kore wa post bangoo san desu. That should mean (This is post number 3)

So whats up everyone? I'm doing pretty good right now. I just read a funny e-mail from my friend Moeko in Japan. She told me the dates that she will be visiting in September and asked me in the e-mail is the dates would work. Then right after she asked that, she said they better work because she already bought the tickets. Oh silly people.... Back to the BAyUP madness.

I never really think about my post beforehand or take time to write it out. I usually just tend to write whatever is on my mind, so get ready for week number 3.

This week I will give a much quicker update and hope that you will read my fellow San Jose State friends blog posts.

I have been doing generally good this week starting to get more in the flow of things and becoming more apart of the community. Being more a part of the community in that this place is becoming more like home and the men we are working with have started inviting us to do more things with them outside of the rehab stuff. Sometimes this also looks like one of the men in the rehab program choosing to sit at a table full of BAyUPers. Today we actually spent most our time at an event put on by a church we went to two Sundays ago that Justin talked about in his blog post. It consisted of volleyball, ultimate frisbee, basketball, and dodge ball. It was a lot of fun being able to get out for a day and play sports with the community. We were warmly excepted to join in the fun and yes, Justin and I stomped on everyone at ultimate frisbee. Well technically threw the frisbee and caught the frisbee better than anyone else.

Now to hit on some good stuff god has been challenging me with.

When I first arrived here at Cityteam it was hard to find stuff to do and felt like my time spent here was worthless. It was hard to understand that I could take a nap in the middle of the day and god would still be doing stuff. I really feel like god has been teaching me to step out of my mindset to always wanting to be getting stuff done and being busy, to a mindset that listens and is able to relax and rest when needed. To understand that god works out all things for good and that he is doing much here at Cityteam even when I feel like nothing is getting done. I remember our leader Casey telling me a little while ago that our team just going to the bible studies has really helped the men dig deeper. That the many of the men in the program who we attend bible study with each morning at 7AM told him that they were starting to get bored at the bible studies and didn't really care to continue on, until we started coming and it started this new spark of excitement.

This is good news.

I have also started to really understand god big role in healing. How he really plays the biggest part in this rehab center and without Christ and his sacrifice and purpose for our lives there wouldn't be much to keep pushing these men forward. I understand that the men who stand a chance out in the world are those who trust in Jesus to provide and he is the one they can look to when they are tempted to fall back into there old addictions. Just writing this right now makes me realize how important it is to encourage the men here to continue seeking Christ when they leave, because he is the one who will be there when no one else is, he will be the one to give them a purpose, hope, and future.

Seeing god as a healer has also made me see how much each one of us needs healing. Although I have understood this for a while god has showed me much about myself that needs to change that I have not seen before.

White Privilege:
God has really started to open my eyes to the concept of White Privilege and the injustice in that. That I need to be able to fight against it even though I have it. We did a study on this subject with the whole BAyUP group (35 peopleish). The study opened my eyes and now I have really started to see it as I continue to live at Cityteam. I remember walking down the street with Peggy and our black friend from the rehab program. Our friend was worried when cops started walking right behind us, because he had had numerous circumstances where the cops would mess with him or do something to him just because of the way he looked (his skin color).

Thats a little bit more of my adventures at BAyUP.
Stay tuned for next weeks episode, "D Train Strikes Back"

Thank you for reading, hope you learned something and much love,
Dillon Steele Adams