DAY ONE.
an early morning in the church garage. 6:00AM call time. we loaded the church van and the wonderful Tom Lamberson drove us to Omaha Eppley Airfield. Thanks Tom! We were tired, but, brimming with anticipation for the adventure ahead. Giddy jokes and yawns. Omaha was a breeze. Tom hugged us and we got to our gate with time to spare… some slept, some grabbed a greasy airport breakfast. Boarded plane, connection in Phoenix… then LA.
upon our arrival to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) our first taste of the city was busy vacationers and travelers bustling for a cab, shuttle to their rental car, or looking exhaustedly for their pickup people. we found our shuttle to the rental car place and picked up our 2011 YukonXL… all the large vans were booked up weeks and weeks in advance… it was a tight squeeze for everyone, especially with all our luggage. I believe Keith won for Best Packer with a duffle bag, backpack, and a pillow. I was the most over-packed. Of course.
Several of us commented on the sunny, cool weather of Southern California… gone was the muggy humidity of the Midwest. Palm trees swaying in the wind. No tropical paradise, though… this is Los Angeles. The only surfing we did was weaving through the traffic on the 405 and 105 freeways towards South LA (previously known as “South Central LA”… the city stopped the “Central” due to all the negative stereotyping by the media.)
Upon exiting the freeway, the most prevalent characteristic is the myriad of languages on the signage everywhere. Mostly Spanish, but, also many others that I’m not familiar enough with to accurately guess. First impressions of South LA were false and tainted by the fatigue of travel… but, obviously were no longer in Nebraska.
The navigation app on my phone led us right to the CSM site (Center for Student Missions) in the city area of Vernon, CA. Next to a housing project and one of the few Metro trains in LA… CSM was a building once used as a church and I was told that folks still stop by to see if there are Sunday services.
After a long day of travel, we were all getting a little goofy...
After getting settled in at CSM, meeting our awesome host, James, and finding our bunks in the sleeping quarters, we ate some delicious Indian food catered in from a local restaurant. Next, our first activity of the mission trip was a “prayer tour” in the area in which we were staying and on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. Basically, we drove through the neighborhood and James explained the financial, ethnic, social, political, and spiritual context of South LA as well as Downtown. We saw poverty, but, we also saw places like Synergy Charter School (www.wearesynergy.org) that are improving the education available in low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
We also learned about the socio-economic condition the area was in after the riots of 1994. Businesses, like good grocery stores, vacated the area entirely. South LA became what was referred to as a “food desert.” Access to fresh, healthy food is still difficult there. McDonalds is everywhere… and they have the most well-groomed lawns. But, there are some changes happening to the food desert there… stores like Fresh and Easy (www.freshandeasy.com) are providing affordable, fresh, groceries as well as housing and giving rides home to folks that buy a lot of food that would be difficult to walk home with, as, most shoppers are pedestrians.
We drove through Skid Row at night. We saw the sidewalks lined with people sleeping on the cement or in tents (that they have to remove by 5am. We saw the over-crowded missions. We saw a lot of people with no where to go. To catch a Hollywood glimpse of what Skid Row is like, see the movie “The Soloist” … fairly accurate.
All the while, in the car, we were asked to be silent. To pray. For the good and the bad and for what we didn’t understand. We got out of the vehicle and the kids prayed aloud… for Synergy Charter School… for the people living on the street… for each other.
At the end of the prayer tour, we wound up at a little green space across the street from Los Angeles City Hall. James asked us to spend 15 minutes laying down on the cement in the area and experience a tiny glimpse of what it might be like to have to sleep outside… bugs skittered around us… but, looking up at the trees and the lights from the LA skyscrapers… there was peace to be found… there was God.
we went “home” (CSM) and were all very grateful for our crowded bunk rooms and 5-minute showers and Indian food in our bellies… we slept well that night.
Los Angeles City Hall Building
DAY TWO.
Our first day of serving began at 7:15am. After showers and breakfast, we made our lunches for the day and headed out to our first serving site, Jesus Christ Missionary Outreach run by an amazing woman, Sister Luz who ministers in the city to many people that are forgotten or ignored by society. Every morning she holds a worship service in a Home Depot parking lot. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go to that due to her van being unavailable, but, we DID have songs ready to sing. We ended up helping Sister Luz sort through mountains of clothes for all ages and types to be sent to the Philippines. Some were put on clothes, while some were put on belts and shoes. Her entire house was full of donations. From floor to ceiling. Her entire house was packed with things to give. She obviously sacrificed comfort for generosity. While we were there, we got to see several large boxes being taped up and Sister Luz filled it to the brim and wrote the address down from memory and shipped it off.
The group with Sister Luz
This is James, our city host, munching on a Twizzler.
After finishing at Sister Luz’s place, we had some time to kill, so, James and I found a Pinkberry near where we were and we had to hit it up!
mmmm... Pinkberry... Lexi, why do you look so scared to eat it?
Our next service gig for the day was our first day at Salvation Army Red Shield. A community center in the Pico-Union district of Los Angeles. We were there every afternoon of the week from 2:30-5pm. We got to know a lot of the kids that come to play there as well as the volunteer coordinator and all-around ROCKSTAR, Bernard. This place and the kids we met there weaved their way in to our hearts and I’m sure none of us will forget the experience.
