East L.A. Day 2

East L.A. Day 2

WE FINALLY MADE IT! Our leg muscles were starting to atrophy when we saw the wonderful exit to the Dolores mission. We took a brisk walk to a taco shack that was absolutely scrumptious! After eating tacos and small donkeys we voted to go to the beach and get a nice bronze tan/pray and reflect on the mission ahead of us. The second the car was parked we jumped out and sprinted into the water before Dan had a chance to make us put sunscreen on! The sun was just starting to slide off into the water and the salty breeze and vast ocean made for a great reflection on what we were about to experience. Baily shared with me a quote from an unknown saint that really pulled on my heart strings and got me thinking. Here goes, “All of our sins over the course of our whole lives are just a drop of water in the ocean of God’s mercy.” WOW! A drop! We’re talking SINGULAR! Watching the sun set over the vast ocean served as a great visual and just blew my mind. This applies to our L.A. Headlights trip so perfectly! One way it clearly applies is within homeboy industries. The men and women who work there according to the book “Tattoos On My Heart” are so full of love and hard work and care yet, they were previously gang bangers who might’ve even killed their own friends! How can they just have a single drop also? The answer is easy; God’s love. Just think about how Jesus forgave us, the very people who put him up on the cross in the first place! We’re on a mission, a mission from God, as the Blues Brothers would say. That mission is in each of our hearts from the day we are born until we die, and also, to serve the poor and vulnerable. Acts of service are drops of God’s mercy that water our souls so that we bloom in love for each other and God. We reflected on these things at the beach until we were all sufficiently soaked and breaded in saltwater and sand. We whipped the sand off of ourselves piled back into the vans and bounced to a grocery store. There we saw some of the BIGGEST oranges I’ve ever seen and gathered the ingredients for a yummy breakfast that we would be making for the homeless men who spend the night at Dolores Mission. After that we met our awesome host families and Anna, one of the host moms, made us a second dinner of taquitos which I ate too much of but thoroughly enjoyed followed by a very aggressive game of “Aggression” with her son, Diego. My host mom, Maria, prayed over me, Baily, Cheyenne, and Lacey before bed. It was a pretty laid back day that gave us time to prepare our hearts for the beauty and hardship of the service ahead of us.

~Arroz Ramos