We have been living in Los Angeles for about four months now, and just thought it was about time we share with you all a few of the things we have been up to.

This is our room at the Dream Center

This is our bathroom - the toilet seat has cracks in it

This is our cardboarded-up window

Holly started working in a ministry that helps to rescue women from human trafficking, and is now also working in the Transitions department helping people who are wanting to move out of the Dream Center to find jobs and apartments.

Ewan helps out in the Teen Boys Home with boys from age 13-17. Some of the boys are juvenile criminals and come to the program instead of going to prison. Often when they come in they need to come off drugs, alcohol and other addictions. They go to school on campus and undergo counselling and discipleship and are shown the love of Jesus. 

Our eyes have really been opened up to the need in the United States for people to help each other. Because of the nature of this country it gives room for the spirit of man to be shown for what it really is. We are just entering into this fight to help to bring some light and healing to some of the victims; the broken, the homeless, the abused and the poor.

The exciting thing about LA is all the amazing churches and ministries, and the deep heritage of revival in this city.

This is the church we attend - the Angelus Temple that was started by Aimee Semple MacPherson, and her house is next door - they are just up the road from where we live

Aimee Semple MacPherson’s house that is open as a museum and documents her life and ministry – there is a room with crutches and wheelchairs from where people were healed and left them behind

Aimee's grave in a really beautiful cemetery in Glendale. Kathryn Kuhlman's grave as is in the same cemetery

Bonnie Brae house where the Azusa Street revival started

Azusa Street revival site

Grave of Reverend Seymour who started the Azusa Street revival 

We have managed to see a bit of the city and some beaches and nearby towns. There are a lot of beautiful beaches (of course, it is California), but they are quite different from New Zealand beaches – a lot bigger, more people, huge parking lots, and less trees. But beautiful golden sand, and the ocean is quiet often warm, and a little while ago Holly was swimming and three dolphins came along to join her. So that was pretty exciting. Every day is a good day for the beach because it is ALWAYS sunny – it only rained once in the first four months since. 

Canals at Balboa Island, Newport Beach

Newport Beach

Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach

Seals at Laguna Beach

Oil drilling near the coast of Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach Pier

Friendly pelican at Redondo Beach Pier

Holly does really miss the rain though, and is longing for a good storm. August and September are the hottest months in LA, but for the rest of the country summer is already over. We have had some really hot days – up to 39 degrees Celsius! There are also a lot of earthquakes here. Most weeks there will be one that you can feel and things shake just slightly. We are living on the 7th floor too, so we feel them a bit.

For Ewan’s birthday in Spetember we visited a town called Big Bear, about two hours away. We really loved it. It is in the mountains so it’s not as hot as the city, and there is a beautiful lake. It is a quaint little village. We had a lovely dinner out (way nicer than the Dream Center diner where we eat most nights with 500 others). 

Our cabin at Big Bear

We had lunch at a real cute tea house at Big Bear

Boulder Bay at Big Bear Lake

Big Bear

We are going to go back at Christmas time because it usually snows there and they turn the village into a Christmas wonderland with a big tree and lights and everything. So we are hoping to enjoy our first ever white Christmas.  

Other places we have visited in LA:

Chinatown

A church at Olvera Street - Spanish District

Mammoth at La Brea Tar Pits

La Brea Tar Pits

Other places we have visited outside of LA:

Danish Village called Solvang

Solvang - has the best fudge ever

Joshua Tree in Joshua Tree National Park

Aimee Semple MacPherson's Arabian Castle at Lake Elsinore

Rainforest Cafe - Costa Mesa

Rainforest Cafe

Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove

The other day we took the day off church (we have to use one of our 8 annual leave days to get out of a Sunday service) and went to see the worship leader Rick Pino at a church in Malibu. We both had wanted to see him for some time, so it was very cool to be able to and the Holy Spirit was there so we had a cool time hanging out. Then later that day we went to see the LA Galaxy play soccer and saw David Beckham. 

Beckham with the corner kick

We had great seats

Another really cool thing we did was go to the largest Civil War reenactment west of the Mississippi in Moorpark. About an hour from LA.

