Sunday (July 14th)
Today was a day of getting acquainted with where we were living and heading off to a few church services. We all got up and ready pretty early that morning so we had about an hour or so to explore the neighborhood before our first church service started at 11. Jed & I had the chance to walk around the area and see all of the things that had changed and remember all of the sights, sounds & smells that were the exact same. We found a farmers market on Hillhurst that we stopped at and picked up a box of fresh strawberries for the team. They were fantastic.
I think a lot of the group was especially surprised by our neighborhood surroundings, mainly the many different types of churches that were so different and so close to Hope. But I think the most surprising for many was the huge Scientology campus just a block away.
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| Picture courtesy of Terri Dewey |
Our first service was at Hope International. I love this church. I love that it is a church full of people that love unconditionally; they love and support each other and are always looking out for each other. Pastor Ed spoke that morning about God's GPS. About the times in life that God is giving us road signs. Some of the road signs he spoke about were, "One Way", "Yield", "Look Out for Falling Rocks" and "Detour". After listening to Pastor Ed, I definitely will look at road signs differently now.
One of the best parts about going to Hope were the old faces. Jed and I recognized quite a few faces from our time in LA and were really excited when we saw an old friend, Richard, come in the door. It was so great to see him and see him looking well and doing very well.
The other face that completely caught us off guard was Ryan. Ryan was one of the kids that was in our Confident Kids class Jed & I taught many years ago. It was so great to see him & his sister and hear how well things were going for him. He has overcome many obstacles to get to where he is now and is studying and working hard in music. He is a singer, plays guitar and piano.
After church, we all walked down to Dave's house. Dave is one of the equippers on the Kairos staff and they were nice enough to host a cookout for us that afternoon. We were able to spend time the afternoon talking and laughing about life and meeting new people.
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| Kati, Tim, Dave, Terri |
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| Aaron, Meng, Alice, Meg |
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| Lisa, Katie, Tanika |
After lunch, we spent time as a big group talking about being intentional in where you live. Greg talked a lot about putting down roots & loving the city you are in. It was particularly hard for me as it reminded me of how much I love LA. We talked about community and what that looks like for different people. I really enjoyed the conversation and listening to what everyone else was thinking and feeling. It reminded me a lot of what "church service" was when we first moved out there. Sitting in a back yard in the beautiful weather, sharing life and life experiences with each other in an effort to grow and challenge all of us.
When the Kairos team needed to leave to go set up and get ready for there evening service, a group of us headed down to Hollywood & Western for some JAMBA JUICE! Jed & I really enjoyed turning a new group of people on to this place and it was great to continue to walk around the neighborhoods and see different areas, faces and life styles. It brought back many memories for me as we walked past the old Hollywood Apartments where it felt like most of the people going to Kairos in the early years lived and where we would have prayer meetings on the roof. We laughed and told people that it is very uncommon to walk everywhere in LA but we were enjoying it since the weather was so great.
Our next stop was the Kairos service. I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it through with dry eyes so I came prepared. Not only was it a Kairos service but Audrey was speaking. I have never been able to hear her speak in person and it meant the world to me to be there. We laughed ahead of time about every time she speaks she almost always cries and that always makes Eric cry so I knew it would be a memorable service. We also learned right before the service that Eric would be playing and singing this week, just one more thing that brought back so many memories and something I was so excited to be a part of. All was going great during the service until it happened, Jed turned around and looked and there they were walking down the steps... David & Amy. We had no idea they were going to be there, they were in San Diego but they were nice enough to come all the way back in order to be at church to see us. It meant so much to me that they were there. They came all the way back knowing that we would have no time to talk or hangout, catch up or do anything but they came anyway.
The four of us sat in the back and listened to Audrey talk about Hope. About how life and life experiences can seem to have no hope or cause us to lose hope but that we all have hope inside us. We can be hope to other people when they feel there is no hope. We all go through highs and lows and we all need people in our lives that can help show us hope in those lows.
Our team had one more stop before we were done for the night and unfortunately we had to leave Karios early in order to make it. Jayson (one of the guys that lives at Hope and works in the Manna Room) came to pick us up to take us down to the Midnight Mission. The drive to downtown from Hollywood was so funny to us. We sat in traffic, drove through different types of neighborhoods and watched Jayson maneuver all types of unique things on the road. I can definitely say that part of that I miss until that is what I would have to do everyday and then I am pretty sure I wouldn't miss it at all.
As we drove towards the Midnight Mission, we entered an area referred to as "Skid Row". The large majority of the Skid Row area is comprised of the homeless. It true was difficult to comprehend one block being super nice and just a few blocks away being complete poverty. Many people on Skid Row live in boxes or nothing. Some have shopping carts with all of there possession in them while others are unfortunate to have tents that they can set up & use on the sidewalks from 8pm to 6am. It truly broke our hearts to see this and very difficult to transition from hearing about hope and seeing this and wondering where the hope for people that are living down here is.
Jayson dropped us off in the garage area of the Midnight Mission so we could quickly make it to the missions church service since we were running late. The service takes place in a big open room. When we got there they had set up a few dozen seats and the band from Hope International was already playing. We quickly & quietly found seat throughout the room and participated in the worship and observed our surroundings. As Jed and I walked in we recognized the lady that was leading worship, Camille. Camille is Ryan's mom and it was so great to see her up there and Ryan was up there singing with the band as well. They did a fantastic job and it the best to be able to experience it.
Pastor Ed had arranged for Joe to speak that night at the Mission. After a little bit of confusion, the acting pastor introduced Joe and he did an outstanding job. One of the many memorable moments from that services was to hear the groups reaction when Joe quoted Abraham Lincoln by saying, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" It was such a simple statement that made you think of something a very different way. It kind of felt like that the entire day in a way. At the end, we finished with a song and then everyone joined hands and said the Lords Prayer. It was such a powerful moment and service and I was so honored to be a part of it.
As everyone was packing up the band and talking, Jeff (the drummer) tried to take us on a tour of the place and really helped us learn a little bit more about what the Mission does there. The room that we just had church in was being switched over to allow a few hour homeless to come and sleep on the floor in there. The room right off the large main room had a kid's room, with no toys, a barber shop where people volunteer there time to give hair cuts to the homeless, and a "library:", a room that has donated books for people to just take with no expectation of returning. The larger room that Jeff took us to when they wouldn't let him give us the whole tour (the main parts of the building are locked down and access is only really granted to people that have checked in to there recovery program) was the room that they serve 3 meals a day to 500-600 people. You could feel hearts just breaking as we saw tables with signs that read, "table only for parents with children children" and thinking about what it must be like to call the streets your home as a kid.
Jeff was a great "tour guide" and a fantastic person to ask questions too since at one time Jeff lived there. It was truly amazing to hear all the different types of people that had at one time used these facilities.
Once we were packed up, we headed out to dinner at Palermo's just down the street from where we were staying. Jeff was able to get us a table for 16 (ish) in no time. It was impressive and very good. We sat and talked to Jayson & Camille and just heard so much about there lives, where they have been and what they hoped was ahead. They all truly inspire me and I am so grateful to have met and spent some time with them.
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