Right now I am sitting at my favorite coffee shop, just watching the rain fall down, and I could be complaining about the crummy Seattle weather, but I'm not. For the last week or so, it has been absolutely beautiful here. Even though the gorgeous weather is gone for now, I know its what I have to look forward to in the summer. Well, I want to start off this post with some serious praise to God...I have a job again! After just three short weeks of unemployment, I am back at World Vision, in a similar position to what I had before. I just finished training and I start by myself on Monday, so I am a little nervous.
I am also starting to volunteer at a new placement, and I am incredibly excited about it. I will still be working at the church two days a week, with the afterschool program and middle school girl's bible study, but now I will also be working a few days a week as an admin assistant to the chaplain at King County's Juvenile Detention Center. Mostly I will be doing administrative work in the Chaplain's office, and working some with the youth, but I am most excited for the opportunities involved with the work of developing an after-care program for youth who are leaving the dentention center but still need help. This position might eventually turn into a paid part-time position in the short-term and a full-time position later on!
As you may know, once you move to Seattle, you are required to drink coffee, preferably from a local shop and you must enjoy it...you can be arrested if you don't! Well, since I didn't want to risk arrest, I have been on the hunt for a good local coffee shopand I have finally found one. It's locally owned with a few shops in the Seattle area. The shop I frequent is in West Seattle, about 5 miles from our house and near the water. I can get here easily by bus as well as car, it's small, intimate, and friendly (the baristas already know me), it has free wi-fi (internet), they serve ONLY 100% organic coffee, and you can get organic milk too, and the coffee and food are delicious and inexpensive. I am at the coffee shop often (in fact I am writing this update from my favorite spot here)...I think this offically makes me a Seattleite!
Part of the reason I am writing again so soon is because I have two very important requests for prayer...please, please pray for an end to the violence in Kenya! One of the reasons I am asking this is because Mt View Church has some very close friends in Kenya...we have a partner ministry with some folks over there. If you haven't heard, Kenya is in the middle of major violence because of issues with their recent elections. The two tribes who are fighting are the Kikuyu and the Luo tribes. We recently had a guest speaker at church who is a youth worker in the Dagoretti slum in Nairobi. He is the member of the Kikuyu tribe and heads back home soon, back into the violence. His name is James. Also in the Nairobi area are David, Mark and Moses, who live and work in the Mathare Valley. We have a partner minstry with them, called the Inspiration Center. The center reaches out to the children in the Mathare Valley, a major slum in Nairobi. Recently, the building next to the Inspiration Center was burned to the ground, and Mark was shot in the hand (but he is ok). The last we heard is that they are all ok but are sleeping at the Inspiration Center to ensure nothing happens to the building.
I am also asking for continued prayers for Michelle, our new site coordinator. January has been a tragic month for her. Just two weeks after she lost her mother in a tragic car accident (she was hit by a car), her fiance passed away in Atlanta. I don't want to go into too much detail here, but he was supposed to be released from the hospital and unexpectedly died. In a situation like this it's hard to even know WHAT to pray for, please just pray for her to receive comfort from friends and family as well as from God...
Blessings to you ALL, and thanks for taking the time to read what's going on with me.
