Thankyou for reminding me!

I've had a few people comment on not seeing anything new on my site of late, so thought I'd write a few thoughts!

Last week started off pretty mellow. I thought for an instant I wouldn't even have anything to write! Ha. Not so fast. Life in the ghetto doesn't simply cease...trust me on this one. My friend Rion's (she's in my division) neighbour attempted suicide last week. He was a guy from the neighbourhood, so not part of the ministry. He went up the fire escape to the roof and was cutting himself with a knife and screaming that he was going to jump. Ambulances, fire trucks, the police, even a S.W.A.T. team with snipers were out trying to control the situation. The guy didn't end up jumping. But it's so sad, cause already he had been extremely depressed and apparently had some sort of incident previous to this one. But now, the only help he's gonna get is going to the hospital, possibly the psych ward where he's gonna be drugged up. It's strange how the "civilized" world we live in proffesses to have so much medical knowledge, yet the best they can do to solve a person's problems is give them drugs. No wonder we are such messed up people. Praise the Lord, we can come to Jesus with our problems and cast them on him cause he actually does care. Where would we be without Him? Really now.

The rest of the week went great. On Friday, at my site Pink Houses I saw one of my fave kids from when I was here the first time. His name is Tislon. When I came back this fall, I couldn't find him at all, so I thought maybe he'd moved or something. I had no idea. But when I saw him on Friday, I couldn't believe I was actually seeing him. And even more special, was that he remembered me! So exciting. I was at a loss of words, so I just got off stage, went down and gave him a great big hug. He's grown up so much in just a year! Wow!

Saturday was tons of fun. The lesson was on the Holy Spirit. An interesting topic to tackle, especially when teaching kids. But it went over well. On the way home on my bus, I had 2 kids get into a fight. It was awful! It was actually a guy and a girl fighting, but man, were they ever goin at it! The fist flying, the cursing running. I had to run back and break it up, in the meantime getting chewed up cheese (that the girl, Octavia chewed up and spat on the boy John) on my jacket. Couldn't stop smelling it the whole way home, thought I was gonna puke!

I feel like I talk about so many dreary things when I write. I guess sometimes that's just what's on my heart - what breaks my heart. Seeing these kids get into fights over the stupidest things, the hate they have for eachother when something goes wrong. It's intense, and it really does break me heart. There are wonderful things that happen here, but I guess sometimes the bad outnumbers the good. That's reality sometimes. But I know that God is working. But it is a process - a process of patience.

This weekend, Courtney will be coming to visit for a few days! I'm really looking forward to her visit, and I know that if she gets a chance to go out to Pink Houses, the kids will go absolutely ballistic! They love her so much, and of course still ask about her. For those of you who don't know, Courtney was working with Pink Houses' kids before I moved here, and she passed the site onto me. So she knows the kids real good, and has been getting to know them for I believe about 2.5 years. I have a lot to live up to!

If you ever have any questions about anything I write or whatever, please feel free to ask! I would be more then happy to answer any questions. I hope what I try to write does make sense. And you understand the urgency and the need these kids have. I guess I better leave my email address for those of you who don't actually have it: dana_luksts@hotmail.com

Love you all tons. Night.