real stuff

Lorena is one of the new people coming to our english class. i met her at the bus stop. she was speaking spanish and offered lyvi a biscuit, so we got to talking, in spanish. she has only been here a couple of months and speaks no english. she has only been coming to english a few weeks. over the course of the last few weeks she has shared that she has struggled with depression in the past, and was having a hard time now. she shared her recent experiences with classic depression symptoms. she had a doctor's appointment scheduled soon, so she was going to let me know how it went. when she came on tuesday she said they took some blood for tests, but that it was hard going with her partner as he didn't translate much of what the doctor said. she had another appointment scheduled for this morning, to get her results.

so, this morning i met her at her doctor's office and used my incredibly rusty spanish to help translate what the doctor said. Lorena made a decision about her next step and hopefully she will be able to follow through and start feeling better. sometimes i get lost in doing administrative and management types of things, so it was refreshing to be able to have a significant impact in a person's "now" with something as practical as language and as simple as an available slot of time.

jamie

Eid update

Eid was last friday. i am ashamed to admit i had become rather doubtful, but my friend called all excited thursday night to tell me. my daughter lyvi, our friend becca, and i went to our bangladeshi friends' house on friday. it actually reminded me of thanksgiving, isn't that something. anyway, the two oldest girls came with me to our salvation army youth event the next day. it was a big weekend, but very, very good for our friendships. we took 8 kids to the event, it was our first time to do that.

we have a new chilean woman coming to english class. she came last week, but had trouble finding us so she just arrived at the end of class. she came back this week. after class she said she hasn't been feeling well and has an appointment with a doctor tomorrow morning. i was able to write a note in english for her, translating what she wanted to tell the doctor. unfortunately i have a meeting tomorrow, so i can't go with her. but it felt very real to be able to do something so simple and practical for her, and also to use my spanish (rusty as it is) again. she has a history of depression, so pray i can know how to serve her.

ahmed hasn't turned up. that is a bummer.

next week is half term, which is always a nice chance to regroup and either catch up (usually) or get a jump start on what's coming next (rarely). so, i hope to tackle some longer term plans for english class.

we will also be having a fancy dress party (costume party) for our parent and toddler group. pray that it will be a good chance for our mums to bring new friends. i plan to dress lyvi as dorothy from the wizard of oz, we'll see!

my prayer of the minute

i often find myself in some strange situations. this week is no exception. as you may or may not know we are nearing the end of the muslim celebration of ramadan. the end of ramadan is celebrated with a holiday called eid. this is not unlike lent and easter for christians. anyway, the actual day eid occurs is based on the moon. so the end of ramadan and celebration of eid is not known until the very last minute. the proposed end of ramadan is this thursday which would put eid on friday. if the moon is not correct or cannot be seen then ramadan will end on friday, putting eid on saturday.

this saturday is a london wide event the salvation army puts on once a year. it is amazingly kid-friendly. it will include workshops in the afternoon like dance, football, basketball, art projects, gospel choir, and a gyro chair. there will be a rap concert in the evening. although this happens every year, this is the first year our kids are old enough and our group is ready to participate. we have a couple adult volunteers who have graciously agreed to take our kids.

if you know anything about what we do, you will know we have a fair amount of muslim young people. if eid falls on saturday, it would be like if they skipped out on christmas with their family to come to our youth event...highly unlikely and very inappropriate. so, please join me in praying that eid will fall on friday, that the muslim leaders will see the moon on thursday evening and that our muslim kids will be free to come and enjoy themselves on saturday.

that is a prayer request i never thought i would be asking!

thanks for your support and i'll let you know what happens,
jamie