Red Shield is a safe place for kids to come play basketball on a court donated by the LA Lakers, play soccer on a turf field donated by the LA Galaxy MLS Team, shoot pool in the game room, swim in the pool, take swimming lessons, read a book in the Lakers themed (and donated) library or just play some tether ball in the sun. These kids obviously LOVE the center because I never ONCE saw any behavior that would get a child asked to leave. This place is a safe haven for these kids in perhaps less-than-safe surroundings.
Lexi playing soccer with the boys...
Haylee and Bernard hanging before music class at Red Shield.. He got her to sing for the kids! It was awesome!
Keith helping out with swimming lessons at Red Shield!
Me and my new friend, Jontai... He's quite the pool player!
The Crew with Bernard at Red Shield
For dinner that night, we went to a delicious Thai restaurant called Mae Ploy in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles. Best by Pad Thai ever. Yummy!
That night for evening devotions we hung out at Echo Park. An eclectic mix of people there. A cross-section of the population of LA. That’s a consistent theme in LA… rich, poor, young, old, lawyer, artist, Caucasian, Latino, African-American, etc. all living in the same vicinity… right next to each other.
Echo Park
Devotions in the park.
DAY THREE.
Tuesday morning was spent taking our turn to clean CSM. Every group pitches in one day of the week and this was our turn. After that was done, we got in the Yukon and headed to downtown LA.
Today’s morning activity was to do what CSM calls a “City Search.” Basically, it was a scavenger hunt in downtown LA to help us discover what is going on down there. We were each given $4 dollars and told to take someone to lunch and get to know them. We split into two groups. My group met a man named Michael who was asking for help outside of a 7-Eleven. We took him out for a pizza. He told us that he’d be up for a few days on drugs. He was from Oakland, CA and hadn’t seen his family in a long while. He said that he’d tried to stay clean and sober, but, that it’s difficult. The missions were hard for him, because, the programs ask a lot of you. We could tell he was agitated and he kept asking for cash. We told him we couldn’t do that. I offered to buy him something that he needed, but, cash was all he could think about… we still refused him cash. He politely reminded us that while he was grateful for the pizza, he could’ve made a decent amount of cash hustling outside of 7-Eleven while he was sitting here talking to us. We prayed for him and we parted ways.
Other parts of the City Search were to find out how to get from Downtown to Hollywood. To find out how much a loft apartment (which are just across the street from Skid Row residents sleeping on the sidewalk) is to rent per month… approx $1700-2500. We were challenged to try to find a job. We went to a 7-Eleven and to a Big Lots and both said they weren’t hiring, but, gave us applications. When asked how much starting wages were, there were chuckles and… “minimum wage…” …like that was the most ridiculous question one could ask. We were asked to see how much two nights and a car rental were at the beautiful Biltmore Hotel (www.thebiltmore.com)
…halfway through the City Search, the point was driven home. The city of Los Angeles is one full of extremes. Extreme poverty and homelessness in the same spot as extreme excess and luxury… and how difficult it is to simply survive in the middle of the two.
That afternoon was spent, with gratitude, at Red Shield, playing and hanging out with the kids in the Pico-Union district. Downtown is brutal for a couple hours… We couldn’t imagine having to spend our lives there.
That evening was our “free night.” We went to Hollywood and ate at In-N-Out Burger and saw the sights! It was awesome!
The best fast food in the WORLD! IN-N-OUT!
Hollywood!
Lexi puts her hands in Johnny Depp's handprints outside Mann's Chinese Theater.
...so, Marilyn still looks good... she's not very talkative, though.
Leo seemed distant and uninterested... jeesh... Hollywood types...
DAY FOUR.
This morning we all jumped in the Yukon and were headed for breakfast at a local Mexican bakery. James told us that we could each pick out two pastries. He grabbed several more and a gallon of orange juice and we headed to our destination for breakfast… MacArthur Park.
James told us that we would break off into groups and try to give away our extra pastries and have breakfast with someone new at the park. There was a pickup game of soccer happening, homeless people sleeping, families enjoying a morning walk, construction workers working on improvements to the park… Approaching people, offering food, and talking to them is more difficult than it sounds. Some folks were skeptical of the “free-ness” of the food, some flat-out denied it, some welcomed it, and some were too proud to accept. One of our group encountered a group of men getting really drunk. The construction workers chuckled and declined the breakfast. One woman accepted the food, but, asked to be left alone. One man refused initially, but, then once he realized that we weren’t selling the food, came back for firsts and seconds and had some juice…
MacArthur Park is an interesting dissection of LA’s diverse demographics yet again… homeless, families, drunks, addicts, runners, suits on cell phones, kids with pastries from Nebraska, soccer players, on-lookers, men who couldn’t find day labor that day… all together.
yummmmm....
breakfast in MacArthur Park
Keith... too cool for school.
Our next adventure was right across the street from MacArthur Park at the Grandview Retirement Hotel. We were told that this particular retirement home was predominantly made up of low-income residents who also did not have a lot of family who could come visit them. Their only visitors throughout the week were mostly groups from CSM.
