Faith and Hot Sauce

I have been in Texas for about 9 weeks now and it seems like everyone I come into contact with is always having hot sauce with their food. It’s as if, it’s not complete without the sauce or it just doesn’t seem right without the sauce. I have been avoiding hot sauce since I have been here until today when I found myself using hot sauce but definitely not the hottest of hot sauces. Even though it wasn’t the hottest of sauces, and I can almost guarantee that I will have some people convincing me and getting me to try other hot sauces as well.

So, why am I talking about this? It’s because the above can be related to our faith as well. While some think that they need to have hot sauce with their food to make it complete, so to do we need Christ in our every day lives and at the center of everything to be complete. Without Christ in the center of what we do, then things will not be complete and we will be left with a faith that has no “taste”. Just as if you eat tortilla chips, it’s different when they are eaten without anything and then when you add hot sauce to them, then the taste is different, the sauce adds flavor and for some it makes sense to have the sauce with the chips and see why someone would eat the tortilla chips plain.

That’s the same with our faith. As Christians, we need to add flavor and purpose to what we believe and have Christ as the center. If we overlook Christ then we are left with a faith that doesn’t make sense just like the tortilla chips with no hot sauce. Also, the sauce makes a difference and as Christians and a body of Christ, we are meant to make a difference in this world. We are meant to glorify God with everything that we do, we are meant to exemplify Christ where people see Christ in us through our actions and just by looking at us rather than having to wonder about what we believe, etc. Just like the chips with hot sauce, you can tell by looking at the chip if it is dull or if it has flavor just by looking and seeing if it has hot sauce on it.

As I continue living in Texas and working in Texas, I am hoping that I am someone that makes a difference rather than make no difference, that people will be able to see Christ exemplified in me through my actions and not have to wonder what I believe, and that I continue putting God at the center of everything I do! As for the hot sauce, we will see what comes from that and if people are successful at convincing me into using hot sauce since they do have 2 years to accomplish this.

So, are you like hot sauce and making a difference and putting God at the center of everything or are you living a faith that doesn’t make sense just like tortilla chips and food without hot sauce doesn’t make sense to many people? 

The struggle of support

This past week, things kept seeming to go down hill. The vehicle I was driving started acting up and I found myself dependent on others for help… I am going to stop there for a second, if anyone knows me then you know that it’s not easy for me to ask for help yet I found myself in a situation where I had to ask for help. The vehicle was out of my control and again, if you know me then you know that I prefer having some control over my situation yet this was different.

So, I had no control over the situation or what would happen and I had to ask for help and be dependent on others. While writing that last sentence, I am thinking about how God wants us to be dependent upon Him and ask Him for help and allow Him to have the control over our lives and every situation. Everything that I just stated that it hard for me. I am a believer that in every situation there is something that God wants to teach us and show us. For me, I guess it was partially the fact that I need to put all of the above in God’s hands.  I need to give up control to God, I need to be completely dependent upon God, and I need to ask God for help. Yeah, all of those are challenges due to my human nature and what this world says.

Part of being a US-2 young adult missionary is that I am supposed to raise some financial support and this has been a difficult process for me. I have asked people and have been told no more than yes. In fact, I haven’t really been told a definite yes that someone wanted to partner with me in being a financial supporter. Support raising is not easy and it goes back to what I was saying above. I need to give the control of support raising to God, I need to be dependent on God and trust that He will provide the support that I need once I do the work on my end. I also need to ask God for help in this area and that He would direct me to those to send emails or letters to.  Since I don’t like asking for help, this is hard for me to do. Since I don’t like asking for things, especially when it comes to money, this is very hard for me to do. But then again, God has a reason for everything and support raising is about more than the financial aspect of it.

During the time that I was relying on others and getting help to get to and from work, one of the conversations that came up was on support raising. That conversation was one that I needed to hear since I have often wondered how I could continue with ministry after these 2 years if I can’t even raise the support that I need right now. And trust me, it’s a minimal amount of support compared to the other ministries that I had applied for and looked into before becoming a US-2 missionary. This is where putting complete trust in God, giving complete control over to God, and asking God for help comes into play.