Kelli
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
VERY long awaited update
Wow, sooo much has happened since I moved to Seattle in September. I apologize for not getting an update out before now, life is pretty crazy here. In fact, the only reason I have time to write now is because I am currently unemployed (yes, again!). My first job in Seattle was with World Vision which is a Christian humanitarian organization that deals with poverty in the US and in several developing countries throughout the world. My job with WV was in the Call Center. I received calls from people wanting to donate money to World Vision through the gift catalog. Pretty simple, but I had a lot of fun working there, and I met some really amazing people. The reason that I am now jobless is because the job at World Vision was a contracted position and my contract ended. I knew my end date was coming up but was hoping to extend my contract, while looking for another job. But the contract extension did not happen, so now I am on the hunt for a new job. For the last month or so I have felt called to find something more in line with what my passion is (If you’re wondering what this is, I will get to it a little later). I am not sure if this is supposed to be more on a volunteering basis or an actual job yet…
Right now my volunteering hours are filled with tutoring at the church’s after-school program, helping out a teacher in her classroom at Mt View Elementary School, participating/occasionally co-leading a bible study for middle school girls, and providing childcare for The Language Institute, run out of Mt View Presbyterian Church twice a week. Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission runs an after-school program for children in the community. The age group is K-6th grade and I tutor a group of second and third grade girls, they are a group of about 6-7 usually. I love working at After-School, though it is definitely a challenge at times. I am basically running my own mini-classroom, and it is always a little crazy! I am also helping out in a teacher’s classroom at Mt View Elementary a few hours a week. I work in a second grade classroom, and sometimes I help the kids with math, but I also help the teacher file papers, and make the homework packets, anything I can to help out the teacher, Mrs. Lentz, who is a first-year teacher. One of the great things about helping at a community school is that not only am I helping out a teacher, I am the eyes and ears of the church—and I pay attention to anyone who may need something the church can provide like a winter coat, or some new books for the school, and I am also providing a sense of stability and consistency with the kids that I see both in the classroom and at After-School. I am at the after-school program three days a week, and on Tuesdays I help out with Girl’s Group which is a hang-out time to talk and learn about life, love, and God. It’s for middle-school girls and the group is growing to about 6 girls, and we do a bible study each week using the devotional book “Girls of Grace”. This is one of my favorite things to do because I get to be a middle-schooler again and make crafts, but I also get to be an example of how to live like a Christian, and to show these girls the Christians can be cool too. Most of the girls in the group are still determining whether or not they believe in God, but it’s really great that they are coming to this group to spend time with some people who can be good examples of faith, and still have fun! I also work 1-2 nights a week with the Language Institute which is a program that offers basic and advanced English classes to recent immigrants in the White Center area, among other places. They also do home tutoring for families. One of the major constraints for people wanting to attend the classes is childcare. So my roommate and I provide our “world-renowned” (HAHA) babysitting skills twice a week. Last quarter there was only one child who came. His name was Tahn and he was from Vietnam. HE was ten years old and was mentally handicapped as well as mute, and he did not understand much English. We spent a lot of time watching movies and doing puzzles. Brianne (who runs the institute) was able to promote childcare for this next quarter which just started and we now have four children attending.
One of the other great things I am involved with along with my roommates is a class through University Presbyterian Church. The class is called Urban Advocates and each member of the class is paired up with an urban partner and we meet with them to learn more about how their organization works and how they are advocates for the urban community. I am partnered with an organization called New Horizons Ministries ( www.nhmin.org ). New Horizons works with the homeless street youth of Seattle, and provides a drop-in several times a week in the mornings and evenings where the youth can come in and get a hot meal, wash their clothes, get new clothes, take a shower, find out about classes, jobs, or other services they might need, and just take a break from life on the streets. One of the things that is different about New Horizons is that they don’t ask as much information up front, just the information that they absolutely need, they don’t proselytize to the kids, and they accept the kids as is-meaning they can be under the influence as long as they aren’t causing problems, and they can come in with weapons as long as they agree to have them locked up while they are at the facility. I think this is what makes New Horizons such a popular place for kids to come in the area. One of the other ministries of New Horizons is their ministry to prostitutes. The have street teams who volunteer to go out during the night and provide water and food, as well as condoms to the prostitutes, and they also tell them about the services that New Horizons offers.
Before I even met with New Horizons I had an interesting experience involving them. I was taking the bus home from work one day, and I was talking with a fellow YAV who is in Hollywood, and we were just catching up on everything we’ve been involved in and I was telling her about New Horizons, when I am interrupted from my conversation by someone else on the bus. I look up and it’s a young kid-he looks about 15 and he looks like he hasn’t had a bath in a few days, his clothes are tattered, and he looks like he’s on drugs. He is asking me about New Horizons. I quickly get off the phone with my friend and begin to tell him about New Horizons and give him the phone number and location. He then asks to use my phone and I oblige, but I am pretty sure he called his drug dealer. Still, he takes the information about New Horizons. The strange thing about this is experience is that I was on a bus that I had never taken and normally wouldn’t have taken, and I was talking with someone I had never called in the 3 years I had known her, previous to us both serving as Young Adult Volunteers.
