Hello Eden!

Our team members Bob & Susan Combs just adopted (the papers were signed today) a beautiful newborn. Eden Combs was born on Dec. 26th in Chicago. Bob & Susan have been in the adoption process for quite awhile and have had several real heartbreaks. Our team did some serious praying these past 5 days! But now it has been worth it all!

They (and all of us) are so excited and at the same time humbled with the privilege and responsibility of this life. We all can't wait to meet her. Hopefully they will be back in LA by Tuesday.

Our children are unbelievably excited about having a God-sister!

Praise God! What an incredible way to celebrate and kick off the new year.

A Present for Los Angeles

December 26, 2003 E-mail story

CALIFORNIA
Homicides in Los Angeles Down by Nearly a Quarter

Times Headlines

After Los Angeles led the nation in homicides in 2002homicides will dip to fewer than 500 for 2003, undercutting last year's count by almost 150 — a 23% reduction and the lowest number since 1999. Homicides will dip to fewer than 500 for 2003, undercutting last year's count by almost 150 — a 23% reduction and the lowest number since 1999.

Good news, good news.

Merry Christmas!

Just hanging out today. Taking it easy with two flu-bitten children. Opened our gifts and relaxing with our family and a number of friends and staff dropped by.

Syd and Zach received tons of stuff. Stuff from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins out of state, stuff from our staff, gifts from supporters, stuff from families we work with here in Compton. Tonya and I got them each one nice present and some small stocking stuffers.

It's hard to know how to demonstrate to our children our concerns with materialism (especially this time of year) and wanting them to feel love from those around them. We know that especially the people in our community desire to share their love to our children. We don't want to take that joy from them.

But they get so much stuff!

We work hard reminding them that today is Jesus' birthday. We adopted a family that had absolutely nothing from Christmas, no food, no gifts. Tonya delivered one of our Christmas Boxes of Love and a box of gifts for all the family members. They were so touched! It was so fun for us to be able to love Jesus that way. We also spent a lot of time with two children in particular that live across the street from us. Since they are basically homeless, we knew that Christmas wouldn't be much for them. We have had a lot of discussions with Syd and Zach about the meaning of today.

We're also going through everything in the next few days. Everything will go into one of four piles; stuff to keep, stuff to give away, stuff to take to the office (kid's room) and stuff to dump.

I believe they get it... and we don't want to over do it either. We don't want them resenting the idea that their parents are always up in their grill about Jesus' birthday.

Finding that delicate balance, the quest of parenting!?!

But a great day overall.

Thank you Jesus and happy birthday!

Terrorist Target: Los Angeles

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOMELAND INSECURITY
Muslims warned
to leave U.S. cities
Al-Qaida websites claim New York, Washington, Los Angeles are targets

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: December 24, 2003
11:23 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Known al-Qaida affiliated websites are warning Muslims to leave New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles ahead of massive attacks it claims have been planned for those cities.

The statements, posted on sites such as Al-Lewa – Arabic for "The Banner" – are part of the alarming increase in "chatter" among terrorist operatives in recent weeks cited by Homeland Security officials for raising the terror threat level to high, or orange, reports the New York Post.

Officials told the paper the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency consider the messages "pieces of the overall puzzle."

Counterterrorism experts uncovered and translated statements boasting of an impending wave of terror that started Nov. 15 after the suicide bombings in Istanbul, Turkey.

"The next al-Qaida attacks will be most violent and will target the U.S.," read one claim translated by Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute.

"Our Muslim brothers in America, this is our final warning. We ask you, as fast as you can, to leave the following cities immediately: Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles," read a second message posted Thursday by a group calling itself the Islamic Bayan Movement.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON — Six commercial flights from Paris to Los Angeles were canceled Wednesday because of security concerns, French officials said.

The Testimony

The following is part of a speech/testimony given by Ramiro, a S.A.Y. Yes! student from Calvary Baptist Church in Compton. Some of our S.A.Y. Yes! team and I spoke at the Compton Salvation Army on Sunday, December 14th. Our staff speaks at churches, helping to cast the vision of wholistic youth discipleship. This is Ramiro’s testimony...