Support raising is a place where as a missionary, I have to put complete trust and control into God’s hands since I don’t know how the funds will be raised but God does. God knows what is needed and He has called me into ministry, not for me to fail but for me to grow. As I stated earlier, support raising is about more than just money. It’s about relationships. While raising support, you are also sending out newsletters, emails, and staying in contact with people and therefore building relationship or growing relationship with others. This is also a time to allow those that can’t physically go into full time ministry, to be apart of the ministry that you are doing.

So, this leads me to wondering once again, how am I going to raise the support that we are asked to raise? I have seen God provide numerous times and many times it has been around financial needs so I trust that God will provide once again. I pray that God leads me into relationship with those that are looking for a ministry to partner with and support. And I pray that God continues using these next 2 years as a time to rely on Him, grow in Him, see where He is currently at work, works in my life, and so much more! I want these next 2 years to be a time that I don’t regret but a time that I leave from, knowing that I was where God wanted me to be and learned what God wanted me to get out the experience.

So, to whoever is reading this, thanks for following my blog posts and I ask that you join me in praying for these next 2 years. Pray that God will bring me into relationship with those that are wanting to financially support a ministry, pray that I continue to trust God every day, pray that I grow in my relationship with Christ and get back into a routine of having daily devotionals, and pray for the financial support to come in.

If you are someone that wants to partner with me in the ministry that I am doing financially, then please talk to me and I will get you the information that you need in order to do so. Or, if you just want to know more about what specifically it is that I am doing in Texas, then please leave a comment since I would be more than glad to talk with you about the ministry that I am apart of, the organization I am partnering with, and the work that I am doing!

Thanks and blessings and please let me know how I can be praying for you all!

This is God’s city

The last song that was sung today at church was Chris Tomlin’s “God of this City.” While listening to what was being said and singing this song, I was reminded that God indeed is the God of this city. I will admit and say that I used to be one of those people that thought that to be a missionary, you had to leave the United States so when I was placed as a US-2, I was a little disappointed. However, ministry is everywhere and there is a need for the presence of Christ to be everywhere, even in the United States.

So, I was placed in Dallas, Texas. I came to Dallas not knowing much about the area and even though I have only been here for 8 weeks, there is stuff that I am seeing, hearing, realizing, etc. However, there is still a lot that I don’t know and haven’t seen. Before being placed in Texas, I would have thought that there was no need for missionaries to be sent here, however, that’s one thing God is changing my outlook on. There is a need for missionaries everywhere.

One of my learning goals is to understand and realize where God is already working in Dallas and more particularly, in the neighborhoods and areas that the Dallas Leadership Foundation serves in. This is a hard goal since it’s not always easy to see what God is doing or where He is present when there is so much poverty and pain in the areas that we are serving in. The song “God of this city” was a good reminder that God is the God of Dallas and the neighborhoods and areas that we are serving in. But, the question rises up, do we truly believe that God is the God of the neighborhoods, Dallas, and the areas we are serving in and that He is at work and wants to take over the areas?

I feel like so often, we only see the negatives and hear the negatives but there has to be good in the midst of all the bad, right? God is already present and at work in the areas that we serve in, so why is it so hard to see where He is present? We are able to see the poverty, we are able to see the lives that youth live, we are able to see the violence, we are able to see the living conditions people are living in, etc but how come we overlook God in this all? I think that it is in part due to the fact that the things we see are visible things and the things God is doing and where He is present isn’t always visible to us or we are just oblivious and overlooking it.

A few of the lyrics are “for greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city” My challenge for anyone reading this is, do you truly believe that greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city? God is a big God and He wants the city and He is the king of the nations and of the people. Are we willing to accept this and truly believe it or are we going to get caught up with only seeing the things that aren’t good?

This is a challenge to myself as well since God is a mysterious God and there’s a lot that we can’t see or understand. We like to be able to see results and have something tangible but God isn’t someone that we can see and the work He is doing isn’t always something that we can see. He is present everywhere and He is already working everywhere, we just need to keep our eyes open and see where God is present. He’s present in every bad situation, in every life, in every home… The question is, how is He present? It may not be in a way that we expect or understand. We may overlook things because we think, how could God be present in this situation or that situation but it is not uncommon for God to use bad and hard situations for His glory. God uses every situation and is in every situation, we just need to answer the hard question of “how is He present” and “what is He currently doing”?

Lastly, ask yourself this question once you figure out what God’s doing. “How can you partner with God in the work that He is already currently doing”?

