Hey ya'll. Finally the CCDA conference past. It was good. It's always good to be around a bunch of Christian people. Especially

when you have some type of connection with them besides the fact that we are brothers in Christ. I was able to hang out with

friends from all over the US. It was a real joy to see my friend Brandon. I met Brandon when he was 16 with a bullet. Back in

1997. We were both summer interns at Harambee living with Derek and Rudy. I was 17 going on 18. We both were roomates at

the big house. I remember sneaking around to have a smoke together. It's been a long times since then and a lot has happened to

the both of us. He went back to Ohio and I went back to Washington. We both grew up around gangs and drug dealers but in two

different cultures I being mex to the max and him being as african american as candied jams. Which by the way we mex call

camotes enmielados. See there is not a whole lot of differences in the two cultures except the color of our skin. But I don't want to

focus on that right now. I do want to say is that I admire Brandon for all he has done and is doing. In 2002, he came back to the

harambee to get away from all that was holding him back from serving God. He went from being at the harambee learning about

youth work, to going back home, to going to jubilee Youth Ranch and finishing his GED. At the moment he is in Phili. Brandon is a

program director for Brotherly love. A ministry youth outreach that Bryan Robinson started.

It's amazing how God can work on you into you give in. And learn the true love that He has for us.