swarming the puddle of vomit. They were so hungry they’d eat anything. In this case, they were eating her vomit, picking out the chunks. After seeing that, I wonder why the Government is paying millions of dollars on pointless, stupid little things, and not on buying food to feed the homeless and poor. If we could afford one or two meals a day for them, we could change their lives! Cody Clausen, Schleswig



4. A biker from the ‘Sons of God’ motorcycle club who were volunteers, like us, told me a story. He told me that when he was about forty five he got into drugs. But at fifty, he went into a church that he was walking past because he heard beautiful singing. He heard the sermon. He liked it so he came the second week and liked it so he kept coming and he said that he keeps learning more. Andrew Reeve Glenwood



5. A. I met a man who had 3 small children. They live in a mission for right now. He asked me if I

could find a pair of pants for his 2 year old because he only had one pair of pants.



B. I was helping a little girl find clothes for her and her sister. I asked her if she needed underwear and she said, “what’s underwear?”



C. I met a man who asked me if I could find size 9 ½ shoes for him. I went to find some, but there were no men’s shoes in his size. There were many who needed shoes and they went so quickly, so many did not get any.



D. I helped a man find clothes for church because he wanted to look nice for church! I also found a suit for a man who wanted one for a job interview. Colleen Petzenhauser, Lake City



6. Today it was a very different day from all others. Today I saw the world with different eyes. Seeing all those people waiting for a plate of food was sad but also made me see that I am very blessed to have a plate of food on the table every day. Also, now I see that I am so blessed to have a place to sleep and to have a family. Claudia Perez-Garcia, Denison



7. As we were holding a church service for anyone who wanted to go, I went over to the gate where people entered. As we were sitting there, a little boy and his sister came to the gate. I started talking to them and the little girl was teaching me a patty cake game. It was really interesting and I’ve never done it before but it was really fun connecting with the kids that way. It was really sad though to think these little kids live on the streets and I get to go to this nice hotel at the end of the day. It’s hard to get over a feeling like that. Jessica Overturf, Norwalk



8. Towards the end of the time at Skid Row there were people coming in to get clothes. The food was gone at this point. I was just standing by the gate with Mac and saw a guy in a wheelchair passing by on the other side of the fence, so I started talking to him and he asked me what I was doing. I told him we were on a mission trip.

During our devotional time at the hotel, we have been watching ‘Answers in Genesis’ and we learned this thing where you ask people about their faith through certain questions trying to get them thinking about it. The questions include: 1) What do you mean by that? 2) How do you know that’s true? 3) What difference does what you’re saying make in your life? 4) What if you’re wrong? I felt as though he was asking me these questions and it totally took me by surprise because I’ve never been asked that stuff before. He was asking me what God has done for me and I was saying He gave me my family and friends and he wouldn’t accept my answers so then I said something about how God gave me my mom and my life and the fact that she didn’t abort me. Something with that answer he liked and he accepted that. I was happy to witness to him and told him God Bless You and thank you and then he went on his way. Jessica Overturf, Norwalk.



8. When we got there it was full of people, but the lady that got my attention was a Hispanic who lives at the mission. She has three kids, 2 boys and 1 girl,15 years old. She told me she couldn’t get all the clothes she wanted because they have a limit on how many clothes they can have and she asked me if I could ask everyone to pray for her so she could get a home.



The other thing that almost made me cry was when a van drove by on the street giving out food and all the people started running and some left their kids on the sidewalk. I felt really bad.



9. I think this was the most eye opening experience that I have ever had. You just don’t see things like what I saw today anywhere in the Midwest. I just saw so many disturbing things today, but I also think at points I was the most excited person there. Payton Kalambakidis, Glenwood



10. Many people who have heard of Skid Row only remember the violence or bad things that have happened there. Most people that will read this story will have a different view on what we can do to change the lives of others. Today I met many people that used to be just like us and some that used to have it all. Now those people are struggling for anything they can get their hands on. They had many material possessions until the economy or family members took everything from them. We all take everyday things in life for granted. Back in Iowa we all get meals three times a day every day, but in Skid Row some people go for a couple days without a meal. Also, in the morning we get to decide what clothes we get to wear for the day, while people in Skid Row wear the same clothes for weeks at a time. When there are any mission groups that go to Skid Row, the people there rejoice, because they finally get new clothes and food and health care supplies. In Iowa we have houses that we own and live in. In Skid Row people are lucky if they get apartments or a shopping cart full of all their possessions. Sometimes we don’t like the way our house looks or we think that we need a better this or that, but we don’t. There are people in Skid Row that would be blessed to live in a home like you or I do. Almost all of the people that are out in Skid Row are extremely thankful whenever missionaries or anyone who comes to Skid Row to hand out life’s necessities to them.

Whenever we go through our daily lives we don’t usually think about how good we have it. We all have plenty of food for our self each and every day. There are people that are starving right now throughout the world. We all have plenty of social contact with our family and friends. We don’t think about how much we as a country depend on money in today’s lifestyle, but these people in Skid Row can only dream about money and many other things that aren’t available to them. We don’t have to worry about where we are going to sleep at night or what clothes we need. We don’t think about what we can do to help others that can’t help themselves. If we all could save just five dollars a week that would add up to $260 a year that you alone can give. I know that five dollars isn’t that much to save each week. With the $260, you could buy clothing, food and health care supplies for missions to poor areas around the world or even in our own country. Also, with the $260 you could just keep it for yourself and spend it on something you will eventually throw away or use once and that’s it. Many people that will read this story will forget a lot of things that we can do to help. If you can only remember one thing from this story please remember that every little bit can help many people. Many people don’t know how little can change a person’s life. A little smile or even a hello could completely change a person. We as a country should stand up together for a better American dream for the Skid Row area.

