Week 19

Saturday:

Today was the first time I have been afraid in our neighborhood.

Lane, Angelina and I were knocking on a door on an upstairs porch of one of our kids.

Looking down we were able to see into the parking lot next door.

We heard a loud banging, and I made eye contact with what had to be a gang member (I hate to stereotype, but I am 99.9999999% sure he was a gang member).

Him and his two friends were attempting (and succeeding) to break down the fence and get into the yard at the bottom of the stairs we were on.

As the "adult" I tried not to show that I was intimidated....but inside I was dying....thoughts of..."this is it"....raced through my mind.

On a positive note, this is the first time in this neighborhood that I have ever felt afraid.

Pretty good for an active gang/drug area.

We also found out that one of our regulars moved. I was a little relieved to find this out, since I had been leaving Blue Bomber cards on her porch and kept returning to find them ripped up.

In Bus Ministry it seems like you are continually starting over:

~You meet a kid
~Spend weeks building a friendship with them
~Get them to ride the bus on a regular basis
~They move

I have to look at it with the hope that they will never forget the time that we had with them.

If I don't look at it that way it is easy to become discouraged and frustrated.

Sunday:

We had the cutest little visitor on the bus this week....and she wore the most adorable pink sweater (pictured).

Mauricio (bus rider): Are you guys a part of Jesus' mom?
Brandon (bus captain): What about Jesus' mom, you mean Mary?
Mauricio: No, are you a Christian...like Jesus' mom?
Brandon (bus captain): Yes I am a Christian.
Mauricio: No, I mean like Jesus' mom...
Brandon: What do you mean?
Mauricio: You know, his mom, the one that goes like this:

and he puts his hands like this......

I think he was referring to this:

and we were cracking up listening to him try to describe it.

...oh the things kids say!

Route 3 = 20 kids (it was a HORRIBLE WEEK numbers-wise)