Missing Texas

I feel terrible for not posting the last two weeks of my internship - but I can assure you it was an intense two weeks. We wrapped up our site at Pleasant Mound and headed to our respective last weeks - some interns went to "Urban Camp" with the youth, while some stayed behind and ran "Adventure Week" with the youngins' from Oakcliff - one of PT's 9 sites. I was with the Adventure Week group. We had the opportunity to go on two field trips with the kids - a news station and the symphony. For the rest of the week, we spent our time presenting themed days to the kids, and tried our best to give them a great last week of camp. My favorite part was "Cupcake Wars" when the kids helped make cupcakes, and designed their own cupcake, similar to the Food Network show. For many of the interns at Adventure Week, it was very difficult to be around a different church site and different elementary kids, as well as a different team. Luckily, a couple of friends and I were able to meet with the group from Urban Camp and have a goodbye lunch with them before we left for home.

So, why am I deciding to catch up on my blog months later? I miss Texas. There are so many things I miss about this summer that I would give anything to be back right now. One of the interns said this - and I can't emphasize the truth in this one thought:

"The world should be more like PT."

The world really should be more like Project Transformation and the people in it. It's hard to be away from Project Transformation. It's hard to be away from our teams, our co-interns, the SMU campus, the church, and of course, the kids. The hardest thing about being away from PT, though, is not being surrounded by such good people every single day. It's hard to be in reality - that the world is not like PT. I had no idea how much it meant to be surrounded by such great faith throughout the summer until recently. Now that I'm back to school, I find it much harder to focus on the things that were important to me this summer. Somehow, I'm just realizing this - and I don't like it! I have decided that what I need is to make my life more like PT.

Pleasant Mound - just missing Josh! Man we're good looking.

Just Hanging Out!

At PT, some of the families of our kids at site so kindly invite us over for what we call “home visits.” Really, it’s a proper way of saying “one on one hang-out time” with our favorite kids! Last week, I had the opportunity of visiting the home of two kids in the program. Christina is in the elementary program with me and 6 other elementary interns, and Victor is in the youth program with our other 4 youth interns. Their older sister, Valerie, is a high school volunteer with the program. 

Side note on the high school volunteers:

The high school volunteers take part in the LITE Program of Project Transformation. These students have usually participated in PT as kids themselves, and are spending their summer volunteering to help us run our day camp! At P.Mound, our “Lites,” as we call them, are AMAZINGLY helpful to us. They work hard on a daily basis setting up site, helping us with things like arts & crafts, recreation, and bible lesson, serving lunch, and then helping cleaning up site, all with enthusiasm and optimism! They have a weekly meeting with other Lites from all of our sites discussing ways to plan their future, like college and finances. Most of the Lites at P.Mound have expressed an interest in becoming an PT intern once they are old enough to do so, and we cannot wait to see it happen! Without our Lites, our summer would have been much more difficult – SHOUT OUT TO OUR AWESOME LITES!!

 

So, Valerie is one of the most helpful Lites at Pleasant Mound. My favorite part about visiting Christina, Victor, and Valerie’s home was being able to hear about their culture firsthand. Most of our kids at P.Mound are Mexican – many speak Spanish, translate for their parents, take trips to visit their families in Mexico, and are very proud of their heritage. Valerie, having just turned 15 last year, had pictures and pride of her Quinceanera all over the house. She wore a big, BEAUTIFUL, bright yellow dress, and had a doll that matched to commemorate the celebration, along with matching decorative pillows and a matching photo album. She is the very first person I’ve met to celebrate their Quinceanera!

Ariel, Hannah, Antoine, and me being showed around at a home visit

!

