December 30, 2010

The Sunday before Christmas we joined members of the Central Church on their drive to downtown LA to serve the homeless. They serve food to these guys every Sunday and provide clothing whenever possible, but for Christmas they give out backpacks, stuffed with all sorts of things. Church members filled several hundred backpacks with non-perishable snacks and things like socks, gloves, hats, toothbrush, etc. This year someone donated a semi-truckload of snacks - chocolate covered cherries, chocolate covered graham crackers, Lindt chocolates, Rocco chocolates, powered drink mixes, carmel corn, seasoned crackers, and more. We joined our relatives to pack these goodies into 250 additional backpacks, leaving just a little room at the top for a jacket to be stuffed in. Sunday night over 500 homeless or low-income people lined up to get a backpack, worried that we would run out before their turn. What a blessing, that there was enough for everyone - there were even some left over!

For the record, it does rain in Southern California. The Sunday before Christmas it started to rain and didn’t stop for a week. There were mudslides and road closings everywhere, but Wednesday we joined cousins Teresa and Mike driving to a Mexican orphanage that was started by and is supported by Central Church. When we turned into the small town near the orphanage, the dirt roads had been nearly destroyed by the rain, with big gullies cut through them.










We almost didn’t get there, but Teresa is a good driver and we made it. There are about 20 children in the orphanage, ranging in age from 6 to 17, plus 13 babies. Not all of them are without parents; some are without a stable home. They are well behaved and well off, especially compared to the surrounding area. The church sent them lots of presents and they were allowed to open a few that day - it was typical Christmas mayhem! The church has also said that everyone who completes school can go to college, and one young lady is already attending college in Portland, Oregon. This church is really making a difference.

We left the orphanage around 4 pm and headed home, just barely avoiding getting stuck in the terrible roads. But a couple of miles outside the border, traffic literally stopped. It took over 2 hours to go that last 2 miles, just because of the border checks. But it wasn’t boring; this traffic jam is such a staple of life that vendors set up push-carts between the traffic lanes, and walk up and down trying to sell their wares. We avoided buying anything until we were almost at the border. Then we gave in and got some churros - freshly made and delicious! Such a weird thing, to shop in the car in a traffic jam….












Now that Christmas is over, we are open for other adventures. This week we went to the LA Art Museum where I saw one of my favorite pictures of all time - “The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame” by Georges de La Tour. I just love its clean lines and beautiful use of light and shadow.



























Randy was impressed by the modern art, but for a different reason. It’s impressive what some people can sell as art. Here is a piece of “art” on display in the same museum. It’s labeled “Single basin sink” - seriously!