Round 1

I totally called where we'd be going! Because obviously it would be the one place I didn't want to go: Ohio. Yep, I will be in Youngstown, OH from March 12-April 27.

Our mini project was pretty cool. We worked with Matthew 25 Ministry Hub in Cedar Rapids, IA. We did canvassing the first day and half of the second day. After that we began mapping out gardens for a community farm. Part of our team actually went back on Saturday to do an ISP (Independent Service Project) and finish mapping out a few more of the gardens. It was cold and snowy most of the day, but I feel like we accomplished quite a bit.

Our mini project was a great way to see how everyone on the team worked together. There were a few problems of course, but I thought that we did pretty good working together, considering.

We also went through a little bit of an ordeal and lost two of our members.

 We went to Cedar Rapids again last night for a team dinner at Red Robin. It was good, I'd never been there before. Our team is goofy. This excites me. :)

This week is a lot less training, but at the same time it feels more stressful. Probably because we're doing all of our project prep and my partner and I have a lot of paperwork to do for Media and SLI. Hopefully this year will make me less of a procrastinator.

Induction is Thursday. It's crazy that it's been one month since I got here. For the shortest month, it sure dragged on. It feels like I've been here so much longer.

Our Round 1 project is with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. We're going to be doing urban gardening, boarding of vacant homes (painting boards cut to size to resemble doors and windows), and clearing vacant lots. We leave Sunday morning at 8. I was kind of hoping we'd get sent on disaster relief for the tornadoes, but oh well. There's always the opportunity for that.

I probably won't post again until after I'm in Ohio, where we'll have wireless at the house we're staying at! I'm so stoked! xD

Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. - Bernice Johnson Reagon