My very first home visit this summer was with Oscar, Ricky, and Cynthia, all in the elementary program at P.Mound. The four of us interns who went didn’t really know what to expect walking in, but boy did we enjoy ourselves! It took about 3 minutes for the energetic kids to show us around their home, but for the next 2 hours straight, we played lots and LOTS of games with them. They went back and forth between playing different games they had learned at camp and singing a few songs they had learned, as well. We played Uno, we played Down By The Banks, we played football, we played Duck, Duck, Goose!, we played Ninja, we played name games, we played every game that we play almost daily at camp, but these kids really enjoy them (something we didn’t realize until we visited!). After this visit, the kids were much more outgoing at camp and had even more energy for being there!

The lady interns at Jose, Jocelyn, and Omar's!

Jose (elementary), Jocelyn (youth), and Omar (Lite) were another family that I had the pleasure of visiting this summer. Omar invited the other Lites over, too, so we had the opportunity to hang out with our new high school friends for the first time away from site!! We had so fun hanging out with them, swimming, jumping on the trampoline, enjoying a wonderfully home-cooked meal, and of course, planking random objects. Another great thing about home visits is that we can finally connect different kids in the program as family members. There’s about 70 kids at P.Mound, and the elementary interns never really have the chance to get to know the youth, so when we meet youth for the first time at a home visit, it’s a great opportunity to be able to get to know them! And, more kids are related at site than I thought on the first day of camp!

Before I was a professional Planker. Arms belong at your sides, people!

  

Tomorrow will be the last home visit of the summer, and next week will be the last week of day camp. The closer the end is approaching, the more I wonder about what my life will be like without these kids smiling at me on a daily basis. They have made my mind clearer, my laughter louder, my joys greater, my hands dirtier, my faith stronger, and my heart lighter. For now, I know that there are five more days that I get to spend with "my" kids. As for that fifth day, well…I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it : ].

T.G.I.F.

TGIF! Project Transformation isn’t just for the kids…Fridays are dedicated to career exploration for the interns! We have the amazing opportunity of going to different ministry-related organizations around Dallas every Friday. As of today, I have been to 4 places around Dallas, and they have all given me something to think about!

PT Interns on our way to different Friday Experiences! (Okay, we were posing for a group picture)

 *Courtesy Kristen Singletary!*

        This Friday, I learned about immigration legal services provided by organizations like Justice for Our Neighbors. JFON, with offices in various churches around Dallas (and lots of other cities), gives free legal assistance to immigrants who would like to attain legal immigrant status, basically green cards. Growing up, I always excluded lawyer from potential careers, but as the leader spoke about her job, it didn’t sound so bad to me…

         My very first “Friday Experience” was at an urban community development center called Jubilee Park. Jubilee Park supports its neighborhood in comprehensive community renewal. They have several partners, including David’s Place, Head Start, and a Dallas Police Department sub-station that focuses on the Jubilee Neighborhood. This is a truly inspirational organization that is highly dedicated to its purpose: providing an overall better living situation for the neighborhood! I would really like to learn more about places like this closer to my home, too, like Joy-Southfield Development Corporation in Detroit (partners with Motown Mission, the program I worked with last summer!).

         The next Friday, I went to North Dallas Shared Ministries. This was an AWESOME experience for me. At first, we were told briefly about the organization…It began when 5 churches in the Dallas area decided to pull together and better utilize their resources. Now, there are at least 50 churches that support the central location to efficiently provide underserved residents with appropriate services. Some services they provide include a food pantry, a clothing closet, job counseling, financial assistance, medical and dental services, and education-related assistance. So much to do in such a small building! After the brief explanation, we were thrown into the job ourselves! It was a bit strange at first to be volunteering when we thought we would just be learning about the program, but the hands-on experience will stay with me a bit longer. I was able to, more or less, job-shadow and sit in on some interviews of the applicants. People come in early in the morning to stand in line for services, and once they fill out an application, they have an interview with a volunteer (NDSM only has ONE paid employee). This was an important day for me because I was able to level with people who are in need of such services.

