Day 3

Our first thing on the schedule today was the clean up the site, it was just our team so we split up the list and worked together as a team and got it done. After we were finished cleaning we had our devotions and talked about Job. Once we finished up devotions we packed up our stuff for the day and headed downtown with our host Alisha. Once we parked our van we were split into two groups, it was decided girls and boys. We were handed a sheet of paper of task that we had to accomplish, we had a 16 square blocks that we had to stay within and four hours to complete it. We split up and started checking the things off the list. Some of the things on the list were: finding out how much a loft apartment was, how much to stay at the Biltmore for two nights, how much to call El Salvador, where the red line metro goes and how much is cost to ride, interview a police officer, symbol of the city, find out about Bitty Mason and the park, interview a homeless person, tourist and resident of LA, feed someone lunch, fill up our water bottles and only spend $4 each on lunch…these were just some of the main tasks. This was a very challenging task and an eye opening task. Both groups finished most of the tasks and along the way had some interesting interactions and thoughts. The girls group at lunch at McDonalds when we realized that we were the only white people in the entire place. The guys experience with lunch was that the first person that they asked for lunch didn’t want to eat with them and had a few choice words to say. We met up and shared our experiences and thoughts and then prayed for the interactions that we had.
After leaving the downtown high rises we went to the Salvation Army Red Shield, we had a chance to play with lots of kids. It was hard to find exactly how to serve or what to do but once we all kind of found something that interested us and looking forward to serving there all week. Jordan ended up in the computer lab and helped a kid with his typing. Molly and Mindy listened to kids read books to them. Jesse had a great time playing basketball and soccer. Dan loved playing jump rope with a group of kids. Andrew played some sports and then played some games with the kids.
For dinner we got to go to a Caribbean restaurant, La Cha Cha Cha. We had Caribbean Jerk Chicken Pizza, it was good and we were hungry! We were able to hang out and catch up with each other during the dinner and learn more about our host. Following dinner we drove up the Griffith Observatory, we were able to walk around and see the city from a completely different view than earlier in the day.. It was amazing to take it all in and see the city from far away and the skyline. We then had our debrief for the day on the lawn. We shared our Pows and Wows (Highs and Lows) and spent time praying for each other.
On our way back to the site we stopped at Walgreens to restock on snacks, since the bag that I brought was gone…don’t worry we bought three bags of snacks plus a case of water! We also got prizes for Bingo tomorrow at the nursing home. When we got back to the site we were one of the first groups so it was nice and quiet, we played cards together and ate some of our snacks. But with more groups coming back the volume just getting higher. Tomorrow we have to be out the door at 6:45 am, there is a full day planned and then in the evening it is free night.
Thank you all for your prayers. None of the kids are homesick and they are all doing great!
~Jill