Maybe the question isn't is God at work but how is He at work. I have been in Dallas for 8 weeks and I can say that God is very present and at work in the area but if you ask me how, then you may not get an answer since that's a question that is harder to answer than "is God at work"? That's just some things that came to mind today during the church service and as I continue serving in Dallas with the Dallas Leadership Foundation.

How did I end up in Texas?!

This morning at the staff meeting, we read Jonah 1 and a question that was asked was something like “have you ever been in a situation where God was calling you to do something else that you didn’t want to do?” (Those words aren’t exact but it’s similar) and the first thought that came to my mind was me being in ministry and being in Texas. I fought God on going into ministry and it took Him having me leave my familiar surroundings and leave the country for me to finally say yes to Him and stop arguing and fighting Him on what He was calling me to do. So, I wanted to share with you all my call story and how I got to be where I am at in Texas and how I was able to relate to the Jonah story and situation.

I attended training in New York for 3 weeks and was commissioned as a United Methodist missionary on August 12. I am now apart of the Young Adult Missionary class of 2013-2015 with 13 other US-2’s that will be serving in the United States and 15 Mission Interns that will be serving outside the United States. Both the US-2 and Mission Intern programs are 2 year programs where we will engage with and learn from communities that are working for systematic change around issues including poverty, racism, migration, access to healthcare, and environmental degradation and focused on sending people from everywhere to everywhere since there’s a need for missionaries, both here in the United States and over seas.

So, a little bit about how I got to where I am and where I am going. It was in college my freshman year that I attended my 1^st mission trip to Lake Charles, Louisiana to help with the continued clean up from Hurricane Katrina. After that exposure trip I started to gain a passion for missions but I had also always wanted to be a teacher.

So, my junior year I started wrestling with God on what I was meant to do with my life. I started to not like the classes I was taking but wasn’t about to give up my goal of being a teacher for ministry. I had professors and friends telling me that they saw the passion in me for missions but not teaching but continued ignoring what was being said since I was determined to be a teacher since that had always been my goal… That summer I studied abroad in Costa Rica and again I kept getting told what I had heard all year, that people saw my passion for ministry but not teaching but I continued ignoring what was being said and pushed those comments aside without giving it too much thought or consideration…

Until I was with my second host family and decided to have a devotion and read some scripture. The scripture that I ended up reading was Luke 8:57-62 which was on the cost of following Jesus.

After reading that passage and especially the last part that says, “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back if fit for service in the kingdom of God.” I had to stop right there since I realized that I was very guilty of looking back at what I was striving to accomplish. That I had wanted to be a Spanish teacher so bad that I was trying to ignore God and the prompting that He had placed and kept placing on my heart and passion for ministry for the past 4 years (which was evident when it came to my involvement and passion for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship during college)… I was guilty of telling God, “I will do ministry but 1^st let me graduate with my teaching degree” and after having a conversation with God and beginning to let go of my dream and goal and all that I had done up to that point, I finally decided to surrender my career over to God and follow Him into ministry so I went back to school my senior year and dropped my Spanish education major right away without arguing with God anymore since I realized that God was more patient than I am and no matter how stubborn I was with Him, He was going to continue pursuing me and getting me into ministry weather I liked it or not.

It wasn’t an easy journey getting to where I am at now due to my own goals and desires standing in the way but God knew what He was doing and He was able to deal with me fighting His prompting me into ministry to eventually find myself leaving behind my goals and expectations for Gods plan for my life which ended up being ministry.

Now you might be asking, well how did you end up entering ministry with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church and not with a different organization? That answer is not simple but here’s the short version. I truly thought that I was going to be partnering with a collegiate ministry (such as InterVarsity) since it was such a huge part of my life in college and I wanted to be the mentor to other college students that my mentor was to me and guide college students spiritually. However I also thought that I would be returning to Costa Rica to do ministry. Therefore, I completed a long application for InterVarsity’s sister movement called the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. After going through the entire process I eventually got word that I was not going to be hired on staff. After that, I still thought I was meant to do collegiate ministry so I applied for the Coalition of Campus Outreach and interviewed with them over Christmas break at a missions conference in St. Louis called Urbana. However, I later got word that I was not going to be hired on staff with them either. Yes, I was upset and wrestled with the question of “what does ministry look like for me since I know ministry if where God is leading me”…

