Letter to Senator

Education for all Act(S. 1259/H.R. 2092)
Global Child Survival Act(S. 1418/H.R. 2266)
Growth Act(H.R. 2965)
Jubilee Act(H.R. 2634)

Dear Senator Boxer,

My name is Raul Cano and I would like to ask for you help in something that could potentially change the world. By supporting the acts above we could help rid poverty and provide education in developing countries. Currently we are the richest country in the world yet we give the least amount of money to developing countries. We need to act now to change that. Instead of spending billions of dollars on war we could be spending some of that money on education for children in developing countries. If they received a better education they could also help themselves out of poverty and be somebody. If we just gave them the chance they could help themselves and work for it. Donating money will help them for a week but donating education will help them for a lifetime. If these acts were passed many of the troubles of these countries would be gone. With your help we can make a difference in this world and supporting these acts would be a good start.

The Mustard Weed

The mustard seed parable can be seen as describing the seed in more than one way. The mustard seed can be seen as something that grows bigger and provides nutrients and shade from the sun for people or as an unwanted weed in a farmer's garden. It can be related to the kingdom of God because there are people who do not want to believe in the kingdom of God and think Jesus' teachings as a nuisance similar to a weed. Other people believe in Jesus words and believe that something so small can grow and provide and support so many people. It gives them hope that even though they are just one person in a world of billions as long as they keep their faith it will give them something to believe in. Similar to the mustard seed the kingdom of God grew and spread through word of mouth to different people. Even though it started as teachings to people it grew to different countries and soon more people started to believe in it. Once it got started it was difficult to not listen and to not believe in the Kingdom of God. This is how both the kingdom of God and the mustard seed share similarites in a good and bad way.

Executive Summary on Africa

Right now kids in Africa aren't getting the same opportunities that we're getting. Our schools are better, our environment is better, and our overall lifestyle is better. We need to use some of the money that we have over here to help out people in their situation over there. People are dying from malaria and other diseases that would cost us almost nothing to help cure. We could send doctors over to make sure things like that don't happen. If people could send over their "extra" it could go a long way and help the people in africa with getting rid of poverty, providing better farm tools, and teaching the kids in school and making sure they're getting the right utensils. They have tried to make a change so why can't we help them in making that change. If they are trying to help themselves by cleaning up their hospitals, providing education for their children, and farming to have food on the table and make a living for themselves then why shouldn't we try and help them and send whatever extra money we have. It could provide kids with supplies in school. It could hire people to help in the fields while farming. The situation in Africa is bad but we could definetly help out if we just tried. We should try and make it so that we are all equal and since the government isn't trying to help out we should encourage individual companies to donate more money or fundraisers to raise money and we should spread the word to spread awareness. I think we should help out by donating more things that we do not need badly or that we do not use anymore. Those couple of extra dollars and cents lying around our house could mean a lot to other people in Africa.

DP2: what should we do???

There are lots of things we can do to help out and one of them is to raise money through fundraisers and people donating. We could send supplies over there and maybe things that people don’t use could be sent over there as well. With the money we raise we could buy things like farming tools and mosquito nets so there would be no more deaths due to malaria. We could hire people to go work over there to clean up the hospitals so there wouldn’t be blood and disease all over the place. People could show them how to farm properly and in a way that is most efficient where they would produce the most crops. Toys and items that we no longer use could be sent for the kids or even pencils for school. Pencils are what a $dollar over here for 20 and now that’s 20 kids that could be in school with pencils for only a dollar. Even the smallest things would help so I think donating ANYTHING would be better than us not doing anything.

Portfolio 2: singer on Poverty

1. How much should we give?
2. Are we obligated to give it?
3. Is it really our job to perfect the world?
4. Would YOU give half your salary to someone you don't even know?
5. We have problems at HOME why are we worried about THEM when we have problems too?
6. What do we owe as individuals?
7. What do we owe as states and governments?
8. Should people with more money be the first to act?
9. Do we realize how much people are getting hurt by us not helping them?
10. If we can end this problem of extreme poverty...why haven't we?

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was a preacher who taught in the same ways Jesus taught and someone who tried to portray the same message as Jesus. John encourages people to not let anyone judge them and to learn that repentance means treating others well. Since the teachings are so similar some people thought of John as a precursor to the Messiah. John prepared people for the Messiah so when Jesus came people would be more comfortable with the teachings and they would understand them better. John shows people how to live as the children of God so when God’s evaluation draws near they will be ready. Many people already believed that John the Baptist was paving the way for Jesus to be the servant of God and how his teachings were a precursor to what Jesus would preach about. This is how they are seen related because their topics deal with the same thing and instead of showing all attention to himself John the Baptist made sure to the point the directions toward Jesus and God.
Jesus’ teachings about God are the same as John the Baptist in the sense that they both believe deeply in the same thing. John the Baptist showed the people spiritual reality and the effects of what would happen in dealing with God’s teachings. He told the people what to believe about healing and reality and in this there was pain even though it was the truth. John the Baptist spoke the truth and even though he knew it would sometimes upset people and make them afraid he felt that he should teach them about a belief they didn’t quite understand and explain to them the teachings of Jesus. John the Baptist felt that problems needed to be exposed to be changed and no matter how much it would hurt the people he knew he had to do so anyway.

Refugeesus

When Jesus and his family were running from the King they must have been very scared because of what they knew would happen to them. The family could have known that if they got captured they would have been punished or killed. That means that the whole time they were traveling the experience was bad with that kind of thought on their mind. They probably traveled walking to get away and so already physically it was very tiring. But also knowing that punishment was waiting for them if they got caught it must have been hard emotionally as well. This changed how Jesus turned out to be because maybe he must've felt bad for other people who were refugees knowing that he had shared in their experience. Maybe this is why when Jesus got older his mission leaned more towards poor people and people who had run away to try and avoid problems that they were having at home. Jesus could have felt compelled to help these people especially because he could relate to them.
Leaving to a different place must have been hard for Jesus and for all the people who did it. Knowing no one else and being new in a different place was a scary experience. After watching the videos of refugees I don't think ican ever know exactly what that feels like but i definetly got a better idea of it. They always looked tired and the conditions that they were in made them seem like they had no money, no home, and no where to go. This is probably what Jesus experienced and since he can relate he decided he should reach out and try to help these kind of people.

Portfolio 1: Who's Your Momma?

I think Mary represents holiness and someone who is in a virgin state not just physically but spiritually. Like nothing can touch her and people should look up to her because of what she represents. The statue of Mary in the quad doesn't make her appear the same as she does in textbooks. The statue portrays her as a small woman who appears to be weak and not as strong spiritually as the books make her seem. She's looking down as if she's sad and doens't seem like the strong proud woman in books.

The passages described how Mary was in a lower poor class and when people found out she was pregnant before she had been married people thought of her even lower than that. They thought it was wrong of her to have sex before she had gotten married even though she tried to explain that it was God's child. People thought she was crazy when she gave them that explanation. An angel comes down to explain to Joseph and then that's when he agrees to marry her because she will birth the son of God.

I think God chose Mary to birth his son because He saw something in her that no one else saw. While everyone knew Mary was poor and didn't matter God saw that she was important enough to birth his son. only God could understand why Mary was chosen He felt she was worth picking and that she wouldn't disappoint.