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Greetings from rainy/sunny CA,
We started this morning with a great breakfast at the
Residence Inn in El Segundo where we are staying. We had a
quick meeting and devotions on where to put our focus. Our
focus needs to be on others, not ourselves. We need to stop
tuning into the station WIIFM (what’s in it for me)
Then off to freeways 105 and 110 in the rain in four
minivans. It’s not so much fun driving in the rain in CA!
We saw hundreds of fellow Petal Pushers as we arrived at the
Rose Palace. Petal Pushers are volunteers who donate their
time and talents to help spread the love of Jesus through
the process of decorating floats and through the end result
of the beautiful Lutheran Hour float as it will head down
Colorado Blvd on Jan 1.
We decorate, not only the Lutheran Hour float, which most of
you know is the ONLY Christian float in the Rose Parade, but
we decorate others. That donated time is credited to the
Lutheran Hour float which helps pay for the expenses of the
Lutheran float. Pretty cool deal... Someone had a great
idea on that!!!! This is the 61st year of
proclaiming Jesus to the world by way of the float in the
Rose Parade.
Our group split up to help several floats….Lutheran Hour,
Save the Mustangs, City of Los Angeles and one more (which I
can’t remember right now) float. We cut, glued and attached
thousands of silver leaves, cut up straw flowers, ironed
corn husks (yes, you read that right) and various other
jobs. We worked hard for eight hours 8-3, and had a great
time interacting and visiting with others who we are working
with. We also enjoyed seeing the zillion flowers in the
flower tent.
Remember, the best coverage is always the Home and Garden
channel because they show all the floats. Some of the major
channels conveniently decide that it is a great time to go
to commercial when the only Christian float is heading
toward them down Colorado Blvd. I have been told that RFD
TV also does a great coverage. Look for the Lutheran Hour
float…..it is the 13th float and something like
the 40th entry this year.
After our 8 hour shift we headed back to the hotel to pack
the majority of the backpacks and to meet David Dunson. We
also met a homeless teen who David is mentoring and helping
to get a job, etc. They were very interesting. We will be
working with them on Monday with a mission outreach in the
Watts and Compton areas.
Thank you and God bless your day. Serve the Lord with
GLADNESS!!!
Ellie Menz
PS: Had a nice visit with Pastor Settgast. He sends his
greetings to his friends in Iowa District West. (He is now
the Pastor for Hope Memorial in LA) |