Well, it was at Urbana, the mission’s conference that I spent most of the time and many hours in the exhibit hall walking around to see what type of ministry opportunities were available. It was one of the last days that I found myself standing in front of the General Board of Global Ministries booth and talking with Dan (one of the staff with the General Board of Global Ministries). After being turned down to be hired with both collegiate ministries, I received an email from the General Board of Global Ministries saying that they were accepting application so I decided why not give it a try and see what happens. After completing a 3^rd long application and waiting, I received word that I was invited to the Interview and Discernment Days in Oklahoma City (which happen to be during my Spring break). I attended the week long process and after returning home and a lot of waiting, I got the email saying that I had been accepted to join the General Board of Global Ministries as a US-2 missionary. Now this wasn’t what I had originally expected since I had applied to be a mission intern where I would be leaving the country but even with that difference I accepted the offer to partner with the General Board of Global Ministries as a US-2 missionary.

Now I am serving in Dallas Texas as a US-2 missionary with the Dallas Leadership Foundation. The Dallas Leadership is a Christian not-for-profit organization that serves severely distressed neighborhoods, including those with poverty rates of 27.4 percent or more. I am serving with the community development department as well as the youth leadership department. (If you want to know more specifics then read some of my previous blog posts or comment below and I would love to talk to you more about what it is that I am actually doing down here in Texas!)

There are many places in scripture that tells us to go and make disciples of men and the church is meant to partner with others and be a witness of who God is. This is a calling for everyone that God has given us and it’s a message that I have answered by saying yes to God and to participate in this 2-year program. 

Behind the mask and behind the walls...

For the past few years and since I have been in Texas, I keep having the thought as to “what does my life consist of and what I am living for?” I am 22 years old yet I have had to go through the death of friends that was around my age, the death of people that I grew up knowing, weddings of best friends, the birth of children, people coming to Christ and being born again, challenges/ obstacles, and so many changes and journeys. I have found myself over and over again packing my schedule busy where I have no time to be a young adult and experience the joy that God wants us all to experience. I have found myself realizing what it was that I had and the privileges that I have endured.

I am in Texas and have been here for about 7 weeks now and I find myself being partially in Indiana still and in college. However, I have realized over the years that God sends me away from the familiar and comfortable when He wants to teach me and show me something. This new journey is one that is going to take 2 years since God has called me away and into missions for the next 2 years. So, the thought goes through my mind, “what is God wanting to show me and teach me?”

I started this post talking about the fact that I am 22 and what I have experienced from death to life and anything in between. So, why start a post about that? It’s because I am 22 and there is a lot in this life that I have not experienced and I don’t understand. There are so many people hurting yet they cover up the hurt and pain with masks. I have been there in my life where on the outside, I looked fine but on the inside, I was breaking yet nobody knew it. A lesson that God has kept on me about has been resting in Him and resting in general. I often say that I don’t know what the word rest means or how to rest since I am always working yet God says in scripture that we need to rest! So, that’s lesson #1 and should be a learning goal since I am not good at doing this right now and never have been.

The next thing is the fact that so many people are wearing masks. It may be physically since the person may be hurting on the inside but on the outside look fine or it may be a house. A house can be deceiving, you may see it on the outside and it looks like a decent and good house but once you enter into the house then you begin to see the defaults and issues. The things on the inside are eventually revealed and seen. This is true with the work that I am doing these next 2 years. The Dallas Leadership Foundation works in 9 neighborhoods and we work on houses. From the outside, some of them look good but once you enter them then it’s a different story. The foundation may be falling apart and not stable and other issues but that’s not seen on the outside.

I am also working with the youth leadership movement and if you read my last few posts then you know that I have felt like I have nothing in common with these students and that it’s hard for me being in the schools since it’s culture shock to me. However, the more I think on it the more God is revealing to me that there are similarities that I can relate too. Many of the students seem fine on the outside but from everything that I have been hearing about the lives some of the students live, I know that they are wearing masks and that on the inside, the foundation is falling apart and it’s only a matter of time till they break.

