Hello Friends and Family,

As many of you know, I enjoy making films and plan to do that for my career in the future. As many of you also know, I am right now in the process of taking a huge step toward that future goal, and am taking summer school at the University of Southern California (top film school in the country). I arrived in Los Angeles last Friday (a week and a half ago) after a cross-country drive with my dad, and will be here until August 9th. After that, I head home for two weeks, and then come back to LA on August 23rd to begin studying for a semester at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center through my college (Taylor University).

As I told many of you about my summer and fall plans, a lot of you expressed interest in being kept updated on what I did out in LA, so I decided to put together an e-mail list, and send out weekly e-mails about my experiences out here. If you would not like to receive this weekly e-mail for the next six months or so, then just let me know. I won’t be offended.

But if you do want to stay updated on what’s going on with me out in LA, then just sit tight and wait for the e-mails to roll in every Sunday (day may vary). I guess the purpose of these e-mails is two-fold: I want to keep my friends and family updated on my exciting experiences out in LA, and I also would like to have my friends and family praying for me while I’m out here. So these e-mails will consist of updates and prayer requests.

Update: I’m in a class right now called Beginning Production Sequence, where I make five short films over the course of six weeks. I will be filming my first short film this Tuesday, and will be presenting it in class on Friday. I have already learned a lot of techniques through class lectures that I am really looking forward to implementing in this first film.

Additionally, I am enjoying the city lifestyle much more than I thought I would so far. Granted, it’s kind of limiting to not be able to walk alone at night, but on the other hand, it’s nice to have a grocery store, mall, and movie theatre right across the street from my apartment (no more 30-minute drives to Wal-Mart, ala Taylor!) Additionally, though the LA traffic made me a bit nervous at first, I’m actually finding that I kind of enjoy driving in it. It’s a fun challenge of sorts, and I feel an odd sense of satisfaction and accomplishment every time I successfully maneuver between cars and change lanes on the LA freeways…oh the simple pleasures in life…

It has also been fun spending time with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin who live in the LA area.

Prayer Request: God has really reminded me how faithful He is to answer prayer this past week. I was a little bit nervous about starting summer school at USC where I knew no one, but my Mom had been praying for quite a while that I would meet a strong Christian guy out at USC who I would really connect with. I must admit that I hoped her prayer would be answered, but didn’t really believe it would. However, God worked it out so that I not only was sitting next to a strong Christian during the first day of class, but was even assigned to share my camera with him. We have gotten to know each other very well already this first week, and so I am very thankful for that.

Please pray that Ben (that is his name) and I would learn a lot about film these next five weeks, that God would really give direction to our lives as to where He wants us in the film industry (and even if He wants us in the film industry), that we would live our lives in a way that gives testimony to the grace and hope we have through Christ, and that others in our class would see our lives and want in on that grace.

Until next week…

In Christ,
Dave/David/Shabotz

P.S. If any of you want to respond to these e-mails, I’d love to hear what’s going on with all of you, however I can’t promise that I’ll be able to write individually to everyone who responds, as these e-mails are going out to many people and I don’t have tons of free time while I’m out here. I’ll do my best though.

P.P.S. My Taylor e-mail account is not letting me send out e-mails right now, so that is why I’m sending them from this temporary USC account. You can respond to my e-mails at my USC account for the next five weeks, but please take note of the fact that I only have access to this account until August 9th, so don’t send me e-mails here after that date. I’ll give you further contact information at that point.