"We're so glad you're here!"

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was so excited, anxious, and nervous at the same time. It was our first day of service in Hoonah and our team was ready. I was looking forward to seeing how this day was going to affect them and how it would challenge their opinions and thoughts on service. I knew the day would bring touching moments for all of us and I was surprised when the first moment came for me when we got to the school.

The first thing we did when we got to the school, which is a K-12 program, we went to the cafeteria. Roger told us to go ahead and make friends with the kids and try to disperse ourselves. This intimidated me already but our team walked right into the cafeteria and immediately became friends with the students in there. I was so impressed with my team; they had no hesitation with a task that seemed daunting to me.

After some open gym time, we all headed off to our respective placements. Three other team members and I headed over to the Headstart program. Headstart is a pre-K program and those kids are bounding with energy! I immediately went over to the reading corner and started reading some books to one girl and soon after I was surrounded. I probably read about 7 or 8 books in 30 minutes and I could tell my voice was getting hoarse. We basically just spent the morning with them, playing and horsing around. They're learning about eggs this week and how many animals hatch from eggs not just birds. I even learned that octopi lay eggs!

Something our group thought was interesting about the program was that they let the kids serve themselves at lunchtime. Food is served family style and they have to eat something from every bowl/plate. They were very neat and didn't even make a mess.

A little while after lunch, Roger came to pick me up and we left to meet the local grandma of the community. Deborah Dalton is treasured by the community and even the kids love her. She is invited to the basketball games and given her own special seat. Our reason for meeting her was that she has a leaky toilet. Hopefully, it will be fixed today by one of our team members who has done some plumbing work before.

Last night we went to the Hoonah Indian Association and met with Mary Beth Moss, Owen James' wife. She told us all about the tribal council and the basic history of the Tlingit tribe here in Hoonah. It was all very enlightening. Another team member and I may be working with her with some legal work towards the end of the week but that is still up in the air as of current.

When we came back from the Hoonah Indian Association we had reflection. The comments we got from the team about the people we are serving here were profound. They recognize the need here and want to do what is possible to aid the community in whatever they want us to do. I think it should be recognized that there are people in my generation who want to make the world a better place and know that service is important in every community, no matter what the need/problem is. With that, I want to share this quote:

"I realize this may be a shock but, I can change the world, and I refuse to believe that I am part of a lost generation."

That particular quote means a lot to me and to the life I have chosen.

Right now, we are at school, waiting to go to class and my group is about to head back over to Headstart. Tonight there will be a carnival and we have our own booth! It seems like we're celebrities in this small tonight. Most of the people we've met have instantly said, "We're so glad you're here!" It is reassuring that the community here recognizes us and commends us for our work.

On that note, it's time for more storytelling and games!! And, I'm sorry there are no pictures in this post, I promise to post more soon.