A New Experience


We got to work in our second food pantry today!  This time we were at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, and it was so different than the San Diego Coalition!  In San Diego, we were actually distributing the food to members of the community, but here in LA we were totally behind the scenes inspecting the food before it was sent out to all the food pantries and schools in the LA area.  


Bekah and I were assigned to work in the 'gleaning room', which is basically a huge walk in cooler that is packed with all sorts of food donations.  These donations ranged from milk and eggs to fresh breads, fruits, veggies, and cookies.  You name it, we had it!  


Our job in the gleaning room was to inspect the food and make sure it passed the Food Banks very high standards before it was distributed in the community.  My favorite thing to inspect was the eggs.  There's something strangely satisfying about opening carton after carton and chucking all the cracked eggs!  (Seriously though, who thought it would be a good idea to set a six pack of 16oz coffee creamers on top of a box of eggs?!  I just rolled my eyes knowing what my mom would have said if I had tried to do that while bagging our stuff at the grocery store!)  The other ladies and I had a great time "rescuing" eggs from partially demolished egg cartons, and performing surgery to extract the eggs that were stuck in the cartons ;)  We definitely were not bored!


Working at the Food Bank was different than the volunteer work that I'm used to doing back at my church's food pantry, or with any other food distribution project that I've been involved with.  


My church's food ministry is called West Avenue Compassion (WAC), and I remember waiting for the truck to get to the church from the Food Bank and wondering what kind of food we were going to be able to give to people that day. It was really amazing to see how things worked on the other end of the food distribution process, and to realize that there are hundreds of people who make it possible for us to provide our community with the food that they need! 


I love seeing the different aspects of food distribution, and I'm looking forward to doing this in a few more cities!  It's so awesome to see how people from all over the country share similar goals.  I love seeing people reach out to their communities, no matter what reasons they have for doing it.  For me, it's always been because I want to share God's love with the people I meet.  I want to be able to show them that there is a God who loves them, and follows through with his promise to satisfy all their needs.  Other people might volunteer because of a sense of duty or social expectation.  Whatever the reason, I was thrilled to see so many people there to work, and to work so tirelessly!

While we were at the Food Bank today, I kept expecting the leader to open us up in prayer, or to pray when we had finished working, but he never did.  It was interesting to experience this.  Even though the leaders didn't thank God for providing the food or the volunteers, or ask his blessing on the people who would receive the food, everyone who was there was serving their community out of love and concern for their neighbors.  These people were loving for real, just like Jesus told us to.  It was a great reminder that God is at work in all situations and that he doesn't need us to acknowledge him in order for him to use us to work in other people's lives!  I love it :)

Tomorrow is a full day at Disney Land, so I'm going to go to sleep now so I can be all perky for that 6am wakeup call!  Thanks for reading, and God bless.

Rebekah

Against All Odds

Well, we’ve done it!  Against all odds Bekah and I have arrived safe and sound at our hotel in LA!  It wasn’t a walk in the park… more like a brief walk by the side of the rode, but no harm done.  ;)

Early, early this morning our hostess drove Bekah and I to the Amtrak station in San Diego.  We got there early, and we spent the train trip looking at the houses out the window, watching a Nancy Drew movie, and playing cards.  It was very enjoyable and peaceful, until we arrived in LA….

When we got in the station, Bekah checked her iphone and found out that we would need to transfer through multiple buses (with all of our luggage—which is considerable!) in order to make it to our hotel in about two hours.  Ok, we had planned to use public transportation, so this was fair enough.  We boarded the first bus, and except for accidentally ramming a ladies stroller into her leg with one of our suitcases, we had a pleasant ride. 

Then we transferred to the second bus.  This bus was much emptier, so Bekah and I actually both got to sit down this time!  (Ok, so I’ll admit that so far this is pretty simple.  See a bus, get on, get off, and repeat.  Easy, right? Well yes, at least through the third bus.)

Once Bekah and I had gotten off the third bus, we were very excited that our hotel was only one bus away.  We sat down at the stop and waited… and waited.  After about 10 or 15 minutes, Bekah called the bus station and found out that our bus had been cancelled.  What that means, I have no idea!  All I know is that we had about 130lb of luggage between the two of us, and we were going to be walking for a while.  A mile and a half to be exact.