         Last Friday was the most exciting Friday Experience for me so far. I learned all about nonprofits and nonprofit management from our very own PT director, Eric Lindh. Though this may sound relatively (cough) boring (cough), I was on the edge of my seat throughout the session! There are many things I could do with my soon-to-be degree in Human Development and Family Studies, but I don't see myself anywhere besides the "not-for-profit" sector. Who knows, maybe PT is in store for a Detroit location! Be on the lookout!

So, TGIF??

Thank God for Fridays, indeed!

Kid, You'll Move Mountains

What a wonderful and busy couple of weeks this has been! The further into the summer we get, the more us interns are struggling to find free time & “me” time! Alas, here I am, in the abandoned third floor of our house. Let me fill you in on my summer thus far!

Hugging it out: P.Mound!

       After a week of training and bonding with my co-interns, P.Mound (my team) had a successful Week One at day camp, themed “Goal’d Rush.” We ran into a few road bumps, but glided pretty easily since our team works together so well. Week Two was a hectic one, as we were roping in new kids each day, and some of our kids were gone for the mornings at summer school. Getting into the same routine each day was helpful, but being flexible was even more helpful! Our kids loved learning about Dr. Seuss throughout last week, and some even know a few rhymes by heart now! I really enjoyed turning “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” into a bible lesson for our first and second graders (though it was inspiring even to a college student!). After wrapping up plans for Week Three over the weekend, we blinked, and this week was over.

Arts & Crafts Seuss Style - This is "Izzy Bizzy!"

Week Three

        Working with our young campers from South Dallas, we knew that we wanted to dedicate an entire week to Career Exploration, so that is what we did during our third week of summer camp. Growing up, I always remembered having a fireman visit class, and police officers would stop by, too. We would learn about doctors, lawyers, teachers, even the president of America. For this week, we tried to reach out of the box as best as we could when we explored different careers. On the first day, we introduced the topic and explained what careers we, the interns, were pursuing. The second day, we had two police officers and a sergeant (all three are women who grew up in the area!) come in and talk to the kids. The next day, my teammate Destiny’s mom came in to present about her job as a lab technician. She even drew “blood” from a fake arm! Finally, a personal trainer (he grew up in the very same neighborhood as these kids – Pleasant Grove!) came in on Thursday to teach the kids about his job. I have never seen these kids work so hard to exercise, without complaining! This last one was the most exciting for me because Ade, the trainer, offered his services for another time during the summer. He explained that he runs a program called Rockstar Fitness, and they hold a week of camp for troubled youth. We are all so excited to see him again!

Part of Ade's personal training session with the kids!

Reasons this week flew by:

• My wonderful, encouraging, beautiful, enlightening, helpful, optimistic, and good-hearted teammates!

• The P.Mound Team bonding event on Monday:
• $4.50 for two games of bowling!
• We even let the mountain biker tag along.

•  Going to “The Spot” and seeing the city of Dallas as a skyline

• The guest speaker police officers that came to camp on Tuesday

• An alternative worship service led by our amazing summer staff on Tuesday night:
• We were blindfolded for most of the service and forced to use our other senses
• We were reminded of our own disabilities and the ways we get around them

• Getting over being sick on Tuesday!

• Attending a “Home Visit” and meeting the family of three of our campers on Wednesday!
• Though they all seem tired and less-than-enthusiastic for our songs and games when we try to wake them up every morning, these kids only wanted to play the same games and sing the same songs for the entire two hours we visited!
• We saw baby pictures : )
• We were reminded of our old age: “What year were you born Ricky?” “2005!”

• Going to “The Spot” AGAIN and hanging out with some crazy friends
• This spot consists of a glassy pond, grassy areas, awesome trees, a gorgeous skyline, soon-to-be memories, and several large, marble cow statues. One can only guess how four college interns handled themselves calm, cool, and collectedly, when given several large, marble cow statues to play on.

• Having Ade lead half of our Afternoon Enrichment, and the middle school campers lead the other half!
• This is a rarity, people.

