We started off the day by watching Crash. It's a movie that portrays the different dividing lines between cultures here in LA. I was amazed at just how violent it gets. It is so easy to get a handgun here so they try to solve all their problems that way. It was so sad to see how empty they all still felt afterwards.
After watching the movie and discussing it, we headed out to MacArthur Park and Mama's Hot Tamales. It was pouring rain outside, a rarity in California I'm told, which complicated our day a little bit. As we drove by MacArthur Park, it looked like a normal park: lake in the middle surrounded by grass and palm trees, with a band shell on the side. We headed across the street to try Mama's Hot Tamales. Hardly anyone was in there because of the rain. (Californians pretty much shut down when it rains.) But this turned out to be a plus for us. After we had ran the two blocks from the car, we were soaked, but greeted very nicely by a waitress who sat us down. Since hardly anyone was there, Mama herself came over to talk to us. Kimberly asked if she would join us and tell us her story. So she came back after we had eaten, and told us her story.
She had lived in Pasadena since she was 14. When her husband died, she had a lot of friends urge her to go make a difference in LA. When she came, she discovered MacArthur Park and the insane amount of crime that happened there. She wanted to do something about it so she got a group together of police, city officials, and merchants in the area to try and clean it up. They started by attracting street vendors to the park, so people could start making money. By the time she had been around a couple years, there were zero arrests in the park, compared to the six hundred arrests the year before she got involved. She opened her restaurant across the street to help build community. With that came the tamale festival where they make a 12 ft tamale and invite the neighborhood to come and eat it. She has made such a difference in the community. It was so awesome to meet her and hear her story.
The rain was kind of a pain in the butt, but we trudged through anyway.Annie stopped to buy an umbrella but it turned upside down right when she opened it. This provided us with plenty of comedy through the whole trip though. Across the street, there was a botanica. These are how most people find religion, but often very horrible kinds. These shops are filled with crazy kinds of stuff that can get you involved with all kinds of dark powers. They wanted us to see what one was like. It seemed so incredibly spiritually dark inside. There were candles all along the wall. These were used to accomplish certain things like removing your jinxes or punishing your enemies. The whole time we were in there (for like 30 seconds) our hearts just felt heavy. It was crazy to feel the huge amounts of spiritual warfare going on in there.
We walked further through the rain. (We were completely soaked and our umbrellas were broken, so there wasn't any way to get more wet.) We stopped at our friend Jonathan's apartment but he didn't answer his phone. We decided to complete our circle by walking along the edge of the park. When we passed the band shell, I was shocked by how many homeless people had taken shelter inside.
We finally made it back to the car where we quickly stopped at a Starbucks (I swear they're everywhere here!) to warm ourselves up. After that, we got back in the car to talk about trafficking. Currently there are 23 million people being trafficked. Most of these are in the United States and 80% are women. It was crazy to think about how much is going on and we have no idea. Even though we have all this technology to potentially know everything, we let this injustice take place every day.
We drove around a bit through the manufacturing district where we saw where most of the trafficking takes place. It was crazy to look at all the barbed wire and wonder about what was going on inside. Emily and Ashley talked about just how heavy this made their hearts. Which honestly made me feel super guilty because I wasn't feeling the same way. Instead, my heart was breaking for the different cultures and how separated they were. That is where I would want to get involved. That is what God has been placing on my heart. As we were driving around, we were told that a ton of trafficking actually takes place on I-90 and I-29, both of which intersect in Sioux Falls. We couldn't believe that this was happening so close to where we live.
Afterwards, we drove by a church on the edge of the district. The church was originally aimed at helping the homeless, but since their move, they had kind of lost sight of that goal. By moving, they now attracted more wealthy members and didn't branch out much. (For those who don't know, Skid Row, the most famous street for homeless people, is right in the middle of this manufacturing district.)
We decided to change before going to church. We were all sopping wet. We drove downtown, where we arrived at the Mayan nightclub. Inside, we were greeted and grabbed some coffee before heading into the main section. The church was technically Southern Baptist, but LA does it a little differently. The floor was covered with metal chairs all facing the stage. It was very much a church targeted to LA performers. But the best part, in my opinion, was that it never distracted from God. He was the main focus of the church and the reason they used their talents. I felt so welcome in the church and would love to incorporate some of their style in my home church.
After church, we headed to Thai Town, another section of LA, for supper. I discovered I don't really care for Thai food. Mint leaves just kind of freak me out. I think they belong in toothpaste, not chicken. I felt like all the food was in the wrong sauce. But, I'm glad I tried it.
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