A few of you know that I love math, specifically, algebra and statistics. About a month ago, I was able to begin tutoring a boy in algebra. For security's purposes, I'm going to call him Juan. When I sat down with Juan at his first tutoring session, he presented me his paper with an equation similar to y=mx+b and some graph paper where he was supposed to graph the equation. When I first asked Juan what he would do if he got this question on a test, he replied, "Copy off a friend." My reaction to this was, "Let's see if we can come up with a better way to answer the question." I then proceeded to explain that y=mx+b was a line and how he could get that line from the equation.
Since then, Juan has been coming to our tutoring sessions every night that we've been holding them. Some nights are better than others, but on Wednesday night, I saw a note from his teacher and a 0% on one of his assignments. When I asked him why he hadn't finished the assignment, he said that he had been skipping class and was failing math. It is also quite possible that he is being pressured to join a gang or is in one already, and if this is the case there is not much motivation to keep him in school.
Juan is very good at algebra, when he concentrates! I am encouraged by his progress in tutoring sessions, and if he starts going back to class he could very well not only pass but get a great grade. I ask for your prayers for Juan as he is in school, that he would become motivated to go to class and that he might be able to complete any make-up work. Last night I pulled him aside and said that I would be more than happy with him to have a meeting with him and his teacher, and to talk to his teacher about possible make-up work that we could be doing in the tutoring sessions outside of class. Pray that my words of encouragement would build Juan's confidence in himself up, and that he would not feel afraid to meet with his teacher. I hope to keep you all updated in the future about Juan's progress. Most of all, please pray that God would place a wall of safety around Juan in anything that he is involved in, and that he would feel like he can be himself when he comes to the community house for tutoring. Thanks everyone for your prayers. Let's rally around Juan in prayer.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Walking the Line
For those of you who do not live in LA and may not know, there is a strike going on here with the Writer's Guild of America. My walk to and from work entails that I walk past one of the studios, the Sunset Gower studios. Last week, when the picketing of the writers began, I walked by two lines of picketers, one on Sunset and the other on Gower street. After walking home from work for a week, I feel very attached to these writers.
There are two crowds: the first, the Sunset Blvd crowd, is nice but distant, and doesn't really talk very much, unless talking to each other about their scripts or other writing techniques. Since they are carrying "honk for support" signs, lots of people are honking their horns when they pass by in their cars.
Now the Gower street peeps are definetely very fun to walk by. The first day of the strike, they said they would let me pass if I walked the line with them. So I walked around in a circle with them a few times. "Aren't you guys dizzy?" I asked. They informed me that they have been alternating directions for sanity's sake, and then asked me what I do. I told them that I work on an outreach team assisting the homeless, and that I had been in Beverly Hills that day helping the homeless there. I'm not really sure what they thought of that.
The Gower street peeps are increasingly creative; the next day I walked by they were playing a game of trivial pursuit, and on Thursday they had brought out the gloves and mits and were playing a game of catch with one another. Someone had also brought some drums and was drumming away, reminding me of marching band drum cadences.
Now, I hear that the striking could go on until March. And while I hope that for the sake of these poor writers and their families, this does not happen. But they are very fun to pass by on my walk home from work. I'm hoping to make friends with some of them, as they seem very down to eart.
There are two crowds: the first, the Sunset Blvd crowd, is nice but distant, and doesn't really talk very much, unless talking to each other about their scripts or other writing techniques. Since they are carrying "honk for support" signs, lots of people are honking their horns when they pass by in their cars.
Now the Gower street peeps are definetely very fun to walk by. The first day of the strike, they said they would let me pass if I walked the line with them. So I walked around in a circle with them a few times. "Aren't you guys dizzy?" I asked. They informed me that they have been alternating directions for sanity's sake, and then asked me what I do. I told them that I work on an outreach team assisting the homeless, and that I had been in Beverly Hills that day helping the homeless there. I'm not really sure what they thought of that.
The Gower street peeps are increasingly creative; the next day I walked by they were playing a game of trivial pursuit, and on Thursday they had brought out the gloves and mits and were playing a game of catch with one another. Someone had also brought some drums and was drumming away, reminding me of marching band drum cadences.
