I'm finally home!

My time in Los Angeles has been a time of incredible growth for me spiritually. Here are a few of the main things I will be taking away from this summer and applying to my life:

• · The importance of a community of Christians with a heart for their neighborhood
• · The importance of being surrounded by and worshipping with a diverse group of Christians
• · Sharing my faith should be a lifestyle, not just something to make an effort about once in a while
• · Taking the initiative to start spiritual conversations is up to me, but all of the results of the conversations are God’s responsibility, not mine
• · There is so much more to poverty than just lack of money, and there is so much more to helping a person in poverty than just giving him or her money and physical resources

As I look back at what I first wrote as I was preparing to leave for California, I remember the mixture of nervousness and excitement I was feeling. I am also nervous and excited right now about my future as I adjust back to life in Indiana and as I will soon go back to campus to start a new school year. I have learned and experienced so much this summer, and it will be difficult to not expect others to already know what I have learned over the past months. Life will be much different at Ball State than it was in Los Angeles, and it will be difficult to continue living out on campus what I learned in that city. But the Scripture verse that I kept close to my heart before heading to California is the same verse I keep close to my heart now: Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

To those of you who have helped make our summer possible by financial contributions: thank you!!! And to those of you who have been praying for me and for us this summer: thank you especially!!! I have learned more of the amazing power of prayer this summer, and so I can say without a doubt that your prayers have been essential to our time in Los Angeles. Thanks once again for reading my blog this summer! This is my last entry; if you have ANY further questions about my summer, please ask me! Thanks again, and God bless you!

Philippians 3:7-11

Our ministry site this week was the warehouse/office building owned by Here’s Life Inner City. They are relocating soon, so our task today was packing up computers and boxes of office supplies for the move to the new location. It was pretty tedious work at times, but I appreciated the change of pace from working with kids the past three weeks. Also, we as a team got a chance to work together, talk together, and joke around with each other while we were working. We also took the train to and from the work site this week, and it seems to be a much faster way of getting around L.A. if it goes where you’re going.

After dinner on Monday, we had a guest speaker, Larry Dove, from Emmanuel Church here in Los Angeles to speak with us about racial and ethnic reconciliation and diversity. He really made us think a lot and he had us discuss with each other our own views on diversity and Jesus' view of diversity.

On the train on the way home Tuesday I met a man from the Ivory Coast (living in Long Beach) named Kouassi Kouame. He was trying to find a particular address in Burbank. I left the team and got off with him to try to help him find that place, but we were unsuccessful. So we both headed home, and he’ll try again tomorrow. I couldn’t really help him much, but he knew I was a Christian and he really appreciated me giving of my time for him. Later that night we had a great but long Bible study tonight about racial unity among believers, centered on the scripture passage from Acts about Peter and Cornelius.

Thursday we worked in Compton in the neighborhood a couple of the staff members are moving into. We worked especially on their soon-to-be house, stripping paint, blowing leaves, clearing brush, stripping sheetrock, powerwashing siding. It was difficult, physical labor, and my shower once we got home was amazing! It felt very good to be using our physical abilities in our work, and it felt good to be very tired out from a long day’s work.

Friday was a free day: very full, very fun, and very tiring. Matt, Bea, and both Hannahs went with me to Runyon Canyon Park up in the hills near the famous Hollywood sign. It was very rugged and steep terrain, and the ground was very dusty overall. We saw some sweet views overlooking the city from the peaks of some of the hills, and we even ate our lunch on one of the peaks. There were lots of people walking or running on the trails, and most of the people seemed to have a dog or two with them. We had quite a difficult time finding the right combination of buses to get us out to Santa Monica beach, our next destination. Santa Monica is the next city over from Venice, but it’s a night and day difference economically. We saw Porsche and Ferrari dealerships, coffee shops, an Apple store, clean streets, and almost no people of color in Santa Monica. The beach was very nice, and we spent a few hours there (just the right amount of time in my opinion). We played in the water for a bit, laid on towels to catch some rays for a while, and I played Frisbee with Matt, too. We took a Metro Rapid bus back from Santa Monica straight to downtown L.A. with only a handful of stops, which was nice, but with traffic the ride home still took well over an hour.

