NEW seasons upon

as I've been here over 2 months(sense oct 1st.) I have been back to the valley for various things and thanksgiving and over nighters(sunday night-monday night) because we get mondays off... but after Christmas break the 19th-3rd that will be my last major break minus the overnighters from time to time...so for the last 6-7 months I will not be home...now that the Christmas season is upon us, we are doing a big Christmas giveaway where we will be giving FREE bikes to families in our foster care program and to families who wouldnt be able to afford presents for there kids this year, this is a season of holiday and good cheer and some of these kids/youth can't have that because there families are broken in single family homes or in low income families and were here to spread the love Christ along with some holiday cheer. I know I love this time of year, and as I get older I tend to less and less want material things, when I was a kid I wanted everything now I dont even care I just want to spread the good word of Christ, while maybe getting a small gift or to doesent hurt. I think here at the church they are really good at providing the needs of the people even in this economy, and im just thankful to be apart of everything thats going on here.

Need a Helping Hand?

so today(friday) went out with the mobile food truck ministry where we bag and hand out groceries to the people in different areas. today we went to a place called 5th and union. after we bagged the food and other people were handing it out we got to pray with the people after they got there food. and most the time they would say "thank you" and walk away which makes no sense, like "would you like prayer for anything"...."thank you" as there walking away...but there was some people we got to pray with. we actually got to meet a guy who had arthritis and it was really bothering him so when we asked to pray with him he prayed with us and after he said he needed help with the food we just gave him so I helped him walk into his gated apartment complex, and we got to talking on just life, hes a lakers fan and hes a artist and draws alot. He has a passion to be in the sports industry...after alittle while he told me he was going to have surgery next week for his arthritis and he didnt want prayer again but was thankful that we helped him out and just in his mind went to great lengths to do it(even though he only lived right across the street) the guy said he knows alot of the people at the church and will try his best to come on sunday. God is good, even in just something so simple God can do amazing things. thank you all for your support with out VCA I dont know where i would be thank you everybody.

Random Acts of Kindness

so today(wensday) we went out to Mac Arther park where we gave out free waters to the people. it was really cool. something as simple as water can make someone's day. it was great to go out there...we were also handing out fliers for our big turkey give away the 20th, we will be giving out over 2000 turkeys and the side dishes to go with it...Also yestuday we went to the same place Mac Arther park where for our track(dream center teack) we go out and sent up 2 two tables and serve the people food, a hot meal, every time we get there they know were comming so theres a line already, we had alot of short term missionaries there so they got to feed the people and the movement group(6 of us) got to go just talk to the people and tell them theres a hot meal and just talk to them, we got to talk to people who were looking for a church and we got to invite them and pray for them, overall we prayed for like 5 people...before we left we saw a homeless guy sitting a chess table by himself with a chess board and me and my buddy were like lets go over there and talk to him and we ended up playing him in chess(which im OK at, i know all the rules and the peices and stuff...) before we left we got to hand him a flier for our turkey give away and next week were going to go back and hopfully have a chance to play this man in chess again and be able to spread the love God through simple board games and fellowship...GOD IS GOOD...one thing you guys could pray for is the turkey give away that people will come to meet Jesus through our acts of love, and pray that we raise all the money we need to do this, its alot of money but every prayer doesent go unanswered so PRAY...
love you guys!!!!!!!!

Evangelism

so last night(wensday night) we decided to go evangelising...we go on mondays on our day off but today we decided to go, are day ended early so we decided to go and it was cool. everytime we take the bus to the mall but then last night we missed the 730 bus and we would had to wait till 8 and the mall closes at 9 so we just walked around, and it was crazy because me and my friend matt saw these 2 people outside a karate dojo type thing waiting for there little sister to get out of practice and we went to talk to them and we start off by giving this survey of love and beliefs which by the third question were into God already(we do this because more people are open to take a survey then they are if we were to go up and say do you know Jesus?...) but by the 4th question one of the people this 18 year old girl was crying and she said she knows God but doesent go to church anymore and that she wants to go all out for him, it was awesome we got to pray for those 2 people and they said they would come to church! all in all it was like a 45 minute conversation it was good...then as we were going home some of our friends who were with us were evangelising to this 17 year old girl who had been abused many times and was having a hard time in life, she was alittle drunk but they got to talk to her for over an hour and they even gave her a ride home and God was moving...I tell you we only had 7 or 8 people(not to put that number down) so many people said they werent feeling it today or they were busy and when we asked with what they said they were tired like people keep making excuses for themselves but I know this is what were called to do is go out and evangelise and tell people, i know at vca Greg anbd Scott kinda run it and they go on thursdays so everyone talk to them and go do you JOB! and not because you have to but because God saved you so go share that with people!

