So far. . .

Every night when I close my eyes I have multiple stories from the day. Since I've been here for 2 weeks I have approximately 14 stories already! With the promise of each day creating new ones. All of this means I have a lot to catch you up on.
We'll start from the beginning. . . .

I am staying in a condo directly across from Woodruff park and the 5 Points Marta station. My first day there Anna and I went exploring. We met a man named Massamba. He sells snacks and drinks. It's his cans of coke for .50 that interest me the most. I ask him if he'd get Coke Zero, my beverage of choice and I made a promise to return. Since then I've sat on his cooler drinking Coke Zero and listened to him tell me about his life growing up in Gambia, Africa and why he came to America. "To prosper" he said, "Isn't that why everyone comes to America?" He considers selling snacks and drinks under a tarp that must be set up and taken down every day prospering. I call it humbling. His friend, also from Gambia said "Do you know why America is strong?" "Why?" I asked. He said "Because in America you can find people from every part of the world."

Across the street in the park guys play chess all day long. I often join them. I don't know how to play chess but they are teaching me. Irwin offered to go to the Library and check out a book on chess for me, Sparrow (as he's called) let's me use his board anytime I'm in the park. Which is an honor because you usually have to wait until someone looses to get an opportunity to play. Leon, a master at chess compromised his reputation to be my first opponent. He said "No one can say they are undefeated in chess. If they've learned, they've lost." Over time, Sparrow, Mark, Leon and Irwin become friends. It is less about playing chess and more about enjoying the beautiful weather hanging out with friends. Last night as I lay my head on my pillow I realized that sometimes I forget that they do not have a bed to return to at night. The thought pulls me out of my bed and onto my knees as I lift them up to my Father who loves them as much as He loves me.
Anna and I saw some crazy things during my first week here-a guy doing drugs as we sat in McDonalds eating, a man peeing on the sidewalk, and a woman with a python wrapped around her. We've been asked for money multiple times. I had a guy ask me if he could wash my windshield for .50 while it was raining. Another time I returned to my car parked on the street and a guy told me that he'd just talked a policeman out of giving me a ticket, telling the cop that I was a nice girl and he shouldn't do that to me. The man had no way of knowing a girl drove that car 5 minutes before I arrived. Haha. Another guy asked Anna if he could hold her camera and take a picture. Giving him the opportunity to run off with it.  All of those crazy times are balanced with seeing a man dig through a trash can and pull out a half empty cup and proceed to drink what was left, a man offering to give all he had to put a very drunk lady into a cab so that she wouldn't fall into the street and be killed. When I asked him why he did that he said "We gotta look out for each other. Out here on the streets we've got nothing but each other." It's these moments that pull at my heart to do more. There is always more that I can do.