We were planning to eat at a Korean barbeque restaurant together as a project, but that didn’t work out because we got home much later than we expected. We were planning to attend a 7:30 concert at MacArthur Park near downtown. By the time we had showers and hurriedly ate dinner, it was almost 8 o’clock, and we headed to the concert. Ricardo Lemvo and his band played Afro-Cuban music with a lot of rhythm, such salsa songs. They had an electric guitarist, two trumpeters, a trombonist, a keyboard player, a guy on bongos, and a drumset player, and Ricardo played maracas and sang lead vocals. The music was great, and our little group went to the front area by the stage where people were dancing and joined in with our attempts at dancing (some were actually pretty good).

We participated in an outreach in Compton Saturday called the Compton Initiative. First of all, we got up at 6 a.m. for this outreach, which was of course not fun at all. Our team worked on painting murals at Dickison Elementary School. We painted over the top of an older mural to brighten its colors and painted a new mural for the first time. For a while it felt like we had too many hands working on not enough wall, but later in the morning, Luke and I got a chance to go up on the second level of scaffolding and we had plenty of area to paint up there. They fed us some breakfast before we started, and we had pizza for lunch. Once we returned home, I went straight for a nap, and I slept for two glorious hours. We made a spaghetti dinner as a project. We also made a late night run to Yogurt Land, which was fun and definitely tasty.

Yesterday we began working with a community center in Central City, a.k.a. Skid Row. This center works with kids from the area, most of whom are homeless or in poverty. On Mondays, they have a pool party with the kids at the suburban home of someone involved with the center. So a bus came and picked up us and the kids and the staff, and we had a fun day playing with the kids in and around the pool. The rest of the week we'll be spending time with teenagers. That's what we did today: we hung out with about 4 or 5 teens who came to the center, playing basketball, card games, and talking with them in the "Teen Room." During the school year, the main focus is on helping the kids with their homework and studies, but during the summer this is just a safe place for them to come and relax.

Also, last night was an amazing night of group prayer and confession. Several people surrendered to Christ burdens they had been carrying for a long time, in some cases burdens the rest of us didn't even know about. And we laid hands on each other and prayed for each other; none of this was even planned out before the evening began! There was more vulnerability with each other than we've had yet this summer, and there was so much healing and closeness because of that! And none of this was through our own responsibility; there's no doubt the Holy Spirit was working in the room and in our hearts. I was so very humbled to be working and living alongside people who have persevered through so much more than I can even imagine, and yet they still turn their burdens over to God and rely on His strength. Praise God! This is our last week working at ministry sites, but keep checking in because I plan to write at least one more time this summer. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for reading!

Philippians 3:7-11

Our ministry site this week was the warehouse/office building owned by Here’s Life Inner City. They are relocating soon, so our task today was packing up computers and boxes of office supplies for the move to the new location. It was pretty tedious work at times, but I appreciated the change of pace from working with kids the past three weeks. Also, we as a team got a chance to work together, talk together, and joke around with each other while we were working. We also took the train to and from the work site this week, and it seems to be a much faster way of getting around L.A. if it goes where you’re going.

After dinner on Monday, we had a guest speaker, Larry Dove, from Emmanuel Church here in Los Angeles to speak with us about racial and ethnic reconciliation and diversity. He really made us think a lot and he had us discuss with each other our own views on diversity and Jesus' view of diversity.

On the train on the way home Tuesday I met a man from the Ivory Coast (living in Long Beach) named Kouassi Kouame. He was trying to find a particular address in Burbank. I left the team and got off with him to try to help him find that place, but we were unsuccessful. So we both headed home, and he’ll try again tomorrow. I couldn’t really help him much, but he knew I was a Christian and he really appreciated me giving of my time for him. Later that night we had a great but long Bible study tonight about racial unity among believers, centered on the scripture passage from Acts about Peter and Cornelius.

Thursday we worked in Compton in the neighborhood a couple of the staff members are moving into. We worked especially on their soon-to-be house, stripping paint, blowing leaves, clearing brush, stripping sheetrock, powerwashing siding. It was difficult, physical labor, and my shower once we got home was amazing! It felt very good to be using our physical abilities in our work, and it felt good to be very tired out from a long day’s work.

