out like a lamb...

and just like that, the month of March was gone. here's a quick recap of the past 31 days of my life...

CCDA institute, where Desire Street hosted several speakers to teach on Christian Community Development ministry; a visit from Rachel, which included a trip to the gumbo shop & hammering at a warehouse; a visit from Karrie & Chelsea, which included a parade with kissing italians, ice cream, beignets, and a pedicure; a sojourn into the all-consuming phenomenon that is the ncaa men's basketball tournament. now i can see why it's called March Madness. i had never been into this before, but living with a college basketball junkie has brought out the competitive spirit in me. i was compelled to make a bracket and now there's a chance i can beat danny wuerffel in our office pool. go buckeyes!!; many beautiful afternoons in audubon park--the average temperature here this month has been approximately 75 degrees; a friend's emergency appendicitis (don't worry, he's fine now); mardi gras indians--this is a long-standing new orleans tradition where grown men don elaborately hand-made feathered & beaded costumes and parade through the streets to commemorate the efforts of native americans in assisting blacks who were escaping slavery; a visit with some Tufts friends, here volunteering for their spring break (some other friends in the city are part of a long-term relief team that coordinated close to 2000 student volunteers during the month of march. college basketball was not the only reason for madness!); various musical performances including switchfoot, rebirth brass band, and ryan and the rhythm-makers at fritzel's european pub; dinner with Mission Year president Leroy Barber; second CDC 58:12 board meeting, which is exciting considering the CDC didn't even exist before i came here; lunch with our favorite former-new-orleanian- now-north-carolinan jeff killebrew; and tonight the month caps off with a fiesta to celebrate the engagement of a friend from church.


prayer requests:
-future steps. the program that i'm in technically ends in august. right now the choices i am looking at are: stay in new orleans to continue working with Desire Street Ministries; move to Milwaukee to live with two of my Mission Year teammates from last year and find a job; move to South Africa to live with one of my chicago friends and work for an organization that she is helping to start. i'm finding that i am very indecisive when it comes to large decisions, thus i dont know what to do. please pray for wisdom and peace and calm in this process.
-our work here & the general recovery of the city. the latest "plan" for the city's recovery was released late this week. that's plan number 5 for those of you keeping score at home, all this a good 19 months after Katrina. and this plan does not include all neighborhoods as priorities. the Desire neighborhood is one of those not included, though it is unclear what exactly that means. we will continue to fight the good fight, believing in the rights and justice of bringing people back home. it is easy to get discouraged, so please pray that we would keep a good attitude and not lose our focus.

there is much to be thankful for, including the above-mentioned details of the past 31 days. although i didn't pick one specific thing to give up for lent, i am looking forward to easter, which represents the reason for my hope--the only sense i have in believing that good will triumph, injustice will end, and love will ultimately win.




p.s. and if you are in the "young adult" demographic and you want to spend some time in New Orleans, apply for the DSM summer internship! you can get information at http://www.desirestreet.org/new/urban.php or ask me for more details