I know how it is to be someone wearing a mask and not wanting others to see the things on the inside. I have lived that life before and it took time to allow people to see the inside rather than only the outside. So, to go back to where I started, in the 22 years that I have been on this Earth, I have seen a lot and right now I am in a new environment. I am experiencing things that I have never experienced. I am doing work that I have never done before and even if sometimes I don’t understand what is going on, I am being reminded that there is only so much you can see on the outside. We need to enter the insides to see the true story. We need to sit and listen to people’s stories; we need to build report with those we come into contact with, we need to be patient and allow ourselves to see where people are coming from, we need to be slow to speak and act and just be present. These are all things that need to happen to see what’s truly on the inside rather than believing what meets the eyes.

Ministry isn’t always easy and once we allow ourselves to see the truth, it may make us uneasy but the truth will set us free and will allow us to minister more effectively. It makes me think of the lyrics from Brandon Heath’s song “Give Me Your Eyes” that says

“Give me your eyes for just one second


Give me your eyes so I can see


Everything that I keep missing


Give me your love for humanity


Give me your arms for the broken hearted


Ones that are far beyond my reach.

Give me your heart for the ones forgotten


Give me your eyes so I can see”

I pray that God does give me His eyes and compassion these next 2 years so that I am able to see what He sees and love like He loves. There is much to learn these next 2 years and I am glad that God has placed me where I am at and look forward to figuring out the lessons that He has for me during my time of service. It may not always be easy, but with God by our sides, we can do it!

Power Puff Lunch

Before entering into ministry, I was an education major and had a desire to graduate with my teaching degree however, God called me out of education and into ministry. When this happened, I still knew that I had a desire and passion to work with students and today, I was taken back to Interview and Discernment Days (IDD) in Oklahoma City when I ended up telling my interviewers that I would want to work with students in some capacity. Today, that request was answered but was it what I expected and saw myself doing? Was it something that I was truly ready for?

Today, I went to Roosevelt High School and observed the power lunch program that the Dallas Leadership Foundation helps with so, I was in a high school and working with students (before being called out of education, I was supposed to be working in the high school and with students). God had a plan all along however; this was an entirely new experience and somewhat of a culture shock to me. I attended a high school where there was no need for medal detectors, police officers walking the halls, monitoring, etc. However, all of this and more was apart of Roosevelt High School. This is an urban school and I have no experience with urban school or living. So, again, was I ready for this and was it what I was expecting and saw myself doing?

I would say that I was not completely ready for what was ahead of me with the school and it was not what I was expecting or saw myself doing. I entered into the school with no experience of urban schools and issues that the students face every day. I was not expecting to see girls pregnant and thinking nothing of it, I was not ready to be the minority.

As a past education major, even with not being ready, I thank God for the education classes I had and the passion He gave me for students. My heart did ache for the students and it was a lot to take in for someone that has no experience with what goes on in urban areas and what the students face.

I never had to worry about truancy, I never had to worry about being handcuffed and taken to jail, I never skipped class or left school early, I never had to worry about drugs, and the list goes on. The school was a completely new environment for me and it gave me a better appreciation for teachers that teach in urban schools and for those that are in urban schools trying to mentor and reach the students before it’s too late.

This may be almost entirely new to me but I trust God with what He has planned and will trust Him on why He placed me where I am. I pray for the students, the faculty, and volunteers in these schools and ask God for strength, courage, and hope. 

Giving a quick introduction to what was going to happen

Some of those that attended power lunch

Those with their hands raised are students that were apart of power lunch last year

Had many students that we ran out of seats

Sophomore and first time attending power lunch

Some students eating lunch

Owenwood Neighborhood Association

Tonight was the first time that I attended the Owenwood Neighborhood Association meeting. This is one of the neighborhoods that the Dallas Leadership Foundation is working on a Neighborhood Association Plan for and while it is close to being completed, there was still information that was needed from the Neighborhood Association. One of the things that is included in the plan is the history of the neighborhood and with being someone that is still new to Dallas and this neighborhood, it was interesting to talk with some of the neighborhood residents and hear about their time in the neighborhood and the history of the neighborhood. Every neighborhood is unique and has a history and story to tell but too often we are too quick to look at what is the hear and now rather than looking back and seeing the unique qualities of the neighborhood and the things that make the neighborhood special. Honestly, think about the neighborhood that you live in and think about the history of that neighborhood. What makes your neighborhood what it is and where has it come?

