Well, our little band of seven, dubbed "Bettie and the Jets" in honor of our wonderful seminary advisor Bettie (we made lots of song parodies for/about her) have been back from our great and warm adventure in Los Angeles. In just the short time that we were in the city, we did so much.
With our CSM (Center for Student Missions) hosts, we stayed at the First Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles, and attended a Spanish service on Sunday. We went on a prayer tour of the city, and had many meals and naps together. I'm also going to give you a breakdown of all of the mission sites we served at during the week.
Las Familias Del Pueblo is a Kindergarden/1st grade and after school daycare program for kids whose parents work in LA's garment district. This was our anchor site, where we went every day. The kids were so bright and beautiful, and energetic! They had us tired out but smiling every day. We read with them, helped with homework, twirled the jump rope many times, and played classics like duck duck goose, and a new free for all, tiger tag.
At Angels Nursing Home, we did worship and played bingo with the seniors. We met one very lovely woman named Pearl, who connected with Jamie, and gave away some pretty nifty prizes, including soap, hats, and socks.
We were somehow able to get up around 5 AM one day to serve breakfast at Midnight Mission, where we were able to smile and say hello to every person as they came through the line. Some were chatty, and some not so much. We connected well with the other workers and servers there, and they helped make us comfortable as we served.
At LA Mission we had a very unique experience. We helped sort food donated by airlines, such as chips, nuts, pretzels, cookies, and a literal ton of mini Toblerone bars. However, we had not anticipated the airlines including bananas in these boxes of snacks, and were constantly on the lookout for rotten nanners. (While sorting snacks, we also came up with another Bettie parody- "Woah, Snack Bettie".) We got a tour of the facilities by our wonderful guide, Bruce, and I was amazed by the pure joy that he and other volunteers and workers there exhibited for their work, even menial tasks that you and I take for granted.
At Long Beach Mission we also helped serve food, which included seeing who could peel the most potatoes the fastest. My absolute favorite part of this adventure was when we got to sit down and eat with the men in their program. It was so wonderful to be able to have a normal every day conversation with people from such a different walk of life from myself- we ended up bonding over pie and fair food!
The seven of us all had amazing experiences and were humbled, excited, and energized by the work that we did in Los Angeles, and I know I don't speak for just myself when I say that I wish we could go back.
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