Heading Home!

We are currently packing up and getting ready to leave for Magic Mountain and then home!!! We are all excited and tired. This has been an awesome week! We can't wait to do it next year!!

A BIG thanks to Michelle Browne and all the Journey of Faith Student Ministries staff for letting us crash at their pad!! You guys are awesome. Check back in later for some pictures of Magic Mountain and a good time, or just look at my Facebook page.

See you soon!

-E

Theresa...

Yesterday was a great day! We didn't have a lot of time to mess around in the morning and had a short time of breakfast and getting ready to go and then headed to the Jonah Project. The Jonah Project is an incredible ministry. Nestled in the heart of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, The Jonah Project is a very unique ministry. Around the corner from them are 3 large missions: The Union Rescue Mission, the Midnight Mission, The LA Mission, and many more. All of these ministries work to shelter, feed, clothe and bathe the local homeless population. The Jonah Project does not. 

Their name was chosen because no one really wants to go to Skid Row. Similar to Jonah, there are many ministries that are there filling obligations, and in one respect, missing out on what really changes lives... Relationships.

The ministry of the Jonah Project is one that centers on relationship and love. You will not find them handing out anything but some clothes on occasion, maybe some sandwiches or candy, even coffee. Most of what they do is preach the Word of God and love on the homeless. This was exemplified in the life of one lady in particular. Her name is Theresa.

Theresa was, for 30 years (since she ran away at 12), a prostitute. She was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. Hooked on heroin and crack, she turned tricks in the port o potties on Skid Row. That's where Mary and Patrick found her. They went out to preach and share the love of Jesus on the row and that is where they found her. 

Theresa was not only a victim of multiple lifetimes worth of sexual abuse from the time she was young, but of Skid Row itself. As she put it, she had become comfortable. It was too easy to waste money on drugs when you could eat for free and get blankets and a place to stay. She spoke easily of her turmoil and strife while living on the street. As though she were telling the introduction to a beautiful novel about overcoming and being remade. 

The day that Patrick and Mary (one of the couples that runs the Jonah Project) found Theresa on the street, they gave her two things she needed badly. No excuses, and Jesus' love. They told her that God loved her, and began living it out over time. Finally, during one conversation, she said she wanted to have Jesus. Right then she changed. She began showing up the The Jonah Project everyday, serving and helping in the ministry and stopping everything she had been doing. No more prostitution. No more drugs. No more lying. She now has a new policy regarding her speech. If it's not kind, necessary, or true, it doesn't come out of her mouth.

She share about how she was baptized right there in Skid Row; the middle of the street. She told of how she had bought the lies and told the lies, and how the mighty hand of God delivered her from the horrible life she was leading. At one point, she had lied so much about her age, and having had all her belongings stolen (id, and other stuff) that she thought she was in her late 50s. Once a social worker was able to track down her identity, she learned that she was actually 12 years younger!!!

She was saved just over two years ago. She now works doing in home care for the sick, has her own apartment, and just this Monday received her first paycheck ever! She had only been a prostitute her entire life. What an amazing story!! I was frequently, as I am now while I write this, moved to the point of tears as I heard her story. How often do we miss out on what God is doing in this world because we don't want to look at or deal with someone like Theresa? 

This was a day that will be etched in my memory for a long time. Mary, Theresa, and the rest of the Jonah Project, you have changed my life and I thank you, as do our students.

-E

Great day so far!!!!

Her name is Theresa. Check back in tonight to read her story! Wow!! God is so GOOD!!!!

-E

Good Day

This day started out (depending on when starting is to you) on the lame side. After Kaylee's trip to the hospital, we were awoken by roughly 60-70 protestors at the gates of the church parking lot, chanting and yelling something about a rat and not leaving. Turns out (and this sickens me to no end and makes me think unions are now hurting the american worker, not helping) these were not laborers for the construction company (the church is building the new wing right now, something we will be doing soon, right pastor Frank?) at all! They were brought in because the construction company uses non-union laborers! 

Other than that things went pretty well. We got wind from the hospital that Kaylee was well and headed back to us by 8 am. Praise God! Once we were all together we headed back to the beach for more silence and solitude. There were no attacking lady bugs this time. It is so cool to have time with God in His creation. He is so incredible.

After the beach we headed down to the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A. That place is a machine. We chopped, cut, sorted, cleaned, seasoned, and served food for two of three lunch shifts. It is such a large operation. Hundreds of employees and volunteers working to make meals and counsel and give medical attention, shelter and showers. All throughout the building, there are huge signs that are verses hanging all over the place. Behind the building, is actual Skid Row. The street is actually called San Julian. There are probably 200 homeless people milling around, in and out of a small park, other buildings and sitting on the sidewalk within one city block. This small part of downtown is surrounded by upscale hotels and restaurants; offices and sports complexes. Some of the richest real estate in the nation surrounded by such poverty. 