Now, I hear that the striking could go on until March. And while I hope that for the sake of these poor writers and their families, this does not happen. But they are very fun to pass by on my walk home from work. I'm hoping to make friends with some of them, as they seem very down to eart.
The Silver Badge of Crashes
I am informed that, being in LA, there is no one here who has not been in a car accident. That being said, I guess my time came...
Fast forward to Friday, November 2nd. Picture my workplace: a shelter on top, the parking garage on the bottom. In order to get into the parking garage, there is a driveway on a slight incline with a microphone box on the left and a swinging gate that swings off to the right. As I pushed the microphone box and asked to be let in, and started to pull in, I heard a little tap on my left passenger door. I looked behind me, and lo and behold, the microphone box was stuck to my dad's car! How did that happen, I wondered?!? So I reversed, hoping to get the little box "unstuck". But as it scraped along the car, I realized that I had to pull forward in order to get the box away from the car. The result: a nasty silver gash about the length of my arms held out to the sides. And poof: the realization that I had just sideswiped my Dad's car.
Since then, I am increasingly thankful that I did not hit anyone in this little accident, but only the microphone box (which, by the way, is in full tact, has no traces of paint from the car, and definetely got the better end of the deal, although it is only 1/200th the size of the car). I am also very thankful for the graceful response of my parents, who told me they would not have let me drive out here unless they trusted me.
Driving around in my "marked" car for the past week and a half has been humbling. This is the city of shiny new showy cars, and here I am driving around with my side-swiped car that still has ash remains from driving through the fires in San Diego.
Metaphorically, my car is an example of God's abiding grace. We are all marked- some with more scrathes than others (imagine being rear-ended or having a collision), and yet God still allows us to serve Him, in fact, He calls us to serve Him no matter where we are in life. Thinking that a car is no less worthy because it has a mark on it is similar to us thinking that we are no good after we have sinned. God still has the ability to use us! No matter how bad the crash, God has the ability to turn any crash into an opportunity to serve Him and be a testament to His grace. Now the question of serving Him falls to us: will we serve amidst our imperfections. My car still drives, it will really only need some body work and paint. In a city where it is necessary to drive to many places, my car is still a blessing. And the mark on it is a testament to God's protection in this city of very crazed drivers. For this I am immensly thankful.
Pictures of my silver badge of crashes will be following, be sure.
Fast forward to Friday, November 2nd. Picture my workplace: a shelter on top, the parking garage on the bottom. In order to get into the parking garage, there is a driveway on a slight incline with a microphone box on the left and a swinging gate that swings off to the right. As I pushed the microphone box and asked to be let in, and started to pull in, I heard a little tap on my left passenger door. I looked behind me, and lo and behold, the microphone box was stuck to my dad's car! How did that happen, I wondered?!? So I reversed, hoping to get the little box "unstuck". But as it scraped along the car, I realized that I had to pull forward in order to get the box away from the car. The result: a nasty silver gash about the length of my arms held out to the sides. And poof: the realization that I had just sideswiped my Dad's car.
Since then, I am increasingly thankful that I did not hit anyone in this little accident, but only the microphone box (which, by the way, is in full tact, has no traces of paint from the car, and definetely got the better end of the deal, although it is only 1/200th the size of the car). I am also very thankful for the graceful response of my parents, who told me they would not have let me drive out here unless they trusted me.
Driving around in my "marked" car for the past week and a half has been humbling. This is the city of shiny new showy cars, and here I am driving around with my side-swiped car that still has ash remains from driving through the fires in San Diego.
Metaphorically, my car is an example of God's abiding grace. We are all marked- some with more scrathes than others (imagine being rear-ended or having a collision), and yet God still allows us to serve Him, in fact, He calls us to serve Him no matter where we are in life. Thinking that a car is no less worthy because it has a mark on it is similar to us thinking that we are no good after we have sinned. God still has the ability to use us! No matter how bad the crash, God has the ability to turn any crash into an opportunity to serve Him and be a testament to His grace. Now the question of serving Him falls to us: will we serve amidst our imperfections. My car still drives, it will really only need some body work and paint. In a city where it is necessary to drive to many places, my car is still a blessing. And the mark on it is a testament to God's protection in this city of very crazed drivers. For this I am immensly thankful.
Pictures of my silver badge of crashes will be following, be sure.
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