i love tuesday nights

When I arrived at the reading program tonight, Kalia and Gorgia were already hard at work reading books and writing about them. The twins come from a Hmong family of 15 children. They are going into junior high this year and have delightful personalities. I am amazed at their discipline and motivation to get work done on Tuesday nights. I imagine they excel at school, too. A few weeks ago, Tia, Kalia's older sister, asked if I would consider mentoring Kalia. I guess the three of them had mentors but Kalia's recently moved away. If I lived in Fresno, it would be so much easier to make a weekly commitment to hang out with Kalia. I told her we could meet at least once a month and she gave me her phone number. She seemed excited; I am too!

I spent most of the evening with Tyrisha, Tyra and Tyrone. Tyrisha read a story to me and complained of not being able to see well without her glasses. I was glad to hear that she has some. In the book she read, the main character described his neighborhood. It was a good opportunity to ask her about her neighborhood and home life. She moved into the Susan B. Anthony neighborhood a year ago--from the "west side." She lives with her mom, brother and sister. I asked what they do during the summer. "Well, my mom doesn't have a car so we can't go too many places. She's going to get one at the end of the summer and then we can go to the lake." They mostly hang out at home and swim, she said. Tyra, the youngest, was quieter than her older sister. Tyrone seemed like a smart kid.

Little Leslie lives next door to Brian and Kim's house, where we have the reading program. She's 3 years old and doesn't speak English yet. Leslie doesn't realize that not everyone understands Spanish, so she rattles on about a mile a minute. Tonight I heard the word "jugo," and thought maybe she was talking about juice. She started heading back to her house and I followed to find that she asked "Papi" for some juice. I was right!

Although these children are very different from my kids in Philly, spending time with them reminds me of the person I became during Mission Year. I want to continue my "mission life" here in Fresno, or wherever I go. It's been really exciting to meet people at the Well who share my passion for inner city ministry. Brian and Kim recently bought a house downtown and host the reading program on Tuesday nights. Brian helps run the thrift store, which is moving into a huge new building. There's a whole group of folks moving to downtown Fresno...maybe in a few months I can join them!