Friday was a free day: very full, very fun, and very tiring. Matt, Bea, and both Hannahs went with me to Runyon Canyon Park up in the hills near the famous Hollywood sign. It was very rugged and steep terrain, and the ground was very dusty overall. We saw some sweet views overlooking the city from the peaks of some of the hills, and we even ate our lunch on one of the peaks. There were lots of people walking or running on the trails, and most of the people seemed to have a dog or two with them. We had quite a difficult time finding the right combination of buses to get us out to Santa Monica beach, our next destination. Santa Monica is the next city over from Venice, but it’s a night and day difference economically. We saw Porsche and Ferrari dealerships, coffee shops, an Apple store, clean streets, and almost no people of color in Santa Monica. The beach was very nice, and we spent a few hours there (just the right amount of time in my opinion). We played in the water for a bit, laid on towels to catch some rays for a while, and I played Frisbee with Matt, too. We took a Metro Rapid bus back from Santa Monica straight to downtown L.A. with only a handful of stops, which was nice, but with traffic the ride home still took well over an hour.

We were planning to eat at a Korean barbeque restaurant together as a project, but that didn’t work out because we got home much later than we expected. We were planning to attend a 7:30 concert at MacArthur Park near downtown. By the time we had showers and hurriedly ate dinner, it was almost 8 o’clock, and we headed to the concert. Ricardo Lemvo and his band played Afro-Cuban music with a lot of rhythm, such salsa songs. They had an electric guitarist, two trumpeters, a trombonist, a keyboard player, a guy on bongos, and a drumset player, and Ricardo played maracas and sang lead vocals. The music was great, and our little group went to the front area by the stage where people were dancing and joined in with our attempts at dancing (some were actually pretty good).

We participated in an outreach in Compton Saturday called the Compton Initiative. First of all, we got up at 6 a.m. for this outreach, which was of course not fun at all. Our team worked on painting murals at Dickison Elementary School. We painted over the top of an older mural to brighten its colors and painted a new mural for the first time. For a while it felt like we had too many hands working on not enough wall, but later in the morning, Luke and I got a chance to go up on the second level of scaffolding and we had plenty of area to paint up there. They fed us some breakfast before we started, and we had pizza for lunch. Once we returned home, I went straight for a nap, and I slept for two glorious hours. We made a spaghetti dinner as a project. We also made a late night run to Yogurt Land, which was fun and definitely tasty.

Yesterday we began working with a community center in Central City, a.k.a. Skid Row. This center works with kids from the area, most of whom are homeless or in poverty. On Mondays, they have a pool party with the kids at the suburban home of someone involved with the center. So a bus came and picked up us and the kids and the staff, and we had a fun day playing with the kids in and around the pool. The rest of the week we'll be spending time with teenagers. That's what we did today: we hung out with about 4 or 5 teens who came to the center, playing basketball, card games, and talking with them in the "Teen Room." During the school year, the main focus is on helping the kids with their homework and studies, but during the summer this is just a safe place for them to come and relax.

Also, last night was an amazing night of group prayer and confession. Several people surrendered to Christ burdens they had been carrying for a long time, in some cases burdens the rest of us didn't even know about. And we laid hands on each other and prayed for each other; none of this was even planned out before the evening began! There was more vulnerability with each other than we've had yet this summer, and there was so much healing and closeness because of that! And none of this was through our own responsibility; there's no doubt the Holy Spirit was working in the room and in our hearts. I was so very humbled to be working and living alongside people who have persevered through so much more than I can even imagine, and yet they still turn their burdens over to God and rely on His strength. Praise God! This is our last week working at ministry sites, but keep checking in because I plan to write at least one more time this summer. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for reading!

Another full week!

Sunday we worshipped at Southland Christian Church in Bell, CA, which is where we worked this week. They had contemporary worship songs and communion, both of which I really enjoyed. The message was from Isaiah 14, about humility. I’d been learning about humility all week, so the sermon continued that theme in my education. After the service we went to King Taco to watch the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands. We arrived during the second half, and it was scoreless at the time. Spain won 1-0 in the second extra time. I was so glad Bea, our teammate from Spain, was able to see the game, and she was super excited to see Spain win. I wished I was able to be in Madrid to experience the madness there.

