catch up

I think I have so explaining to do. You are probably wondering about the massive gap between the last entry and this one. In short, my computer died. Today it has been revived, and I am indulging in a celabratory blog. (woot woot!)
Ironically, the very night my internship ended, which was, unfortunately, also the night massive ammounts of information and papers were due, the old ibook gave up on me. I got everything in on time, and have managed quite nicely in the computer lab ever since. That said, my boss, my research, and my organizational habits are all very happy that this keyboard is humming under my fingertips.



The Updates:

My internship is over, but now I work for the church as the Community Development Intern.

ESL (English as a second language) and SSL (Spanish as a second language) classes are scheduled to begin January 8th.

A Job Training Program in partnership with Hope for Chattanooga is in the works for a start sometime in February, granted lots and lots of things falling into place.

I am continuing to meet with women in LaFayette who come to the church with various needs. I am rather unsuccesfully trying to continue in relationships with many of them. Pray.




What about you? I could use some updates from a lot of you. Comment on here, email me, or if you are from PA, give me a hug and a story when I see you next week! (hurrah!) ...and if you are from Chattanooga, you know where I live. Don't be shy to stop by.

Thanks again for reading.

some more. some prayers.

also in good news, my car broke down. the good news in that part is that when the car place called me up to tell me that my several-thousand dollar repair job was complete (which i was going to pay for how?) he told me all i needed to do was pick up the keys. someone paid it all. praise God!
the blessing of that has gotten me through the rather unfortunate events of this morning (or rather, last night). I am entering the crunch-time of the last week of internship, and have multiple papers and presentations which require my time and concentration. Somehow, even with multiple saves, etc. over the last three days, I woke up this morning to find that my work was gone. just gone. so the crunch time just got a little crunchier. please pray that I can complete the work in time. the info that was lost was in the resource directory which will be distributed throughout Walker County and LaFayette. I need to turn it in to be printed by Monday night, and the lost info took about three days to fill.
Pray also that the presentations will go well next week. As most of you know, I am not the world's greatest public speaker; but the information is important, and my heart's desire is to get it all across in an effective way. LaFayette needs change.
One more thing: i need some strength in this work. I am really hoping for some relationships with some of these women, but I also recognize these will at times be battles. I am pretty weak. He is my strength, and so are you.

women of lafayette

It has been a very good week.
Exciting things are happening in LaFayette, and I find myself being pulled along. I've been trying to make contact with the homeless community for so long, with so little fruit... til now. This week I met with Krystal, Vivian, and Regina, and got the numbers of several other women. People are calling me! I am making friends.
But it's also not-so-fun at times. And by "at times", I mean pretty-much-painful. These women have gone through unimaginable times. They tell me their stories. They share their hearts. They cry. And they want help. The hardest part is saying no. Below I have included an entry from this week's log entry, because i think it sums things up a little better than I could at this moment.
Then, throughout the week, I met with Regina Hargis, Krystal Mayton, and Vivian Green, all who are women living in LaFayette and who are, have been, or are on the verge of being homeless. Krystal has three children, ages four, six, and seven, Ethan, Shayla, and Cody. She has a long, painful, and complicated story, which she shared with me on Tuesday. She met up with me behind the Square, near the bridge. Vivian came along with her, since it was her phone that Krystal had been using to stay in contact with me. Krystal and I had been in conversation for about a week, and were able to meet up on that Tuesday. Vivian had called me earlier and knew me through the church. She had recommended that Krystal call me. Vivian had her trailer burn down, and was living with her son and daughter in the Housing Authority. Regina found the church through the Housing Authority, and contacted me to ask for gas money. I met with her on Thursday in her home in the Housing Authority just off of 136. She had been homeless since February, and had been living out of her car until just recently. About two weeks ago, Regina moved into her one-bedroom home. She had an amazing story. It was kind of frightening to see that this can happen to anyone. Regina used to live on Burnt Mill Road in Flintstone. Her son, Chad, started at Covenant the same semester that I started. Only a month ago, Regina was living out of her car, struggling through unimaginable difficulties (that are confidential, of course, and I can’t share in this log). Her son is now living with a thirty-five year old woman, and caring for her three children as well as the two they have had together.

