Urban Plunge

I went on a crazy adventure last Wednesday, and my mom thought it would be great if you all heard about it. It was fun, and crazy, and ridiculous, and I had a great time connecting with my team, and growing closer to each other. But before I get ahead of myself, I guess I should just tell you all about it.

So, last Wednesday we did this thing called the Urban Plunge. Basically we go into the city and do crazy challenges and have tasks we have to complete, all the while, working as a team and praying for the city. It was intense. But so much fun. Early in the morning we hopped on our YWAM shuttle where we were blindfolded and sent off into the unknown. We drove around for a while and finally got to our destination: a bus station near Universal Studios. We were than given a task, and a challenge. The task was this: Climb up the Vine and go to a place where men stay all night. Our challenge was that we could only talk to each other in whispers. And that meant everyone we asked for help as well. We figured out that we had to take the Metro to Vine and Hollywood, so we got our passes and set off. We also had a goal to get 4 people to say “You look beautiful today, it is a nice day.” in 4 different languages. We found a lady who was kind enough to write the words out in Korean. While on the metro we found a guy who told us how to say the phrase in Spanish. Throughout the rest of the day, we got someone to say it also in Hindi and Italian. So back to the metro…

We go on and rode to Vine in downtown LA. We found the place our clue described: it was a porn shop on Hollywood, and we stopped for a few minutes and prayed for the girls involved in the industry, the men who were struggling, and the whole porn industry. We learned some statistics about it and prayed and interceded in the Hollywood. It was intense.

Next we were on to our next clue. We were told to find a place where sick people get healed, and the name of the place had the states name in the title. We were looking for the California Medical Hospital. The only problem was, for our challenge, we could only sing to each other. Sing everything we said. People thought we were crazy. They thought we were crazy when we were whispering too. It was awesome! Anyway, we hopped back onto the metro, and with help from a couple of people, found the hospital. We prayed for the sick, and those people who couldn’t afford the doctor. Also for the doctors and the hospital staff.

Our next goal was to find the Watt’s Towers, in west LA. Our challenge: out hands had to be tied together with out bandannas the whole way there. It was a bit easier, because we could talk to people normally, but sitting on the metro was hard. We found a very nice man that helped us head in the right direction. We found the towers, and decided to have lunch in the shade. We prayed for the many gangs in the area, including the most notorious: the bloods and the crypts. From there started on our 4th challenge.

We were headed back into the city to look for the central police department. The challenge was fairly easy, for all of us except one: our leader. I forgot to mention earlier that for each challenge, we had to have a different leader, and we conferred with one another, and then the leader decided which action we were to take. We also had 2 facilitators who made sure we didn’t get off track. But anyway, we had to blindfold our leader and lead him back to the police station. It was fun. We got to the police station and prayed for the city’s officers. For so many gangs and crime in the city, there aren’t enough officers to keep the peace.

On to our last challenge. We were given a picture of a cross from somewhere in the city, and we had to ask people for help. But everyone on our team but the leaders could talk. Thankfully I was a leader, so I could talk, but only one other person was a leader with me, so her and I had a hard time finding the place by ourselves. We kept getting wrong information, but thankfully our facilitators didn’t let us get too lost. We finally found out that the place we were looking for was the LA Union mission. As soon as we turned onto the street, I recognized it from high school. It was Skid Row. We made it to the Union Mission building and our facilitators told us to brake into groups and pray for people. A friend of mine, David, and I prayed for Cecil and Michael, and it was amazing. I was so glad we got to go to Skid Row.

Skid Row was one of the reasons I decided to come to YWAM LA. It tugged at my heart when I came my Sr. year in high school, and I knew I wanted to come back. Being on Skid Row was hard that first time, because the guys in charge told us to smile and look people in the eye, but once we saw where we were going, it was hard not to cry. The men and women on the streets need Jesus so much, and it hurts to see them struggling, when I know there are people and places out there that want to help them. But more than anything, I see the need for these people to be loved. They know all about God, and Jesus, and what He did for them. Some of them know way more than me. But there’s no one who will just sit and talk with them, and love them like Jesus would have.

So that was the end of my adventure in LA. We headed back to the metro, which we rode back to our bus, and headed home to the base, for dinner and sleep. It was a trying, tiring day, but so worth every minute. I had so much fun. So yeah, that was the story. I hope you guys enjoy hearing about what I do here in LA. I’ll keep you posted about any more crazy adventures!!!

Love ya!
Ky

P.S. I'm hoping to get some pictures up soon. I know one of our facilitators was taking pictures. We weren't allowed to bring a camera, or money, or an Ipod, or really anything. We were told that everything we needed would be provided. So I'll ask around, and let you know. I know there are some good ones out there.