Monday was a day of planning with our team and Pastor Dan, the youth pastor at Southland Christian Church. He has organized a Vacation Bible School in a park near the church. Tuesday was our first day doing the VBS. We had the 6 of us, Pastor Dan, and a young man from the congregation named Ray. We set up in a park near an elementary school a few blocks from the church. We estimate about 50 kids showed up, as well as many curious parents. I had a part in our opening skit, and Sam and I taught the Bible lesson to all of the kids. We divided them up into 4 groups, and we rotated them through crafts, snacks, games, and Bible lesson. The kids were fun and the setup was a bit easier on us, but there was definitely less personal interaction than we had with the kids last week. Also on Tuesday, I had conversations with and shared the Gospel with 2 people on the bus: Martin in the morning and Chris in the afternoon. The language barrier was tough too, because Martin spoke only Spanish. All I can do now is pray for them. We had a good Bible study tonight, our last with our staff leaders Robbie and Ken. The staff left yesterday, so the rest of the summer is led by the students. More on that later.

The second day of our 3-day VBS with Southland Christian Church went well. Probably about 75 kids showed up, and it was very hot. But Wednesday was good in spite of the heat, particularly our skit went well. There was a lot of slapstick, action routines in it, but that went well and the kids loved it. After dinner I wrote our project newsletter. It was finalized Thursday, and it will be ready soon. It gives an overview of our project, and includes stories from 6 students of what they have been experiencing. I'm not sure whether the newsletter will be mailed out from here in Los Angeles, or whether we'll take them home and then distribute them.

We had so many kids at our VBS this week that it’s really hard to get personal one-on-one interactions with them. But I could really see the Holy Spirit working in my interaction with a boy named Albert after the VBS Thursday. Afterward our closing rally, I for some reason felt like I should ask him if he wanted to talk more about Jesus. He said yes, and we sat down at a picnic table to talk. He asked a lot of good questions, including what happens if someone prays but continues to do bad things over and over. I explained that God doesn’t care as much about the words we say but more about what we mean in our heart when we speak to Him, which Albert seemed to understand well. I explained all the key parts of the Gospel, asking him questions to make sure he understood. And he asked me plenty of questions, too. By the time I asked if he wanted to pray to receive Christ into his heart, he was very eager to do so! He prayed by himself out loud, and then we talked about how to grow in our faith after we receive Christ. I gave him my Bible to keep. I knew we were being prayed for, and those prayers really were answered. I know there is rejoicing in heaven because of Albert’s repentance and salvation!

Thursday night we had a guest speaker come to our house for the first part of a weekly discussion about poverty. We talked about the "culture of poverty" and I realized that there are very real differences between the culture of people in poverty and middle-class culture, in particular that the culture of poverty is based on relationships and the middle-class culture is based on achievement. Neither of these focuses are necessarily wrong; they're just different.

Friday we weeded at Southland Christian Church. Later, we had dinner with the staff, and they officially handed their jobs over to us students. I got Shannon’s job of administrator, and she’ll explain that to me more on Sunday. The staff will leave tomorrow morning and be gone until the last few days of the summer project.

We started Saturday with group prayer at 9. Communicating with God is always such a great way to begin the day! Matt, Hannah, Lauren, Bea, Josh, and I went to Venice Beach today and took the bus out there. It was a packed bus, but we didn’t have to worry about parking at all. Robbie and Luke drove and met us there a little later. We brought a few body boards, which were fun to try. I enjoyed walking along the water’s edge, laying in the sun, and playing Frisbee on the sand. The beach was very crowded, and the boardwalk was just as crowded as last Saturday.

Today our team decided to go to a church in Los Angeles called the Dreamcenter, a big church with dozens of ministries, all in the middle of L.A. The worship service was more like a rock concert, which I had trouble getting used to. After talking with my teammates about it, however, I am more accepting of the fact that this style is how this church reaches out to the young people it is trying to attract. Several of us went to see the new movie Inception after we got home, and it was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time! It’s such a thoughtful and complicated movie that I want to go see it again. I had a meeting with Shannon Norris this evening to learn about the responsibilities I’ll be carrying out as project administrator for the last couple weeks. It’s complicated, but they’re entrusting me with a lot, and I’ll do fine with God’s help.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any questions! God bless!

