Taking the Time to Listen; a Reflection by Nathan F.

I had just come out of the local Food for Less, carrying my “dinner,” a bag of honey mustard pretzels and peanut butter swirl ice cream, and there he was, dressed up almost as though he was a soldier in the Salvation Army. I glanced at him, then averted my eyes, eager to indulge myself after my half mile walk home, but I could not continue on my way after he addressed me.

I almost never can walk away after that initial eye contact–some inner reminder that I’ve been there, that I understand, and I listened. Only after several minutes of our relating to each other and my tossing some bills in his tin can for his recovery ministry did he tell me. He had been there–he had hit rock bottom on the streets. I understood why he endured hours of rejection, averted eyes, and unrelenting ambivalence from the shopping crowds. Yes, he had faced far worse, and had been plucked up by the One who is most familiar with sorrow and suffering. I could see it in his eyes–a dancing light, joy just a step ahead of his tears.

I was glad to count him my brother, glad for a comrade to encourage and be strengthened by, glad that there are many doing the work of the Lord, even outside of Food for Less.

[image by Steven Shorrock]

Hey there everyone, Tyler Goll here! In case you’re wondering who I am, or why I’m writing this, I am in fact Justin’s brother (one of the founding members of Restore LA). I happen to live with part of the Restore LA crew here in Boyle Heights.  I wanted to share an awesome story with you about what God is doing in Los Angeles.

So the other day I was just hanging with a couple of my good friends, Brandon and Mark, up in Pasadena. We had just gotten some tacos, and had some time to kill before we were going to see a movie. We were just walking back to Brandon’s car, when Brandon suggests we go pray for some people.

Mark and I were both all for it, and it turns out we parked right next to a metro (apparently an awesome place to pray for people). As we’re walking, we see a man limping along. My friend, Brandon initiates the conversation. Turns out the guy’s left leg is shorter than the right one!

So now, the four of us are walking down to the metro, so he can sit as we pray for him. We get a little crowd around us, as everyone is waiting for the train to get there. We pray for the man’s leg to grow out to the normal length. Guess what?? It worked!! The guy’s leg actually grew out to a normal length!

After that, Brandon heard from the Lord a word of knowledge that there were other people in the crowd with things wrong with their body. There was an old man who had something wrong with his shoulder, his hip, and his back. So we prayed for him also… and he get’s healed too!  Amazing!

At this point, everyone around us is getting really excited, and we ask if there are any more people who need prayer. Two people who are doing security at the station speak up. One man said he had a relative who had cancer but was not present. So we just prayed for his relative in faith that he would be healed. And you know what was cool? The fact that the security guy genuinely believed that he was healed. Just by witnessing the other healings taking place his faith had reached the point of truly believing! Awesome!

After that, we prayed for a woman working on security. We prayed for her back. First time it was Brandon who prayed, and she said it was 50% better. Then Mark prayed for her, and she was about 70% healed. Last, I prayed for her, and she was 95% healed! We just believed that as the day went on, that she would receive the last bit of healing she ended.

After this all taking place at this metro, the three of us now call it the Miracle Metro!  So there you go! God is still on the move today! Go out and try it!

[Metro image by Erick Pleitez]

Take away the gang’s influence on a community by making a positive impact on it.  posted by Stanley C.

It was Spring of 2011 during a sunny afternoon in Boyle Heights. Jesse, Justin, and I went to pick up some kids to take them to boxing class. This was another Restore LA project that involved helping the kids from chaotic backgrounds find a productive activity to do. Our hope is that they will have more positive influences in their lives and stay away from pit falls like gangs and the drug market. It was also another way of showing the kids that someone, namely God, does care about them; and that as Christians, we were trying to show them the same love.

However that day, due to a variety of reasons, the kids could not attend boxing. What were we to do? Well, Justin suggested that we still find a way to help the community.  He had an idea to go back to his house, get some trash bags and gloves, and then find a block to simply pick up trash. The idea was to show the community that there was another way to make an impact on society.

God’s love is powerful enough to change the world, and we are supposed to be messengers of God’s love. By cleaning up the dirtiest streets, we were showing our neighbors that there are other ways to act and the community can change. There may be local gangs that bring down a neighborhood, but they will only succeed if we do not try to counteract them. God’s love brings hope to people. Hope of life in both heaven and earth.

So we went through a whole block (in LA one block is huge) and picked up literally ever single scrap of trash we could find, down to small scraps of paper. We filled up 4 trash bags just full of trash and left the block as squeaky clean as 3 people can. A man came down to see what was going on and just kept looking at us as we kept discussing philosophy while picking up trash. The message wasn’t that we were offering free trash pickup, though we were, the message was about God’s love and why it is that we care.

That is what Restore LA is about. These little things that help change the world little by little. Mother Theresa probably got it correct when she said that “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” And maybe that day, Restore LA did change a small piece of the world a little bit.

[image by Viktor Hertz]

We are seeking new chaperones to help with this in Boyle Heights area on Tuesdays and Fridays between 3:30-5:00pm.

Interested? Contact restorela@gmail.com now!

[thanks to the National Museum of American History for sharing the image]

We’d be honored to have you join us for Worship and Prayer on Friday, September 30th at the Goll’s house in Boyle Heights.

Contact restorela@gmail.com for details.

[thanks for the beautiful image, hessiebell]

INTRO TO COMMUNITY:

A Guide to Restore LA

4/17/11 • 3pm

coffee • tea • scones • and lots of stories from the adventure

RSVP/More Info: RestoreLA@gmail.com

Hi friends,

I just want to direct you to an important message from two of Restore LA’s leaders: Danielle and Jenelle:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ks3gMtrJ8

I just wanted to drop a line to let you all know that Restore LA is looking to add a new member or two to our ranks in the coming months.  Read further if you or someone you know may be interested.

By Leo Reynolds - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/5194018439/

We’ve added a variety of people over the last three years — and each newbie had his or her own unique path that led them to our community.  One guy emailed us to see if he could crash at our place for a week or two… and ended up staying with us for two years!  A couple newbies joined through a more organized process.  And still other people heard God tell them to simply make friends with us at “RLA,” and they did.  (I’m married to one such person now.)

This time, we hope to employ all of the above: the happenstance connections, the organized structure, and hearing God’s voice.

Our current focus is to recruit a single male to join our Gentlemen’s House. Nate, one of our longer-term members, is getting hitched in June, and his room will be opening up.  All our houses are in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, and rent is very reasonable.  The house has three other occupants, including a middle-aged man from Chicago, a 20-something missionary kid who grew up in South Korea and South Africa, and my brother!  In addition, there are eight other communiy folk who live within a mile from the Gentlemen’s House.

 

Gentlemen's House

We will be accepting inquiries about this opening until April 30, 2011, but if you have any interest at all in this, I recommend contacting us now. Housing is a time-sensitive issue, so the sooner you inquire the better!

Ladies, marrieds, families, this room is not for you — but we would love to hear from you too if any of you are interested in learning more about what it looks like to be part of the Restore LA community.  All you gotta do is email RestoreLA@gmail.com and we’ll start the discussion.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Justin & the Restore LA gang