Prayer time

We have 6am prayer two mornings a week. That may not seem like a very hard thing to do, but for me it started off as a chore and I resented being told I had to do something. As things often go, good often comes from things were are "forced to do." 6am is not the ideal time for me to pray, for starters even though I am normally awake at that time, I'm not usually praying. Prayer is not something that just comes naturally for me. To be honest, it's something I often forget to do. But having a time set aside specifically for prayer is a much needed routine in my life. 6am has been the time I have found to pray for the kids and the time I spend with them at school.

I am so thankful to have the position I do at Unity. I a huge part of my role is to be an encourager to these precious children. I try to find ways every day to tell them that are an awesome reader or a math superstar. My attitude is so important. If I can make them feel good about themselves, they will likely begin to have that same attitude. Spending a few moments in prayer before the day starts makes such a difference in my attitude. I am lucky to be a teacher. There isn't a day that goes by that these kids don't bring me joy. Even though I may not especially enjoy waking up early to pray, I'm glad we do.

Community Living

Some people probably think it's kinda weird that Ben and I decided to do Mission Year and move in with other couples we don't know. I think Ben and I have a track record of doing things that not everyone else does! (moving to New York, getting married and living in different towns, owning a guinea pig...) Last weekend in Waco at Hope Fellowship we discovered there are lots of people who do things that seem even stranger than us! Don't think I mean weird by saying strange, I mean different. The gathering at Hope Fellowship included four main intentional communities plus several other smaller communities. I think I learned that Reba Fellowship in Illinois has been around for over 50 years! Most of the people we met actually live in homes shared with other members of the community/church. Most of these group practice something called common purse where they share their money too!

Ben and I became interested learning about intentional communities after reading The Irrestible Revolution and learning about the Simple Way. Moving in with others, sharing your things, and cutting costs sounded like a great idea, a practical idea. It sounded like an easy thing to do, I kinda wondered why more people in America don't live this way. This year I am beginning to realize, being part of a Christian intentional community is much more than simply sharing things and cutting costs. Members of a Christian intentional community also have to share a common vision and a desire to see a Christ centered change in the lives of their cities and communities. I think I am beginnnig to catch a glimpse of that vision.

But I have realized that sharing a common vision doesn't mean all members of the community are going to share the vision in the same manner. A community is full of all personalities. Part of living in an intentional community is learning to appreciate the uniqueness each member brings to the group. We have very different personalitesm visions, and even life goals in our Mission Year home. It's not always easy for us to find common ground,but the cool thing is each of have gifts that the rest of us need. Sometimes I don't see it that way, but it really is true.

God has called all of us to live in community (I don't mean you have to live in the same house!) with one another, we need each other. Where we are weak others in our community are strong and visa versa. Truly sharing in each others lives isn't easy, in fact it's downright hard. But God never promised us a live of ease. This year isn't easy, but it's sooo good. I hope my roommates are learning to understand my "uniqueness" as I am theirs!

Oh yeah, at Hope Fellowship we some people shared their unique talents with the group, everything from soap making, to bicycle maintance. I went to the sewing class and used a sewing machine for the first time ever. I made a table runner, and you know what. I can't wait to sew again! It's was actually really fun. Community living is full of suprises!

Simply in Seaon

A goal our house has this year is to not only eat healthy, but to also eat locally and to eat whats in season. Monday night I made our meal almost completely out of local produce. I made sweet potato/apple casserole from potatoes from the farm and pecans from the Martinez' house. The green beans and eggplant came from the farm also. We picked lettuce and peppers from the Martinez/Alterna garden and a neighbor gave us tomatoes from her garden. The meal just seemed to be better knowing where everything came from.

Eating seasonally can be a chore. We have had soooo many peppers, eggplants, okra, and green beans lately. It can get borning to eat the same things over and over. But this is where you have to get creative. We have a wonderful cookbook called Simply in Season which gives a variety of recipes using what in season. You should definitely check this cookbook out.

Bagels and OJ

It was such a treat for us to get to stop through Tyler last week on our way to Waco. Grace Community Church, let me be the first to say, Thank You! Thank you for being so hospitable to us. We got in a little after 2am and George was already there blowing up air matresses and making sure we had everything we need. Then we were provided with the greatest breakfast, Einstein bagels, coffee, and OJ. We never have OJ in the house, which we used to always have, and I can't tell you how excited I was to have that treat! And Einstein's veggie shmear is like my favorite thing! After Stephen and George took us on a tour of the "other Tyler," we had a chance to share with some of you, our friends and family, about our experiences thus far. Thank you everyone for listening and being a part of us this year. And then, thank you mom and dad for those yummy fajitas. You know meat is a REAL treat these days! Grace, friends, family, thank you for being just so wonderful. Who knows, you may have convinced us that when our year in LaGrange is over we just might need to come back home after all!

Texas!