Hello, my name is Ramiro _____. I'm 15 years old and go to Dominguez High School. I've lived in Compton since I was 5 and I have been going to church since I was 6. I've been going to Calvary (Baptist Church in Compton) almost 10 years. My church has a S.A.Y. Yes! Center that's been open since I've been going there. S.A.Y. Yes! is an after-school program and it's a place to go have fun but at the same time learn about God. Some fun stuff I will always remember is going to Washington (State University), staying in the college dorms and playing football in Huskies Stadium. Another fun thing I remember is when we went to Missouri to a camp called "Kids Across America". It was a very fun camp but it really touched me spiritually through the singing and praising of God.

S.A.Y. Yes! has really helped me in many ways like homework, learning about computers and most of all is my walk with God. Every day we have a bible study and we learn more new things. Knowing God has been a beautiful thing in my life. Going to church has helped me through problems and has inspired me to want to do better. One person that has really helped me in my walk is Mr. Mike. He has been there for me since the beginning, answering questions, encouraging and pushing me to do better. He is no longer the S.A.Y. Yes! Director for my church but we still keep in touch and have bible study one day a week. I really want to thank him and his family for being a part of me and my family.

I just thank God for everything He has already done in my life and if it wasn't for S.A.Y. Yes! and church, I don't know where I would be. I have had many friends and family members that have made wrong choices in life that has hurt them already. But thanks to people like Mr. Mike and churches that want to do good things for the people in their community, I've made right choices in life. I still struggle with some things but with God, I'll make it through.

I think having a S.A.Y. Yes! Center here would be wonderful. It will reach out to many children and teens and will help them like it has for me.

Thank you.

**THIS WAS USED WITH RAMIRO'S PERMISSION

The Sacrament of Comfort

How is it that we now believe it is our spiritual heritage and right to achieve a high level of comfort? The house, the car, and busy 'soccer mom' lifestyle? And then we get so frustrated in traffic, or with any small inconvience, such as not being able to understand the drive-thru cashier at McDonald's?

Pastor Bob (from our new church in Paramount) and I watched the DVD sermon from the 2003 Willowcreek Leadership Summit of Pastor Erwin McManus of Mosaic here in LA about the 'Barbarian' Christian lifestyle of Paul and John vs. the 'civilized', comfort-focused lifestyle of the typical American Christian. Amazing stuff. This is a must see sermon. McManus hits it on the head when he talks about the famous saying, "the safest place for me is to be is in the center of God's will." But looking at Paul and John and other great Christians of our time, when was God's will ever "safe according to our definition?"

The center of God's will for me is to live and raise my family here in Compton. Is that safe? Did God promise me that we will never have heartache, danger, break-ins, being yelled at, ridiculed, etc. If I lose one of my children by living here, was I outside of God's will? Obviously, that would devastate us. So I don't throw that out flippantly. But what if something like that happened? Is God still God? Still sovereign? Still in control? Did He promise us that everything would be safe by moving here?

These are good challenges for us. Tonya and I desire to be more involved in the lives of families here in our neighborhood. Less focused on having our sanctuary away from the troubles, inconviences and dangers of ministry. But that won't really be comfortable.

Is this what a church should really be focused on?
"A church here in Houston is having a 'Breakfast with Santa' for $30/family - church members can enjoy a continental breakfast, crafts, taking pictures with Santa and Rudolph, and getting to visit with Santa all conveniently in the church hall. more

Lord help us not to be comfortable.

Box of Love Stories and 3500 more Boxes on Saturday

Over 6500 boxes went out to 60 ministries all over the city. We are beginning to collect the stories of what God has done through them…

The congregation of Ingelisia Biblicia Altisimo in South Central knocked on all the doors within ten minutes walking around their church. They asked people if they could reserve a Box of Love for them and told them when to come to the church and pick them up. An African-American mother was so excited when they knocked on her door, “I really need this food, I’m out of work and don’t have enough for my children,” she exclaimed.

They handed out 100 Boxes to those grateful neighbors. The next church service they has 33 new people attend and 7 decisions for Christ!

This is the last reminder before this Saturday’s Christmas Boxes of Love Packing Party. Come and join us in preparing an additional 3500 boxes to go out to another 35 churches as they use them to share the love and hope of Jesus in their neighborhood.

It’s this Saturday, December 20th from 8 AM till about noon. Come and help spread the true Christmas spirit!

