one weekend -- sunday

A fellow man forwarded me an email a few weeks ago about Saddleback Church planning on launching a worship service at an assisted living facility near where I live. I gave it some thought and signed up to be a volunteer and started going there a couple Sundays ago when that ministry did get started.

Last Sunday was the second time we gathered. Still the same volunteering people: A couple, Darrin and Bettyanne, a lady, Laura, and I. Ray Massey, the Saddleback Church pastor in charge of assisted living ministry planting, was there too, to walk us through the whole thing again.

It was a club room with a nominal capacity of 40 or so that they gave us for the service, but with the TV table, aisles and walkways they put in only a dozen chairs and last week we had more than 20 people showed up, so we rearranged and added a few more seats, prepared the name badges, the hymn booklets, the talk sheets, and gave them out to the seniors who came in, one by one, some on wheel chairs and one even with a care-giver sitting next by. 

It was my turn this time to be the music man, or as Ray introduced me to the audience, "David is our organist today," and I wiggled my index finger to them, indicating this is how I operate my instrument (the CD player), and they all laughed.

The hymns were all "oldies but goodies" classical gospel delights such as Amazing Grace, In the Garden, Rock of Ages, etc., that I actually enjoyed singing myself. After 4 or 5 songs, we played a session of Pastor Rick's Purpose Driven Life teaching for about 20 minutes, then sang hymns again for another 5-10 minutes, and the service was over.

I sat next to an old gentleman during the teaching. His eyes were practically closed throughout the teaching, but then at the end of the service I chatted with him.

"Where were you from," he asked, after a couple of exchanges. "Taiwan," I said. "I'd been there," he said. "Yeah?!" I was surprised. "When did you go there?" I asked. "During the War," he said. "The Vietnam War?"  "Yes, and World War II." Now I was really surprised. "Can you guess how old I am now," he smiled and asked. "World War II in the mid 1940's, you were at your early 20's then I suppose, so you must be over 90's now," I said. He smiled again. 

He said he was in the Air Force working on reconnaissance, I told him there were some photos taken by a US service man stationed in Taiwan during the 1960's that recently got published that created some sensation among many there...

"Are you all together," he asked, meaning if me and Darrin and Bettyanne and Laura and Ray were of the same group. "Yes we are all from Saddleback Church," I said. "Will you be back next week?" he asked, now he's not that sleepy old man any more but a wide-eyed young lad again. "I certainly will," I said.

In our little after-service on-the-spot stand-up circle conference, Ray again iterated that we are not here to dictate what and how the service should be "given" or do it in any standoffish way, but to get to know and share with these people who are precious individuals each with great life stories to tell, and we are free to make changes or hold activities as we see fit to that end, a philosophy I told Ray I totally concur and like.

Darrin and Bettyanne were quite active in their church in New Jersey and Bettyanne had led youth group there before they moved to California. She volunteered and we elected her to be the official contact for the group. She's quite excited about this ministry already and shared with us a few ideas she had to encourage involvement and interaction with the seniors she saw here just in the past two Sundays. 

I chatted a little more with them on the way out. Bettyanne told me one lady she sat next to during the singing did not need the hymn booklet but sang all the lyrics flawlessly, and with tears in her eyes. I told them I like singing too and--knowing Darrin plays guitar--maybe we can practice harmonic singing some of these songs and present them to the audience for their enjoyment, and who knows maybe that'll motivate them to form a choir group of their own some day. They both liked the idea.     

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday when we stepped outside the center.

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A friend of mine pointed out the reference I made of some photos taken by a US service man stationed in Taiwan during the 1960's were actually for and during the late 1950's. He attached a Power Point compilation of those photos for me which I found more complete than any I had seen before and even better it comes with comments and notes explaining how and where those photos were taken.

So I polish it up a little (got rid of the terrible sounding background music) and add some English translation to it, as correction and addendum to the blog. Hope you'll enjoy it: Taiwan 1957

one weekend -- saturday

I joined a "Friends of Freethought" group last year out of desire to meet people with no stick-in-the-mud religious or ideological mindset but never got to attend any of their activities until last Saturday, when they had an event at a north Orange County food bank that fit my calendar and I thought could be a good way for me to break in with the group while doing something good.

I arrived there on time and saw many people–young and old, men and women, high school kids and families with little ones–chatting and scattering outside the warehouse on a big parking ground. I knew no one, but kind of guessed out correctly a group of relatively solemn looking and less chatty men and women of 10-15 were the "free thinkers" and joined them. 

The host of the event gathered us altogether and gave a brief introduction to the organization–they are a food collection and distribution non-profit that works with nearly 400 local charities, soup kitchens, and community organizations in Orange County and surrounding area for low income people. He divided us up into 3 groups of 20-30 people each, and led us to the warehouse where there were stacks and pallets of food boxes and 3 assembly lines and we started working.

The job was simple, tear up the food boxes, pull out the foods–cereal boxes, tuna cans, juice bottles, milk pouches, etc., and pack them in right order in new boxes, seal them, move them–also flatten the emptied food boxes before disposing of them.

It's a fast paced and stream-lined operation. Everybody quickly learned to pick the task to do and coordinated with others. I started with unpacking the foods, pushing the boxes, then filling in the juice bottles while occasionally cutting open and moving new supply of foods to the assembly line, and flattening a few empty boxes and cartons along the way, without cutting myself with the utility knife I was constantly wielding.

I did get to chat a few lines with Lisa, the lady who organized this event–as well as many others, such as beach cleanup, low-income community rehabilitation, Mexico outreach, etc. that I've seen posted on their website–for the group. She said they had been coming here a few times before, it's a fun activity and many groups vie to do it, so she would count it lucky if they could get to do this twice a year or more.

At 1PM (we started around 11:30) the operation halted. The warehouse was cleared of piles of food boxes that were there just a couple hours ago. All told, we packed 2160 boxes of food in that short period of time, they said. I found it hard to believe at first but then I divided it by 3, that's about 700 boxes per group, and with that frenzy pace I recalled we were at–I felt like having as good a workout session as going to the gym–I was convinced we did do that many.

We then went to a nearby hamburger place for a late lunch together. I sat next to a family of three–a couple with their teen-age daughter–who were very nice but shy; a spunky old lady who high-fived with me during the work who explained to me in details the different Celtic dialects people speak in Wales (where her mother was from) and how the Picts and Britons and Angles and Saxons came and moved about in the British isles; and a man who seemingly carried a rich load of worldly knowledge as well who said he did his Sunday morning communion in sleep when the subject of church going came up at the table.

I bid farewell to them all and headed home, feeling happy that I had come and done and met, with the work and the people.

Volunteers receive and package about 26,000 boxes of food each month, for distribution to 50 sites across the county.

       

Taking funny photos at the end of the work

        

Lisa, the gentle, soft-spoken blond humanist at center, is the organizer of this event and many others.

Me and my flying knife busy at work

            

Experienced worker explaining how to pack

We did 700+ boxes like this in one and a half hour