12. So skipping to twelve, the struggle I am having is that I can’t seem to figure it out: is this life, just reality of hardship and hard times? Will I slowly become calloused and hardened by this? Regina’s story is hard, but so are those of Vivian, Krystal, Tracy, and countless other woman I could talk about. There are so many I have yet to meet. There are men who have fought battles all their lives. There are children living in poverty because of their parent’s foolish decisions. My struggle is not how to deal with this, although that has definitely been a difficulty all of it’s own. My problem is that I don’t know what to make of it all. I am always having to say no. I want to help people in a lasting way, and I can see how relief could do harm in many of these cases. I know that people have been coming to the church for help, and that this has been a struggle for years- but what do you say when you know that four year old Ethan is going to be shut out of his house tonight, and you were the one that said no? Of course I want to say yes. I would be sick if I didn’t. I wanted to hold Krystal. I wanted to jump across the picnic table, tell her everything was going to be all right, and give her a huge bear hug. I wanted to take her and Vivian to Wal-mart, buy them both a ton of food, get the kids some new clothes they could be proud to wear, and pay that $374.19 to get those Utilities going again. I want those locks to go unchanged. Where do I draw the line? I have learned all of these things in school, and I believe them. I know that certain “helps” will do harm. I do not want to harm. But there is also love in me, and I know that love is Christ and not Heather Wilson. I want to be compassionate with my head, and not just the feel-goodness of my heart. But it is so hard. I am just getting into this, and it is hard. I wish I had answers. I need answers. If I am going to be working with the church for the next several months, I need some answers.

Long one. Okay, well that is why i included the pictures above. They have nothing to do with LaFayette and everything to do with birthday camping.

LaFayette

some friends


a street in town


the drive home


the art of Zach, a young homeless man living in LaFayette. His dad, Floyd, comes to Highlands sometimes, and is currently staying in the home of church friends.


the tracks

trains,friends, questions

liz climbs at Rock Town, a great climbing spot about 3 miles from LaFayette. This is the perfect example of just one of the many assets the town of LaFayette has to offer. I know a lot of climbers from the Chattanooga area, and I have yet to talk to any of them who have actually spent any time in the town, even though they climb just outside of it on a regular basis. A big prayer for me these days is that God would raise up leaders in LaFayette who see potential in their town and use their power to utilize their assets.


Lookout Mountain, looking foggy as it often does. My little car cruises up and down every day... poor little car.


Brian sitting on the bridge in LaFayette. I spend most of my time here these days. My focus right now, beyond internal church evaluations, is the poor of LaFayette, more specifically the homeless community. Brian and several others have been extremely generous with their time and come with me on different days of the week. Today Brian came with me at 7am. Tomorrow Trey will join me. I am hoping to gain a presense in the community by simply being seen. Sometimes I feel slightly purposeless, or at least a little idle... but I keep reminding myself that even if one person recognizes me later and trusts me a little more because of it, it was worth every minute.


Joya. I got the job of being her nanny by talking to her mom on the phone about Hope for Chattanooga, an organization which she works for and is now partnering with Highlands on a job-training program. This has been a huge blessing in countless ways. Joya and her brother Jonathan are great kids and have taught me things (like how to play Dora the Explorer and learn some pretty killer Spanish, and shooting hoops. i'm gettin beta.). Their mother has also been a blessing to the work in LaFayette. Although the programs have not started yet, I'm pumped to get some of the people I am meeting to be involved.

That's all for now. sorry for the lack of pictures. Some of the work lately has been kind of personal and tender for the people I am meeting, and I don't want to invade their lives with pictures. Hopefully I will be able to provide some visuals for you all at some point soon!

playing/working hard

So here I am, using the WI-FI at Erlanger Hospital. It's free, and I am glad. Mostly, I feel that this courtesy probably saves them a lot of hasseling from the people who spend a better part of their day trying not to get anything scary from the person next to them.

But don't worry too much, because there really isn't so much of an emergency. I am here with my friend Liz, who fractured her wrist while long boarding. We are waiting in the room that is for waiting.

In other, my internshiply news, the church has asked if I will join thme as a member of the staff, after my internship has ended. I have accepted a position that will focus on mercy ministry, and will simply continue my internship through this year, probably finishing up in May.

Right now, the main focus of my research is Hispanics living in the area. I am also trying to get some firm contacts with the homeless population of the town. This is exactly as difficult as it sounds.

Please pray that I will use my time wisely. It is difficult to get solid blocks of time in LaFayette, as I am working every evening and am also taking two classes. I am also about to start my Senior paper.

That's all for now. the nurse just called "Tammy-Rae!!!" into Triage 1, and that is where I will take my leave. for now.