Last week's happenings

This past week started with a bang (pun intended) as we went to a golf course right outside of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to watch fireworks Sunday night. We grilled, played frisbee, soccer, etc. while we waited for the 9 o'clock show. And the wait was worth it: it was easily the best fireworks show I've ever seen!

Monday we began work at our second week's ministry site. This site was much closer (within view of the downtown skyscrapers), and it was only about a half-hour bus ride each way. We worked with First Evangelical Free Church of Los Angeles (a.k.a. EV Free) to put on a Vacation Bible School at an apartment complex several blocks away. A lady from the church helped us with planning and preparing, but the 6 of us on our team actually ran the VBS. We had about 25 kids come throughout the week, most of them from poor families with many brothers and sisters. We set up the VBS on a patch of grass outside the apartments, and there was a construction site across the street, which contributed a lot of extra noise. Almost all of the kids spoke English, but most spoke Spanish too, and most parents we met spoke only Spanish.

The VBS was Tuesday through Friday, so we spent Monday preparing, praying, and learning about the neighborhood. The pastor gave us a tour of the area that really opened my eyes to how people here really live and the difficult conditions that they face every day. For example, many families live in one-room apartments, since that's all they can afford, and many don't have a refrigerator, so they must go shopping almost every day for food. Tuesday we got to meet the kids for the first time, and many of them seemed to have a hard time trusting us. But as the week progressed, they became more and more attached to us (and vice versa), and we could see most of them were really hungry for attention and love. The apartments are only a few blocks away from the church, which host after-school programs and Sunday School for children just like them. But the sad thing is that most parents won't allow their kids to travel those few short blocks because the main road between them is an invisible boundary between gang territories. The kids have all seen violence, even just outside the apartments, and we were told that some of the kids have dealt with abusive relatives, too. It just broke my heart to see what these kids go through, and it humbled me to see the energy and excitement that they still have after all of that.

By the time we left on Friday, one of the families (with 4 or 5 kids) invited us in for dinner. This is one of 2 families from that apartment complex that currently are part of EV Free Church. Many of the other kids, followed us to the door of that family's apartment. Inside, there was one room and a kitchen. Bunkbeds were literally next to the table where we ate. They served us a delicious soup, which I am sure was going to be their dinner. We were all so humbled by their amazing hospitality.

Back at our home in Koreatown, we had a very unusual week. Monday night we had an amazing discussion about racial reconciliation that forced all of us to really stop and think about what preconceptions we have about people of other ethnicities. We looked at the way Jesus viewed those of other ethnicities, particularly a Samaritan woman in John 4. Tuesday night we had a great Bible study, looking at how the Bible talks about the causes of poverty. Our basic conclusion was that it's impossible to decide who or what has caused a person's poverty, especially without getting to know a person and getting to know their life's story.

Tuesday night after Bible study we received a big surprise: we were starting a "poverty simulation." I want to emphasize that we were completely safe through all of this, but it was an experience that taught me a lot about what homeless people and people in poverty go through on a daily basis. Tuesday night we were allowed to each pick 3 possessions from our bedrooms (plus the clothes we were wearing and our Bibles) and we were herded outside into the fenced-in parking lot behind our house. The ground was cold and hard, so we found cardboard boxes in the dumpster to sleep on for comfort. It was still uncomfortable and raining a bit, so by morning we were all very cold and very sore and many needed to use the bathroom (which was also not allowed during the night). Basically we were only allowed to enter the house during designated bathroom times and designated meal times. We were given $20 pretend money every night, with which we had to pay for meals, shelter, transportation, etc. There was a strong sense of community among the students, as we quickly pitched in to help each other cover costs rather than see each other suffer. I also quickly discovered that when money became short, hygiene was quickly sacrificed for more immediate needs like food and shelter.

