Just thought you would like to know...

So....


As I sit here in the down town branch of the Houston Public Library trying to think through these past four weeks I find the task daunting.

Like any story the beginning is the best place to begin. My mother and I arrived in Houston on August 26th and stayed the night in a hotel in Conroe (an outlying suburb of the greater Houston Metro Area). On Thursday the 27th we made our way to what would become my teams home church "Ecclessia". There I met my teammates and city directors. After a welcome dinner we were introduced to a few of the service sites that we would be working with. After the dinner we made our way to our pastors house to sleep as we did not yet have a house. That is right we were homeless. Our first full day as a team we went on a prayer tour of Houston provided by CSM a christian organization that works closely with college age people who are doing work in the inner city. This tour was both informative and enlightening. The reality began to set in that we were in a city that was hurting. The next day we met with our City Director briefly and then were on our way to National Mission Year training outside of Atlanta Georgia.
After an amazing week long training we made our was back to H-town with the exciting news that we now have a house. We are living in what is known as the Eastwood neighborhood which is on the northern edge of the third ward, which is one of the most impoverished areas of Houston. After a week of In-City training and furniture moving we were ready to begin our year long adventure. We were assigned out service sites and set out to work at them.
Iwas placed at Yellowstone Academy which is a private school for pre-k through sixth grade. Yellowstone is located in the third ward where it provides a top-notch christian education to children whose families are suffering from the plight of urban poverty. I have enjoyed my time working there so far and look forward to seeing what relationships will be forged through my time there. I work during the day as a substitute, teachers' aide, and all around od-job worker, in the afternoon I work in there extended day program which is an after school care program on steroids. The kids at Yellowstone are amazing and a lot of fun.
On top of our time spent at our different service sites my teammates and myself are getting to know our neighbors and our neighborhood. We have met several people so far and have even found that one of our neighbors is a certified Mui Tai and mixed Martial Arts instructor, so he has offered to give free private lessons to us and other neighbors.

These past four weeks have been filled with meeting people, learning, frustration (mainly with the horribly chaotic excuse for public transit) and with exhaustion. But every minute, second, and moment has been great. God has shown me so many things about myself, how I interact with others, and also the greatest thing He has shown me what living out love truly looks like ( though I know that I have not mastered this and in fact will continue to learn about this subject for the rest of my life).

This post is more informatory then anything but I needed to put all this down so that I can begin to chew the cud of this past month.

thanks for reading I hope to post more often and hopefully this helps me understand what is going on in my head and helps to to know what this experience is.

"No significant learning occurs without significant relationship." -Dr James Comer

...The End
-Ike

p.s. be on the look out for some pictures of my recent painting on Face book.

The start of something new...

As you may ,or may not, already know I am embarking on an adventure in less then on week, where I will be spending the next year (from this September to the following August) Living in community with the Urban Poor of Houston, Texas. I will be spending my days volunteering at after-school programs, home-less shelters, and many other venues through which I can better live Christ's Love to the community in which I will be living. I am doing all these things through a program called Mission Year (www.missionyear.org). As part of my participation in the program I am asked to try to raise $12,000 throughout the whole year. I understand that times are tough for some people these days and as such I am not asking that you give an overwhelming amount of money (though every little bit helps) I am contacting you to inform you of my plans and hope that you can show your support in whatever way you so desire. ( the occasional prayer shout-out is appreciated as this will prove to be a difficult year for sure.) Thank you in advance for whatever support you put forth, I cannot wait to share with you the experiences I have this next year.

If you so desire you can use this link to send in support. https://www.missionyear.org/launch/isaacrice

I will be updating this as much as I can.

Love,

Isaac