Tired

This has been one of those weeks. You know what I'm talking about, where you just wish you could stay in bed and pull the comforter up over your head.

I've been working on this grant and several other things in the good ole fund development area. At the same time trying to do the 'normal' stuff, whatever that is. It's been a series of 12-16 hour days for a few weeks now.

I find myself getting really 'peopled' out, short with other staff and my family.

Balance is a critical issue here. We have seen people go up like a rocket and down like a rock.

Tonya and I have found that our daily routine can be like a pendulum. Sometimes it swings way towards the ministry side, which is ok as long as it at some point swings back toward family and having some down time.

So now starts some down time. This afternoon I'll be at home resting, doing some reading and tomorrow Tonya and I have an appointment with a pastor at our new church and then we'll have some focused family fun (fff).

Working Class Poor is growing in LA

A newly released study shows the number of poor people in the Los Angeles area increased during the last decade, fueling a rise in the number of poor neighborhoods in the region.

My Guests

One of the things I learned* (present participle) here is that your time is really not your own. Often when I'm mentally or emotionally 'off the clock', God brings someone to remind me why I'm here.

Usually, I need alot of reminding. Consequently, I often have alot of guests!

Behind me right now I have some visitors in my house. Junebug (a nickname) lives across the street. He lives with his mom and sister in his grandmother's house. There is another 9-10 people that live there, all related in some round about way.

They have three more days to live there. The grandmother, it seems has grown weary of everyone landing in her home so.... she sold it.

In the five years we have lived here we never really knew who really lived there or who was just stopping by.

Junebug, his sister Felicia and a cousin?, Tooty have been hanging out with us pretty regularly for a couple of months.

Junebug, to my knowledge has never really had a father-figure in his life, which is the norm. Estimates state that 70-80% of kids growing up here are growing up without a father. Imagine people tellng you about a heavenly father without the concept of an earthly father.

Junebug and his immediate family aren't sure exactly where they are going in three days. Maybe into an uncle's house, but who knows. That is the reality of life.

There is another boy, from our church here as well. He is from a broken family as well. The dad is in the picture, but that may not always be a great thing, according to his mom. She is an amazing woman, one of our new heroes. She is raisingfive kids as a single mom. Tonya and I have trouble getting our two ready for church, she has 5!

This boy has some of the same issues as Junebug, with a few small differences that will lead to completely different life cirscumstances.

First, this boy's mom is following Jesus. She has amazing faith that challenges ours. Secondly, this boy is growing up in a loving, caring and nuturing community at church. There are many people investing into this family, as they are investing back.

This is the true example of the Body of Christ in action.

Last week the Senior Pastor came up to Tonya and I said he feels affirmation watching us as he preaches. That's because our hearts are being healed by the power of the Gospel. Practically every week I cry in church because I see testimony after testimony of transformed lives. This church in Paramount is living out what is meant by the new emerging church, except it is not new and has been 'emerged' for a while!

Good Thinking

Being new in the blog world, I still am finding some great sites out in blogland. I came across this blog called The Dying Church. It's done by a Pastor in Toronto Darryl Dash.

Let me quote his Dec. 3, 2003 post; "Subversive leaders
It sometimes feels strange to be employed by a church while writing about how the church needs to die to itself. I'm both the pastor of a church and, at the same time, a critic of how the modern church operates. It's sometimes a funny feeling, especially on payday.

Two modern transformations give me hope.

In 1985, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev embraced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), allowing discussion and criticism of government and culture. Glasnost led to the end of the Soviet Union, and of Gorbachev's position, but it also led to the transformation of that society, which continues to this day.

In the early 1990s, South African president F.W. de Klerk ended the ban on the African National Congress, freed ANC leader Nelson Mandela, and ended apartheid. In 1994, the first multiracial elections were held, and de Klerk lost his presidency to Mandela.

Both Gorbachev and de Klerk were subversive leaders. They led structures that they ultimately worked to overthrow, at great cost to themselves.

Thinking about these two stories, I'm wondering if there is a role for leadership within the system of the modern church that questions many of its assumptions, and which might in the end lead to something very different. It may cost these leaders their own positions (the gift of martyrdom?), but it may also lead to the very necessary death-to-self of the modern church, and to its rebirth as something new.

