The youth are gone, but their last day was interesting. We finished painting Miss Mary's house and it looks great. We may also continue working on it by adding new gutters and such, but I dont know all the details yet. That afternoon we tried to do a water day with the Lake View kids, but ended up with a massive lightning storm and sat in the car hoping it would pass. It didnt. Poor kids. Either way, it was a fun week and I think both the youth and the kids enjoyed it. And then! My family came down and I got to visit with everyone except Steve. Cause he's a jerk and decided the air force was cooler, whatever. Anyway, we got to go to Memphis and chill out for awhile.

Today went pretty well too. Normally the organization down here is run by someone else, but he and his wife are taking a sabbatical for a year. He came down to drop off his truck today though, and he'll be back for the ACC and we got talk a little about ideas for the area. I'm putting together a welcome packet for the volunteer churches coming down in a couple of weeks and got to drop by the welcome center and chamber of commerce to find some brochures and maps. I don't think I've ever been to a chamber of commerce before, it was pretty thrilling. After that I spent the entire afternoon working on the welcome packets and other random things that needed to be done. So many things to do, and so much can't be done until something else gets done. We tried a new place for dinner today and it was pretty exciting. It's just this shack on the side of the road with some items painted on the side and a bench several feet to the side. It was surprisingly delicious, but I still wish I knew their actual menu. Anyway, its been a nice couple of days, but now I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

So its been awhile, a long while, sorry. Some of our group went to CBF General Assembly so those who are left are trying to get everything going still while we have a volunteer group up here for the week. We have a 17 person youth group from Texas and we are spending much of our time with them. In the morning we paint and I totally ruined some of my shorts (though knowing me I'll keep wearing them) and got paint on my glasses. In the afternoons we go out to Lake View, which is one of the local towns. There is a housing project there with a bunch of kids living in it and we get to play with them in the bright sunshine. I dont know how the kids can take the heat and play kickball or ultimate frisbee or whatever they want, but I cant do it. Most of my time is spent standing or sitting in the shade playing catch or reading with the little ones. The younger ones are super sweet and really try hard to be your friend and the older ones all want to be thugs in front of their friends, but as soon as theyre comfortable theyre all really good kids. I finally know almost all of their names and a lot of them know my face if nothing else. ACC, which is a bunch of different camps, is coming up soon so we're all preparing for that on side. I'll explain more about it as it gets closer. But right now we know that about 400 volunteers are coming and we are trying to find some way to organize all of them and get them everything they'll need while down here. Most of it's been worked out, but as a volunteer I never realized how much work the people I was helping had to do. Not that they arent appreciated, but there is so much more than one would realize.

Entertained Amy

I'm not really sure what to write here currently, most of life has been pretty stressful as of late. But, the kids are great and keep me happy most of the day, even if my brain is so fried by the end I dont remember why. What does keep me happy at night though is "Iron King," a Japanese action tv show from the 70's. It's like a mix of power rangers and godzilla and worse graphics than both of them. Perhaps most people wouldnt enjoy it, but I love badly-made, cheesy movies with karate. So worth it.

K, so I've been a little lazy, sorry. I believe I left off after Lake View, so I'll fill in the rest now. Well, that night we decided we were bored and that it would be a good idea to play the "Dance Off the Inches" DVD that one of the other interns brought. Then, the next day, play 3 hours of 4-square with the kids at the community center. I am still sore. We are supposed to use Friday afternoons to do whatever we want for the ministry, so I joined one of the other interns in visiting a woman named Miss Mary who is disabled and cant work, but is the sweetest elderly woman ever. We just sat and talked with her for a while, then went downtown to visit some shops and tell people about our program. That night we didn't have much to do so we drove to Clarksdale to eat at this really cool restaurant called Rust where we got some fancy food and fancier prices. Oi. However, the architecture there was really cool and the whole atmosphere was amazing so I think it was a good experience. Saturday we did more with the Delta Jewels then drove to Memphis to go shopping at the Oak Court Mall which is really cool if you're ever bored in Memphis. It was also around this time I've decided I want to get some lilac perfume. Now you know.

