June 1st: Completing FOUR YEARS at
Tierra Nueva!
After quitting my case manager job and subletting my
apartment to a friend, I moved up to Tierra Nueva in the summer of 2008.
Three months, was my plan. I’ll do a full-time internship at Tierra Nueva
for my MSW, and then move back down to Seattle. Well, plans changed and I
moved into a house with other girls come end of summer, in Mt. Vernon.
Now, 4 years later, I’m starting my fifth summer at Tierra Nueva.
I'm so grateful to be here at Tierra Nueva. I have
learned so much these past years it's hard to pull into words. I have
grown in my understanding of God's unqiue and powerful involvement in this
world. I feel immensely more connected to God, experiencing what it truly
means to be the branch connected to the vine of Jesus. I can't live
without Him, let alone try to minister to others, and have any positive impact
without Him. I feel increasingly rooted in grounded in who I am as God's
beloved, participating with him in the work He is doing to bring His Kingdom
here on earth. En la Tierra como en el Cielo. On Earth as it is in
Heaven. I am grateful for my community here at Tierra Nueva, together
learning how to seek a Tierra Nueva.
day-in & day-out happenings:
• going to the Snow Goose Produce for their massive ice
cream cones with our new interns and the Sanchez kids
• organizing a meeting with Mt. Vernon Law Enforcement,
Juvenile Detention Center, CPS, and other service providers to address CSEC
(commercially sexually exploited children & youth) in our community
• running into 3 people this week who are caught in the
clutches of drug addiction, yet speak of hopes for treatment
• receiving fearful phone calls from an undocumented
father of 5 who is nervous about his immigration status
• planning a baby shower for a 16-year-old girl who is due
in the beginning of July, worried about how she is going to pick strawberries
this summer
• talking with a recently single mother of 4 with the
youngest 4 months old, finding out she is unexpectedly pregnant
• hearing that the U-Visa part of VAWA (Violence Against
Women Act) is potentially going to be gutted in the Act’s renewal, eliminating
benefits for undocumented immigrant victims of crime.
• writing letters with Evaristo & Alicia, helping them
articulate the 'extreme hardship' that it will be if Evaristo is deported
• taking care of a Triqui friend’s 3 year-old daughter so
she could take a class at Pregnancy Choices
Im also continuing to enjoy being a women’s jail
chaplain, co-leading Bible Studies, doing one-on-ones and just recently began
corresponding via a new email system with one of the former Skagit County Jail
inmates who is in Purdy. It was fun to go into jail a couple Sundays ago,
and have a woman tell me that she hasn’t had cravings for drugs since we
prayed for her 3 weeks ago! ‘The obsession is gone!’ she tells me with
new light in her eyes. 'This thing works!'
Praise the LORD!
Elena and Araceli
Our Summer Hand-Made Sale!
Brenda enjoying an afternoon nap
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