1 Down... 8 to Go!

It's Friday night. Our 1st group has gone, grocery shopping is finished, naps have been taken, dinner has been eaten, life is good!

The 1st week went great. The groups form Texas were really good. It was nice that there were only 34 of them. It made our lives easier as the staff. It was nice being able to get to know all of the students well. I was very surprised at how easy it was for me to learn all of their names. Pray that that continues throughout the rest of the summer. It was also fun to work along side the youth at the service sites. I feel so much more prepared for the youth coming this sunday because I can talk from experience about what they are going to be doing at the service sites... instead of going off of what other people say.

Highlight story of the week: I was at CCNV on Thursday. CCNV is a transitional homeless shelter. First of all, I really agree with the idea of transitional housing. Seriously, how can we expect people to get out of the cycle of homelessness if they are more concerned about finding a bed for the night instead of a job or any type of education. The residents at CCNV have a 6 month lease on a bed. If the resident proves that he is making considerable effort to life on his own this lease can be extended. ANYWAY... story time. While at CCNV YouthWorks hangs out in 1 South. This is the floor for men 50 years of age and older. Basically we are there to just be relational with the men: play games, hear their stories, and share our lives with them. The men of 1 South are chess masters! Dustin, one of the youth, was playing Mr. Edward. Mr. Edward smoked Dustin 4 times. It was really fun to watch. In between moves Mr. Edward even finished a crossword puzzle . A few times other men would come over and try to "help" Dustin out. I am not 100% sure, but I think their motive was to just confuse him even more. Laughter was had by all. Sorry, I am not doing a great job at articulating this story, but be rest assured that it was fun.

Moving on to this coming week... we have 66 youth and adult leaders on their way to D.C. as I type. They will be here at 4:30 on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how different next week pans out with having double the people. While shopping at Costco today I filled one of those big flat carts with bread (sandwich bread, hotdog and hamburger buns, dinner rolls, you name it). Added on top of that was another 2 full large carts of food. Who knew how much food it took to feed 66 people. The looks Austin, Dan, and I were getting were kinda funny though. You could read people's faces saying, "what in the world are those 3 kids doing with all that food?!?"

As for this moment... I am taking time to rest. I am very tired from the week. I could go to bed right now and it is only 11:00... despite the fact that I took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. It was so nice to just have down time today. The staff and I went to a cafe for dinner and just sat there for a few hours and solved all of the problems of the world. Literally. I think the U.S. Government should just come to us for advice. Tomorrow we have a few minor things to do to get ready for next week but beyond that we are just gonna keep it low key and relax.

Sorry so long. I'll stop now.
Love you long time!
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In Him
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