As Ugandans would say, “I am lost.” No, I have not been wandering around Santa Barbara for two months only to find my way home today. However, I have been lost from your fellowship as my communication took a lengthy hiatus. I apologize for my extended silence. How I wish I could have kept you up to date on the happenings in Santa Barbara because my schedule has been full and my emotions have traveled the course of ten roller coasters. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and thoughts even without updates. In order to bring you up to speed I figured I would share with you the lowlights and highlights from the past 2 months as well as some current events. (So much has happened that I honestly thought it had been at least 3 months since I last wrote).
Lowlights:
- In general, a busyness of schedule. Around the holidays until mid January I worked 40 hours per week at Cost Plus, thus not leaving much time for work at the Village.
- Our first all residents meeting didn’t turn out as we planned. Due to incorrect information we held the meeting at an inconvenient time so not many people showed up. Fortunately, we did get to meet some new residents who are great and the “failure” opened my eyes to see where I needed to improve and devote more time.
- Emotional and relational exhaustion. It’s hard being divided between two jobs as I feel that I cannot give 100% to both. Additionally, there are some people in pretty difficult places and sharing some of God’s pain for their situation is important yet draining.
Highlights:
- Family and friends! I spent Christmas day with some relatives in the mountains and it snowed. Around New Year’s my mom and dad came and visited me in Santa Barbara. Then, in mid-Jan I went to Chicago and Indiana to see my Ugandan friend, Adeline, and my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces. It was wonderful to see so many people!
- Budding Relationships: I am getting to know several of the residents on a deeper level and I’m feeling more comfortable with the youth and kids. Also, I now have a new roommate, Erica, and it has been great welcoming someone else to our apartment and Empowerment Team.
- CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) Conference: Sometime I’ll have to share more about this, but briefly it was very encouraging. It was a two day conference with speakers and workshops talking about Christian community development. The stories of others inspired me and I spent some time praying and processing things that have happened so far in Santa Barbara.
Current Events:
- Common Ground: This is a county-wide movement to get the 100 most vulnerable people off of the streets of Santa Barbara county and into supportive housing. This upcoming week is the registry week where 500 volunteers will go out and talk with every homeless person in the county to find out who are the most vulnerable. Here is a link if you are interested in reading more http://www.commongroundsb.org/commongroundsb/Welcome.html
- I am closely working with a woman who lives at the Village who suffers from alcoholism and mental health issues. I am encouraging her to take steps to get into a program that will help her yet it is a lengthy journey because she must first want to get well.
- There are 4 of us on the Empowerment Team and we’ve been continuing to build relationships with residents and are moving towards directed conversations about empowerment and its importance in this community. We are always learning about things that will work here and what is most beneficial to the residents.
A lot of exciting things happening and upcoming: Westmont Spring Break at the Village.
