President Mark welcomed the friendly WVRC BACK to the UCLA Faculty Center after having a two week hiatus from our regular venue.  
Our Chair for Youth Services, Jim Crane, led us in the pledge.  
Don Park provided our Invocation.  Did you know Don wakes up at5:30a.m. every day and walks with his buddies MWF, then works out, then goes into the office?  Except on Tuesdays he plays tennis!  Who knew Don was so active?! No wonder he is still so handsome.  

Our health and welfare moment included an update about Jack Paul.  His only "serious injury" is a broken leg from a recent auto accident.  We are all thinking of you, Jack, and wishing you a speedy recovery!  Lovely Pat Anderson joined us for lunch today (along with our own world traveler, Sally Phillips, wife of Howard that was an important part of our club!)  Pat shared Andy is comfortable at home, handsome, funny, and has good care givers.  

Don Nelson introduced his guest, Dr John Peterson who was UCLA captain in 1954 of our football team - the only champs! John was also a former auto dealer in town if you ever bought a Chrysler.   Kristina Martin was a guest of Aly Shoji.

Announcements:

• Mike Yousem announced that the Christmas Shopping Spreeis December 5, and that if you want to be a chaperone you should let him know. 
• Vice President, Dr. Colby Smith, shared activity from the "Rotary Impact"  meeting at Mark Rogo's home. 14 prospects for this young professional group attended and the next meeting is scheduled for Dec 10 at MorganStanley on Wilshire if you know anyone that may be interested in this group.  
• President Mark wanted our club to recognize Colby and Tom for their continued efforts in membership recruitment as this is the life blood of our clubs.  
• Ron's beautiful wife, Guin, will also be coordinating a Dim Sum trip for anyone interested on Dec. 14 

Past President Ron Lyster, provided a recap from the Paul Harris "celebration."  The event was held at the California Science Centerunder the historic Endeavor with keynote speaker General Kevin P. Chilton who flew in the first AND final flights on her. He spoke while narrating with a video of their astronaut training, successes and failures on missions, and how they figured it out in space. One story included these two 25 year olds in NASA sending up the first data scans to space etc. It was seriously incredible sitting under it while watching/listening to his actual experience. Bonus, he grew up in YYE's neighborhood and went to Visitation and graduated from St. Bernard High right down the street from our place and said he grew up looking out the windows at planes and remembered when the first 747 departed from LAX and then the Endeavor landed on the back of one for her final rest. 

President Mark delivered some Paul Harris trivia

Our Merchant Minute today was brought to you by Ageless Male - a center with multiple locations that offers solution to andropause (male menopause issues such as testosterone loss, aging, decreased energy, libido, increased fat etc.)  They offer testosterone replacement therapy - once a week or every 10 days.

Now on to our dual program:

Past President for Brentwood Club and current Chair for our Vocational Avenue of Service, Dick Thompson, reported on Dominican Republic projects. The first project he participated in was in dental work and one child said he was going to be a doctor and take care of Dick when he is old.  Dick was happy to report that child indeed is now a doctor and in fact Chief of Disease Control for his island. Dick will be going to the DR in April for a wedding. Our District trip to the DR recently brought $250K of equipment.  He shared with the Haiti earthquake many immigrants into the DR b/c they share a border.  And with that infusion, they are bringing disease to DR so his "child" from his first Rotary contact is now deeply immersed in Disease Control and water quality issues, which Rotary identified very early on were very intertwined.  The cute joke is, there are many kids named after Dick as he is their God Father and it is customary to honor someone by naming their child after them :)

Paul Aslan introduced our second speaker for today - Marla Freese - a world renowned and nationally known psychic expert that has helped the police and government.  She has her own radio show and comes from a small town in Pennsylvania.   Marla started by sharing her definition of psychic - to be of the mind, of the souls, outside of consciousness, and shared everyone has psychic abilities. Before she became a full time psychic she was an actress so you may have seen her on everything from selling toothpaste to appearing on Seinfeld, etc.  Ms. Freese started off by stating she originally didn't believe in psychics but realized It's intuiting how to survive through our neuro pathways.  Ultimately believing we are all connected to a benevolent source.    She continued to discuss ideas of:

• Soul and consciousness
• Consciousness surviving death
• What happens on the other side

Her civic duty is to work with law or police and recently lectured At UCLA for a World Arts and Culture presentation.  Marla said, "We all know things we experience and asked if anyone wanted to share an out of body experience?"  Our Chair of International Service, Marsha Hunt, shared she had a near death experience in her20's.  Her appendix burst and she was in emergency surgery and even though her father had passed away years before, she said she was "over her body talking to her dad as the emergency surgery was being performed."   She wasn't scared or anything but did say it was something a definite "out of body experience."

 

Marla shared anecdotes from the book, Proof of Heaven, by a neurosurgeon from Harvard - Dr Alexander's neocortex was gone Dr Brian Wise headed Columbia and Yale past life regression with patients Consciousness survives death Are we skeptical? Is the world round? 500years ago that idea changed, Surgeons only started saying cigarettes were bad for you 20 years ago. Have you ever been in love? How do you prove that? Can you see Love? How do you know?  Marla mediates between relationships and continuing relationships. Do we believe in transformational Ghosts? 

Marla did a reading on our member Phil Gabriel and asked about something going on in his chest or lung?  His brother recently had a collapsed lung, she also mentioned a dog - a Labrador to be specific, and finally told him to fix a stairway! 

Marla also Read our guest Kristina Martin and asked her about issues re: breast cancer in her family?

What is her career?  Discussed her feelings about her agent - (it was a little bizarre that she kept burping and said it was part of the process)

Marla also attempted to read PP Bill Goodwyn - we all know she was for real if that is possible!  ;)
 
President Mark thanked our speakers and ended with a reminder that if you want to help with the recent catastrophes in the Philippines, you can go to our District website for more information re: Typhoon aid in the Philippines.

Also, the next Food Drive with LA 5 will be on Nov 24 with police 
And please mark your calendars for Jan 23, 2014 Our weekly Westwood meeting will honor local Steve Sann!