Thankfully, it was an absolutely gorgeous day with a lovely breeze!  We had walked no more then half a mile when Bekah once again used her cell phone to rescue us.  This time, she called the hotel to see if they had any shuttles running near where we were.  Luckily they told us that there would be one heading back to the hotel from a mall run in about 20 minutes.  WHEW! We decided to wait for it. :D

It was perfect timing too, because by this time we were walking right in front of a Baskin Robins.  So what were we to do while we waited except get some ice cream?!  We sat in the grass (still by the side of the road) and ate our ice cream in the shade of a beautiful tree.  It was quite lovely, and I was entirely satisfied. 

The rest was such a breeze!  The shuttle came, we hopped in, and the nice man drove us (in delicious air conditioning!) the last mile to the hotel.  Now we are sitting upstairs (also in air conditioning) waiting until it’s time for the bus to leave for Disney Land!  I am very excited to see how Disney Land compares to Disney World, and Bekah is over the moon as she is a self-proclaimed Disney fanatic ;) 

Horray for plans that work out against all odds!  I’m so thankful that our trip wasn’t boring, and that we made it safely here!

Rebekah

Going Crazy

I got to check out Point Loma Nazarene University for my sister today!  I was really excited that I was able to do that while I'm in San Diego because it's pretty far to fly up to California from Texas just to visit a school!  (Not that that's much worse than when I flew from South Carolina to Michigan just to look at my school.... but we won't talk about that right now ;)

When we first got to the school, I was like, "Oh man, I thought I was done with college visits.  This is going to be weird!" blah blah blah, whatever.  It totally wasn't weird though!  It took me like two minutes after getting on the campus to be like, "Forget it!"  I mean seriously, I'm not the one going here.  No one's even going to remember me!  So if I'm all weird and touristy and taking pictures of everything.... who cares!  It's all for my sister and she needs to see the campus—she needs pictures!  Lots and lots of pictures!!  So who am I to deprive her of them? ;)

After that, I totally went crazy and took pictures of everything!  I took pictures of the ocean view.  I took pictures of the outside and insides of buildings.  I took LOADS of pictures in the cafeteria (which was very interesting because there was a camp going on, and they were all at lunch at the same time as me and Bekah so the cafeteria was totally crowded while I'm there strolling around snapping pictures of all the different stations and the food and stuff.)  It was totally a blast!

After lunch, Bekah and I went and met up with the prospective students tour of the campus.  I'm not gonna lie, it was weird to be back on that side of things again!  Going through the dorms and stuff was pretty cool, but I found that I liked my own campus a bit better no matter what they had at Point Loma. (That's probably just because I'm used to Hope though.  PLNU is totally a nice school, and Sarah, if you're reading this, I totally approve of you trying to go there!)

One of the coolest parts of the day was meeting up with Pastor Mark who is a professor at PLNU as well as the Pastor of the Nazarene church that the San Diego Coalition for the Homeless that Bekah and I worked at on Tuesday is run out of.  He ended up giving us a little tour of his own, which mostly consisted of random facts and legends about the school.  (I was totally ok with that btw!)

Apparently, a lady used to own the property that Point Loma is on, and she's remembered as the Turtle Lady.  This is because she thought she was going to be reincarnated as a turtle after she died so she built the steps up to her house long and narrow so her turtle flippers could carry her up to the front door.... yeah personally I think that lady spent a little to much time down the hill at the beach!  Now her house is used for a bunch of classrooms, so when there's a mysterious squeak or something the professors are like, "It's the Turtle Lady!" Well, at least that's what Pastor Mark does to his students. ;)

Anyway, I really liked touring the campus and meeting some cool professors and students!  I would love to take a class with Pastor Mark (Professor Wright) because he likes to tell jokes all the time, but he also knows exactly what he's talking about.  In my opinion, that's the best combination for a professor!

It was really fun to just cut loose and go a little crazy with pictures today.  It was a good reminder that I shouldn't take myself seriously all the time because you know what?  Nobody else does!  So cut loose, have fun, dance around and take pictures in the middle of a crowded cafeteria.... you'll be glad that you did :)

Rebekah      

Point Loma map!

Point Loma ocean view w/cross

Point Loma ocean view w/plants

Point Loma grilled cheese sandwich w/salad (aka my lunch!)

I don't think this picture needs to be explained!!

