Since I last wrote our Program Coordinator came to town and stayed with our house/visited all of our work sites. Drew (as we call him) is such a great guy and example of what it means to be dedicated to a cause. Always a good time when he is in town.
Often times I forget that I have been living in a city that by many standards is a tourist destination. Granted most people do not make a drive through the Watts or West Adams neighborhoods when coming to LA, but I still have the opportunity to live within a short drive of so many amazing locations.
This past week Michelle and 7 of her friends came out to Laguna Beach for their spring break. This was the perfect chance for our house to make the escape down to the famous location that MTV shows are made about. So last Saturday we loaded up the 4 runner and made the hour or so drive down to the beach. It was a fun dynamic getting to introduce all of my roommates to all of Michelle's. We were only able to spend an hour or two down there but I will always take any chance I can get to lay around on a sunny beach.
One of the other JV houses had a party that night, and Michelle was finally able to meet the twenty or so other people that make up this fabulous group in LA. It was great and now she will actually know who I am referring to when I talk about people!
John and I (and 3 or 4 other JVs) are giving up alcohol for Lent and I am giving up coffee to boot. Should be a good time.
Last Sunday our house hosted an immersion group from the University of Detroit Mercy. I had never really heard of the school until this year, but it is a small Jesuit college in Detroit. They were a very engaging group, but it felt weird being one of the people that immersion trips now meet with. Just a year or two ago I was in their exact shoes. Listening to some of my roommates talk about their experiences, I almost became overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge that I have acquired so far this year in LA. It was a very good outlet to share our experiences with people who were actually captivated by our presence. Hopefully we convinced a few people to do JVC!
One of the Jesuit parishes in LA (Dolores Mission) hosted a solidarity night on "Fat Tuesday" as a way to show support for the men who do not have homes to sleep in. Every night they open up their parish and fill it with cots so that homeless men at least have a warm safe place to spend the night. On that night people were sleeping outside in the courtyard in order to get a small taste of what it is really like to not have a home to go home to. We had to be to work at 7 the next morning so we didn't spend the night, but it was an awesome experience to be surrounded by so many good people for a few hours.
Thursday night was "Mardi Gras", Verbum Dei's annual fundraiser. Julie, Carolyn, and I were all asked to help out with the event, so we were indirectly invited. The event was hosted at the California Club in downtown Los Angeles, and it was incredible. All of our tables were sold out several weeks in advance, so the room was packed with corporate sponsors, verb benefactors, and as always lots of Jesuit priests! I got the chance to meet Rick Neuheisel (UCLA Head Football coach) and a lot of other pretty big names in the LA business world. We worked the silent auction (awesome prizes!) and spent most of the night packaging items and running winner slips to the highest bidders. Overall, it was a great night and Verb was able to raise a lot of money!
This past weekend Julie lead a weekend service trip with Verb kids in LA and John/Cara went on a weekend immersion trip to Tijuana with a group from Loyola Marymount, so Carolyn and I had the house to ourselves. I was able to make one last trip to Laguna Beach Friday to say goodbye to everyone, which was great. The next day Carolyn and I went to Compton College to watch her cousin play a baseball game. Her cousin goes to Lafayette College and they are out here for a week or two playing some games over spring break. I always love baseball and we had some solid roommate bonding time.
Sunday the Jesuit residence near Dolores Mission invited us all over for dinner. Fr. Greg (from homeboy) cooked us an amazing meal and we had the opportunity to hang out as a greater LA JV community and with a few priests. The meal lasted for probably two or three hours, but it was one of those meals that could have easily lasted five or six if we had the time.
I found out that I get to help chaperon our Spring Break immersion trip to the border with Verb, which unfortunately means that I most likely wont be making it home for Easter.... But i am excited to go on it!
Miss and love you all! Update me on all of you lives, I always love that.
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