We brought a BINGO set and a huge bag full of prizes like toothpaste, fingernail clippers, deodorant, and lotions… and we LET IT ROLL! 
Lexi and Keith alternated as the Bingo callers!
Again, that afternoon was spent at Red Shield. By this time we were feeling right at home there… such awesome kids.
For dinner we ate at Honduras Kitchen. Absolutely delicious. I had the Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken) … it was yummy!
That night we went downtown to do Homeless Karaoke in Skid Row, but, it was cancelled… we were all really bummed… so, we went to an urban park downtown to have devotions.
DAY FIVE.
This morning we got up nice and early and headed back downtown to the St. Francis Center to serve breakfast. This is a place where folks can come and get a decent breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They also have a food bank that they set up like a grocery store where guests can come “shop” for the items they need. Some were asked to serve the food and drinks and some of us were asked to simply sit and talk with the guests… get to know them and their stories. Before we entered the place we prayed the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
Next on the agenda for the day was to help serve lunch at the Midnight Mission (www.midnightmission.org) on Skid Row. The Midnight Mission is one of the largest missions on Skid Row and the only one that isn’t faith-based or affiliated with any church organization. The courtyard is covered with many homeless people every night. Hardly a inch of open cement remains. We served approximately 525 guests for lunch that day… needless to say we were exhausted, but, filled with joy and gratitude. These were some of the nicest people we met. Happy and grateful to have a hot meal. We were happy to serve.
Keith LOVES the hairnet look...
The afternoon was again spent playing various games with the awesome kids at Red Shield… by this time, looking ahead to our last day there filled our hearts with sadness to leave. We were definitely feeling at home there and didn’t want to leave.
For dinner that evening we ate at an Armenian restaurant called Zankou Chicken in Hollywood. It mostly resembled Greek food with lots of hummus! It was really tasty!
For devotions that night we headed up to Griffith Park observatory. It is nestled atop the Hollywood hills in Griffith Park and offers some of the most beautiful views of Los Angeles and the Hollywood signs. Several famous movies have been filmed there including James Dean’s classic, “Rebel Without a Cause.”
Great city view from Griffith Park Observatory!
DAY SIX. Our last day of service…
We had to get up this morning early to catch a Metro train from the CSM site, which was in Vernon, to Long Beach.
some of us were a little tired this particular morning... good thing it was a long train ride!
Gloria still putting makeup on on the train...
Our service gig today was at the Long Beach Rescue Mission in Long Beach, CA. Similar to the missions elsewhere, this one had a program for folks to come and live/work at the mission while taking classes on alcoholism/drug addition, GED and other educational classes, and also attending church. These residents of the programs spend anywhere from one year to a year and a half living and working at the mission. The volunteer coordinator, Dale, shared with us his touching and inspiring redemption story of his battle with alcoholism, his surrender to God, his journey into recovery at the Long Beach mission, and his eventually working full-time at the place that helped pull him back from the gates of death.
We were there that day to prepare two full lunches. One for the members of the LBRM’s residential program and one for homeless, near-homeless, and low-income working folks who needed a free meal.
We got the chance to eat lunch with the residents of the Long Beach Rescue Mission’s program and ask them a little about their stories. One lesson we’ll all take with us is that sharing a meal with someone is just more about getting to know them then just simply eating next to them… it’s about communion and communication.
Our last day at Red Shield was this afternoon, lots of smiles and a few tears… those kids wove a way into our hearts that will probably never be forgotten.
This evening’s devotions were on the beach in Santa Monica, CA. We had a little time to spend, so we hung out on the iconic Santa Monica Pier and rode some rides, ate some junk food, and just took in the cool sea air.
Taken from the Pier's Ferris Wheel!
Hannah and Lexi riding a crazy ride on the Pier... I think you could've heard Lexi laughing all the way back in Nebraska!
Devotions on the beach were spent with a lot of prayer and meditation in front of the Pacific Ocean… it’s hard to be anything but contemplative while on the beach. We ended the devotion with a moving foot-washing ceremony… just like Jesus did with his disciples.
DAY SEVEN. Free day!
Today we went back to Santa Monica for more time on the Pier and to shop on the 3rd Street Promenade outdoor mall. Later we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu and had some much needed R&R just relaxing on the beach.
After dinner at a wonderful restaurant across the street from the Malibu Pier, we headed back to CSM and had our last evening devotions. Laughter, reflection, and some tears. Gratitude through and through.
I’m trying to find eloquent ways to fully describe our entire experience in Los Angeles, but, what sticks with me most is something our City Host, James, pressed upon us right before we left… if we don’t bring this experience home and serve the people in our immediate community, this entire mission trip to LA was all for not.
“Now you must wash each other’s feet…” John 13:14
Thank you so much to Jamie Scott for her invaluable guidance in planning this LA trip. Also, thank you so much to the congregation of Saint Paul United Methodist Church, for, without your financial support and prayers, this trip wouldn’t have been so successful.
Joel Egger and the Saint Paul United Methodist Youth
