So it's late, and I'm wiped out, but I have TONS of praise reports for the day that I want to get up here before I go to bed.

Also, more things happened earlier in the week... So I'll start briefly with Wednesday night:
Luke, Ryan, this girl Sienna, Jimmy, and I were going out to go to church Wednesday night, but we were already late, so we asked God to lead us to where He wanted us to go. We ended up at Jimmy's church when we realized there was an open mic night across the street and we happened to have my guitar with us. It was all God. So we signed up and went to do "How He Loves", which is a worship song, and a few songs before us, this lady sang this awful song about how Mary's conception of Jesus was "immaculate", basically accusing her of being a liar and an adulteress. We were praying HARD, man. And when it was our turn, the Spirit moved in that place. It was INCREDIBLE. So awesome. God is SO awesome.

Side note- Jimmy is a local. He's 18 and totally on fire for Christ... People in town know him as "Jesus Jimmy" or "Jimmy the Evangelizer". He's the assistant youth pastor at one of the churches out here. Totally anointed. Always an adventure when Jimmy's involved.

On that note..
Today, we (the DTS) went to Jimmy's church with him, and the main message for the youth was like this: If you knew someone was going to get hit by a bus, you would do everything you could to tell them and save them from that, right? If you are a follower of Christ, you live under the law of love, right? Well, if you know there is a Heaven and a Hell, and you know how people are saved from Hell, how much do you have to hate someone NOT to tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ?
Crazy, right?

So, Jimmy, Pat, Ryan, Luke, Sienna, Kaitlin, Noah, and I all went out to Venice Beach today to share Jesus.

It started with Iggy and Pan, two vagabonds with an accordion. We just sat with them and talked to them, learned their stories and told ours, shared Jesus with them... It was so so cool. We got to pray for them and give them a Bible afterward.. The best part of our conversation, probably, besides the fact that they were so receptive, was that Pan was recognizing that in their situation, they have a lot of opportunities a lot of other people don't get to have. They've traveled all over the place, basically with the freedom to go wherever they please. God totally showed us the parallel between that and living as a missionary, so I got to share that thought with them... About how they can totally go all over the country spreading the Good News of Christ with everyone. It was such a blessing to meet them. Keep them in your prayers.

We ran in to so many other people today, so it's hard to talk about everyone. We pretty much walked up and down the market place and told everyone we could that Jesus loves them, and to share the News with those who listened. It was so much fun. We were full of love and joy; the Spirit was totally there and working HARD today.

There was an eclipse today, which was SO COOL. I was on the beach with Luke and Kaitlin just freaking OUT at how wonderful and beautiful it was, praising God for His greatness and splendor. Luke and I related it to Creation... First, there was light, God. Then the Earth brought darkness. When Christ finally comes back, there will be light once again, and it will be MARVELOUS! (: Cool stuff.

God just broke my heart for the people today. So many lost people with no clue... God just overwhelmed me with sadness for them. We were praying so much. It was incredible.

We were doing a worship jam sesh on the grass by the sidewalk, which was so much fun(: I saw the atmosphere around our group get lighter. Then, we saw this homeless guy-his name, we later learned, is John- who looked as if he was preaching really angrily to a group of kids. We ventured over to share the Good News, and as we did, John got angrier and more defensive, even getting in my face at one point. Thank God that His joy was running through our veins, or things could have gotten messy. John stormed away but returned a few minutes later demanding we follow him and discuss love. So we did, and, much to our disbelief, he goes, "Let's worship the Lord with a song." Crazy! We ended the night in a worship circles with a hodgepodge of people. God is incredible.

Such a phenomenal day at Venice. God is SO good.