Today @ 4 we are leaving for Texas and I can't wait! Alterna has been invited to attend a conference of Shalom Mission Communities. Shalom Mission Communities are a group of four intentional Christian communities. We are living in intentional Christian community both through Mission Year and Alterna. An intentional community can consist of people literally sharing a home and their things with one another. This describes our Mission Year lifestyle. Another type of intentional community is where families live in their own homes, but intentionally live near one another and participate in each others daily lives, through the sharing of meals, Bible studies, gardening... This type of community describes Alterna.

Mission requires that each house hold share at least one meal together a week. Alterna requires that we share two community meals with the Alterna community (plus others). We rotate and share both the cooking, cleaning, and host home each week. This has been a wonderful experience. I love the fact that we get to see each other so much during the week. Well, at least I am beginning to see the value in it. This was hard for me and I think our housemates at first. Before this year I didn't have much of a schedule as far as cooking, cleaning, or even actual meal times. Ben and I just ate and cleaned whenever. We have now started eating almost all our meals at 6:00. This is quite a change from eating dinner whenever we got around to it, sometimes not till 9:00. The intentionalityof our schedule forces us to plan ahead, something I am still learning.

Back to Texas, everyone attending this conference lives in some sort of intentional community. This will be a chance for us to learn how intentional communities really work, the up and downs.
I am really excited to lean more. The conference in Waco at Hope Fellowship. We will arrive in Tyler early early tomorrow morning and sleep at Grace OJ for a few hours. Then around 11 I believe we will have lunch at a share time with Grace staff and friends and families who are able to see us. I can't wait.

My good idea.

This morning I thought I had a good idea.
I thought,"I'll ride my bike to work today."
It stated raining on the way to work.
My skirt got caught in the spoke.
Now it's
p
o
u
r
i
n
g
I wish I had my rain boots.
I wish I had my rain jacket.
I don't think I'll come up with anymore good ideas.

Chicken Fridays

Fridays are pretty good days here in LaGrange! We don't go to our community service sites, instead we reserve time for our team meetings, neighborhood ministry, and ministry within the Hispanic community. Every Friday we have lunch with a group of Hispanic ladies and their children, or the children they babysit, that are a part of Alterna. Language barriers can make conversations interesting but we are managing! When Miram and Norma are speaking in Spanish it gives me a little glimpse as what it must be like to for them to be in a group of English speakers.

During the day it seems many of these women stay home, or rather they are kind of trapped at home. Undocumented immigrants can't obtain a driver's license therefore they stay home or run the risk of getting a ticket. Anton told me yesterday he would love it if we could plan a Friday event for these women where we could just take them out of their house; a picnic at the nearby lake, an outing to a nearby larger town, basically give them a chance to get away.

I can't imagine what it must feel like to be trapped in your own home. Just today, Ben and I were really feeling the need to escape the house for a little while, so we got in the car and left. I don't think of driving as a privilege, I think of it as a right, or at least as a necessity. But for immigrants this is a right they don't have. I would love to be able to give these ladies a chance to get out of the house, to break up the monotony of their days.

Just doing something simple can break up the sameness of your routine. After lunch yesterday I went to Norma's house and played with Melanie, a precious 2 1/2 year old she babysits. We chased chickens in their chicken coop with a net. It was really funny to see this little girl screaming and trying to catch a chicken. Actually yesterday was the first time I have ever caught a chicken and picked it up. That was definitely a break from my daily routine. I definitely recommend chasing chickens the next time you need a break from you boring routine!

Neighbors

We live next to an Iraqi refguee family. Our whole house has has really enjoyed getting to know them. Last weekend the family invited us over for a traditional Iraqi meal. Seriously, it was probably the best meal we have had since coming to LaGrange. They made a couple types of chicken, about 3 different sauces, a HUGE plate of rice, homemade flat bread, plus much more. All 14 of us sat on the floor to enjoy our feast. I know there are many cultures that eat on the floor, but I had never actually experienced it on purpose. Ben, Holly, and I would sometimes eat hot wings and french fries on the floor but that was just so we could see the TV better! It was a really cool experience, especially because there were SO many of us. We had such a fun night. We didn't leave until around 11:30 and even then they were like,"Why are you going?"

That night we learned the coolest things about Mohammed, the 16 year old. Before moving to LaGrange, the family lived in Clarkston, GA which is right outside of Atlanta. Clarkston has become a refugee center for refugees from all over the world. There is a soccer team called The Fugees, which is made up of teenage refugee boys, in Clarkston. Not too long ago a reporter from the NY Times heard about this soccer team and after visiting, he moved to Clarkston to learn the story about this incredible team of boys. He wrote a book, Outcasts United, which tells the story about the boys, their soccer team, and their coach. Mohammed used to play on that team, in fact he is on the cover of the book! How cool is that! I already made it through half of the book, I just can't put it down. It is an incredibly powerful story.
Learn more about the Fugees at http://http//www.fugeesfamily.org/index.html.

A Few Pictures from Guatemala