Speaking of taking busses, I came to Seattle with the intention of relying on the bus system, but now I have a car. It all started back in October when I accepted the job at World Vision. My roommate Hailey had already accepted a position there, so I asked for the same hours as her, so that we could carpool. Well, the first day of work rolls around and Hailey and I head off the Federal Way, a good 30 minute drive. When we arrive, Hailey is informed that there is a problem--her time off had not been approved and they did not have a contract for her. So, Hailey had to go home, and after more complications, she ended up not working for World Vision. Obviously, now I did not have a ride to work, so I started to look up bus schedules. The bus system in Seattle as a whole is excellent, but it’s not so great in and out of White Center. The first week, my schedule was 9am-6pm, and I had to be at the bus stop by 6:15am and take 4 buses to get to work on time, and I didn’t get home until 8:00pm, after another four buses. And, to make matters worse, my schedule after training was supposed to be 6am-3pm, and there was no way for me to work those hours if I traveled by bus. But let me tell you, GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! That same week, as I was stressing out over transportation, we get a call from our site coordinator, who said a woman who lives near Seattle, and attends University Presbyterian Church, wants to donate her car to the Intentional Community House. At first I wasn’t sure because the car would be in my name and it meant incurring more bills for insurance, etc; but I prayed a lot about it and in the end it was clear that I should take the car. It’s a 1992 Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, I’ll post pictures don’t worry! The car has definitely been a blessing, and will continue to be one to future residents of the house.
There have also been some pretty big changes going on within our community. First, Mount View Presbyterian Church has had a part-time pastor on supply from the Presbytery…for the last NINE years. Finally, after receiving pressure from the presbytery, Claudia (the pastor) and a committee began a process to determine whether God was calling Claudia to stay on as a full-time pastor at Mt View or to move on. The consensus from Claudia and the committee both was that it was time for Claudia to move on. Her last Sunday was December 30. Mt View does have a commissioned lay pastor, but she also has a full-time job! So, for right now, the church and presbytery are trying to find a interim pastor and until then Lina (the lay pastor) and other friends of Mt View will be preaching. *Quickly before I explain this next change, I need to explain that our program in Seattle is through Young Adult Volunteers but it is also a part of University Presbyterian Church and is called Seattle Urban Intentional Community* The Intentional Community falls under UPC’s Department of Urban and Global Missions which is going through some staff changes. These staff changes affect us because our site coordinator, Mike, has received a promotion and a new person, Michelle, has filled his position. So we are unsure how much Mike is going to be involved with the rest of the year, and we are trying to get to know Michelle.
Michelle actually led formation (our Thursday meeting) this week and she brought us a really interesting test/assessment. It was about discovering your passion. We started out discussing what passion is and then we answered the questions “What excites you in or about the world?” and “What angers you in or about the world?” We moved on to picking out action words that excited us most out of a list of 100 words- we came out with about 21 words, and then had to narrow it down to 3-4. The next question was “What is your cause?” And last we made a list of types of people. Using these components we came up with a passion statement…My mission/passion is to model, excite, communicate to, and encourage underprivileged, poor youth to believe that God is love and love is all that matters. (Shout out to my FAVE Bryan McFarland because the bold words are his lyrics!!)
Michelle was just here Thursday night, talking about spending the holidays with her mom and then the next night she tragically lost her mother when she was hit by a car. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose your mother (I LOVE YOU MOM!) but I know that Michelle is dealing with some very tough emotions right now so I ask that you keep her and her family in your prayers, as we will be doing here.
Blessings to you all and thanks for reading, and I would love to hear what’s going on in your lives as well!