Canon at Civil War reenactment - it was unbelievably loud

The Confederates shooting the Union Army

Confederates and their marching band

Dead soldiers after the battle

The next day we headed over to Spokane Washington to healing rooms where we went and got some prayer, and we both received some good prophetic words. We also spent some time in the prayer room there. We had two days there. While in Spokane we also went to see John G Lake’s grave. That night we went to see James Goll who was speaking at healing rooms. He was cool and someone we had both been wanting to listen to for some time.

Healing Rooms Spokane, WA

John G Lake's grave in Spokane, WA

We then left to go to a Bavarian Village in the mountains of Washington called Leavenworth. We bought some vegemite from an Australian shop there, as we had long been missing it and we got some other NZ treats as well like ginger beer and crunchie bars. The village was cool and some of the people keep the traditions alive by wearing Bavarian outfits in the streets. Over the next 4 nights we had vegemite sandwiches for dinner; it was so good.

Bavarian Village - Leavenworth, WA

Bavarian Village - Leavenworth, WA

After our feast of vegemite we went to see another ex-pat Julie who Holly had worked with at Open Home Foundation. We met some of her friends who were really lovely and had a good time going to fireworks for the 4^th of July celebration.

The next day after church we were invited to a BBQ lunch with Julie’s friends from church. We had the best time and felt most welcome; we were truly blessed.

Holly and Julie

We were quite sad when we had to leave, but happy to see our next old friends of Holly’s – the Clark family. We had two days with the Clarks who live in a small town inland from Seattle by the mountains. They showed us around and we went and looked at a waterfall and the mountains. They took us to Seattle and up the space needle to look out over the city. They also took us to this cool contemplative service called compline where people chant. We also went to the Pike Place Market which was really cool and had an awesome vintage book store. We also saw the first Starbucks which is right next door.

Waterfall near North Bend, WA

Mountains and river in Washington

Kira, Pexa and Taryn Clark

View of Seattle harbour from Space Needle

Space Needle in Seattle, WA

Pike Market, Seattle, WA

First Starbucks. Seattle, WA

We hit the road again to go to Portland to stop and see another old friend Jonny who took us to these cool food carts which are how most of the restaurants start. The food was yum and cheap and there was a nice atmosphere. There was also a lot of vegetarian food. That night we watched a movie on the electric car that is making a come-back in the USA, which is pretty exciting.

The next day we went to this huge bookstore called Powells Books that takes up a few blocks – it was pretty awesome; so many books you could spend hundreds of dollars easy. We then drove around Portland and out to a cute small town called McMinnville where we saw the Spruce Goose - the airplane made out of wood by Howard Hughes, and had lunch at a lovely diner that has a pet monkey.

Next on our list was Crater Lake. On the way there we got to play in the snow a bit. The Crater Lake was stunning.

Ewan playing in the snow at Crater Lake, OR

Snow at Crater Lake

Crater Lake, OR

Crater Lake, OR

Then we were off to the Redwoods and then to Redding where we spent 3 days getting filled by God and relaxing. We went to the prayer room and also heard both Bill Johnson and Kris Vallaton but the best message we heard was from the youth pastor.

Redwood National Park, CA

Brochure and tythe envelope from Bethel Church, Redding CA

We left Redding and went on to San Francisco for a flying visit; we saw Alcatraz and Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge. We then pulled into a park and got the weirdest look from some people standing there, when we come back we saw why we got the funny looks - our car had oil leaking everywhere. It was all over the front bonnet. Turns out Ewan had accidentally left the oil cap off and the engine was totally empty of oil. We did a quick clean up and put some more oil in the car and off we went with Ewan feeling pretty silly.

San Francisco, CA

Cable car in San Francisco

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco

Golden Gate bridge. San Francisco

The next day we took a drive on Highway 1 with some of the most spectacular views of the ocean and cliffs and hills. We stopped at a Carmelite monastery and also at Cannery Row in Monterey, and at Hearst Castle.

Cannery Row, Monterey, CA

Cannery Row, Monterey, CA

Carmelite Monastery, Carmel, CA

Highway 1, California

And then we ended up back in Los Angeles. Now we have completed our drive around the country – 43 states! 

So we have been hanging out in Pasadena for the last few days – going to Pasadena International House of Prayer and different churches, and also catching up with Karen and her husband, an old workmate of Holly's from Auckland who happened to be visiting LA. 

In two days time we will be moving into the Dream Center. Yay!

Holly and Karen in Pasadena