Life

As I was trying to think of something to write about for this post, I was complaining to my teammate Liv that nothing has happened this week.  She very patiently reminded me that I don't have to write about a life-changing experience, that it's just nice sometimes to read about a simple story or a normal occurance too.  I decided to take her advice and just give you a bunch of snippets of my life. 

Not only do I feel confident in taking the bus now, I actually made a friend the other day.  That's right.  I made a friend on the bus.  Her name is Sasha, she's 19 and living on her own cause she comes from a rough family.  She's working evenings at a sandwich shop while taking classes for a GED.  She's a pretty cheerful girl, and wants to become a pediatric nurse.  I'm excited to hopefully get to know her better since she takes the bus to work about the same time I'm coming home from the Gabriel House. 

I taught 3 of my teammates to play pitch!  That made me pretty happy... even though we lost. 

Our handyman, Joe, who lives with us, took me and my teammate James out to lunch last weekend.  It was really awesome... We laughed about how we hadn't had a real burger in so long. :)

It feels like our house has pretty much turned into a food bank.  The past week or so and the next week or so, we are receiving donations that usually go to a different place, but it's closed right now.  Our fridges, freezers, and pantries are overflowing with food, although most of it is really random stuff.  In fact, today a few missionaries took a bunch of the bread we have and just handed it out to homeless people.  Our multitude of donations will probably end in about a week or two, but for now, it's nice to not feel guilty about snacking.

So one of the things I do once a week is lead a class at the Samaritan House, a Catholic shelter designed to help people off the streets and help them find housing and employment.  Part of what they have to do is attend a certain amount of classes, such as the one we are teaching.  My teammate Bri and I are teaching the 4 classes about brotherhood/ philia, so if you have any thoughts on what our curriculum should include, let me know!  One interesting thing about our classes is that they will include a service project.  I'm sure you are probably thinking, Really? You're gonna do a service project with homeless people?  Who are they going to serve?  But I'm really excited about this.  Think about the times you've had an opportunity to give back to others.  It makes you feel dignified, not to mention it helps you grow in virtue.  Now think of a time that you've felt like everyone was helping you and giving to you, but you were unable to give back.  It's rather belittling, isn't it?  I don't know exactly what we will be doing, but I'm excited!  (Again, if you have any ideas, feel free to let me know!)