Not everyone is called to be this type of leader, but surely some of us are."

Wow, imagine for a moment what it could be like... if the Church was a place where leaders would be willing to sacrifice themselves for it's mission. Not the other way around.

Back from the Bed

Wow, I don't get sick. Usually everyone around me will get it and I'm not effected. But not this time! The flu got me good.

Sunday in church I begun feeling hot and started to ache all over. That night I had a huge fever and chills and a sore throat like I had never experienced.

So after two different Doctor visits (one to our amazing Christian Chiropractor) alot of Immunplex and Cataplex and some Cayenne Pepper capsules (yes you can feel the heat inside!) and then some antibiotics and alot of advil, I'm back.

Today was the first day in the office this week. I just thought I was behind last week! There is an amazing ammount of work to do with all of our open projects.

I'm praying for the day I will have an assistant!

No Coverage!

Well we did not make the news or Focus on the Family. Oh well, maybe next year!

Yesterday and today was just about being with family. Yesterday we went to church and then went to our Pastor Faye's church and spent time with the people they were serving Thanksgiving dinner to. We had a good time, so interesting conversations.

We then went to my relatives in Long Beach, ate and had some good hang out time.

Today, my dad (who is here from Arizona) helped work on our vans transmission. The dealer said it could not be rebuilt, but dad says theres hope. We changed the filter and gasket and put in some super miracle additive, so hopefully that will help.

Zach turned three today!

We just got home from a great birthday extravaganza at Chuck E. Cheese's! Zach had a great time. In the past his birthday got overshadowed by the events of Boxes of Love and Thanksgiving, but not this year. We all had a lot of fun seeing him glow with excitement.

What a joy he is. He makes our lives so my more fulfilling. Thank you God for Zach.

Recovering!

We are currently recovering from Saturday's Boxes of Love event. It went well, however we were short on Boxes. We think we were shorted in our bible delivery. We'll figure it out.

ABC Channel 7 hasn't run the Boxes of Love story yet, maybe we were cut!

However, it looks like our Box of Love interview will be on Focus on the Family's radio show on Thursday.

Boxes of Love

Currently, we have about 400 volunteers in our warehouse (yes, I snuck out for a second!) for the afternoon shift of the 16th annual Boxes of Love Packing party. We will have seen almost 700 volunteers help us pack almost 8000 boxes that will be distributed by 60 inner city churches/ministries! It has been a great day (except for the forklift that dies, an additional rental soon followed!) for all of us.

If your in LA watch ABC channel 7 for their coverage of the of the event today. Nancy and I had a great time with their photographer Russell, who showed a lot of interest in the event. He shot a lot of additional tape so it may be used again through Thanksgiving.

Please pray with us now as these 60 churches attempt to share the love of Christ with their neighbors through the delivery of the boxes. Pray specifically for; people to come to Christ, people to come to church and churches reenergized in evangelism.

Also, please pray for us and come join us for the Christmas Boxes of Love packing party on December 20th. I will send out more info on that shortly. Also, keep checking www.boxesoflove.org for updates.

Thank you all for your prayers and support of what God is doing through Boxes of Love.

Every Young Man's Battle

Had a great time this morning with Ramiro in our weekly study. Were now going through 'Every Young Man's Battle'. It has led to some really open times and great conversations between us. I'm so proud of Ramiro and the stands he is making. I do not envy high school students these days!

He talked to his older brother about Christ this week. This brother lives a state away and is going through some rough times.

We praying and seeing what God will do.

Busy Day

This seems to be the story of my life. Busy day, another busy day.

In urban ministry it always feels like your never done. I'm sure that's also true in other ministries and professions, but in the city life is a constant, never ending pace.

I currently have seven major projects open as well as the normal stuff.

Today, was mostly about fund development in preparation for our Boxes of Love Packing Party on Saturday. We will have a special program for major donors and potential major donors. It's always fun to have these highly interactive days where you can show people a part of Christianity they don't get to see very often. It's fun to see the lights go on when they see people that look so different, talk different and worship different and see how they also love Jesus.

We also met with a pastor in Watts, who has been a main ministry Partner for many years. We are meeting with some of our Ministry Partners to brainstorm how we can get pastors to work together. This is probably one of the most difficult things to do in the history of Christendom!

