Week 1 = CRAZINESS!!

6-8-10

Well.. sorry it’s been forever since I updated! Life got a little crazy around here! Starting last Wednesday we finally got a list of things to do and a semi-schedule. Most of what we were given to do included cleaning and organizing things. Over the next three mornings (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) we managed to vacuum the sanctuary & foyer, clean all 6 bathrooms/locker rooms, vacuum and dust all of the offices, classrooms, and the library, and then we also vacuumed/swept/mopped the whole FLC Gym. That was just in the mornings! We also worked a few shifts in the gym, had worship practice, worked out a few times @ LA Fitness with Roxann, and went to Bible Study.

And then of course there was the Walmart adventure! Wednesday afternoon, after we finished our morning work, we decided it was time to brave phoenix on our own and make a Walmart run! Problem #1, no vehicle. Problem #2, no sense of direction for either of us. Sooo.. we went to John, who graciously lent us his truck. Problem #1 solved. Then he drew us a pretty detail map of how to get there, and helped us understand how the phoenix streets are set up. Good stuff. Problem #2 semi solved. We still had very little sense of direction, but we were better off then, than we had been before! So off to Wally World we went. Thanks to John and his lovely little map we found it quite easily! We spent a good bit of time going through walmart stocking up on the things we weren’t able to get on our trip to Costco the week before. Then after we checked out and found the truck (which took a little effort, not gonna lie!) we traded seats and I took the reins for the trip back. Unfortunately, the map did a great job of getting us TO Walmart, but not such a great job getting us BACK from walmart! He didn’t remember to write the name of the road we were supposed to turn off of. We knew the street AFTER, but not the actual street. But we thought we figured it out pretty well, but I made the mistake of thinking that the street was at the light. Well, it wasn’t. it was the street before the light. No sweat, I said, we’ll just turn down Roosevelt and find 15th, no problemo. Ok.. so maybe it was a problemo… the light was at a funky intersection.. you know the ones with 5 roads, not just 4? So I accidentally turned down some other street, NOT Roosevelt. Trying to keep it cool, I immediately started reading road signs to see if I could figure out where I was then. Within less than a minute we saw the McDonalds we had visited the week before, so we knew we were still close, but not quite in the right place. But it didn’t take us long to find 9th Ave and get ourselves back on track. Really all we did was make a big circle around the church. And in the end we made it back all safe and sound!

We did become the highlight of Bible Study though, since everybody found it quite hilarious that the interns A. took johns truck, and B. got lost in PHOENIX. For those of you who don’t know.. phoenix roads are set up VERY simply, so technically it should be pretty hard to get lost around here. But then again.. it is Marlee and I!

Haha.. so yeh. That was pretty much our week last week. On Saturday night we went to a Block Party for the Spanish Church, and then went out to dinner with Ed. Then Sunday we had church. I have officially been recruited to sing on the Worship team, so that was fun. Marlee taught Sunday School for Danielle, and did a pretty good job. Then after church, we had John, Roxann, Danielle, Jack, Jerri, and Ed over for lunch. It was really nice, and a good chance for us to kind of make up all of the stuff that they have been doing for us. We’ll probably do it again at least one more time before we leave..

Yesterday was a pretty chill day. In the morning we hung out with john watching youtube vids (haha), and then later went back to the apt to work on some stuff for the Youth on Fillmore event Friday. Then later that afternoon we came over to the gym to work our shift. After gym shift we went to ladies bible study at Mrs Debbie’s house. We got to meet some other young ladies that are closer to our age. They are all married and have children, or are pregnant, but it is nice to meet some people that are not twice or three times our age!

This morning was the feeding program. It went pretty well. There was one man who got all mad. He said he was being cheated, blah blah blah.. called all of us “Unchristian”. Meh.. oh well. Basically what had happened was, he showed up at 8 to get in line, and there was one lady standing at the gate, and then “50” boxes lined up behind her. But when he tried to get in line behind the lady, in front of all the boxes, the people who owned the boxes eventually showed up and told him he had to go to the back of the line. He said it was not fair and unchristian for them to put their boxes in line and then not stand there themselves. But the reality is, and this is what John and everybody else told him.. this is the way that they have been doing it for years! People will come as early as 2 in the morning to put their boxes in line, before coming back the next morning to get in line again. It’s just how it has always been done around here, and one guy isn’t gonna change that. Especially since he isn’t in any authority, he is just a member of the program. The sad thing is that he put up such a ruckus that he ended up being asked to not come back. How sad is that? I mean, I understand being frustrated by that kind of thing, but if you aren’t going to change anything, then let it be! And don’t make everything hard for everyone else. And ESPECIALLY don’t fight us so bad that you are asked to never come back! Sad Sad.. He even threatened to call the police on us, because we wouldn’t do anything about it. Sigh. I have to say that there definitely was a quote of the hour that came out of it.. He was outside yelling @ Pastor Jim and John and everybody and telling them that they were unchristian, blah blah blah.. and somebody looked at him and said, well, you are acting pretty unchristian yourself! His response? I’m not a Christian! Well.. at least he’s honest! Ha. Anyways.. I guess it’s his loss.. Other than that it went off pretty well. Similarly to last week, we ended up with so much stuff still left over toward the end that we were giving people 2 or 3 of each thing, and we had so much bread left over that they were just allowed to take whatever they wanted, whatever they could use, or give to their friends/neighbors.

All in all it’s been a good day. A good week really! Hope you guys are doing well!

Blessings,
~Kat K.