Peace,
Kelli
links to new pictures: http://fsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2366372&l=4f792&id=5206509
Right now my volunteering hours are filled with tutoring at the church’s after-school program, helping out a teacher in her classroom at Mt View Elementary School, participating/occasionally co-leading a bible study for middle school girls, and providing childcare for The Language Institute, run out of Mt View Presbyterian Church twice a week. Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission runs an after-school program for children in the community. The age group is K-6th grade and I tutor a group of second and third grade girls, they are a group of about 6-7 usually. I love working at After-School, though it is definitely a challenge at times. I am basically running my own mini-classroom, and it is always a little crazy! I am also helping out in a teacher’s classroom at Mt View Elementary a few hours a week. I work in a second grade classroom, and sometimes I help the kids with math, but I also help the teacher file papers, and make the homework packets, anything I can to help out the teacher, Mrs. Lentz, who is a first-year teacher. One of the great things about helping at a community school is that not only am I helping out a teacher, I am the eyes and ears of the church—and I pay attention to anyone who may need something the church can provide like a winter coat, or some new books for the school, and I am also providing a sense of stability and consistency with the kids that I see both in the classroom and at After-School. I am at the after-school program three days a week, and on Tuesdays I help out with Girl’s Group which is a hang-out time to talk and learn about life, love, and God. It’s for middle-school girls and the group is growing to about 6 girls, and we do a bible study each week using the devotional book “Girls of Grace”. This is one of my favorite things to do because I get to be a middle-schooler again and make crafts, but I also get to be an example of how to live like a Christian, and to show these girls the Christians can be cool too. Most of the girls in the group are still determining whether or not they believe in God, but it’s really great that they are coming to this group to spend time with some people who can be good examples of faith, and still have fun! I also work 1-2 nights a week with the Language Institute which is a program that offers basic and advanced English classes to recent immigrants in the White Center area, among other places. They also do home tutoring for families. One of the major constraints for people wanting to attend the classes is childcare. So my roommate and I provide our “world-renowned” (HAHA) babysitting skills twice a week. Last quarter there was only one child who came. His name was Tahn and he was from Vietnam. HE was ten years old and was mentally handicapped as well as mute, and he did not understand much English. We spent a lot of time watching movies and doing puzzles. Brianne (who runs the institute) was able to promote childcare for this next quarter which just started and we now have four children attending.
One of the other great things I am involved with along with my roommates is a class through University Presbyterian Church. The class is called Urban Advocates and each member of the class is paired up with an urban partner and we meet with them to learn more about how their organization works and how they are advocates for the urban community. I am partnered with an organization called New Horizons Ministries ( www.nhmin.org ). New Horizons works with the homeless street youth of Seattle, and provides a drop-in several times a week in the mornings and evenings where the youth can come in and get a hot meal, wash their clothes, get new clothes, take a shower, find out about classes, jobs, or other services they might need, and just take a break from life on the streets. One of the things that is different about New Horizons is that they don’t ask as much information up front, just the information that they absolutely need, they don’t proselytize to the kids, and they accept the kids as is-meaning they can be under the influence as long as they aren’t causing problems, and they can come in with weapons as long as they agree to have them locked up while they are at the facility. I think this is what makes New Horizons such a popular place for kids to come in the area. One of the other ministries of New Horizons is their ministry to prostitutes. The have street teams who volunteer to go out during the night and provide water and food, as well as condoms to the prostitutes, and they also tell them about the services that New Horizons offers.
Before I even met with New Horizons I had an interesting experience involving them. I was taking the bus home from work one day, and I was talking with a fellow YAV who is in Hollywood, and we were just catching up on everything we’ve been involved in and I was telling her about New Horizons, when I am interrupted from my conversation by someone else on the bus. I look up and it’s a young kid-he looks about 15 and he looks like he hasn’t had a bath in a few days, his clothes are tattered, and he looks like he’s on drugs. He is asking me about New Horizons. I quickly get off the phone with my friend and begin to tell him about New Horizons and give him the phone number and location. He then asks to use my phone and I oblige, but I am pretty sure he called his drug dealer. Still, he takes the information about New Horizons. The strange thing about this is experience is that I was on a bus that I had never taken and normally wouldn’t have taken, and I was talking with someone I had never called in the 3 years I had known her, previous to us both serving as Young Adult Volunteers.
