A Foggy Day in Duluth Town

I am currently enjoying my first day off since.....Christmas. I have absolutely no responsibilities today. I didn't know quite what to do with myself...so I went to Target for 2 hours! Target is everywhere up here because the headquarters is down in Minneapolis. I bought The Patriot for $3.49! Awesome.

I finished Angels & Demons. Now I'm going to see the movie. Maybe tonight because it's my day off! Can't wait.

The first week with kids was awesome! There were about 30 of them plus six adult leaders. It was a great week. We also had Nate, our site starter. He was a program staff in West Virginia a few years back and was around to help us with our first week of programming. So much fun. We went Sam's Club shopping yesterday for next week's food for 60 kids. $1,214.

One thing that I've realized about the weather here is that sometimes it's like summer, and other times it's like late fall, early winter. And then there's the Lake Effect. Downtown is at the bottom of the hill, right along the lake. When you go to the "top of the hill," (as the locals refer to it as, and what I now refer to it as since I'm a local!) there can be up to a 10 degree difference in temperature and humidity. And it can change daily. Yesterday, Kara and I went downtown, were walking and it was 45 degrees. We could see our breath! But people said it was like 55 at the top of the hill. And then today it's 75 and sunny everywhere!

Grandma's Marathon is this weekend. To eliminate confusion, Grandma's is a restaurant here. There are two of them-one at the top of the hill and one on the lake. Shout out to my fellow Cincinnatians--kind've like a more down-to-earth Montgomery in type thing where there's one in Montgomery and one on the river. So, Grandma's Marathon is a restaurant-sponsored marathon-not just for running grandmas, which was what I originally thought. We had at least five different people tell us not to drive anywhere before 12noon. True statement. There are so many in-shape people here this weekend. It would be a pretty route to run. Right along the lake. Too bad I hate running! I walked downtown today and watched for a while and then sat on the shore, talked to my dad, and caught some rays.

Duluth is starting to feel like my city. It's cool that I'm now getting comfortable just starting conversations with all kinds of people including the homeless. They all have a story. But not many people take time to listen. It's a completely different culture with a different set of rules that most people don't know, so those people can come off as scary sometimes. Even though they don't have much, they protect what they have and have respect for those who help them out. It's interesting--the more we talk to local homeless and ministries, the safer I feel. It's cool to drive down the street and see people we've talked to now and will see at Union Gospel next Tuesday when we serve a meal. They're as much a part of the community as we are.

Lesson from the week: Kids need a place to be kids. We went downtown to the lighthouse (where the above picture was taken) and the kids just ran around and were loud and obnoxious. One of them turned to me and was like, Thanks for letting us be loud. My mom would be mad at me right now. I just laughed and was like Sure thing! Yes, they were loud and really obnoxious and were probably pissing people off who were trying to enjoy the pier. But kids have so many serious things to deal with that they just need room to scream sometimes and sing songs off key at the top of their lungs.

Leading worship this week was great. It was a first for me leading a group and I loved it. While I love playing clarinet, I love that I've learned a more accessible instrument that I can worship God with and can help others do the same. I'm getting callouses and I feel so cool.

That's all I've got for this week. Kara and I took pictures downtown but she forgot her cord to download them. So they'll be posted next week!

Prayer for:

-managing 60 kids with 4 staff
-energy and good attitudes

-open communication

-boldness in conversation

Much love.