Day three...

this morning, we woke up at 4am to go serve at Union Rescue Mission in the "skid row" area of LA. We served in two shifts; while one group served the other group went on a walk through the streets of skid row. It's was really really intense and well... You'll just have to ask your son or daughter how it was :-) after that we had a second breakfast at the mission before heading to a park where we are right now and are about to eat lunch and get some rest after the early start before having a couple last experiences this afternoon.. See ya guys tonight!

fried cheese and bananas

Well, we just arrived at a Nicaraguan restaurant for dinner. Jeff takes the group here every year, and from what I hear, it's pretty legitimate!!! We are still safe and had a pretty amazing time at the homeless shelter. There is a pretty cool thing that happened: when Jeff and I (Cletis) got to the shelter, we chatted with the lady that was facilitating our group. We weren't received very well, especially when the lady was expecting 7-10 students, and we had 33 plus 7 adults! Well, after three shifts of teaching our students how to gut and prep a thanksgiving turkey, she was literally crying when we left! Our students had THAT kind of affect on her!!! It was so amazing to see how some joyful, willing students could soften hearts in such a manner!!! Well, food's here! Time to eat!

The inner city group

day two begins

so last night was an exciting night for some, and a restless night for others, but other than a little weariness, things are going well. After breakfast and a morning devotional time, we headed to the "Dream Center" which is a very large inner city missions organization. We split into several groups and some small service projects in some of the lower income areas of LA. From
there we headed to lunch and now we just arrived in Pasadena where we are at a homeless ministry prepping 50 turkeys which will be part of a free 5000+ person Thanksgiving meal at a park in Pasadena on Thursday, it's so exciting!

New Prayer Requests:
There are several in the group who are growing weary and so our prayer is for God to "renew their strength" (Is. 40:31)
And that God will be glorified in all we do!!!

After pizza, we headed to the griffith observatory, and it was a semi-clear night and is pretty amazing to see God's beauty from above the lights of the city... In a little bit, Jeff Bell (the liaison between our group and the ministry that is hosting us)... Well, he's going to take us to the back of the observatory and tell us some cool info about our beautiful city of Los Angeles as we look out over it, things about the homeless culture of our city, and we are going to pray for the city and for our city... Jason serenaded us with some "God of this city" it was... Magical, haha

Arrival!!!

we just arrived at bell friends church...each and every one of us. Right now we are waiting for Jeff to tell us what's next, and dinner is coming soon! (pizza) look for another update later tonight!! Thank you for your prayers!!

The inner city dudes

We are off to Inner City LA!

Today we leave for our annual Inner City LA trip! This blog is for friends and family who want to know what is going on and how they can be praying for students on this trip. Of all the activities we do, this trip has some of the greatest potential to shape the way our students view the world. We will post updates as often as we can find time. For now, here are some things that you can be praying about as we head off:

1. For God's presence to surround us in our thoughts and actions on this trip.
2. For our student's hearts to be open to God's transformation.
3. That the people we encounter on this trip would be blessed by our time with them.
4. That God would keep us safe as we drive around Inner City LA.

Thanks for your support, and we will see you when we get back!