Summertime

popsicles with the neighborhood kids

homemade popsicles

pool time on the patio

picnic in the park

Having a blast at one of the 50 free concerts in the park held in Pasadena this  summer! Bilingual kids music night was right up Suzy's alley and she danced the night away. 

Pasadena Chalk Festival

Last weekend, for Father's Day, we went to the Pasadena Chalk Festival, a 2 day chalk contest that fills the sidewalks of downtown Pasadena. I was really excited about going because the creators of the festival came to talk to my class last quarter and I wanted to check it out first hand. 

Here are just some of the many outstanding works of art:

This one was the winner!

I loved this one...too bad we didn't witness when Sarah and her boyfriend walked by it...

 Suzy liked the festival, but was a bit overwhelmed by the heat and the massive numbers of people. She enjoyed walking around town with Gabi afterwards a lot more I think...

encouraging others and being encouraged

This week has been so encouraging to me and Elvis because we finally feel like we have been able to get into the Latino community of LA in neat ways this week and we are starting to feel like we have a clearer vision each day of what God has called us here for. 

First of all, last Saturday we went to the wedding of a girl that Elvis went to elementary school with! They haven't seen each other in years,  but when she realized (thanks to facebook!) that we lived so close-by, sent us an invitation to her small backyard wedding! I was the only non-Salvadoran there, and even the pastor seemed like they had just transported him in from a country village in El Salvador. It was so much fun to connect with people (even a good friend of ours from our church Ruta 3:16 in El Salvador!) and such an  honor to be part of this small wedding. Which of course started at 6:45pm instead of 5pm like the invitation said =) Some habits are tough to break! 

I mentioned the friend from Ruta....actually Elvis has been able to hang out with him several times along with another guy....all 3 were in a small group Bible study together in San Salvador through our church...now we all live within 20 min! 

Also this week, we were honored to have Elvis's cousin come visit, who also just lives about 30 min away in LA. They had  not seen each other in 8 or 9 years since he moved here! It was obvious how much it meant to him to see a familiar face, and the same for Elvis. They swapped stories of childhood memories and he brought us some typical Salvadoran food since he knows all the good places in LA.

We are learning that storytelling, food, and trust are so powerful. 

Elvis and cousin Oto: reunited!

One extremely encouraging part of my week has been starting my World Vision internship at MacArthur Park! You may remember my post about the neighborhood a few weeks ago. On Wednesday I was just in the WV office, but was able to spend all day Thursday in the neighborhood, working on a community assets map and eventually start on a resource manual for new immigrants. Elvis and Suzy had lunch with me down at Mama's Hot Tamales, and Elvis was offered all kinds of things ranging from illegal documents to pupusas on the street to some animal in a box that we weren't sure what it even was! You can find a little bit of everything in MacArthur park....it is truly an experience like none other! 

I also was able to be part of my first weekly meeting with the young people from the Youth Empowerment Program i will be learning from this summer...they were all latino high schoolers from the neighborhood and so inspiring to me because of their motivation, leadership skills, and desire to see transformation in their neighborhood.  Pictured below is a mural from MacArthur Park that was made by some youth involved in the Youth Empowerment Program a couple of years ago. It is their vision of what they would like their neighborhood to look like in the year 2020:  

I love it and want it on my wall in my house....i guess for now i will be OK with seeing it in the park and a copy in our WV office.

North Carolina trip

Suzy and I made it back to California last night! And since she was up at 5 am this morning because of the time change, I had plenty of time to go ahead and put pictures up from the trip. Suzy loved the beach and basking in Nana and Granddaddy's love. I loved catching up with great friends and family and relaxing a bit before my World Vision internship starts this week. Even the flights went so smoothly...Suzy did awesome and lots of people helped us. Running through the Atlanta airport carrying a car seat, huge carry-on, stroller, lunchbox, purse, and a 2 year old doesn't rank #1 on my favorite things in the world to do, but we survived. Thanks to everyone who made this trip super special!!!

Lester was waiting for Suzy at the airport

celebrating baby Anderson with Tyler!

baby shower

celebrating 93 years with Memaw

4 generations on mom's side

beach!

being silly with Nana and Granddaddy

aquarium on a rainy day

LOTS of wave jumping

runaway naked baby! Suzy decided that the beach is way more fun without clothes

4 generations on dad's side

hula girls!

lovin' on cousin Anna

catching up on the lastest gossip

making  a tunnel

sweetie pie Anna

uncle Marty

catching up with great friends like Jamie, Zoo, and baby!

There are so many other great memories that i wish i could document with pictures, like hanging out with Jess, Suzy playing with Aaron and Lydia, and Suzy being silly with Nana and Granddaddy...but you get the idea! 

what have i done...

...to Elvis in these 7 years to make him lose all his hair???

2005

2012

MacArthur Park

Today Elvis and Suzy and I took a field trip 20 min away into Los Angeles, to a place called MacArthur Park. It's been a place we've been wanting to see firsthand for a while now since it will be the main area of focus for my World Vision internship which starts in just a few weeks. We have also talked about it in some of my classes and it is where one of the organizations we are interested in working with is based. 

 Several years ago, MacArthur Park was the place to buy anything illegal- drugs, green cards, prostitution, etc plus a major area for gang activity. One of my professors, who is an urban planner, was in charge of leading a complete transformation of this part that is located just outside of downtown LA (you can see the downtown buildings in the picture above). He worked together with local leaders, police, and community residents to get rid of the nasty stuff going on and fill this park back with life, including bringing back paddle boats, concerts, and street vendors. Of course there is still some shady stuff that goes on, but you wouldn't necessarily know it just by looking at these park residents:

For those of you that have ever visited Central America, you know how important Pollo Campero is! It's right there at MacArthur Park, so we stopped in for a potty break:

We also went next door to Mama's Hot Tamales to get a snack:

You see, Mama's Hot Tamales is a strategically placed restaurant that was the joint effort of my professor and "Mama" Sandy (pictured below) to offer jobs to Hispanic immigrants and to bring in the flavor of Central America. They also do important community building activities, such as make 12 foot long "Tamales de la Paz" to share with community residents in order to promote solidarity within the community, especially building bridges between the police and community residents which have had conflict in the past.  Mama Sandy came to our class to share her vision of community transformation. 

If you want to see a video about the Tamales de la Paz project and the heart behind breaking tamales together to build community, check this out:

I felt like I was walking down the streets of downtown San Salvador, and I loved that

Just a 10 minute drive away was Chick-Fila, so we stopped in for some lunch. Tamales, Pollo Campero, and Chick-fila in one day....that's LA for you and that's why we love it here.