We Can Learn A Lot From Teenagers!

This last post about our LA Mission Trip I really want to take the time to brag on our teens in the youth group. I have been volunteering with the Monterey Youth Group for over ten years now. Mainly because it really is fun, but also because the Monterey Teen Ministry made such an impact in my life I just wanted to give back. I always say that I don't know if I could be a teenager in this day and age. There was so much temptation when I was a teen in the 90s and I know it has doubled since my days. So I just hope that the few hours they get to spend with me each week really helps to keep them motivated for the Lord.

With that all said, this year on Mission Trip the Teens were AMAZING!!!! I am not kidding, they were go getters all the way. Ready and willing to work with anything that anyone came up with for them to do. They cleaned kitchens, got blisters on their hands from digging, mowed lawns, you name it the kids did it that week. They were especially ready and willing to sit and listen and get to know the homeless and less fortunate. The teens saw no color, no smell, no torn clothes on any person, all they saw was a child of God that needed love. And they gave the love with smiles and open arms with many hugs.

Our teens took the verse from 1 Timothy 4:12, Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for other believers in your speech, behavior, love, faithfulness and purity. They made that verse come to life that week. The teens were a true example to this believer and the many other sponsors on the trip. Their speech, behavior and love was seen by many eyes and felt by many hearts.

Monterey Teens I love you guys so much. You mean the world to me and the many other sponsors that help out with you. Thank you so much for being such a strong example for us, the church, and the many people we meet in LA and in Lubbock.

The Power of a Story

The lady in the middle is Carol. I met Carol on Monday our first full day of work in LA. I met her at this amazing place on Skid Row called Urban Connection. The best way to describe Urban Connection and what they do, well it is best to use their own words, "The Urban Connection decided to make a home on Skid Row with the intent of becoming a place where volunteers can create long-lasting relationships with the homeless, and more importantly, where the homeless can feel safe building a long-lasting relationship with Christ." They do some amazing work there and really allow the volunteers to connect with the homeless there on skid row and not just feed them and go on our way.

Carol is a disciple at Urban Connection. She lives there and well she made a big impact on me the afternoon I was able to spend with her. She has an amazing story, of struggle and heartbreak. Carol tells her story with pride, not because she wants to show off her triumph of being close to a year sober from drugs and alcohol. No she tells her story with pride because she wants to show off the triumph of our Lord. She wants all young and old to hear the wonderful ways the Lord has transformed her. Carol wants the young to know that the Lord is the way, and if you make mistakes it is not the end there is hope. She wants the older to not take the Lord's love for granted, but rather to praise him everyday for all we have been given. I can not tell Carol's story because I feel I could not give it justice. I hope that she will one day write it down for me to share with you all. Because her words are so powerful.

Carol is just one of many on Skid Row that are doing everything they can to turn their lives around, and Urban Connection is a big part of that. Urban Connection runs off of donations. So if you have been searching for an organization to support please do consider this one. They are doing amazing work.

You can go to their website to learn more: http://urbanconnection.com/

Worship on the Beach, there is NOTHING like it!

I wanted to start out with this story because this might have been one of times during the week that I felt so close to God. I knew He was right beside me during the whole week, walking with me and enjoying the time we were able to spend with the many people of LA. But on Wednesday of that week, well I really don't have words to express what I felt that day so I will try to just tell you.

Wednesday was my groups day at Venice Beach.We first started the morning out by stopping and getting some donuts and water and heading over to Echo Park, which is what the picture is above, and just handing those out to anyone there. Some people were homeless, some were out for a jog, it is just really fun to see the faces of people when you do random acts of kindness like that.

From there we went to Albertsons to buy our lunch for us and for the people on Hippie Hill. We made sure that we purchased food that we would like to eat, because it is probably what the people we would be sharing food with would want to eat as well. We made our way out to Venice and met our friends out there. Some of the people were new friends, some were friends that we had met in the years past. Eric our youth minister had been taking the groups out there all week so they knew who he was for sure. We sat and enjoyed lunch with them and had many laughs. We met Andre, was from Russia and was a joy to talk to. And Timothy who remembered one of our group members from when we were there last year.

We also met Abraham, and with him is when I had my moment with the Lord. Abraham has been at Venice for many years and I have met him before. On this day he had just returned to the beach and had a very hurt knee so he was just laying out on the beach. Two of our young ladies went over and were talking to him and then they came over to us and asked if would would go sing on the beach with them. That was AMAZING!!!!

This photo above just says it all. It is true that picture is worth a million words. We sat there and praised the Lord with Abraham for about 15 or 20 mins. It was one of the best times of Worship that I have ever had in my 31 years.

I thank the Lord everyday for this moment I was able to have with him, the teens and Abraham. The Lord was on the beach that day, and he is there everyday.

Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

~Psalm 147:1

Mission Trips, me changing the world or is the world changing me?

I just got back from a WONDERFUL week in Los Angeles, California with a great group of teenagers and sponsors. We went out there for our yearly mission trip. This is not the first time I have been to LA for the mission trip, but this year it was the first time I came back feeling totally different.

In years past I have gone and focused more on our teens and making sure they are okay and doing what they should and not getting in trouble or hurt. Which I still did that this year, but I did not place 100% of my focus on just them. I prayed before I went out there about being more focused on the people we would be meeting and getting to know. I wanted to be the face of Jesus to the people on Skid Row, Venice Beach, and the kids at Urban Rescue, and the other areas we worked. I wanted to be open to listening to them, and let them tell their stories and cry on my shoulder. And I know the Lord answered my prays and guided me in that way this past week.

Let me give a little background for those who don't know what we did. Skid Row is what LA describes as a 50-square-block section of downtown LA were 7,000 to 8,000 homeless "reside". It is considered as "the homeless capital of the world." Our group went down there everyday, not to preach but to listen. To be where Jesus would be, walking and talking to his people. To teach VBS on a roof to children that lived in a Rescue Mission in that area. Mainly we went down there to LOVE and show LOVE.

We also went to Venice Beach, it is a very popular tourist attraction in LA. But we were not there to just look around and enjoy the beach. Each day a different group would go and buy the food they would want for lunch but also extra. Then they would take it to a location in Venice called Hippie Hill, where most of the homeless in that area hang out. We would not just drop the food off and run, no we sat and ate with them. Talked with them, told them our stories and in return had them tell us theirs. We worshipped on the beach, sang praises to our Lord. Again showing LOVE and to all who came by.

I have some stories to tell, which I will in the next few post, about some amazing people that taught me while I was there. I just ask that you stop today and pray for these locations in LA. But also for our homeless and troubled here in Lubbock. They all need our prays no matter what location they are currently in.