As much as it frustrates me when others do not update their blog, you'd think I would be more likely to stay on top of mine. Alas, much time has again passed and here we are.

Last two weeks ago I had the wonderful blessing of a visit from some friends from Cedar Rapids. Jerry and Marlys Law made the long trip south for a few days of touring and learning more about what we do here. We went to junior high youth night and Bible study, I introduced them to our staff and we toured a little bit of every part of the city. The last day we took a trolley ride down St. Charles and South Carrollton, which was a lot of fun. I hadn't been on the trolley in more than a year.


It is always so great to have people visit. I love to show off the ministry and the city I love so much. Thank you again for coming Jerry and Marlys!

This week I am again blessed to have a team from Valley Church here for the week. I'm excited to see several new faces and I pray they fall in love with this neighborhood as much as I have. They will be working just a few houses down from mine and they'll get to take part in homework help and youth night. I'm also in charge of leading the talk about poverty, which is both fun and a challenge. A huge thanks for former staffer Scott Lundeen for producing amazing videos which make my work a little easier!

As many of you have probably already read in my newsletter, I have begun teaching this fall and I am very excited about it. I am working one-on-one with one of our students teaching civics on a daily basis, which currently means U.S. history. He passed his first test, doing very well, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. It also helps me feel a little more justified as a teacher and I feel like I must be doing something right.

I am also teaching a journalism class once a week. This has been more of a challenge for me as there is no standard curriculum and I have been writing the lessons as we go. It has been a lot of fun to use what I spent so many hours learning from others and putting into practice while I worked at the newspaper. Although cramming all that into 45 minutes once a week has proven a challenge as well.

All in all things are going very well. We are well into planning our 20th anniversary celebration which will be October 16 - 18. I am excited to see former staff and interns as well as folks from all over the country who will come down for the weekend to help us celebrate all that God has done here. If you'd like to come, we'd love to have you. Just contact Ms. Joan at 504.523.5556 and she'll give you all the details.