Sarah, don't worry!  You'll never run out of pens.... I checked and they have plenty ;)

They also have plenty of monsters!  Mostly because they hid them for the week that the middle schoolers were on campus for their camp!  PLNU people totally have their priorities straight ;)

Oh! and last but not least, they have your favorite type of poptart!


You're welcome for all of this totally irrelevant information!  Enjoy!!

When It Hits You

Today's adventure started in the San Diego Zoo, went through the theater, and finished at a locally famous restaurant, Hob Nob Hill!  Let's start with the zoo :)

I've been to several zoo's in my life, but none quite as elaborate as the San Diego Zoo.  As soon as Bekah and I walked in, we took the skytram (yeah, they have a skytram!) across the zoo and to the Polar Bear exhibit.  I've never been particularly crazy about polar bears, but I really liked these.  This is probably because they were actually swimming and playing instead of just laying around trying to cool off.  (Apparently the polar bears are able to thrive in California because the zookeepers cut all the fat out of their diets and gave them carrots to eat instead.  This switch helped their coats to thin out so the bears don't overheat... gotta love tour guides who actually know what they're talking about!)

Another thing this tour guide told us was that Disney Studios actually went out to the San Diego Zoo to study their meerkats in order to draw Timon from the Lion King!  Yeah that's right, I got to see the REAL Timon!  One other thing, you know all of Doctor Suses' funny plant that he drew in his books?  He drew the plants that he saw at the San Diego Zoo right into his books! Those funky trees really do exist!

Once we had finished at the zoo, we rode the bus downtown and decided to catch a movie.  We saw Disney's Brave which was pretty good.  It was fun to be a little bit spontaneous and just chill out for a few hours.

After Brave, we took the bus a little farther downtown to Hob Nob Hill, a restaurant which was exciting to go to because it was featured on the Food Networks' Diner's, Drive-In's, and Dives (My favorite foodie show!) a while back.  Bekah and I got their famous dish, chicken and dumplings, and believe it or not, it really was delicious!  They had a picture of Guy (the shows host) on the wall at the restaurant and I took a picture with him.  It was my first celeb picture... how very fitting that it should happen in California ;)

I had never been to California before Bekah and I started this trip, and since I got on my first train last Thursday morning, I've been able to experience so many new things.   I've enjoyed each day without really realizing how special what I'm doing actually is.  While Bekah and I were walking around the zoo today, it just hit me.  I suddenly realized that I'm on an amazing adventure!  I realized that I'm not just passing through California, I'm living in it!  I've been walking the streets, riding the buses, meeting the people, seeing the sights, eating the food, and loving every moment!

I don't want to take this trip for granted.  That's one reason that I'm thankful my dad asked me if I would write a blog during the trip.  It forces me to think about each day and ask myself what I'm getting out of it, what I'm learning, and what I can take into the next day with me.  I think today's lesson is to actually live life instead of working myself into ruts with routines.  I have learned how to accomplish this, and it's very simple!  All I have to do is try something new each day, and experiencing life right where I am—wherever that may be!


Rebekah

 Walking the Walk

  Day 2 in San Diego is done.  I am so excited by all the things Bekah and I are getting to do!  Today we had the opportunity to volunteer at the San Diego Coalition for the Homeless, which was so amazing.  

  The coalition is run out of a Nazarene Church, and they feed more than 750 people a week!  There were about 30 volunteers working today (counting me and Bekah), and these volunteers love to have fun!

  One guy kept telling jokes, literally he told joke after joke!  Here's one that I thought was really funny:

                 Guy: Have you ever seen a man brush his teeth and whistle at the same time?

                 Me: No, I don't think so.

                 Him: I have! My Grandpa used to take his teeth out like this, and whistle while he brushed                  

                 them!

Yeah... yeah, that one still makes me laugh!

  When the people started coming in to get food, my job was to keep the table holding the crackers and cookies stocked, while simultaneously "guarding" said pile of restocking materials from people who would try to take extra boxes of food.  The thing I loved about this job was that I go to speak with each and every person that passed by.  I loved getting to say "Hi, how are you?"  and hear their answers which ranged from, "Wonderful! and yourself?" to "Well, you know, it's another day."  There are so many stories behind each of their answers, and I wish I had gotten the opportunity to hear them all.