Entertained Amy:
No pictures this time, sorry. I just want to tell you about a deal one of the other interns witnessed. Apparently while I was laying down in the back of the car, Dixie was at the front watching the gas station. At this time a woman walked past a man who asked her, "Hey, want to buy some food stamps?" to which she replied, "How much?" And this deal continued to go down in front of the gas station. I have no idea the outcome, and neither does Dixie, but who knew you could trade food stamps? Or, is it code for something else?

New day! So we still don't have a schedule of any kind, and I doubt we ever will, but the work is still getting done. Yesterday was all about the paper work and organization though. At different times in year a ton of volunteers come to Helena and its our job to sort them out and give them jobs so they don't just sit there and nothing happens. It's not the funnest thing I've ever done, but it was the kind of thing that makes sense to me so I'm happy. We also moved into our apartment yesterday and you'll hear more about that in "Entertained Amy" since I decided to make it a regular part of this blog. Anyway, today was interesting for sure since we went down to Lake View with the Stories on Wheels bus. I helped with the game time and we just had some free play today. The older children got out their phones and played music, all the while trying to teach my supervisor how to do the stanky leg, rack daddy, hammerhead, jerk, and a few I hadnt heard of. As I said, it was interesting. Later on we had an exciting confrontation about a very passionate lady who wanted to help people. I'm not going into that.

ENTERTAINED AMY!!

So, first off, yesterday my supervisor was talking about how her grandmother, Nina June, had her birthday that day. On the ninth of June. SO awesome.

Next, this is for Alyssa Smith if she reads it. There's a store down here that women own and make new things out of old things. The store wasn't open, but this was on display outside and I liked it, and thought Alyssa would too. A bathtub turned flower pot:

Alright, and now for the best, my new room! The other interns are sharing a room and I got one to myself, woot. This is my lovely room with my excitingly large air mattress:

P.S. My mailing adress is 1019 Miller rd

Helena-West Helena, AR 72342

Two full days finished and not at all what I expected. Yesterday we started at the Eden Market, which is eventually going to be an incubator for people to start their own business, but currently under construction. The building frame has been built, but there isn't running water or electricity and such yet. However, they do have some cabinets made up of old doors that look really cool. Anyway, yesterday our goal was to dig up and move the bricks that marked where the garden was going to be so that it could be tilled. It was some pretty hefty work, but I personally love manual labor and they let me throw some shot put style to move them which more than made my day. After that our supervisor took us for a tour of the city then got lunch at a local restaurant. We really do much else except preparing for today so that was an easy day.

Today was not exactly what we expected though. We were supposed to go to Elaine, which is a county about half an hour away, but when we got there the local pastor wasn't there to meet us. We waited awhile, but when no one came we got ready to leave right when the pastor called us. Well, apparently, he couldn't make it because he was in the emergency room for one of his members who had been stabbed by the members girlfriend. Well, there goes Elaine. So, we'll come back either later this week or next, but we did try. After that we went to the community center an played baseball with the kids, which I have rediscovered, I am awful at. We went back to the center later on to play in the side room where games and the library is kept so all in all a pretty decent day.



Time for the play by play to stop and its "Entertained Amy" time. These have nothing to do with Helana, but they amused me. Well here goes:
First off, this is my shower until the apartment is ready. See how tall I am? Now, see how tall the shower head is? Yeah. Bet you're jealous. I get to practice my limbo skills AND wash my hair all at once.

I only have one more this time, but I would like you to meet Roscoe, a 5 week old kitten who likes to bite things. In this picture he is quite happily chewing on my finger, but hes really cute so its ok.

Well, I finally made it to Helena. The apartment I'm staying in won't be ready for 3 days, so I'm hanging out in my supervisors house, and its pretty awesome. I'll be sure to have pictures later of that and their 4 dogs and adorable kitten, Roscoe. Not sure what's happening tomorrow yet, but we're going to have a meeting soon an go over it. I'll try to update this blog pretty often, and feel free to ask questions.