YO DOG! Your breath be kickin'! - Leonard

This afternoon I met up with Luke again, and we went walking the neighborhoods to find children to hang out with for the day. Our thought for the day was to either take some kids to the beach, fly some kites with the kids, or something else fun to get the kids away from their everyday lives. Luke is friends with many of the families in the neighborhood, and knows the parents very well. We met up with two children named Judy (7) and Leonard (8). It was evident that they had grown up taking care of themselves, when I later found out that there were 11 children in their family. Their street smarts blew my mind, and the way that they talked about legal issues that their family is dealing with surprised me. They were very aware of what goes on in their neighborhood - the drugs, the violence, and the robberies - and to them, it was somewhat of a normal happening. They were not living in fear, it was more of a feeling of normalcy that I observed.

I admired Leonard and Judy's bravery, and believed that I should be taking on that feeling of fearlessness as well. The Lord is going here before me, and knows every single event and person that I am going to meet. I don't have anything that I should be fearful about, and it is so exciting to be building these relationships with people from the neighborhood.
Luke and I ended up taking the two kids to a park near San Francisco to fly kites. There were two kites - one was shaped like a monkey, and the other was more complicated. It was a special design with two handles used to guide the kite in either direction. It was very tricky to use, and Luke did a great job of teaching Judy. Here is a picture to show Judy and Luke working together to achieve a common goal of flying a kite.


We spent a great deal of time at the park, and I tried to teach Judy how to do a cartwheel, and let me tell you that it was much more difficult that I had once envisioned. I did not succeed at teaching her, but we sure had a fun time trying. We took Judy and Leonard to Kentucky Fried Chicken before dropping them off at their apartment. Which by the way is a three bedroom apartment where 16 people are living. They may be soon getting put into a shelter if the living conditions don't better themselves in the near future. I hope and pray that they will not have to be put into this situation, and I'm not really sure which situation is better for them currently. It was clear that they were not excited to go home, and that they wanted us to take them to our homes. I loved spending time with Judy and Leonard, and hope that I will get to see them again this summer.

Tomorrow morning I will be moving into my new apartment where Amanda and I will be living together for the summer. I am feeling confident going into this, and the InterVarsity crew will be coming in tomorrow morning as well. I pray that this will be a smooth transition and that we will be able to bond together quickly so that we can effectively work as a team in this ministry. I will leave you all with this picture of Luke, myself, and Judy walking in the field near the park. It is a sweet reminder to me of how quickly children can bond with someone through a day of fun and adventure.