Life in Seattle

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write again, but I have been busy getting oriented with the program and getting settled in Seattle. I guess I will begin where my first update left off…
On Sunday, we attended Mount View Presbyterian Church in the morning and University Presbyterian Church in the evening. UPC’s service was definitely more like what I am used to, only with more contemporary music. The service at Mt View that morning was just incredible. This faith community is so alive! You can definitely feel the Holy Spirit moving within the church as soon as you walk in. We also got treated to lunch, by several of the former program participants, young people in the church, and Claudia, the pastor. Mt View is a church of 50 members, with one part-time staff person paid by the church. The seven other members of staff are paid through various organizations like Union Gospel Mission, World Vision and the YES Foundation to name a few. Who needs 8 staff members for a church of 50 you may ask? Well while the congregation size is only 50, the church ministers to a far greater number of people in the community of White Center. The church has a thriving young adult outreach, middle school youth group, and a girls’ group which serves as bible study, fellowship time, and much more. They provide after school care for elementary aged children 5 days a week, and also for middle schoolers 3 days a week. The church also has a newly added sound studio as part of the young adult outreach. . The church is in the midst of completing a major renovation project. The project began in March and is almost completed. When I say major renovation, I am talking demolition of one part of the church, and a complete overhaul of the sanctuary, and education/administrative building. They added new kitchens, which required new plumbing to be laid, and revamped the old chapel to better serve the children in the after school program. The best way I can think of to describe the project size is if you’ve seen Extreme Makeover Home Edition, it is definitely on the same of scale as those projects.

Ok, that was only supposed to be about Sunday worship, but I am already so passionate about this church that I can’t stop talking about it!

Well, on Labor Day we did not have orientation so we were able to explore downtown. If you would like to see the pictures I have posted the link to the pictures in a previous post. My roommates and I took the bus right into downtown. First we headed for Pike’s Place Public Market. This is the place where they throw the fish. It has three stories of shops and a great selection of fruits and vegetables, and flowers, and of course SEAFOOD! We spent quite a while down there exploring. After that we decided to find the Space Needle, which wasn’t too hard. We found our way over to that part of downtown and stopped for lunch before continuing to the Needle. A Music and Arts Festival called Bumpershoot was going on around the Seattle Center, so it was very crowded. We didn’t go to the top of the Space Needle because it was too expensive for us right now, since we don’t have jobs. We also ventured to the Westlake Mall, which has 4 stories of shops, and to Pioneer Square which is where the Seattle Underground is. Pioneer Square was our last stop of the day.

The next three days, we had orientation with Mike, our site coordinator. We just learned more about the program, the area we live in, the money situation, and our weekly meeting times. We will need to find full time jobs, and then 7-10 hours a week are volunteering within the community. The volunteer hours can take whatever form we want them to. We have the option to work at the church with various programs or working on special projects but we could also work in the larger community through other programs. We learned a lot about White Center during our orientation. In White Center, more than 81% of school children receive free or reduced-price lunches. In Seattle as a whole, the percentage is 38%. White Center schools have less than a 1% white population, where Seattle schools have a 45% white population. There are 40 different languages spoken in White Center and there is not one majority ethnicity or race in White Center. I am really excited to be a part of this diverse community, what an amazing opportunity! After our first night of orientation, we went to an Alliance Meeting, which is the planning committee for the big celebration coming up. The celebration is September 23, as a big thank you and “church-warming” party, and to celebrate the completion of the renovations. We have weekly formation time on Thursdays, where we will be in bible study as a community, with our site coordinator. Wednesday, we went to lunch with Allen whom we had met the previous Sunday at University Presbyterian. He will be an integral part of our Intentional Community program. Also on Wednesday, we had our first official grocery shopping trip. It was interesting learning everyone’s tastes and making compromises but we did well, and we only spent $120. On Thursday, we had our first formation, and Allen led us in a lesson about serving and we had a foot-washing ceremony.
Less than a week after arriving in White Center, we were being put to serious work! Our first Friday was spent moving furniture and boxes back to the church from storage. It took two trips in a huge U-Haul! The next day we got up bright and early to unpack it all, too; but Saturday night we got to relax. We had a girl’s night over a Paige and Tim’s house, with several of the girls from the church and just had a lot of fun!
This past week has been spent looking for jobs, any job will do right now! We have also ventured to the malls, and parks, and to REI, which is a huge sporting goods store. On Wednesday, on the way back from REI, I got a call back from one job, and we lined up a phone interview for the next afternoon. Thursday morning we had a job workshop at UPC, where we talked about what type of jobs we’re each looking for, and just worked on resumes and interviewing skills. I had my phone interview that afternoon, and I got called in for a face-to-face interview which will be this Wednesday. Thursday evening, we had our second Formation, where we are beginning our study on the life of David.
Yesterday was a fun day; I got to play in the dirt! We worked on some landscaping around the church, in preparation for this coming Sunday. Mostly, we pulled weeds and laid mulch, but I also got to work on removing a pile of dirt from the front of the church. Very exciting, I know, but it was a huge task with several people working on it, and I feel very accomplished!
This next week holds a lot in store for me. I have my first interview, and my first one-on-one session with Mike. Also, a week from today my roommates and I fly south to New Mexico where we will be a part of the national Young Adult Volunteers orientation at Ghost Ranch. So things are moving quickly here, but I will try my best to spend more time updating you guys so you don’t have two read really long updates.
In Christ,

Kelli