First Week at Urban

It has been an amazing first week serving at Urban Connection - San Antonio. I am having a blast and I am so grateful for the chance to be a part of whats happening here. We kicked-off last Thursday with Americorps training in Dallas where the whole team (8 girls and 2 guys) stayed at a hotel together. The hotel graciously upgraded Josh and I to a suite on the club members floor with free breakfast and appetizers at no cost. What a blessing! I didn't expect much from the training but it was very informative and stoked a fire in me to set my face towards neighborhoods often overlooked, in order that a few might be saved. One of the crazy things that I found out was that Texas has the highest child hunger problem with at least 2.2 million children going hungry every year. These are children that can't perform well in school because they're hungry and given no positive attention at home. Even more amazing is that this is happening on the Church's watch. How can you say you love Jesus but knowingly allow little children go without food in their stomach. The book of James in the Bible lands so much harder for me now. While at the training, I had the opportunity to lead one of four groups, composed of other Americorps members stationed at other non-profits in Dallas, in a trash pick up. The location we were at was one of the worst places in Dallas. I haven't seen so much drug paraphernalia in my life! We picked up crack bags, blown out cocaine balloons, and alcohol bottles of all kinds. I had to run between streets and through alley ways to manage four different sub-groups that had been split up through the neighborhood but God's peace was with me. It was a great opportunity to serve others and get my hands dirty! I couldn't have been happier with the chance to lead. On Monday, we were back at Urban in San Antonio and started our specific organizational training and planning. Josh, Julia, and I will be in charge of outdoor activities all next week. Each day, the activities will have something to do with a popular kids movie, such as Kung Fu Panda, Happy Feet, Planet 51, The Incredibles, and Madagascar. We have planned games like Asteroid toss, a penguin slip and slide, and super hero relays. Josh and I will also be doing a sports oriented, urban after hours (UAH pronounced oooahhh by Ms. Randi) program for only boys. We didn't want to exclude the girls but we figured that it might be some of the only intentional time we have with just the boys. Oh man! I almost forgot! Yesterday, we went to the San Antonio Food Bank to load up food into a big U-Haul truck for the Urban Resource Center. When we were unloading it at Urban, we found a live rat chilling in one of the boxes. I heroically went after him with just a broom to which he responded by jumping out of the truck and passing right between Josh's legs. The kids, the Spanish speaking women, and I were all chasing him down the street yelling "MATALE!", which means "kill him". It must have been a funny site. Luckily for him though, once he was trapped between one of the boys feet, one of the ladies picked him up by his tale and tossed him in the dumpster. I'm sure he was in heaven. Other than that we have been playing some super competitive games of kickball and dodge ball, and training for the many perceived situations that await us. I am confident the team can handle it though. We are each very different but every one of them is an amazing person! I really like the individuals I am serving along side and I couldn't say enough about them. Some thoughts that I will leave you with were given to us today by Pastor Craig, Director of Kingdom Relations, and are continuing to motivate me to give my all in the upcoming summer. The first one went something like this,"These kids that we are working with only know a life of survival, which is different from living. We are getting the opportunity to teach them how to LIVE!" and the next,"We love these children the same way God loves us, unconditionally. That means that our love has nothing to do with whether they are loveable or not. We love them either way." Thanks for reading!