Stepping up

so its been a couple days and alot of good things have been going on but alot of BAD things have been going on also. let me start with the bad...I would say 95 percent of the program is awesome we have worship and prayer everyday if not multipule times a day and the whole program is just amazing but theres a few things im not big on that just bug me, BUG ME ALOT. the last day or 2 ive been really mad and i know sometimes its ok to be alittle mad, its human nature and as long as we dont cross the line when were mad then its ok. alot of leaders and people here think its ok to listen music that is disrespectful to Jesus(they would never call it that...), music that may cuss and/or speak against the bible, things WE WOULD NEVER DO but they make it seem like its ok to listen to. they say it depends on the person, when it doesent when we accept Jesus we are made new the old is gone and when we listen to horrible music its like going back to our rotten corpse, God is our father and we let this horrible music beat him up and spit on him and we become friends with that music that kills the father right in the heart,we do it by bumbing that in are cars and ipods. its a struggle they have(not that im Mr.Perfect...) that im not going to give up on yet, thats the only major thing bad i have to say everything else is just personal opinion...now on the bright side there were alot of good things happening here, wensday our day ended early at 3 and rather then chill and rest, they needed guys to help assemble desks and file cabnets so it ended being me and 3 other guys and we spent over 3 hours doing it all for the new classroom floor and all of course for Jesus... also sense thursday(2 days ago) they started funraising for the bug turkey giveaway where we give a couple thousand meals on the 20th so people can make them and have something to eat for thanksgiving, and sense i am so entergetic and crazy The Movement Leadership have decided to make me the Turkey man where i dress up in a turkey suit at all the services(3 a week) and various things throughout until the 20th to raise money for the Turkey Giveaway, so far we have raise an ok amount of money but i know God's gonna shake this place and people will be fed... the best think that happened so far was that we went to evangelize monday at the mall and we invited someone to church just like we always would and it turned out thursday we had our midweek bible study and each week we have a guess speaker and we always end in a alter call and we found out the guy came to the alter and accepted GOD! praise the lord!

NEW POST

Monday on our day off we decided to go evangelize to people at the mall, so me and 6 other guys prayed together and had communion before we left then we to the mall on a bus. when we got there we split of in 2 groups of 2 and the other 3 stayed at a table in the food court praying. we would go around giving a survey about "love and beliefs" rather then flat out tell them we preaching Jesus we give a survey more people are willing to talk in a survey form. it went really well a couple people were crying by the end and we got to pray with people it was awesome so from then we decided to go every monday we can. I think God blesses it because were going on our own time our only day off... Also every saturday we have Adopt A Block where we go out to different community's and give groceries and toys to the kids and comming up next saturday is Adopt A Block Gigantic where we give out over a 1000 water bottles and 1000 lolli pops to the kids just out of kindness and if anyone would like to go you can call/text me. every saturday is open to the public to come help out... and on the 20th there doing a Turkey Give Away, and im telling you now it just amazes me how much food they get for this stuff, God is really moving in the Dream Center, I thank you for the support keep praying...

Ive been Busy!

Its been 5 days or so sense my last post. seems like forever. Right now were still in the process of getting into the full swing of things, but we have been busy. We have started our tracks as they call it or ministries I guess you can say. What I am doing is the Dream Center Track where on Tuesday we do "under the bridge" where we go to skid row and other places and feed the poor and/or homeless a Hot meal and friday's we deliver groceries to peoples houses in poor communities. So this last Tuesday we didnt have any hot food but we had banana's so we walked with a box of banana's just handing them out to people who wanted them on skid row and passing out tracks to people...I tell you theres some CRAZY people on skid row. But God is good we got to pray for about 8 people in the 45minutes we were out there and it was awesome. As the days go on we are getting more busy with classes and bible studies and in January we start the actual school, which you get college credits for and you get a certificate of ministry also with the diploma at the end of the year, they are also doing a 2nd class that starts in January and If anyone is interested go to www.themovementla.com and apply now!... so I will try to keep in touch alot but it wont be everyday like I have been doing, keep me in your prayers!

