Heart of Strength: Gift of Community

 

It always amazes me how much of a tight net community Chinook is out here in Montana. A few Fridays ago, I saw for myself just how close everyone is when Becca (a fellow YAV) was sick and had to have surgery.

 

I was expecting to explain to people that day that Becca would not be able to make it to work. In the morning working at the preschool I actually did have to explain what was happening. However when I went to TGIF (an after school program that is run by the local churches for the elementary children), I did not have to say anything. I was expecting to have to explain to them that Becca was not feeling well but everyone already knew that Becca was in the hospital and had to have surgery.

This week it seems everyone all over town have asked how Becca is doing. Just to let you know she is good and getting better each day.  What amazed me, as normal as questions are given the situation, it was the real concern that everyone had about her health.  I saw people coming together, not just to express the concerns and offer their support to help, but to pray for Becca.

 

Chinook has many times in this year to come together and celebrate as a community. I’ve seen this with the High School's Home Coming, and the Sugar Beet Festival.  I’ve heard that Christmas can be big here, too. But this is a first time I’ve seen them come together to support another in need.  And I was surprised by it. 

 

Should it surprise me as much as it has? I mean the programs we help with during our YAV year are about helping communities coming together to support each other. Maybe my surprise is just that I have not really looked at it this way. Community building is not always big or fancy programs or celebration but when communities like this come together to really support each other. This is probably part of the reason that I enjoy working with people. I am thinking about what I will do after this year.  I know that I would like to continue doing work like this. I want to be involved with a community when it celebrated or comes together in good times.  And I want to be there when a community comes together in the hard times when things are challenging. I know that I am right where I am supposed to be and learning more about it each day. 

 

I will add pictures to this blog now that I am able. I have finally got my computer working, so now I should have no problems putting pictures on my post. Hope that you all are enjoying this blog so far.

 

Heart of Strength: Patience

 

   On my way out to Sweet Home (the local retirement center) for the church service on Sep. 20. I was listening to a radio station in the car. The speaker on the radio was talking about the fruit of the Spirit. They said love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as listed in Galatians 5 are the fruit of the Spirit. A part of me questions that. For me, when I think of fruit, I think of the finished product. For me, fruit is someting that can be enjoy and feast on. But when I think about these things, I don't see them as fruit. I see them as areas where I need to work on and produce. And I don't see them coming so easy. It takes strength and work for some to grow this fruit in their lives. They can be tools of the spirit to do good works, create fruitful lives, and make life thrive. Forgiveness as I mentioned before is a challenge for me. I cannot always forgive myself very easily. So can the fruit of the Spirit, be challenging too.

   Since I started working here in Chinook, my patience has been tested. I feel like many people think I enjoy politics because I'm from Washington DC. I have been asked questions about politics. It is as if, because I lived in DC that I naturally enjoy politics. After a few minutes talking with me, they quickly realized that I am not what they thought I would be. For the most part they seemed pleasantly surprised that I'm not really into politics.

   My patience has also been tested with communication. In the first week of my time here, I discovered that my cellphone wasn't working very well. It was very frustrating going that first week without my phone. Eventually, I got it fixed and now it is working fine again. Even though that was a challenge not to talk to my family right away, it was not my toughest challenge in the area of communication.

  My pronunciation of words, my dialect, has also surprised me as a point of frustration and caused me to be patient with myself. A three year old at the preschool that I am working at corrected me when I asked another child if they would like a crayon. I know now that I have a tendency of saying it differently than they do here in Montana. The kids might think that I talk a little weird, but Becca has pointed out to me that it is a good thing for the kids to learn different dialects. That the kids need to learn that people often pronounce words differently than them.

   However for me, the biggest challenge in communication has been to understand our schedules. Jack has mentioned that they are changing some parts of the site this year so all of the YAVs now will be working to some degree in each of the four areas of placement. The schools where we are working have some new employees who are just getting used to their jobs and have never worked with the YAVs before.  And some sites are seasonal so some will start later than others. Trying to find out if a site is ready for work and where we would go has taken some time. I know that there are a lot of moving parts to finding out where people should go.  But the goal is to do the most good where ever we are sent, and it will take time to work it all out.  It is still a challenge.  I simply would like a set routine, so I can find time to take care of myself.  So for those of you thinking about Chinook as a site, I would like to say that when you do come, they will have a better idea of how setting thing up so your transition will go easer for you. We are the test YAVs to see if they can offer more diverse work opportunities out here for an even richer experience. I think it is worth the process to grow these fruit of the Sprit.  After all, we are the instruments of God's good work. It can be a difficult task to committee our selves to do. When we stumble or find ourselves tested, God is in the process and the work, teaching us along the way. We just need to find peace in patients.