We were woken up before dawn each morning, but the second night I was so cold that I barely slept at all but rather paced the parking lot to stay warm most of the night. We had to leave the house by about 6:30, which was well before the time were supposed to arrive at our ministry site. So we went to a nearby park and took naps. It was definitely difficult to continue to put 100% effort into our VBS when we were so lacking of food, sleep, and hygiene. On Thursday we received a "survival hunt" with a list of tasks to do after we left our ministry site. For example, one task was "Eat dinner." This was difficult because we weren't allowed to carry around any of our own money during the poverty simulation. We also were instructed to talk with a homeless person as a group. So we approached a homeless (we found out his name was Jay) who was as kind as anyone we've met in L.A. And before we left, he asked if we would like a couple of cans of food that he had with him. Before we left our ministry site that afternoon, I envisioned many possibilities of ways we could get food during the evening. None of those possibilities included receiving our dinner from a homeless man. We were all very humbled as we opened a can of creamed corn and a can of refried beans and ate the dinner Jay gave us.

Thursday night as we went to bed, the staff announced that we needed to turn in all of our possessions before bed, which for me was hard because my pillow was my most important possession at the time. I was debating whether or not to even try sleeping on the concrete without a pillow or to just pass the night sitting up. An hour later the staff came out to announce that the simulation was over! I went inside and took the most-appreciated shower I've taken in a long time. One of the lessons I learned from this was that we knew the simulation would last less than a week, so we knew that we only had to hold out for that long before being back in comfort again. Many of the people we interact with every day in the city go through situations harder than what we went through, and they have no end in sight to their difficulties.

Friday night we went to a baseball game at Dodger Stadium: Dodgers vs. the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers won, but it was a close game. I tried a famous Dodger Dog (a fancy footlong hot dog), and it was good but not amazing. The park has a beautiful view out past centerfield, because it's built into a hillside somehow. Saturday we went to Venice Beach together, which has a boardwalk known for street shows, freak shows, vendors, and musclemen. We went to try to find and talk to people who were on the margins of that society, so to speak. Robbie and I talked for a long time with a girl who we saw sitting by herself underneath a tree crying.

We found out her name was Crystal, she was only 19, and she had been traveling with friends for about 6 months before somehow becoming separated from them in Los Angeles. She had no money, no cell phone, no one who wanted her anymore. We sat with her and shared with her that God loves her so much that He sent Jesus to die for her so she can be in a relationship with God. We gave her a little advice about the buses, Robbie gave her the name of a church in L.A. that would give her a meal and a place to sleep, and we gave her a few dollars to get started on the bus. I have no idea what happened with Crystal, but all I can do for her now is pray for her. And I would ask that you pray too for her and for the other people that we have met and talked with and learned from, but that I haven't named on my blog.

God has taught me much this past week, especially about humility. I'll write more when I can. Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any questions!

Sorry it's been so long!

I know it's been about 2 weeks since my last blog post, but there's a couple of reasons for that: 1) we're doing things as a group all the time here in Los Angeles, and 2) we had our computer and cell phone access taken away from us for a couple days last week (more about that to come in the next post).

Last week (the 18th through the 2nd), my team worked with Child Evangelism Fellowship in Redondo Beach to put on a 4-day Bible club at a local park. Monday was strictly for training, and the club was Tuesday-Friday. Between 5 and 8 kids showed up every day, and we really got to know several of them well by the end of the week. We led them in songs, games, memorizing Bible verses, and a main lesson from the Bible every day. All of these things were already organized for us, so we simply divided the responsibilities and prepared beforehand each day. At least 2 of the children prayed to receive Jesus during the week. We were able to give Bibles to several of the kids, and little Jaron in particular was very excited about that! His eyes lit up and he said, "For my very own?"

We take the bus to and from our ministry sites every week, and this first week in Redondo Beach was a long way away from our house in Koreatown. We rode the bus for 2 hours each way every day, so I estimate we spent about 20 hours on the bus that week. We spent most of that time preparing for the Bible club, sleeping, and getting to know each other better.

Back at our house, we split up for Bible studies on Tuesday night. Our study was with just the men in the group, and it was great to be able to hear about each others' experiences and also hear each others' insights into the passages we were discussing from the Bible. Thursday night we had a panel discussion with 4 Christians who have chosen to live and work in the inner city of Los Angeles. They gave us such insights into their struggles, joys, and motivations in living and working full time with the people here in the city. I felt like I was writing down memorable quotes and tidbits all night long. Friday night was a social night for our group, and we all watched the original Karate Kid movie from the '80s. Saturday, the boys had to make breakfast for the girls because they had a cleaner room than we did. Afterwards I met up with my cousin Jacob who goes to USC and is staying there for the summer. We had a good time catching up and touring campus. When the snow is falling back at Ball State, I'll think of this campus where palm trees abound and sweatshirts are considered heavy coats. The weather here has been gorgeous, but according to Jacob this is terrible weather compared to the usual. We actually saw rain for the first time this afternoon; until now we've just seen a little mist during a few mornings.