All we really did was chop onions, sort boxes, serve lunch... But the ministry that we helped is changing lives. We are truly enjoying each other and the work we are doing together. 

Today, we will head to Skid Row once more to a ministry called "The Jonah Project." This ministry is primarily relational so we will be spending time with clients (the homeless) and talking with them. it should be interesting.

We will be done with this by noon and our plan is to go to the beach for the day. Pray for the weather!!!! It is supposed to rain, yet it is sunny and 60 right now. We will blog more later!!!

-E

Interesting Beginning....

Have you ever had things just not go the way they were supposed to? I was ready to call our trip "Murphy's Week" since anything that could go wrong was going wrong. 

Having arrived the night before so late the night before, we were supposed to be up at 5am to be at the Union Rescue Mission at 6am. We all set our alarms and went to sleep. When we all woke at 7am, we found that most had either slept straight through the annoying blips and beeps, or had the alarms on vibrate. Mine was, well I discovered my mistake at 4:50 PM, not am yesterday afternoon. We missed our morning serve, which may just have been a God thing... 

We then left to go to the beach for the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude. We found our spots and opened our bibles, only to be accosted by....wait for it...Lady Bugs. That's right, thousands of them! They landed in our hair (for those that have it), our eyes, face, clothes... If there was a spot on you, they were going to land on it. (I have actually come to believe that lady bugs are very poor fliers as the don't land with any precision at all, but rather they SLAM into your forehead, careening down to the ground or pants and ending up on their backs, which has a "turtle on their back" sort of effect on them. This is, indeed entertaining, but a nuisance nonetheless.) This all disrupted our time with God, to say the least.

After our lady bug bombardment, we went back to the church to make lunch and lunches to give our to the homeless in downtown L.A. I was then called by a contact here and tole that handing out lunches at random was dangerous, and should not be done. I thanked the Lord that we did not do anything stupid, and we then ate lunch at the church, and got ready for our next project.

At 1:30 yesterday afternoon, things started to look up. We put over 100 bottles of water in our cooler and took them down to the Manhattan Beach pier, all in our R.A.K. shirts and handed out water to people strolling the beach. Many people were blessed and we were able to share the love of Jesus in deed and word. One person responded to his water with the best question. He asked, "Why are you doing this?" We gratefully replied, "We just want you to know that Jesus loves you and wants to quench your thirst!" He answered, "Now I do!"

We took a look at the weather report for the week based on a  hot tip from Kelly (my wife), and discovered that it is supposed to rain on the 2 worst days for us this week. So I gave everyone about an hour of free/shopping time on the pier since we may not get the time we had scheduled on Wednesday due to rain. We had great time together and I believe that our need for flexibility brought us together as a team.

After dinner, we were able to have a great discussion about good things happening to bad people and where God is in all of it. We talked for over an hour and finally, went to sleep. 

Today we will actually make it to the Union Rescue Mission and serve with them today. Pray for us as we continue to serve and share the love of Jesus.

P.S. Early this morning, Kaylee Speisser woke up with intense pain in her side and abdomen. Her mom and one of our leaders, Jessica, took her to the E.R. at L.A. Metro. They are waiting on a CT scan to see if she is having an issue with her appendix. Please lift her up to Jesus. We will post more on her status later.

Eric

Long Drive!!!

It is now 11:36 pm. We have just unloaded and are getting settled. I know we should have been here sooner, but girls have small bladders and we had two meals to stop for so there you go.

Today was such a great morning of worship with our church family! Thank you so much for praying for us and lifting us up during second hour. WE ARE GOING TO NEED IT! We have a big week planned and alot of ministry and fun to have. During the week, we will have a few of our staff and students blog and share about their experiences and thoughts. We hope you enjoy it!

So tomorrow is going to come early. We need to be at Union Rescue Mission at 6am. So much for sleep! We will be serving breakfast and then returning to the church to finish unpacking, get our afternoon R.A.K. ready, and take it a little easy. We have some full days ahead, so the first one will be easy after the morning. 

We love you all and will miss you this week. We will be home to celebrate Easter with you next week! Until then, keep us in prayer and check back often to see what's going on!

In His Grip,

Eric

Gearing Up!

Hello everyone!!! WE have been gearing up for this trip all week and today we leave!! Thanks to ASC for praying for us and sending us off to serve Jesus. Please remember us in your prayers as we travel and work. There will be more every night and you can comment on our posts!

In Him,

Eric