• Visiting other sites during their Family Fun Nights on Thursday!
• Family Fun Night is a night planned by the interns for the families of the campers that occurs twice a summer.
• P.Mound was lucky enough to have a donated carnival come in for our night last week, so we visited two other sites’ Fun Nights last night.

• Going to "The Spot" for a third time this week! I think we found a tradition... : )

• God is Good!

Bowling with my team and a few others! Thanks for the pic, Kris

The ladies showing off our neon shoes : ) Thanks again, Kris!

View from The Spot!

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!"

:]

Shelley

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

This week's day camp theme at the Pleasant Mound site for elementary kids is DR. SEUSS!! Oh, The Places You'll Go is the basis for the 1st and 2nd grade bible lesson that Hannah and I have planned:

"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

Though we haven't gotten to show pictures from the book because our site didn't have it, we have been reading the story to the kids during bible lesson (I knew I should have brought my copy from home :P). We finally get to read it with pictures tomorrow, thanks to another PT day camp site that's loaning us the book!

Since I don't have much time until the morning comes, I am going to tell you all about a few places I have gone while I've been here in Dallas, and a few places I plan to go before I leave Dallas! (Get it?!)

Places I've Been:

• Southern Methodist University - probably the most beautiful place on earth
• Pleasant Mound United Methodist - all day, every day; this is the site that day camp is held at!
• Jack-in-the-Box - for the first time ever, but not the last!
• Yogurtland, I Heart Yogurt, etc...- Frozen Yogurt/Froyo is so frequent in Dallas that it only costs 35 cents an ounce: mmmm.
• Studio Movie Grill - a movie theater with a dinner menu and restaurant service?! yes please!
• Chic-Fil-A - less than impressive, people!

Places I Plan to Go:

• Six Flags - for those of you following Kristen's blog...there is no connection!
• Water Park (ideas anyone?!?!)
• Taco Bell - yes, really.
• The Mall (any mall) - Pay Day was TODAY!
• The Village - I've heard so many good things about Matt Chandler, pastor of this church
• Dallas Zoo - even though a petting zoo already came to our day camp : )
• Walmart - I heard they are bigger in Texas??
• and so many more places that I don't even know about yet, I'm sure!

I know you're probably wondering...WHERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF THE KIDS?! Well, the sad news is that I'm under a privacy commitment not to put up pictures of our kids on public sites. The happy news is that if you are friends with me on Facebook, you will be able to see pictures of the kids from Pleasant Mound in my album, conveniently titled, "Texas Toast." In the mean time, take a look at me and some teammates from P.Mound!!

Hannah, me, and Ariel at Family Fun Night tonight! Snowcones...mmm.

Don't forget to check out Kristen's blog at http://texasandkristen.blogspot.com/, she's got some great things to say about her summer, too!

If you're even MORE interested in Project Transformation interns and their stories, check out my roomie's blog at http://krista-castro.blogspot.com/

Thank you for reading!!

:]

Shelley

...There Your Heart Will Be :]

After the long and fun-filled week of training, Project Transformation began summer camp last Monday. Interns divided into our teams that morning and seized the first day fearlessly (most of us, anyways). My team, “P.Mound” as we call ourselves (formally Pleasant Mound United Methodist Church in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood of Dallas), conquered many challenges during week one of day camp…

Team P.Mound at our finest! These are the wonderful people I get to work with every day : )

          First, we had a temporary building to use for camp until the school at our church site finished out their year on Wednesday. While every other team set up their site all day Sunday, we were doing that at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning before camp started at 8:30. We began the week with about 25 kids, and on Wednesday, there were 70! Ahh, yes, that morning was a bit chaotic...but we made it through the day! Our kids are incredibly well-behaved (so far!) and they just love camp, especially during the first two days when there was a ratio of 2 kids per intern. They definitely liked the attention!

