...finally...

...a week that I feel like I'm getting stuff done at work! This summer has been so unstructured in terms of my job - that's it been very difficult to stay motivated. But finally this week, I finally feel like I'm getting some things accomplished! Some research I've been doing is culminating in some projects around the clinic and in networking with area some churches to get programs going.

I even ran into some students at the local Starbucks. It was really exciting to see them and that they were excited to see me, and even had some questions to ask. I have to admit...I had a slight pang of uneasyness in my stomach wondering what all the strangers in Starbucks may have felt in overhearing some random women talking to these 4 teens about sex! I got to tell them about my new MySpace page - and they had added me onto their 'friend' list by that night...pretty cool!

This morning I took an oral test for my certificate for a family planning counselor. I did very well! The guy who was scoring had tons of praise for all my techniques! ....not to brag or anything :)

Yesterday I had a very interesting evening - as I spent a few hours riding my bicycle, canvassing the area surrounding my church. I'll be heading a project:eat out at church and I'm very excited about it. As this group that I'm involved with has been going out weekly in order to get a vision of what human trafficking looks like in Los Angeles - to recognize it here so we can start to help eradicate it. Well...a common place where trafficked people may be working is in ethnic restaurants. As it would take alot of time (and money) for me or our group to individually go to all these restaurants - I thought it would be a great project for people at church. So, we'll be sending everyone out after church one Sunday to different restaurants in the area with information about trafficking, what to look for, etc. And they will report back as to what they've seen! Should be pretty cool - I'm excited to see how it comes off.

For info on trafficking or some things that are going on to work against it (for example, a campaign against slave conditions in chocolate-producing fields) click on the banner below!