Day 4 - the Church experiences begins

So I have conciously decided I'm going to keep this going on my Word account, and then when I have free time, I'll copy and paste it on here. It's a plan. *nods*

***Most of the pictures came from Mosaic, but the 2nd one is most of the girls in part of the dorms, and the 3rd is walking back from the restaurant.

Day 4

My alarm was set, just not set to go off. So I woke up five minutes later than intended because my roommate was nice enough to wake me up at 8:20am. Oh well, I didn’t have to be in the Native American room until 9:30am. I planned it so I could have a really good chunk of quiet time. I went to one of the prayer rooms, and I wish I had an additional hour, but along with my alarm telling me it’s time to leave, I had a nagging inside me that I needed to leave. I crossed paths with Sister Yasmine, and she chatted with me for awhile. And of course I didn’t have my things for the meeting at 9:30, and I was late. But I wasn’t that late, and I just kind of placed myself at the end of a table.

John, my roommate’s brother, gave a talk on “Is Jesus the only way to heaven?” I took a lot of notes, and I’m excited to have a wall FULL of Bible verses on my wall. He discussed different religions and philosophies, and what the Bible has to say about them.
Lunch was good, and the segregation between the men and women has really started dissolving. I sat with two other girls, and then four of the guys came over and joined us. We were laughing and socializing like I really wanted.

After a somewhat short rundown of the rules of the head guy of the dorms, and a quick run through of the weight room and where emergency exits are on campus, there was four hours of free time. I went to the closed cafeteria for the wi-fi, and finally had access to email, instant messenger, and facebook – the essentials. I then re-located, due to an almost dead laptop battery, to an air-conditioned lounge. I started reading, but felt a great need to pray. So I began praying on the most COMFORTABLE couch I’ve EVER sat in. I felt really close and connected to God, and when I was done, this man walks in. Taking the opportunity to mingle with the other people here, I began talking with him. I didn’t get to talk long with him because I had to get ready for dinner, but what he did share with me was really interesting. He’s a delivery man of this glass vials, and he’s had quite a few accidents where God was truly watching over him. So it was cool, and I wish I could have stayed longer; he was such an animate talker!

My small group and one of the boy’s small groups had a “dinner date.” It was really cute, because my leader and theirs are dating, so it made sense. I love the guys in that group, and I’m hoping we’ll get to do more with them. Almost everyone from the Project went to this cheap burger place, so it was a lot of fun.

We went to Mosaic church in the center of LA, and I was blown away. The building has all this Mayan architecture, and while we were waiting for the service to begin, they had strobe lights. It’s at a bar, and half of it has these small tables with three or four chairs, and then the main section with metal cushioned seats in rows facing the stage. There was a guy painting on one of the sides. The music was AMAZING. It was the kind of thing where I instantly felt like I belonged, and I haven’t felt that close to God in a long time. I feel closest to him when I’m singing out my heart to Him. I could have stood there another hour just singing and praising Him. They had a really good dance number that blew me away. The sermon, preached by a man named Eric, was exceptional, and afterwards had a really funny skit. They finished with one of the songs they sang earlier, and it was my favorite of the new ones I sang. The painting was completed by the end of the sermon. I was so impressed by it all, I was almost speechless.

However I wasn’t. I got a good dialogue going with Jesse and Kat. I said some not-so-intelligent things, and I’m beginning to sound like the group’s dumb blond. I love feeling included with the people here, and I hope it doesn’t get very cliquey.

God is just so cool. I’ve been praying for connections with people outside of my small group, as well as outside the IT Project, and He’s truly provided. I love how friendly people are, and although not everyone here is a conversationalist, a lot of them are. Or I just have enough to say to cover any awkward silences, haha.