  Working at the Coalition reminded me of when I would work at my church's food pantry West Avenue Compassion.  We also give the people of our community as much fresh produce, bread, and dairy products as possible, while also giving out whatever canned and boxed items we have.  However, what I love about WAC and the Coalition isn't what they give out to the people, it's how excited they are to be Jesus' hands and feet in their communities.  They not only 'talk the talk', but they also "walk the walk'!  I love that there are people all over the country who have this heart and mindset, and I love that I've gotten to meet so many, and will get to meet so many more as we all walk the walk together!  :)

Rebekah

                                                  This is me waiting to start setting up.

                                                          Bekah was busy packing chicken!

                         This is William, he was one of the people in charge of running the Coalition

                People came in through that door in the back to get the food.  There is yogurt inside the
                cardboard crates on the left, and I swear we bagged at least 500 cucumbers, which are on the
                table on the right.

                              The lady in the yellow shirt is Candace.  She was the coordinator of the Coalition,        
                               and she was super fabulous!

                                    This is Oliver packing the cucumbers.... definitely a huge job!

                                See what I mean?!! (each bag had 8 cucumbers in it... you do the math!)

                                             Some of the crackers and cookies I "guarded"

                                                             Mount ah la yogurt ;)

Accidentally fell over :/

                        All the guys who were distributing the melons kept yelling out "Melllllllllons! Come get    
                                  a melllllon!!!  Icy cold melllllon!" haha it was wonderfully entertaining :D

                          And of course, Bekah found a baby ;) she held this little girl for the entire time!
                                                     Believe me, her mom loved the break!

        And finally, this is Me, William, Bekah, and baby Rebeka (yeah, her name was Rebekah too!)

Perspectives That Shift

Does anyone out there have a best friend who pushes you to conquer your fears by doing crazy things that stretch you to your absolute limit?  I have a friend like that.  Her name is Bekah, and she's on this crazy trip with me.

We arrived in GORGEOUS San Diego early this morning, met with our wonderful CouchSurfers hostess, and decided to spend the day.... snorkeling.  Yes, like when you stick a plastic tube in your mouth, and suck air through it (literally for dear life) as you float around face down in the ocean.  Yeah, cause we're smart like that ;)  

Thus, several buses and a few hours later we arrived at La Jolla beach, aka exquisite place!  (Don't worry, I'm going to upload pictures along with this post!)  

I was doing ok with this whole snorkeling idea until we had rented the gear, struggled into it, and began plunging our faces under the water.  The scary thing for me was the change in perspective.  There were two notable changes which were physical and visual.

The physical perspective change was quite frightening for me because I was no longer able to regulate my breathing as I normally do.  Instead of breathing through my nose and mouth, I had to rely only on breathing through my mouth, and through a plastic tube at that!  I couldn't help it, I started hyperventilating... underwater... through a tube.  This is where Bekah came in.  She kept making motions with her hands, directing my breathing to be slow and regular, and when I freaked out and burst to the surface she gave me a huge (much needed) dose of tough love, basically telling me that it was all in my head and to get back underwater... so I did.  

That's when the second perspective change happened.  It came much more gradually then the first, most likely because it took me at least 30 minutes to keep my face in the water long enough to really look at things.  The moment I first put my face underwater, I saw a world I'd never seen personally before, and I didn't like it.  It was so foreign, so alien, that I wanted nothing to do with it.  I was scared and I felt like I shouldn't be seeing the fish and the algae so closely and clearly.  

As I looked around (and concentrated on breathing long and slow) I started thinking about something Bekah had said while I was ranting above water that it was creepy beneath the surface and I wanted no part of snorkeling.  She said that it was God's creation too, and it was beautiful. Needless to say, I was less then thrilled by this but I couldn't argue with her logic.  So, I began to notice the detail, the colors, and the variety that the ocean had to offer.  The more I looked around, the more I was struck by the fact that God HAD created this underwater world just as he created the world on land, and he called both of them good. 

The fish were either bright orange or silver.  The algae came in both burgundy and emerald.  The water was clear and blue, and the sand was a pale gold.  It was foreign, and it was beautiful.  Beyond the colors, I was struck by the detail and movement of the algae as the waves pushed it back and forth.  Likewise, the fish were fascinating as they darted in and out of the algae and swam around me and the other snorkelers.  

