I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has welcomed the college interns this summer! Thank you to those who have encouraged us and fed us too! Thank you again family and friends for your prayers and support for me this summer! I am so thankful for all of you and that God was able to use me here in Church Hill this summer!

   Ok. So first let me start off my saying that I am a city girl!!!! Last Sunday through Wednesday, Aaron T, Andrea, Brandon, Myrtle, Chris and I went to Polyface Farm. It was a trip that was suppose to help us learn about farm life, but not just any farm life…. Polyface farm life!!! See, Polyface farm is no ordinary farm. The Salatin family, owner of Polyface farm, have innovative techniques of farming that respects the animals as well as the land. They allow their chickens, cows and pigs to feed on grass which is the healthiest food that can be given. Grass especially prevents the cows from having mad cow disease.

Every Sunday morning the CHAT kids go to the West end to attend Third Presbyterian Church. This summer all of the college interns attend Third as well. One of the biggest issues I had was the East end West end dynamic. I felt that the East End kids were sort of a charity group that Third helped support. I am not writing this to personally attack Third Presbyterian, but I just want to shed some light on a serious situation from an outsider’s perspective. The issue is that there seems to be a lack of desire for true racial reconciliation,especailly among the youth.

I must say that it was a little stressful to complete both weeks of Vacation Bible Schools, but I do think it was worth it overall.  Each VBS lasted  one week long and I was a teacher with a class of at least 8 girls. The first VBS was a Third Presbyterian Church. The overall theme was a Hawaiian island theme that focused on:

         Last Wednesday….hmmmm my stories seem to happen on Wednesdays… Andrea, Aaron T and I took some of the young kids at CHAT, aka Little Tykes, to an event that encouraged interaction between West End kids and East End kids.   One particular game we played required groups of three people with different color eyes. My group had one little white girl, one six year old black girl and myself. The task was for one person to close their eyes and have another person describe the third person’s physical characteristics. The object of the game was for the individuals who were blinded to be able to mentally picture the person being described without using their eyes.

Yes, it is the eighth week of the CHAT internship. More importantly, it is the eighth week of growing in the Church Hill community. I really do not want to go back to live in the West End for school this fall. I wish there is a way to continue to live here. Who knows, maybe God will provide a way for that to happen in the future. I now have an entirely new perspective to take back to those at U of R. I think about all of the intellectual individuals at U of R who study about the inner city and its problems and yet have never visited the inner city a day in their lives. Well, I highly encourage those individuals as well as others to really open their horizons and experience a new culture that is only 20 minutes away!!!! There is so much to learn and it is not enough just to read about it from a book, article or newspaper!!! I have been so blessed to experience a little of what a community should be like. I love that so many people in Church Hill; White and Black; have formed relationships with one another. They go to bible study together, church, dinner, bike riding, walking and just hangin out on the front porch. I love that I can look up and down the street and see children playing outside and riding their bikes. These are the same children who also attend the CHAT program.

A few weeks ago I had a wake -up call concerning authority.  It was in the afternoon on Wednesday and all of the high school and college interns went to the ROC (Richmond Outreach Ministry). The ROC is an organization that ministers to kids all around the inner city of Richmond, including all of the projects. They send out a fleet of buses to pick the children up and bring them to their facilities where they engage in all sorts of activities. On this particular day, the CHAT interns helped them paint gymnasium bleachers and clean out buses. As the day was approaching its end, I had an altercation with one of the High school interns. She was being disrespectful to another adult and proceeded to talk behind the adult’s back in front of me. I spoke up and corrected her in a loud, stern voice and a verbal argument began. Now, neither one of us used bad language toward one another, but it was still a heated argument nonetheless. I realized that she was not going to back down, so I had to simply STOP talking. I was quite disturbed by this whole situation. Not only did she refuse to listen to me, but she continued to raise her voice at me. I thought to myself… “I’m the authority figure here…I’m in charge right now and she was suppose to listen!” Over the next 30 minutes, I kept trying to justify to myself that I handled the situation correctly as “the adult” and that I had nothing to apologize for. Deep down I was convicted!!!! I knew I had to apologize, but I was trying to find reasons not to. Regardless of the fact that she raised her voice or was disrespectful, I should not have been disrespectful back. I could have definitely handled myself better in that situation. I should have remembered the bible verses, Proverbs 13:3, “Those who control their tongue will have a long life; a quick retort can ruin everything.” OR Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger.”  Clearly we did not control our tongue and we allowed harsh words to escape our mouths. We both ended up apologizing to each other and now we are just fine!!!! Thank God for his mercy and forgiveness that we both can receive from him and each other.

My first weekend as an intern was spent on a camping trip with the CHAT kids In North Carolina. We had such a great time. I never thought camping could be so much fun. I’m not really the kind of person who likes to “rough it” in the wilderness, but I was willing to try. I was quite surprised to find that the campground site we used was actually really nice. It had a lake, canoes, cabins and bathrooms!!! The kids enjoyed the swimming and canoe ridding. As night fell, we all watched the movie National Treasure under a pavilion that had a DVD player and overhead projector. This was certainly not  the average camping pavilion.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my bonding time with the 8 other college interns. Our bonding moments first started when we were painting a fellow neighbor’s house. It was quiet for the most part until two interns decided to ask a riddle. We were all so anxious to figure out the riddle, but after 20 minutes, no one had an answer. We thought long and hard and finally the answer was given. Of course, the answer was not that difficult, but we just were not carefully thinking. Then more riddles were given and it turned into a completion of who could be the first one to answer the riddle. The riddle game was what actually made us plan to have dinner together that night. . I mean let’s face it, no one could leave until all of the riddles were solved even if it took all night.! Lol  Well, it did take all night!