          The next challenge came Thursday morning on I-75. On our way to site, the carload I was in passed another one of our teammate's cars on the side of the highway. Since Josh was pulled over on the left shoulder during rush hour, we figured that his car had just broken down, and that we were in a world of hurt for camp that day. We called to make sure they were okay, and they only told us that they were fine and were getting towed, and would be at site later on. The rest of us tried to remain calm when we realized that our staff had just lost one-third of our interns, leaving the elementary portion of our program with only 4 people in charge of 50+ kids, and without our site coordinator. Luckily, the passengers in the car showed up just 10 minutes before camp began! We were so blessed.

          After the day had ended, and we headed back to campus, we heard the real story about what happened on the highway. Apparently, Josh was driving in the RIGHT lane and cars in front of him were about to crash, so he 360'd across four lanes, and slammed into the cement barrier of the shoulder, facing forward (looking as if they had just pulled over). Seconds later, traffic rushed by them. The entire carload felt as if they had escaped death by inches, and we all knew that God was working for us this week.

Day Camp

Our theme this week was "Goal'd Rush," tying in our Gold Rush theme with the principle of "going for your goals." We focused on the verse "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" Matthew 6:21. Every single kid knew this verse by Thursday! We also played a fun song about storing our treasures in heaven:

          Another blessing this week was our high school volunteers. During this first week, they couldn't have been more helpful to us. Most of them had gone through the camp themselves when they were younger, and planned to spend the summer volunteering with Project Transformation. Some of them even hope to be interns at PT in a few summers! We are really pulling for that to happen, too!

When asked what treasures they stored in their hearts, our 1st and 2nd graders answered, "Family" and "Friends" and "God." They also said they treasured Ariel, my fun-loving co-intern! While these are all things that I treasure deep in my heart, I have found a new treasure: Texas.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Until next week!

:]

Shelley


P.S. Here's my address until August!

Shelley Gudobba
c/o Project Transformation
547 E. Jefferson Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75023

TOAST

Well, I am finally here! I made it to Dallas, Texas, yesterday after a fun-filled day of traveling. Kristen and I were lucky enough to have celebrity treatment when her aunt and uncle picked us up from the airport to take us to lunch (Jack-in-the-Box, what-what!) and then to campus! What a wonderful way to be welcomed. Southern Methodist University has a BEAUTIFUL campus; it is so overwhelming to be living in such a pretty place. We made it to Highland Park United Methodist Church (where it’s rumored that good ole’ George W. Bush has been known to attend) for an afternoon of introductions and training. It might take me more than the following week to actually know the names of the 102 other interns than myself though…plus lots of staff and site coordinators! Needless to say, I got an amazing 8 hours of sleep last night.

          My second day at Project Transformation has been very exciting. First, I went with my team to meet the church family of the site that will be hosting our day camp beginning next Monday. The whole congregation was extremely welcoming and sent us off with a word of prayer. It was inspiring to hear our pastor say that we may want to change and transform the hurting people we meet in life, but sometimes we just have to accept them and meet them where they are. Later on during group sessions, we discussed diversity and the fact that Jesus accepted everyone he met as they were. Would he frown upon a person wearing a certain clothing brand or driving a certain car, or even living in a certain neighborhood, like we sometimes do? No, he accepted everyone, and came to them where they were, and loved them how they were.

           After a day of group training and team bonding, I feel much more at ease with the summer ahead of me and can’t wait to know my fellow interns better. During another session today, we did an activity that helped us realize how low-income parents, like the ones in the communities we will be working in, go through an entire month from a financial standpoint (PlaySPENT). It was stressful just simulating the situation, and I can't imagine how terrible it would be if this were to become my own situation. Why am I not in this situation instead of someone else? The PT director quoted the following message:

"I wanted to ask God why there was war, poverty, and hurt in the world,
When He had the capability to change the world for the better,
But I was afraid He would ask the same question of me."

If God gave us the ability to change the world ourselves, then I believe we should all at least try. For now, though, I going to sleep because I am TOAST.

Thank you for reading!
:]
Shelley