I still didn't love being underwater, and I was still struggling to keep my breathing steady.  However, I knew that God was in control of that foreign underwater world just as I know that he is in control of the familiar world on land.  I began to feel somewhat comfortable knowing that I hadn't plunged myself into a ridiculous, Alice in Wonderland type fantasy world where nothing made sense or operated the way it was supposed to.  There was no gravity, but there was balance.  There was no noise, but there was sound.  There were colors, and there was chaos, but it all flowed together in a way that showed the design of someone who was above the chaos.  

Once again God has shown me that he can not and will not be confined to a box.  I hadn't even realized it, but I was trying to confine him to my world on land.  Never acknowledging his authority over the sea.  No wonder the disciples were so awed when Jesus calmed the sea and walked on water.  Even though they were fishermen and earned their living from the sea, it must have also been mysterious and scary to them as well.  

Once we recognize that God's power is in and over ALL creation, we give ourselves the freedom to relax in that knowledge, and trust him to take care of us no matter what situation we find ourselves in.  

The Bible says that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God.  I believe that is true, and I thank God for shifting my perspective.

Rebekah

PS: Make sure to check out Bekah's blog at MyJoysofLife.blogspot.com!  She's been blogging for a long time, and she is also giving her perspective of the trip :D

The What, How’s, and Why’s of the Matter

Summer break is a time for new experiences, various forms of relaxation, and most of all, reversing the affects of sleep deprivation that were acquired throughout the school year.  For me however, it’s become something else as well.  Summer has become a time to explore and exercise my freedom. 

My summer vacations have previously been filled with reading, meeting up with friends, chilling out, staying up late, sleeping in late, and moving from one place to another.  (Fact, I am a military brat.) However, it never failed that at some point in the summer, usually just after the 4^th of July, I would get bored.  I had had my fun messing around, relishing the absence of any urgent matters on my itinerary, and I was ready for something interesting and important to happen. 

This summer, it finally did!  My itinerary is filled with wonderful and “urgent” engagements. Here’s the deal: I get to tour the US west coast with my best friend! We’ve spent two years planning, working and reworking details.  We’ve made countless phone calls, and sent so many emails they should have started charging us an Internet usage fee.  No matter what though, every moment spent planning the road trip that would take us all around the Western United States in 30 days was totally worth it. 

Our plans include stops in Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento California; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington.  We’re going to meet amazing people, try scrumptious food, relax on gorgeous (overly crowded) beaches, and just spend time marveling at the beauty and expansiveness of God’s glorious creation.

Bingo.  That’s what this whole trip is about to me.  I knew that I would be telling people about this trip, possibly for the rest of my life, and I wanted it to be so much more then, “Yeah! I took a road trip this summer and I went to the beach in LA!”  I mean, come on now, let’s be real here.  I want, to be able to look people in the eye and say, “I got to take a road trip this summer, and it was more than I ever dreamed it could be.  God did amazing things, and I’d like to share with you what those things were.” 

I want God to show me his world.  Yes, I could go around the country and see awesome wonderful things, meet fun people, and have a good time anytime, but I want so much more than that!  I’ve been praying that God would reveal his heart to me this summer.  I’ve asked to see people through his eyes, and to experience the world in light of who he is, and who I am in him.  That’s my dream for this trip.

How exactly does one go about finding God on a road trip?  Well, that’s a question I would love to answer!  Here’s how I plan to go about it: travel to the different cities, see the touristy things, and then focus on the heart of the city.  It’s not just about seeing though, it’s about experiencing and getting involved.  I’m so excited to meet the people who live, work, and spend their lives living beneath the radar. 

My friend Bekah and I have been blessed to find wonderful food pantries and homeless missions to volunteer in while we stay in the various cities during the next 30 days. 

That’s how this blog got its name- Loving For Real.  Jesus said that the way we really love other people is by being a neighbor to everyone we meet, regardless of where they come from, what they’ve done, or anything else.  Loving others is shown in your service to them.  With your time and other resources.  I don’t have a lot of money, so time seemed like the best thing I could give!

I pray that God would reveal his heart for the people in America to me on this trip.  In order to make sure that all the glamorous buildings and people don’t distract me from this, Bekah and I are planning to do a book study together during this trip.  The book is called Just Do Something, and it’s about… well doing something!  Simple as that!  (I’ll let you know more after I actually start reading it ;)

We’ve spent the last few days staying with Bekah’s family in Arizona, but tonight our trip begins for real!  I’ll keep you posted on all that goes on during the next few weeks, and your prayers are very appreciated.  God bless!

Rebekah