MTA Strike Finally Over!

Thank God! The strike which has crippled so much of our immediate and surrounding neighborhoods is finally over. The buses began rolling again tonight.

This is a real answer to prayer to so many of the families we work with who have been literally disabled in their daily routines.

A young guy from our teammembers (Bob and Susan) church got back into school (with their prodding and assistance) just before the strike, and he hadn't been back since.

Toya, a single mother who lives across the street from can now get to a new job which is about 3 miles away. She has no other way to get there an a regular basis.

The average annual salary for MTA mechanics is $50,000. They have access to several health plans through a union-administered trust fund. Single workers pay nothing for health care. Spouses pay $3 a month. Family coverage is $6 a month.

You can make your own conclusions.

MTA strike continues to cause serious struggle to LA poor

This bus strike is amazing to me. We are now in the 5th week of the strike with on and off again negotiations.

An LA Times article today showed the significant impact the strike is having on health care and the poor.

Would a strike such as this been able to go on so long in a place like Orange County? I don't think so. What if the CalTrans freeway maintainence workers went out on strike and it got to the point of all the freeways in OC were closed. How long would that be allowed to go on? Would there be five hundred other outside sources stepping in to bring the situation to a close?

Why is it that when a situation affects the inner city like this, it takes so long to come to resolution?

Why are the public schools here in such disrepair? Would that situation be allowed to continue as long had it been Irvine schools?

And now, as a recent result of the 'flood from nowhere' last Tuesday night, the Governor has declared parts of South LA (Watts, parts of Lynwood, Compton and South Gate) a disaster area.

Makes me think of the old adage, "When it rains it pours".

This is a basic truth of life here in the inner city.

AC4/TechMission Partnership

This has been a great conference! Well worth the time.

My National Director and I just met with the AC4 leadership discussing a partnership in setting up a regional computer refurbishing center in our warehouse, and potentially replicating this in other HLIC cities.

We all are on the same page in terms of implementatin and design. Praise God for groups that can come together and work effectively!

Why is this the exception, not the rule!?!!

We are now working together to plan this out for implementatin as God leads.

This would hughly serve our HLIC network of 300+ inner city churches and the So Cal AC4 members.

It's so much fun to see God's timing on things work together!

Greetings from New Orleans

Just had some incredible Jumbalaya for lunch. I have to find that in LA, but it probably won't be the same!

I'm here in the AC4/CCDA conference computer lab trying to digest all I have heard in just a half of a day.

Just learned of some great resources to help non-profits like ours in terms of Technology Planning. NPower has some incredible tools to help IT folk in these areas, as well as CTCnet. This is info that will save days of work! Oh, the power of networking.

Time to go to the next workshop.

Heading to NO

Headed to the AC4 conference tommorrow. Hope to talk with them to finalize some of our talks about setting up a West Coast AC4/Here's Life Inner City Computer Refurbishing Center in our warehouse facility.

Partnerships are key- a real spiritual synergy. We can do alot more together then we can alone.

Don't think my handheld email is able to get to the blog- I'm sure some dumb little configeration problem. So may not be updating til the end of this next week.

Hanging out with the Family

In urban ministry you need to learn to just relax.

I'm not very good at that, but it still is fun to hang out with my wife and kids!

We're in our PJ's watching cartoons and doing nothing. We just had a good pillow fight. I think I won, but me daughter disagrees with me. Some good time before I head out to New Orleans for the conferences next week for the AC4 and CCDA conferences.

Meetings

It is amazing how many meetings we have. Meeting for this, meeting about that person, meeting to talk about a new idea, a meeting to clarify an old one.

Today was all about meetings.

One conference call, a meeting to prepare for the next meeting, both of which didn't really happen because of an unplanned meeting.

The unplanned meeting was with Convoy of Hope leadership. It was a surprise because, although we knew we were getting three truck loads of food, we didn't know some of the ministry leaders were delivering them!

They are such a blessing and have incredible servant hearts. We planning to connect more on a day without so many meetings!

The State of Our City
The overcast November skies are finally bring some relief to our fire ravished neighborhoods. This is a real answer to prayer. Many of our staff have been manning Red Cross shelters from Canoga Park to San Diego. I believe we will feel the effects of this huge disaster for a long time.