Everyone that we talked to was energetic about sharing what he or she knows about his or her neighborhood. This to me showed that these residents were proud to call their neighborhood their own rather than being ashamed of where things are. When people think about Dallas, there are various first impressions and stereotypes that come to mind but in order to truly understand the area, we need to look deeper and listen to those that have lived here most of their lives! We talked with 5 people about the Owenwood neighborhood and each person had something to add about the history of this one neighborhood. Owenwood is 1 of the 9 neighborhoods that the Dallas Leadership Foundation serves in and 1 of 2 neighborhoods that are in the process of creating a neighborhood plan. Of the 5 people that we talked to, they had ranged from living in the neighborhood from 37 years to 76 years, so there was a lot of history that could be told from these 5 people.

So, some history of the Owenwood neighborhood: those in attendance at the meeting and that we talked to mentioned how it used to be safe to walk the streets both in daylight and at night but now, you wouldn’t be caught walking the streets alone at night but you will be in your house. They also talked about how many of the houses that were built in the 1920’s and 1930’s were 2 bedrooms and did not have air-conditioning. Many of these houses would have 20-30 windows and an attic fan to help circulate the air and cool off the house. Now a days, everyone has air-conditioning especially in Texas since it can get very hot in Texas. Many of the stores also closed in the 1970’s and are now liquor stores and places that are not revitalizing the neighborhoods. The neighborhood used to be all whites but then in the 1970’s there began to be more integration since more blacks and Hispanics started to move into the area and it is now predominantly a Hispanic community however, you wouldn’t be able to tell this from the neighborhood association meeting. This is a gap that needs to be bridged, not only in Owenwood but also in every neighborhood that we serve in, since the neighborhood association meeting should reflect the neighborhood however, at this point in time, it does not accurately reflect the racial population of the neighborhood.

The Owenwood neighborhood association started up in the early 80’s by a lady named Christine Taylor and she passed away March 2011. Christine had a huge influence in the community because of her passion to want to see the neighborhood improved. She organized the Neighborhood association and started to bring in city officials to speak about what was going on in the community. The police would give reports of crime taking place, the residents were encouraged to register to vote and then actually vote, Christine helped clean up the neighborhood and through the work that she did, the residents began to have a voice in the community. They also mentioned how the Dallas Leadership Foundation and the various programs that are done through the Dallas Leadership Foundation (such as Treasure of Hope, Celebration of Hope, the Yard lamps, etc) has had an influence on the community and has helped revitalize the community. The Dallas Leadership Foundation supported the Neighborhood Association Leader and the residents and listened to what their needs were and listened to how they could help support them and that partnership continues even with Christine Taylor’s passing away. One of the churches that partners with this neighborhood is St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, the church used to not feel like they were apart of the community but through the work that is taking place in the neighborhood, they are now feeling like they need to be apart of the neighborhood and are apart of the neighborhood.

One last person that had a big impact on the neighborhood is Laurie Lee. Laurie is someone that has gone door to door in the neighborhood helping to educate people about what’s going on. If she saw a problem then she would bring it up to the resident of the house and tell them about violations that she saw. She would go around the neighborhood and pick up any trash that she saw once a month in order to keep the neighborhood a clean place. This inspired the neighborhood to take pride in their neighborhood rather than to look down on where they live.

Every little bit of help makes a difference and everyone is able to make an impact in the neighborhood that they live in. If you don’t like the way things are going then do something about it and start to make a change. It starts with one person and grows from there. Neighborhoods changes but history is an important part of every neighborhood so do some research and learn about where you are living and listen to the stories of those that have lived in the area for many years and some their entire lives. I know that from the conversations that we had tonight with Owenwood, that I was able to learn a lot about this particular part of Dallas and it brings hope to the work that is currently going on in the area. This is only one part of the plan but it’s an important part so that people can look back and see where things have come and celebrate the victories that happen. You have to start at point one and then continue moving forward from there. You can’t go back to where things used to be but you can make a difference and impact how the future is going to be.

The Big Splash! Gala

This was the first big event that I attended and helped out with, with my placement site, The Dallas Leadership Foundation. The Dallas Leadership Foundation is a Christian not-for-profit organization that serves severely distressed neighborhoods, including those with poverty rates of 27.4 percent or more. The Gala was an event to help celebrate what has been done over the years through the work that the Dallas Leadership Foundation does and to help raise support in order to continue doing the work that the Foundation does and to impact the lives of more families and people.

