even saw the lights of the goodyear blimp

Florence and Normandie
Whitten brought it to my attention that I was remiss for hyping-up Halo and then not debriefing my loyal readers as to how it turned out. Well, I didn't even have to use my A.K. So I gotta say it was a good day.

Perhaps I'm playing into stereotypes by continuing to joke about the reputation for violence that this area (particularly, this intersection) has garnered. Really, it wasn't too bad. We were there for five hours and only saw one domestic disturbance, three ambulances, two fire trucks, and a hit-and-run.

But in all seriousness (as much as I am capable of mustering), it went very well. We had a small crew of 4; I think that any more would have been too many and any less wouldn't have been enough. In addition to Thad and myself, we had Ryan, a young man recently out of rehab who's getting back on track with God and has an incredible heart for service, and Cezar, a high school student in my discipleship group. He has an incredible heart for chasing old ladies around the piano.

The building is suffering from serious water damage, but we managed to clear off some debris from the porch that was causing a lot of water to pool and seep into the building. We also cleaned out the scuppers, which will prevent rain water from pooling on the roof above the main meeting area. It's a temporary fix, but it should get them through the rainy season until MT or Halo can get after the structural problems.

We also patched some holes in the parsonage roof. So now when it rains it won't drip on the pastor's head. Or at least that's the idea. I was in charge of that, and I didn't really have any idea what I was doing. And then we all got In-N-Out. Those are good burgers, Walter.