Too long!

I can't believe I haven't written in over a week now! Yah, time flies here. So much has happened since the last time I posted, so if you're reading this, you might wanna grab a coffee...this will be a read! Let's see, last week was a busy week. Lots of prep, so it was fun but got tiring since I was looking forward to actually getting out and doing Sidewalk Sunday School. But, the prep has to be done. Lots of cleaning, painting, making posters, planning lessons. We have some hard working interns which makes life a lot easier!
I'm not sure if I mentioned that we have a new pastor for Metro Church. His name is Pastor Marcus and he is so great! So funny and what he has to say is so good. He's one of those guys who only preaches for about 30 minutes, if that. But he gives it to you alright. Straight to the point, and he uses lots of his own experiences to illustrate his points. It's been awhile since I've been captivated by a speaker....a blessing for those of us with short attention spans! It's great too, cause the people who attend our church are mostly locals and from our sites, and they absolutely love him!
On Tuesday Sidewalk Sunday School finally started! So much fun! I have tons of new kids to meet, but I'm so looking forward to it. It is way too easy to fall in love with these kids. Tuesday we went to Tabea's site - Bayview Houses. It went pretty well for the first week, and the interns did great! We were so proud of them. I'm embarrassed now to talk about how terrible I was when I first started as an intern! We also did a second site at Boulevard Houses. I already knew a few kids there, so it was so good to reconnect with them and all. Wednesday we went to Rion's site, Breukelen Houses. She has some great kids. A couple of the little kids (they're probably 6 or 7 years old....something like that) were break dancing for us on this box we were playing with that ended up demolished and flattened - perfect for break dancing. They were doing all kinds of head spins, slides, and stalls. It was hot!
After doing 2 sidewalk sites I was off to pik-up our people for Wednesday night church. Josh (one of my kids from Pink Houses), came with me to the service. He's 11 years old and so in love with God! It's incredible to watch him. There he is amidst the adults and all these "cool" teenagers with his hands raised to heaven and praising God. Makes you wanna cry. He's grown up in the projects, and his family isn't perfect by any means, yet he knows the truth and wants it! That kid is gonna do big things for God! He told me yesterday that he wants to work with Yogi Bear when he grows up.
Thursday I got to visit my kids at Pink. So many new faces but lots of faces that I remember! And it was incredible to see kids coming up to me who remembered me...some called me by name and some came up and would give me the "I've seen you before". So cute. Raheem and Josh helped me visit the kids. Later on in the evening, Raheem had to go to football practice so it was just me and Josh for awhile. We ended up playing some ball for awhile with some guys. It was Josh and I and a kid named Pops, and three guys I met: Steven, Fausto, and Tony. It was a lot of fun. And felt kinda good to show off a few skills playing basketball! Here the girls really don't play sports, so to see a girl who can actually play half decent is amazing to them. Kinda funny! Fausto and Steven came out to Yogi Bear today to watch and Fausto brought his little guy Tyrese with him. Such a cute kid!
So today, was Yogi Bear at my site Pink Houses! So much fun! I admit, it was a little stressful since I'm the site captain there - the Boss. But I loved every minute of it. It's way to easy to fall in love with these kids! It was a little crazy today. We have to pull up our truck at the side of the road and the kids literally sit on the sidewalk. It's sorta nerve wracking since we're by a semi busy road and it's squishy for the kids too. We were in a large basketball/parking lot before (I think for more than 10 years), but housing kicked us out. Unfortunately we have to have the permission of the Housing Authority to use the property within the projects. We heard today from a guy that the Housing Manager who recently took over (and who kicked us out last fall) doesn't manage Pink Houses anymore. So this Thursday I hope to go and talk to the Manager and see if we can get into Housing again. Please be praying that the Housing Manager's heart would be softened and readied for when I meet him. I've been praying that we could get back into the project's and have been praying specifically that he would allow us in or that God would remove him from his position! Harsh, nah. Anything for the chance to show these kids the way to God. So we'll see if the rumor is true and if God actually answered my prayer! So please keep this situation in your prayers.
Tomorrow our first Saturday Sunday School begins. This is the big thing. Three sessions on a Saturday and we bus in about 4000 kids in one day! So much fun, and they go all out. Our theme is Hawaii in the Hood right now, so should be fun giving kids smoothies and what not. I get to ride one of the busses that I rode when I was here as an intern so I'm so stoked. Pastor Kenny (the head of Indoor Sunday School) requested me to be on his bus again...such an honor to be asked back to his bus! Love the kids on his bus!
Thanks dad for reminding me that I hadn't updated my blog for awhile! So busy here that I just lost track of time. For real! Love you all.