Champions Week

LONGEST BLOG YET, SO SORRY BUT SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!So Tuesday was the start of "Champions Week" where the leaders wake us up super late at night and we do a bunch of stuff all night and day. So monday night(tuesday morning) we got woken up at 3 am and we had to do a bunch of various things but the main thing was at 6am where we were blind folded and we had to get through a maze, we had like a shoe lace tied onto our jeans which was connected to a metal clip on which was hooked to the rope(the maze) when you got to a cross in the ropes or ran into someone you would have to unhook and carfully rehook back on. it went for 4 hours then we went to lunch and after lunch it went anther 2 hours. and the whole time they said "Details Matter" all before we started thats all they said. During the maze if you thought you were at "the end" you would raise your hand(remember your blind folded) if your not at the end you can ask questions and the leaders would always say if you need help with anything let us know...so in the end there was no finish line alls you had to do was ask to be taken to the finish line and you got there. it took me a total of 4 hours! it was to show sometimes its as easy as just asking for help sometimes its as easy as just crying out to God and worshiping him...then last night we got woken up at 330am and we had to go to the gym and we were left in 12 lines with the lights off so little light, with a cd playing for worship and all the leaders left the room and they re-played the same song like 7times at first no one worshiped then by the last time we were worshipping. it was to show no matter whats playing even if its the same song no ones heard of over and over again we need to worship. the song was also about Gods love so they wanted us to remember that also. After that we went to the same place where we did the maze and its basically a big hill and everyone started at the bottom of the hill, and what we had to do this time was up to 3 people had to carry 1 person up the hill then the 3 people went back down the hill until all the guys got the guys up the hill and all the girls got the girls up the hill, if someone fell EVERYONE had to start over, it took like 5 hours before we stopped completely and it was to show that everyone has ideas but sometimes we need to let go of them for the sake of the team, we need to learn that we cant do everything on our own and that we cant be prideful, sometimes we just have to accept other people are right...LAST BUT NOT LEASED(I know this blog is long...) after that the best part was this we got to walk 5miles to Hollywood where when we got there we had to go to the main street where you can walk on the "stars" and when we got there we split up half and half on both sides of the street and each student got on a star and when the time was right we all knelt down and just worshiped and prayed for 10minutes in front of everyone walking by. we prayed for the city and the church and everyone walking by and it was amazing. so many spectators took pictures and videos and people even cussed us out and thought we were crazy but it was so worth it. God is moving in La...a guy from the movement brought the churches camera because hes the media guy for the movement and every year they do this and they make a video so hopefully in the near future I will have a video of it up!but over all we walked 10miles just so we can pray and worship for 10minutes but it was totally worth it!...sorry this blog was long...MISS YOU ALL!

Every Man's Last Prayer

so if you didnt know I wasent the only one from VCA to get accepted into the movement Noe Granados was also, and up until today he told them he wasent coming but for the last 3-4 days I had been at prayer constantly praying he should be here, the movement prays for each application meaning that GOD tells them yes like as in your accepted knowing at that point alone he should be hear but tonight was the last night for anybody to be here and I started prayer teams at the movement and called people at VCA, and it got to the point where it wasent "I would like him, to be here" or "I hope he comes" it got to the point after so many signs and wonders that I KNEW HE IS MEANT TO BE HERE. And nothing was going to stop me, so during my free time i was at constant worship and prayer, and as of tonight he was packing is packs and is joining The Movement, just hours short of being to late he is going to make it...And at a meeting we had the other day for The Movement they said everyone has a last prayer, some make an impact and some don't but everyone gets a last prayer, and mine did make an impact, Noe is comming to The Movement! so my words to you is never give up no matter how bad you think you have it or how bad a situation is never give up, just think right now of something that maybe you stopped praying for and have forgotten about and PRAY AGAIN. nothing is IMPOSSIBLE. EVERY MAN HAS THERE LAST PRAYER!

