It's the start of my third week at Evergreen, and the last week of training. This Friday, our streetwalk commences. We'll be thrown into the bowels of urban life, forced to use our wits and resources with an unsurpassed urgency. Forced to learn to survive on the streets of Toronto.
This morning we did workshops on anger and on prostitution. I've had such an exhilarating experience thus far: feeling wonder at the new perspectives I've gained, as if being born into some unfamiliar world where all the rules we know don't exist, or are skewed; shuddering with disgust, sparkling with anger at the abuse and neglect that goes on in the world, and at the lack of help and options available to those who need it most; clutched by breathless heartache for those who have been hurt so often and so deeply and have done nothing to deserve it.
I think I still struggle with having compassion for others though... It's hard to stop myself from analyzing people's situations, and trying to determine if they did, in some way, deserve the situation they're in. But having more awareness and insight into the complexity of the issues that I used to think were so clear-cut, is definitely a good start.
A book that I've just finished and would recommend to... anyone, is Theirs Is The Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America, by Robert Lupton. It's about a guy - a minister, a missionary - who moves his family into a ghetto area to bring Christ's message. The book is simply a collection of short stories and thoughts that challenge a lot of today's societal values and attitudes. We value things like wealth, efficiency, intelligence, self-suffiency, while deliberately overlooking the fact that Jesus' ministry generally seemed to favour the poor. He says in Matthew 19:24, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Anyway, this book deals with so many issues and makes so many good points, that to go too much into it would ensure that I'll leave something out. So, go read it!

My grandma's going to HK tomorrow night to be with my aunt, who is having surgery on her eye(s). I also faxed in my admission acceptance from University of Waterloo, so I...officially...will be heading back in the fall. I just need to find a place to live.