Before this event, I never had much experience of helping with events, so this was a first. I became in charge of getting together volunteers for the event. This hardest part of this position was to get volunteers to actually come to the event. I originally had 24 people say that they would volunteer and then had 16 people arrive to help. This caused some stress on my part since things had to be changed and adjusted so that we had volunteers spread out and evenly placed to help direct the guests throughout the Aquarium. However, even with some people not showing up, we had enough people to help and things ended up going smoothly.

Even though I was originally the volunteer coordinator, I also ended up helping be a hostess and show guests to their tables. This had me talking to a lot of people (yeah, I am starting to have to be an “extravert” and be talkative…) Through this event; I have gained a better idea of other parts of ministry. Ministry is not always direct service but it also what goes on behind the scenes that make the direct service possible. Without funds and without support, then direct service would not be possible. That’s what the Gala was about; it was about getting funds, support, and celebrating what has been done through the direct service of the Dallas Leadership Foundation. This event helps make it possible for the Leadership Foundation to do what it does and impact many families, children, and neighborhoods in the Dallas area.

In the past, I had been apart of the direct service of ministry and didn’t know what took place behind the scenes. With all the work that went into this event, it was good to gain a better idea, see, and take part in what goes on behind the scenes that many people don’t realize or think about since many people only see the results of the direct services not what goes on the rest of the time.

Just want to say great job to my placement site, the Dallas Leadership Foundation on a great event on October 3.. The Big Splash! Gala and for all the hard work that was put into the event to make it a success! It's was good helping you guys with this event (my first big event with the Dallas Leadership Foundation and more to come since this is just the beginning!)

National Night Out (Jubilee Neighborhood)

This evening I had the chance to go to one of the nine (was supposed to go to 2 of the 9 but one of them canceled) neighborhoods that the Dallas Leadership Foundation works in. That neighborhood was called Jubilee and tonight was Texas National Night Out. National Night Out is a new concept for me and I didn’t know anything about it or what to expect. So, what is National Night Out? Great question! National Night Out is essentially somewhat like a block party. Many residents of the neighborhood come out as well as many of the law enforcement. This night is meant to be a time for the neighborhoods and the law enforcement officials to work together and stand against crime. It is simply put, a fight against crime.

It is amazing to see so many law enforcement and neighborhood residents come out in one location and for one night to work together. Now if only this could continue throughout the year. What would happen if everyone that was at National Night Out attended the Neighborhood Association meetings and worked together on a regular basis to fight against crime? I would think that people would be scared to cause problems and create crime in that neighborhood! So, why doesn’t this continue over throughout the year? Now that’s a question that I can’t answer.

Besides the fight against crime, National Night Out is a great place for families to come out together and gather more information about various things, including speaking to the law enforcement and getting to know others that live in their neighborhood. As someone that had never attended something like this before and didn’t know what to expect, I would say that Jubilee had a good turn out and had good interaction with each other. If the amount of people that attended Jubilee’s National Night Out continue to fight against crime by calling law enforcement and reporting suspicious behavior then change will happen. I don’t know the numbers as to how many people were at this event but it was at least a couple hundred people. So, I would encourage Jubilee and the other neighborhoods that are fighting crime, to not give up and to continue working together and building relationships with one another and the law enforcement.

I spent the majority of the evening with the neighborhood association leader and it was good getting to know her and building a relationship with her since I have not had a previous chance to meet her or interact with her. It was good to see that she knew a majority of the people that attended the event and knew probably all of the law enforcement officials that attended the event. This to me shows me that she is working to create a better community and she truly does want to fight against crime.

So, that was my first experience with National Night Out and I definitely stand for what they are trying to do through having National Night Out. Now, just need to figure out how to keep the relationships going and how to get people and families involved! This was a high Hispanic populated community and that is still my passion. I was able to help with calling out raffles in Spanish and it’s good to speak Spanish as well as to slowly brush up and become comfortable speaking and using Spanish. I look forward to continue building the relationships with this community and seeing what God has to bring over the next 2 years!

Jubilee National Night Out (Kids waiting to get their face painted)

Jubilee National Night Out (Dancing)

Jubilee National Night Out (banner)

Jubilee National Night Out (Hanging out)

Jubilee National Night Out (myself, the president of the neighborhood association, and someone else)

Jubilee National Night Out (Police Department table)