just did Adopt A block again today but today it was at my new permanent site, so I will be here almost every saturday for the next 10 months. This place was alot smaller then the one I went to last week but its good, we start off by going door to door at these apartments and hand out fliers to the church and tell them theres free food right outside the apartment but most of the parents just send there kids out, they dont want to come out but some do come out. but its fun the kids come out and we just play with them and care for them just throwing the football around something as simple as that makes a kids day, and today after 2 years of knocking on this mans door he finally came out and wants to go to church tomorrow! God is good! we did worship also just in the apartment place and I played drums on a cardboard box they had and God moved in this place we also got to pray for everyone including a person who has cancer and there is 4 people going to church tomorrow!...

Worship

So this like I said in the last blog is orientation week, but after last night we got free time and just in the hall way me and 40 other people just starting worshiping God. this brought his guitar and it started with 2-3 people then we ended with close to 40, and I came out and brought my camera and it was awesome. we went for over an hour until it got to be quiet time at 10pm so they told us to stop but we were all crowded in the cafe then got kicked out for being to loud so we went into a smaller hallway and just worshiped God and it was amazing, Even this morning we had an extended time of worship and we towards the end people if they wanted got to go up on stage and share something that they gave up on or that they just thought was impossible and people went up and shared everyone was crying and it motivated everyone to just KEEP PRAYING no matter how long it has been KEEP PRAYING. Starting next week we will be about 2/3 into the swing of things, into or normal crazy schedule then in 2 weeks we will start our days around 6am and end around 7pm. and all day were worshiping and hearing sermons but even in our free time its all GOOD FELLOWSHIP and when were not at the dream center were serving! praise the Lord...anyways if you want to send me anything at all you can send it 2 : Mark Brattrud, The Movement,2301 bellevue ave. Los Angeles Ca 90026

NEW Beginnings

so today was like the start of our orientation week, where we start to learn the ins and outs of the program and when were doing what, and were learning our schedules. sunday-friday breakfast is from 630-730am so thats really when the day starts its optional but for me I have to have breakfast. and ALL days will end around 6 or 7pm...As i have found out my schedule I have found out we get mondays off( if you would like to visit anybody!)...But anyways we started are day with worship and prayer for about almost 2 hours. this will be a daily thing every morning after breakfast from 9-1030ish we will be worshiping with a live band after that going into prayer with music from an ipod. Today was the first day we did it but it was amazing. Then TONIGHT we had anther worship session along with clips from the passion of the christ which led into an alter call and after we had communion which was awesome...God is moving in this place as we start to reach higher and higher for him, and when we think we can cant go any higher we go out and serve the people in any which way possible that just impacts our lives just as much as it does theres... so thank you guys for reading and KEEP ME IN YOUR PRAYERS,
I MISS VCA ALOT!
-Marky

Adopt A Block!!!!!

today was the first full day, we don't start our classes and our actual full days till monday but today we had the option to do "adopt-a-block" where different groups go to different areas and they hand out food and things people need, the one I was at was in walking distance, we loaded all this stuff in the pictures plus tons more and there was a line a quarter of a mile away, they were handed tickets and when they got there ticket called they could go and get stuff. we were there from 11-230. the people could only take so much stuff from each pile to ensure everyone got something. The pile I worked with was the movies, which I thought why do they need movies? but then I realized something that not all these people have cable and a few movies could help, and anything that could bring a family closer together helps...today was such a blessing, they do this every saturday and the next big ministry thing is tuesday, most ministrys on the streets like going outside the dream center where im staying is tuedays, thursdays, and saturdays so those days keep me in prayer especially. thank you for all your prayers I know you guys care.

Hey whats up everybody this my first Post, I will be leaving tomorrow morning, And will be there will Decemberish when I will have my first break of the year and I get 2 weeks off. Over time I will post videos and pictures of whats going out here in La. I hope you guys weather you check this site out once or a trillion times to KEEP ME IN YOUR PRAYERS!
with LOTS OF LOVE-Marky(xMARKYx)