Derek Rothe, Schleswig



11. What do you think of when you hear the words “Skid Row?” Violence, drugs, murder. . . . well you are right. But would you ever guess that these homeless people are just like you and me? Really, some have a job and work every day. Some can afford to pay for food and hygiene stuff, but they can’t afford a house for their family. These guys are called the new homeless. Yes, there are the homeless that we think of. But most of these people try to get a job and I saw that their spirits are so high. It just blows your mind. It is almost sad because their spirits are pretty much higher than our own. How can that be? They have more to look forward to in their lives. One thing that I have gained from this is, to always keep my spirit high. No matter what happens to you, put bad things in the past and forget about it. Always look forward because you can change the future to be better. So if you have had troubles, forget about them and keep looking forward because there is always something better. Michael Rothe, Schleswig



12. One of the bikers in the ‘Sons of God’ bike group told us about his life before Christ. He said that he was in drugs and alcohol and just bad stuff like that. He said that one day during a drug deal in front of a church he heard a lady singing, so he decided to go in and take a look. When he got in he heard the pastor preaching and decided to go back the next week. That was eleven years ago and he has been to that church every Sunday since that day. Now he is a great servant of God. He feared at first that God wouldn’t love him because of his past. But, the pastor told him God sees through that and always loves you. He does anything he feels God has in mind for him. He helps at Skid Row every time they do their devotion/service meal. He is an amazing man to turn his faith to the Lord. Adam Nahnsen, Schleswig



13. A. Lavelle was a guy Suzan got to know who came to get clothes. When he came in, I started to help him pick out clothes. Well as time went on I kept seeing him picking out clothes so when he was ready to leave I walked up to him and started talking with him. I gave him my “ABLAZE” bracelet. I explained what it stood for. He was so happy that he hugged me and said I was blessed by God and he wanted me to come back next year and see him.



B. A family came in with two little kids, so I started helping them pick out clothes. I held up clothes and the boy’s eyes got really big because he was so happy to have new clothes. So he and I started to mess around and have fun. And the touching part was he actually got some of my old clothes that I had donated. Kodi Hawthorne, Lake City



14. My story still needs to be determined if it is true or not but it could happen. My story is about an old lady I visited with who used to have a great life with a lot of money and a huge house. She said her family was mean and took it all from her. She then had to move onto the streets. While living on the streets she got a $20,000 lottery ticket and won the $20,000 ticket but the cashier lied and said it wasn’t a winner and took the ticket and cashed the money for herself. So she said she is still trying but nothing but bad has happened to her for a long time. Baker Cambridge, Glenwood



15. We were sitting by the gate waiting for the distribution to begin and these two little kids came up and started talking to us. We let them in and started playing with them and they taught us some games. When it was time for them to go and they didn’t want to leave. Anonymous



16. There was this guy named Murphy and he comes every month. He saw Gerald and yelled, “Gerald, Gerald I want you to meet my son: Gerald. He loves the Lord too!!” Anonymous



17. I felt sorry for a little girl who was the last person and she didn’t get a chance to eat. We were out of food. I was helping a lady get some clothes for her and her daughter and also for her friend. There was another lady and I was helping her get some baby clothes and she was happy to get clothes and she thanked me for helping her and she was talking to me about her story.

Sonia Reeve, Glenwood



18. Lavelle was sitting on the ground next to the gate. He was a middle aged black man who had just finished going through the tables of donated clothes. He was gently folding each of his new treasures and placing them in his newly acquired suitcase that had come from Iowa. I went over and asked if I could sit and help him pack his suitcase. He said sure. I sat down next to him and started a conversation about where he was from. He stated that he was originally from Indiana and then moved to Phoenix 21 years ago. He became homeless about 8 years ago. He lost his job, moved to the streets and after not being able to get another job, he started working at a mission shelter and volunteering all his time. He was homeless off and on. He moved from Phoenix to LA because of all the violence in the inner city that he experienced in Phoenix. He has been in LA since 2007 and he volunteers at the nearby shelter. He has a small room at the shelter. He attends church. He then told me that he recently won a contest. The prize is a house, car, boat and TV. He said the paperwork is in process. I had a hard time believing him at that point seeing how pleased he was with the second hand clothes he just picked out.

A lady on the other side of the fence started cussing and calling out names. Lavelle said, “Ignore her, the demons have her tongue!”

I helped Lavelle zip up the suitcase. He stood up and put his arms around me and gave me a hug. He said, “Thank you. God bless you. It was a blessing to meet you.” He was optimistic, even with his situation. Whether or not his story about winning a house was true, he had hope for himself and was a servant to others. I gave him the heart medallion that I had been carrying in my pocket all week. I explained how he had touched my heart by taking the time to share his story with me. Suzan Reeve, Glenwood



THANK YOU for taking the time to ‘experience’ Skid Row with our IOWAY team as we shared our thoughts.

THANK YOU for your prayers. It was an amazing trip. It was a life changing and faith building trip for our team.



God bless you as you serve Him by serving others.