Welcome ben adam, Britney, Eva, Isaiah, Jenn, Nathan, & Tyler

Serving at Project Angel Food

 Hailing from Oregon, Maryland, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania, Burkina Faso, North Carolina, and Tennessee, meet Tyler, ben adam, Jenn, Nathan, Britney, Isaiah, and Eva, who've settled into Hollywood and their new Los Angeles existence these past two weeks.  DOOR Hollywood invites you to get to know them, through photos on our facebook pages, and through individual blogs from each Dweller as they tell the story of God working in their and through their lives in our city.

Painting the roof of Union Rescue Mission

From Jenn's blog, Faithfully Scared: Tuesday morning we WALKED to Project Angel Food that provides meals to people who are homebound or disabled by HIV/AIDS or other serious illnesses.  I spent a lot of time chopping, mushrooms, carrots, and parsley.  Who know you could get a nasty blister chopping?  They fed us a wonderful lunch and you could really tell that this is a ministry of meaning to everyone involved. 


From Into the Mind of Nathan Mast: The first speaker, Jason, talked about evangelism and how to do it. He was saying how presbyterians tend to dread the "E" word. Some of the reasons he gave were because of the stereotypes. Like saying things like "Repent, the end is near!" He doesn't think that way of evangelism is necessarily the way to do it. I don't think so either. I've always felt strongly about that.          

From Britney's Blog, A Journal into the Seemingly Mundane: The program recommends we explore the Spanish language and to help ease our transition into a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood. So, I did what anyone would do to find help; I searched Craigslist. I ended up finding this wonderful woman named Charlesia to tutor me. She grew up with her grandmother, who is originally from Mexico. Charlie has been helping me familiarize myself with the basics. While I don’t expect to become fluent before arriving in L.A., I do hope my attempt to learn will ease the introduction to process to a new home and new community.               

From ben adam's blog, messes of ben: 

Much of this part of the ride stuck out to me due to the relationships we built. As short as it was, I keenly remember the awesome nights we had with new friends around fires, on beaches, and in little grocery shops. This on-the-road community became a source of much discussion for Tyler and me. What we began to realize were the effects of the medium of our transportation. Bicycling constitutes a relational-style of travel. Most often, people treat vacation or travel as consumption. They go someplace to consume. They imbibe roller coasters, sunny beaches, skiing, ancient ruins, forests, and whole long lists of “tourist” spots. Consequently, how people get to their vacation location acts strictly as a connecting line between consumption at home and consumption at their destination. Unlike this, cycling is both the mode of transportation and the experience. Cars and planes enable people to plug in to ipods, laptops, Gameboys, and cell phones. Disconnected from those around them, the people traveling alongside people in a car or plane become insignificant. However, when reduced to bare necessities, when faced with days and nights born of physical exercise, eating, and rest, those people sharing in the journey can make all the difference.

From Tyler's blog, Thinking, Reflecting, Seeking...Questioning: We began to get in the habit of our daily routine.Wake up somewhere around 7:30. Teardown camp. Eat breakfast (on good days we would get to go to a grocery store or small café). Stretch. Leave around 9 to 9:30. Ride 30 miles. Stretch. Stop for lunch. Stretch. Ride 30 miles. Find a campsite. Set up camp. Shower. Eat Dinner. Hang out with people we meet at the campsite. Read (sometimes). Go to Bed. Do it again in the morning. This is roughly what we did every day for 21 days.

From Isaiah's blog, Codename:Gregory:  We ate outside- some community friends had come and joined us and we had a great time laughing together and sharing stories. It's been nice to speak some real Spanish with Latinos again. It actually feels like I am an Latin America- a mix of the culture, language, people, and the way the buildings look! It's like I'm in a Spanish novela on Telemundo and I am loving every moment of it.  Some of the things I've learned today:

1) I might be a vegeterian by the end of the year with some help- let's see how this goes.
2) I might not be a germophobe by the end of the year with the help of my roommates- again, lets see how this goes.
3) Just because I can dance doesn't mean that I can play "Just dance" on the Wii and ever win.
4) God is testing me.
5) It's going to be an amazing year.

         

 

Reunion, Again

"Oh, we'll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words." - 1 Thessalonians 4: 17-18, The Message

Three "generations" of Dwellers: Alison, 08-09; Steph 07-08; and Kenna 09-10

Reunions can be exciting, strange, encouraging, and discouraging all at once. We come back together for a time, just a time, and reconnect, share stories, see how much we've grown, (or haven't). But really, earthly reunions are just small glimpses of the true re-unification that God promises to us all, if we devote our lives and trust to God.

The second half of May brought Alison, Mary, Sara, & Steph, our Dwellers from last year, back to visit Hollywood. From what they told me, all of these feelings were present at one point during their stays. It was a reunion, in that they got to reconnect with one another, the neighborhood families and children and the place they called home for a full year. It was also a chance to meet Alex, Wendy, Curtis, Kenna, & Will, our current Dwellers. Reconnecting and making new connections.

And it was, no doubt, painful and complicated to depart from Hollywood once again, reminding us that the best we can do with reunions are long weekends, or sometimes full weeks. But last night, as Mary, Sara, & Steph cooked dinner for everyone, I heard hope in the laughter and the joy of the evening. I caught an image of heaven: the ultimate reunion, with God and one another. I caught myself doing something I rarely find space to do: imagining all of us as the eternal beings that we are. It's so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day struggles, wishing for relief, wishing to "move on." But every once in a while, moments happen that seem frozen in time, just sitting there and glowing. Joking, storytelling, making fun of one another, and breaking bread together seemed, to me, like a slice of eternity.

It allowed for a reunion within my heart and a reminder of why this work, why reaching out in fellowship, love, and service, is so very important. Indeed, it is what we were created to do.

Blessings and peace,

Matthew

Putting Things Right

"God's business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, setting us straight. Once we're standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye." -Psalm 11:7, The Message

A new Dwell year has begun! Curtis, Alex, and Wendy arrived on Monday and have already been meeting and hanging out with the neighborhood children, re-discovering the painful truth that okra is not edible once it reaches a certain growth, and giving the basketball hoop a good workout! This house is meant to be alive and lively, and everything is feeling "right" again, setting us straight on the path of witnessing God in new and exciting ways here in Hollywood.

Kenna and Will are on their way this weekend.....please keep this entire new group in your thoughts and prayers as they come together from Kansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Arizona, and Ohio!

Blessings!

Matthew

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