I'll write more about this past week soon. I know I have some catching up to do, and I don't want to leave you in the dark. This past week was great, and I look forward to telling you about it! But right now I'm heading to bed.

One Week Later

Hi again! We've had a very full week of training, so I definitely won't be able to write everything I've experienced, but this week has been amazing! We've started every day of this training week with a time of praying, singing, and reading Scripture together, and almost every night we have dinner together as a full group. The unity and community among all of the students and staff has just been fantastic!

Tuesday: We split into two groups, and took an "urban hike" through many parts of Los Angeles, including: Chinatown, Little Mexico, Little Tokyo, Skid Row (the area into which most of the homeless people in L.A. are pretty much herded; out-of-sight, out-of-mind), the downtown business district (just up the hill from Skid Row). Finally, we took the subway back to where we started. Learned a lot about the different areas of the city, about the different cultures that make it up, and about the rainbow of people here too. The hike really helped me understand the hard circumstances many people in the city are in, and it gave me a heart for the people here in all their diversity. After dinner, we played soccer in the back parking lot with a few of the children of staff members, which was a lot of fun. I sprained my ankle in the process, but that has healed fully over the last few days.

Wednesday: In the morning, we spent time learning about the way God asks us to treat the poor in our land, looking in particular at Deuteronomy 15:1-11. After lunch, we split into 3 groups to go into 3 neighborhoods in Los Angeles: Koreatown (which is where we are living), an African-American neighborhood, and a Hispanic neighborhood. My group went to a particular plaza in Koreatown, and we took the bus there. We had a couple staff members along, but they weren't allowed to give us any help. So we used the map we had, and asked people we passed on the street for help. And we got there! We at in a Korean food court, and tried several different Korean foods, of which some were delicious. Some of them, I was glad I tried them once, but I wouldn't again. But it was fun and educational. I talked to a man I met there, and he told me about some Korean traditions and holidays, and he told me that older people in Koreatown often feel stuck there, because they don't know enough English to get by in other parts of the city. Once all 3 groups were back home, we talked about our experiences in all 3 cultures during the afternoon.

Thursday: We made two lunches each, and took them to a nearby park to share with someone there. Our goal was to share lunch, share our faith, and learn from them about whatever they would want to talk to us about. At the last minute, we changed parks, so we drove a different route to another park. On the way, we passed a woman whose car was stopped in the middle of an intersection with a dead battery. God had her there at just the time that we drove by with a van full of energetic and willing college students. So we pulled over and 5 of us pushed her car out of the road and to a gas station to jump her car. What a blessing to be able to help her out, especially since she had 3 little kids in the back seat! At the park, we split up into pairs (I went with Hannah, a fellow student from Minnesota). We stopped to talk to a man named Louis, who was very glad to share lunch with us and eager to talk. As we talked about our faith with him, he agreed with a few things we said, but he fiercely defended some really strange beliefs. He was a very smart man (UCLA engineering graduate) and I think he was very eager to debate with us. We definitely learned from the experience, and it shattered many of the expectations I had as we walked up to this man sleeping under a tree. I was reminded that I can't always see how God is at work, and, even though I couldn't see any change in Louis's heart, God is still working in his heart.

Friday: Beach day! We talked in the morning about teamwork through Christ, and how each person has a valuable role in the the body of Christ, whether or not he is a leader. In fact, Christ has called leaders to serve the people they lead. The staff had been praying and Friday morning. I am the team leader for Team B, along with my associate team leader Hannah. Our other group members are Luke (from Wisconsin), Sam (a girl from Kansas), Lauren (from Nebraska), and Bea (from Spain, yeah the country). We swam for a bit in the ocean, but after lunch we did several team-building activities that the staff had planned in order to challenge us and get us to work together as a team. In the evening, the 6 of us sat down to share with each other about our lives. It is amazing to see the amazing variety of ways God has brought us here to Los Angeles and here to this point in our lives.

