In answer to Desiree's question on the last post, it went very well!

The kids listened very closely, their leaders were very supportive, and I feel like we're going to have a great relationship with this church.

I had a feeling on the way over there that it was going to be a rich morning, and it really was. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a few urgent tasks to take care of.

The idea of using whatever you've been given as a way to show love to others seems to really strike a chord with churches that we visit.

Why I'm Not in Bed

I just spent the evening preparing to preach tomorrow. I'm so excited about speaking in children's church because you get an opportunity to plant uplifting ideas that can really change lives.

My central message is usually that anyone can show the love of Jesus. To illustrate, I usually talk about my interests which are writing and movies and music. I am not what you'd call missionary material. But here I am, using those things to show love and feed the hungry and meet all sorts of physical and spiritual needs. If I can do it, anyone can.

But all this exciting stuff is not the reason I'm still up. Honestly, it's because of my iguana. She has a huge tail that she uses as a whip and she is super strong and she hates to be waken up. Right now, she is sound asleep on my pillow. Quite frankly, I'm just putting off dealing with her.

Round 2, and a Ring Dang Doo

So the first person to name the movie where the title of this post comes from wins a spot in my Book of Cool. That basically means that you feel the reward of a job well done without me having to spend any money or send you a prize or even care about you personally at all.

In other news, we made it through our first week of activities. It was quite an achievement, getting 22 kids registered, setting patterns for behavior and relationships, and feeding the whole crew on about 8 bucks a day. Ruthie took the lead on this stuff because a) she is better at it, and b) I work two of the days that we have the program.

Last night, we watched The Big Kahuna with some friends, and we stayed up super late talking about the scars, discomforts, and passions it brought to mind. The movie had some pretty powerful things to say about honesty, evangelism, and marketing.

Today, I took Melvin and Lesly out to Mellow Mushroom to celebrate Melvin's birthday. We had a great time.

In the meantime, Ruthie is currently at a market in Virginia Highlands selling jewelry for Refugee Beads. Let's hope she makes some money for them. All of them seem to be in desperate situations. Thanks to David Park for taking and posting these pictures:

Art and Food

These are some of the kids' watercolor pictures from today's program!

For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me;I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

- Jesus to His Disciples

24...TV Show, or a Crazy Bunch of Kids?

Today we managed to help 22 kids with their homework. Two more participated in the afterschool program, but they are not yet in kindergarten, so today had to be their last day.

It went well, considering the volume of kids. We were able to get all but four of them through all their homework. We had to send a few home with some unfinished math worksheets due to time limitations.

Also, we have decided, as a step of faith, to feed a healthy meal to every kid that comes through our program. Many of them go home to empty refrigerators. Ruthie, a master strategist in the kitchen, has devised ways to feed the whole crew on less than ten dollars per meal. We feel that some of our partner churches will probably help us meet this goal.

Tomorrow, I will be at work and Ruthie will be alone running the program. On regular weeks, it looks like Ruthie will have at least one volunteer to help on each day the kids are there. This, however, will not be a regular week. Let's see what happens.

Back to Afterschool

Ruthie and I have been dealing with a very difficult and demanding family situation, which has kept me from communicating as much as I should.

Big, thrilling things seem to be happening every day. Yesterday, I went down to WonderRoot, a creative collective, to talk about community projects where we could collaborate. We spent some time talking about my vision to restore relationship between the Church and creative communities. They seemed very excited to see where that goes.

We left the meeting with two great ideas - 1) work together on a community mural 2) develop a film program for our kids, with the goal of holding a small festival/showing during their spring break. The films would come from all over the international village, and would focus on an inside view of the immigrant/refugee life.

Yesterday, we re-opened our afterschool program, and we had a new group of kids. We're dedicating the first hour to homework, so Ruthie and I scrambled to make sure everyone got the help they needed.

I had to leave halfway through to round up and bring some youth over to Communicycle, where David showed Aziz how to dismantle a bike for cleaning and rebuilding. It was great to see David go from knowing nothing to being able to teach another kid how to do everything. That's the dream result of our work- mobilized workers from within the community.

Inglorious Basterds

Work went better today. And at the end, I got to hang with Tim Cummins. He's one of my heroes, and we're like family.

We went together to pick up my car from the shop. It was about 100 more than I expected, but the money came in just in time and all was well. I'm just thankful to have a working vehicle again.

I went out to my father-in-law's place, and we watched "Inglorious Basterds." I love Tarantino's gleeful, dark sense of humor. The movie was full of slow-building dialog, which some reviewers get tired of, but to me it was all worthwhile. I haven't enjoyed a movie this much in ages.

Tomorrow, I'm going to help my father-in-law with some stuff around his house, then go back to my apartment and prep it for Ruthie's return. I've been living like a bachelor for a week, and it shows. I can't wait to see her again and return to our shared life together.