Speaking of taking busses, I came to Seattle with the intention of relying on the bus system, but now I have a car. It all started back in October when I accepted the job at World Vision. My roommate Hailey had already accepted a position there, so I asked for the same hours as her, so that we could carpool. Well, the first day of work rolls around and Hailey and I head off the Federal Way, a good 30 minute drive. When we arrive, Hailey is informed that there is a problem--her time off had not been approved and they did not have a contract for her. So, Hailey had to go home, and after more complications, she ended up not working for World Vision. Obviously, now I did not have a ride to work, so I started to look up bus schedules. The bus system in Seattle as a whole is excellent, but it’s not so great in and out of White Center. The first week, my schedule was 9am-6pm, and I had to be at the bus stop by 6:15am and take 4 buses to get to work on time, and I didn’t get home until 8:00pm, after another four buses. And, to make matters worse, my schedule after training was supposed to be 6am-3pm, and there was no way for me to work those hours if I traveled by bus. But let me tell you, GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! That same week, as I was stressing out over transportation, we get a call from our site coordinator, who said a woman who lives near Seattle, and attends University Presbyterian Church, wants to donate her car to the Intentional Community House. At first I wasn’t sure because the car would be in my name and it meant incurring more bills for insurance, etc; but I prayed a lot about it and in the end it was clear that I should take the car. It’s a 1992 Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, I’ll post pictures don’t worry! The car has definitely been a blessing, and will continue to be one to future residents of the house.
There have also been some pretty big changes going on within our community. First, Mount View Presbyterian Church has had a part-time pastor on supply from the Presbytery…for the last NINE years. Finally, after receiving pressure from the presbytery, Claudia (the pastor) and a committee began a process to determine whether God was calling Claudia to stay on as a full-time pastor at Mt View or to move on. The consensus from Claudia and the committee both was that it was time for Claudia to move on. Her last Sunday was December 30. Mt View does have a commissioned lay pastor, but she also has a full-time job! So, for right now, the church and presbytery are trying to find a interim pastor and until then Lina (the lay pastor) and other friends of Mt View will be preaching. *Quickly before I explain this next change, I need to explain that our program in Seattle is through Young Adult Volunteers but it is also a part of University Presbyterian Church and is called Seattle Urban Intentional Community* The Intentional Community falls under UPC’s Department of Urban and Global Missions which is going through some staff changes. These staff changes affect us because our site coordinator, Mike, has received a promotion and a new person, Michelle, has filled his position. So we are unsure how much Mike is going to be involved with the rest of the year, and we are trying to get to know Michelle.
Michelle actually led formation (our Thursday meeting) this week and she brought us a really interesting test/assessment. It was about discovering your passion. We started out discussing what passion is and then we answered the questions “What excites you in or about the world?” and “What angers you in or about the world?” We moved on to picking out action words that excited us most out of a list of 100 words- we came out with about 21 words, and then had to narrow it down to 3-4. The next question was “What is your cause?” And last we made a list of types of people. Using these components we came up with a passion statement…My mission/passion is to model, excite, communicate to, and encourage underprivileged, poor youth to believe that God is love and love is all that matters. (Shout out to my FAVE Bryan McFarland because the bold words are his lyrics!!)
Michelle was just here Thursday night, talking about spending the holidays with her mom and then the next night she tragically lost her mother when she was hit by a car. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose your mother (I LOVE YOU MOM!) but I know that Michelle is dealing with some very tough emotions right now so I ask that you keep her and her family in your prayers, as we will be doing here.
Blessings to you all and thanks for reading, and I would love to hear what’s going on in your lives as well!
Peace,
Kelli
links to new pictures: http://fsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2366372&l=4f792&id=5206509
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