Saturday: The men and women in our project house split up, and spent time talking with just the students and staff of the same sex. We got to know each other more closely, and spent time just bonding (for the guys, that meant playing Nintendo Wii together and going to get burgers). We went the the famous Southern California landmark: In-N-Out Burger. It was definitely an above average cheeseburger, but it just wasn't ridiculously amazing, and it was very crowded. But I'm glad I was able to try it!

Sunday: This morning Team B went to Faith Inspirational church, an African-American church in Compton. It was phenomenal! So enthusiastic, so vibrant, so welcoming. I also noticed how the church focuses on community and creating supportive families, particularly through Godly, responsible men (which are so often lacking in the inner city). This particular church was very dressy, and the music was so lively! We were all clapping as we sang and sweating by the time we were done! After a lunch of leftovers, we learned about spending time with children, which is what we'll be doing during some of these weeks.

Each team will be working at a different ministry site in the city (partnering with a local church ministry) every week. I'm excited to see our team get to work together and make a difference in the community tomorrow. But it's dinnertime now, so I've gotta go!

I'm safely in Los Angeles!

Well, this is my first blog post from California! If you've gotten this in an email, you're one of a few people who will be emailed a copy of my online blog when I update it. If you're reading this online, check back often because I will be using this to keep you informed as often as I can. That may be tough, because we have a busy schedule.

But down to details: there was a heavy thunderstorm in the Indianapolis area this morning, so my flight out of Indy was delayed by an hour and 15 minutes. When we finally arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth, I sprinted to the next gate, only to find that my next plane to L.A. had left 5 minutes ago. I barely managed to get on a flight a little bit later on standby though, which was a major blessing! To top it all off, the lady I sat next to on that flight into L.A. is working with a non-profit company that's working to reduce homelessness in Skid Row, nearby where we're living, and she was able to tell me some things about the area.

My luggage somehow got on the same flight that I barely got on (another blessing!), and I was soon picked up with all my luggage by two of the members of the Summer In The City staff. We're now at our house, which is right in the middle of Koreatown here near downtown Los Angeles. It's a big green house, and I'm sharing a room with 3 other college-age men, Matt, Luk, and Josh. We've already been able to share with each other about our backgrounds, share Scripture verses with each other, and we've decided to pray together each night before we all go to bed. We're actually the only men students here, and I'm really excited to get to know these guys better over the next 7 weeks.

We also met up with our entire group of students and staff earlier tonight. We received a big binder full of details about our summer project here, so things are very well planned out. I can share more of that later, but right now it's 10:30 local time, which means 1:30 on my internal clock. And we have breakfast at 7:30 tomorrow! So I'm heading to bed. More to come...

Less than a month away!

I will leave for Los Angeles on June 21st, which is less than a month away. As I think about that fact, a range of emotions hit me, the strongest of which are excitement and nervousness. I am really excited about all that the Lord will teach me and show me this summer, because I'm sure I will learn new things every day I'm there! I won't be surprised if I learn more this summer than during the past semester of school (sorry to any of my professors who may be reading this)! I'm excited to see and experience this new city (new to me), excited to make new friends, excited to help make a difference for Christ in this city full of hurt!

However, what I learn during my time in L.A. may not (and probably will not) come easily. It can be so easy for me to become nervous about my safety, nervous about what people will think of me, nervous about whether I'll actually be able to make a difference in a place with so many needs. It's also so difficult for me to prepare for situations I'll encounter, when I have very little idea what those will be. I don't even know what our residence will look like! It's difficult for me to feel that this trip is really happening when I can't even visualize my surroundings there.

So while I wait to go to Los Angeles, I am relying on the Lord to prepare me for this journey as I learn about the city and, most importantly, learn about Him. A Scripture verse that I memorized last year seems so fitting in this situation: Philippians 4:6-7.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.

I am thankful for this opportunity to serve the Lord in inner-city Los Angeles, and I am grateful for your continued prayers in this time before I leave and while I am there. Thanks for reading and please check back in for more updates. I can't promise any regular schedule of blog posts, but I will do my best to keep you informed, especially once I get to Los Angeles!