Update #2

Greetings from Pasadena!

Another great day of decorating floats.  Our team decorated the Lutheran Hour float today.  It was amazing!! The float is BEAUTIFUL!  We enjoyed decorating with gerber daisies, roses, carnations and Irises.  The colors are a feast for the eyes.  We worked hard from 8-3.  Everyone is really enjoying the experiences.  We meet many people and had great conversations with people from across the US who came together to decorate the floats and to proclaim the love of Jesus through the float. It was such a treat to be the group that put basically all the hundreds and hundreds of flowers on the Lutheran Hour float.  We enjoy working on other floats too, but it is especially special to work on the Lutheran Hour float.    Our group (part of them pictured) had the privilege of decorating the Lutheran Hour sign with individual carnation petals glued on each letter and on the border of the sign.

The judges came through at 12:30 for their official first judging. Tomorrow they have the final judging at 12:30.  It is quite a process and very interesting to watch the judges and their traditions.  They spend the same amount of minutes judging each float and as they judge, no one is allowed to talk and then a little bell indicates when the time is up and they move on to judge the next float.  It was cold today.  Yeah….you are saying, “Poor babies, you are in California.” J  It rained.  They leave the doors open to keep the flowers cool and the wind swept through.

We had planned to do some shopping, but we decided to go to the hotel and warm up….no shopping for us.  Had three hours of down time, time to wash the sweatshirts, eat at the Residence Inn and then had a group gathering from 7:30 – 9:30 or so.  We were working on one more project for Saturday.  Saturday, our group is going to Skid Row to share Jesus, feed and offer clothing to the homeless.  Tonight, our project was to mark 100 New Testament Bibles.  We are “Phillip” in the Bible. By marking the Bible with specific verses and statements about Jesus and His plan of salvation, we are a Phillip to those who will receive a Bible as Phillip was to the Ethiopian as he explained what he was reading.

On Monday night we had ‘organized chaos’ as we sorted HUNDREDS of items for the Skid Row Project. Each of us came to California with a suitcase full of health items, underwear, and /or school supplies.  Two of our team members drove to CA from IA with a car FULL of mission items.  The people who have the ministry on Skid Row, Gerald and Kimberley, came to the Residence Inn on Monday night and helped sort and count the items.  Then we helped them load all the neatly marked items into a truck that will deliver the items to Skid Row on Saturday.  What a project!!

THANK YOU to the many of you who donated items and money for this amazing outreach.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gerald and Kimberley are VERY touched by the generosity of the Iowa District West people who have donated items and gift cards.

OK. It is late and I need to get to bed. Leaving at 7 in the morning for our last day of decorating and to enjoy the finished product.  The Lutheran Hour float was nearly finished when we left at 3.

God’s blessings and thank you for your prayers.  Ellie Menz