Ethnographic Project

Hey again for the third/ fourth time in a day hahahaha most i've written to you in quite some time huh ? haha well here's the last thing i am writing for today (or the moment ;) )
this is my ethnographic paper for my class with Mike Larkin. enjoy :] again

This semester I have been privileged to be involved once with Adopt-a-Block from the Dream Center. We took the bus to Crenshaw Boulevard and split into three groups; one who passed out food on the sidewalk, one who took kids to the park and played with them, and one that went to each apartment complex (that allowed us) and passed out flyers which is the group I was involved in. At first it was very difficult for me to go up to strangers homes and tell them about a ministry that I’m not involved in and pray they respond to me, but it got easier as the time went on. I believe that day we hit around 150 doors, which is about four or five apartment buildings. That is a lot for me, but for those who went there weekly, it meant more because at that time they were having difficulty getting enough volunteers so when our group showed up to help they were very thankful. It was an uplifting point for me because I didn’t know that they were low on volunteers and that they were praying for volunteers, and that we were an answer to their prayers.

We finished early because of how many of us there were so we decided as a group to go to this newly remodeled apartment complex the next street over and see if there were any people there. So we took some candy bars and flyers and headed over there and found a few people living there. We were able to talk with one family who was Muslim about coming to Angeles Temple and they were enthusiastic about it which was really encouraging because while we were on the other street, we didn’t get any real response from people and this was the first positive response that we got. It surprised me even more because I didn’t expect to be getting a response from anyone because no one answered the door at first but then they answered the door and we gave the candy bars we had to her and her kids. The look on the woman’s face when we gave the kids candy bars was one that was really touching because she had this amazed look on her face about what we just did and then continued talking with us and agreed to come to Angeles Temple the next day. Even though I will never know if she and her family did end up going I know that we touched their lives in a way that prayerfully will never be forgotten.

A unique aspect of the Adopt-a-Block ministry is the intense way in which they drive themselves to meet the needs of the community. They meet you face-to-face and see what it is you really need. Not just what you want because someone is asking, but what you really need because you can’t live without it. The Dream Center’s thing is that they are trying to get you to find God in all of it life, no matter what their history or background is no matter who you are, where you are from, what you have done they want to accept you into God ‘s family. The fact that they do it every week no matter the weather or economy is amazing to me, which shows me how serious they are about building relationships with the people. I was very blessed to have been able to reach a people I didn’t know, with different religions, lifestyles and cultures than I have experienced. One thing that hit me was when you accept their children you are essentially accepting them and their faults and short comings. Its something I saw in several of the families that were visited. When you know their kids by name and give them something they might not be able to do that brings joy to the kids, it brings joy to the families which in turn brings joy to you because you have just began to provide for someone’s needs other than your own. And that for me is the ultimate reward for serving a people other than those that I am used to being around.