At the same time we are still under the crippling effects of two major labor strikes; the grocery clerks and the MTA mechanics. The latter being felt much more significantly in our inner city communities.

I was at Victory Baptist church in South Central the first week of the MTA strike and heard of a member there that had to pay $40 one way to get to work. So he probably worked till noon just to pay for his transportation to get there! Victory Baptist usually feeds 1000-1500 people every Friday, partly from the food the receive from our Resource Center. However, this day during the morning hours, I only saw maybe a hundred people in the food line. They told me that the lack of numbers were directly due to the bus strike.

Because of this, I'm very excited about our annual Boxes of Love outreach this Thanksgiving. I pray that this help bring a bit of relief to families that are really struggling. Please join us on November 22nd (the Saturday before Thanksgiving) for our annual Box of Love Packing Party at our Resource Center in Lynwood. An information card is in the mail to you today.

Even though we completely lost our primary food source (due to the national USDA surplus food shortage- click here to see a Sunday, Nov. 2nd New York Times Article , on the hunger in America) we now have half of our goal of 10,000 Boxes of Love. These boxes will be distributed as an evangelistic tool by 100 inner city churches and ministries all across greater Los Angeles. The goal is to bring food and the hope of Jesus to 60,000 people!

Please pray for us in this endeavor. Would your church like to get involved in helping to fill boxes? Check out our newly designed website for more information. Boxes of Love

Boxes of Love
God is doing it. He is working out our food situation. Currently, we have about 7000 boxes and moving toward 8000.

Check out www.boxesoflove.org for information on how you can help!

He is able to pass on what he has learned...
Almost ten years ago Edward started attending the S.A.Y. Yes! Center at Calvary Baptist Church in Compton. Edward came with a lot of pain. Just a few months prior, he was sleeping next to his grandmother as she passed away. His mother had been in and out of prison and he never had any true stability in his life. It was during a summer camping trip with the S.A.Y. Yes! Center that Edward really understood who Jesus was and how much He loved him. On that same trip Edward discovered how to search and use the scriptures for himself. A new world had been opened up for him! He absorbed all that he read and learned about his relationship with God.

Over the next few years, Edward then bounced from foster home to foster home and the Center would lose contact with him. However, he still held on to the truths that he had learned during those years in S.A.Y. Yes!

Edward just finished his junior year in high school and is already taking college summer courses at LA Harbor College. Today Edward left with the Calvary S.A.Y. Yes! Center and one team of the Here’s Life Inner City summer project for this summer’s camping trip. Now not only is he growing and experiencing more with God, he is able to pass on what he’s learned to the younger “Edwards” on the trip.

This year’s ‘Summer in the City’ project has 35 students from all around the country coming together to minister in inner city Los Angeles. Pray for them as they minister and pray for Edward and the rest of the inner city children they will be serving here in the next 7 weeks.

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me
I dropped Ramiro, a sophomore at Dominquez High School in Compton off at school this morning. We had just spent the last hour and a half in the bible wrestling with God's truth in assurance of salvation.

Ramiro has always been a 'thinker', he has always asked the deep spiritual questions from his time growing up in his S.A.Y. Yes! Center in Compton. Recently, he has really 'focused' (as he puts it) on his relationship with God more. His heart for trying to understand God's ways is truly inspiring to me.

It was when he closed the car door behind him and begun walking into the school parking lot when I heard the news on the radio about the drive-by shooting at Taft High School, in the middle class Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills. Three students had been shot and taken to the hospital. And there goes Ramiro, a live example of undeniable trust in the Lord, into an even worse war-zone at his school.

Then as I came into the office, I read in Psalm 3, "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts me head... (v. 3) I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me (v. 6).

Here in the city we have some many examples of God's people with unbelievable faith and trust in who Jesus says He is. Ramiro was that model for me today and each day, as he lives out his life here.

Please pray with us as we face some ministry obstacles here in the next few weeks;

- We were just notified from our main food source that there is no food available for our annual “Boxes of Love” program at Thanksgiving. This affects us in LA as well as the 5000 boxes we are to send to seven other HLIC cities.

Thank you for your prayers!