How can I begin to describe the blessings God has bestowed upon me in these last few weeks? The days have been full, in so many ways. My internship reached the halfway point this past Monday, and I am excited to say that things are picking up. I have been spending a lot of time on the phone and in the car, making contacts and gaining information. The directory that i've been working at over the last several weeks is almost complete. Beyond that, things are happening in the church and around LaFayette. The church is looking to start an ESL program and hopefully partner with organizations in the area to provide quality, secure, and legitimate methods of saving for local Hispanics. They are also hoping to join Hope for Chattanooga in an effort to serve the community on a more holistic level.
The days are always interesting. Today I drove all the way to LaFayette, just to talk to the woman behind the counter of "The Real Deal" -which is a strange little general store on Main Street in LaFayette. I was hoping to speak with the Pastor of Harbor Lights, who owns the place; however, this lady was fairly helpful in telling me about what I had come for. The community dinner starts at 5:30 on Wednesday night.
On Sunday I drove out to Dalton and joined in on the party at Grace Presbyyterian Church. They have an incredible Hispanic ministry, and have given me some really solid advice. That, and they know how to throw a party. I love tortilla soup! When trying to sneak out at the end, Pastor Carlos snagged me, and made me come up to the pulpit and write my cell on it. Love him, you know?
Beginning this Sunday, I will be moderating focus groups in church small groups. The goal of these is to get a better idea of the gifts congregation members have, and their level of willingness to make use of these for the benefit of the church and of LaFayette. I've been working through these for several weeks now, and can't wait to see how they go.
In other news, having people back in town for school is fabulous. I am living in my own house (hurrah!!!) along with three good friends. We are enjoying each other very much, to say the least. God has blessed me with these girls. Other than that, I am waiting on my car to be fixed. I pass it almost every day in the little auto body shop, and wave. Well not really. But I probably should.

It has been an interesting week.
Monday
12:00 pm: working on report for Pastor Travis. battery charger dies.
3:00 pm: saved by Charity with laptop charger. hurrah!
5:00 pm: report given to Pastor Travis. go on search for mystery history box.
Tuesday
2:00 pm: heather gets lost in Georgia. again.
2:30 pm: heather gets off the phone with hard-to-trach-down pastor and pulls into parking lot. not lost. victorious.
2:40 pm: the dental van has called. hurrah! welcome to my office. HWY 75 has excellent cell phone service.
5:00 pm: heather writes paper that was due yesterday. i think.
Wednesday
9:30 am: heather goes for pleasant run in Chicamauga. in state of euphoria.
11:30 am: world is hateful, hateful place. someone has physically attacked my car and stolen my gary allen cd.
11:45 am: there is a nice old man telling me about stalkers and college students. apparently they don't mix.
12:00 pm: the state trooper is taking finger prints off my car. nice.
12:45 pm: man in corvett won't go away.
1:30 pm: i am on hold.
2:30 pm: i am on hold.
3:30 pm: hurrah. there is a fabulous tow truck man.
5:00 pm: Darla has come to my rescue. She is quite possibly the most generous and hospitable person I have ever met.
6:00 pm: heather realizes ole what's-his-face theif person has stolen darla's keys. am terrible house guest.
Thursday
8:00 am: heather starts harrassing insurance agents and glass men alike.
11:00 am: i am conquerer! insurance woman has called.
4:30 pm: i have a car! that smells like sweat! not mine! and everything is so sparkly...
6:00 pm: Heather is NOT lost in Rossville.

tomatoes and peanutbutter

Mrs. Pace, a new friend of mine, suggested I try a tomato and peanutbutter sandwich. "They've got zip," so my 87-year old neighbor claims. She has lived on our street, in the same house, for over 65 years. she moved there with her husband when they had their first child together, back in the '40s. I've seen that child, and i assure you he is not so little anymore. He mows his mother's lawn every-so-often, and I like to watch from my window. pretty much nothing happens on that street, so this is a prime source of entertainment. actually, I like to watch, because Mr. Pace likes to mow as close to the Azalea bushes as possible, and often literally gets stuck in them, his face literally hidden in its branches. I guess it's better than getting out the weed wacker?

down to the business of the business, I'm getting a thorough soaking of LaFayette. This week I spent most of my time on the phone with various individuals who have given themselves fully to the work of loving others. I called everyone from Al Anon, to Lookout Mountain Counseling, to a clothes closet operated by an elderly retired couple, which operates on a back road "by the Baptist church" in Rock Springs. I talked to one woman for over an hour, simply because she wanted to talk, and I was all about it. So it has been interesting to say the least. On the slate for tomorrow is hunting down and interviewing Don Alejandro, the manager of a Hispanic Resturant in LaFayette. Alejandro, or Alex, as his friends call him, knows pretty much everyone, especially in the Hispanic community. Highlands really wants to reach out to the Hispanic community, and we are hoping the Alejandro will give us some good pointers for how to do so.

that's all for now, but i'd love to hear from you! I'll be here for two more weeks, then home for a wedding, and back for school and continued internship time.
some prayer requests:
-Highlands. This church is an amazing, open, spirit-filled place. Pray that God would work and move here and that He would be glorified through whatever changes may take place as a result of my research.
-Lafayette. A small town like so many in Georgia, but SO unique in so many ways. Pray that God would move in this place and draw people to himself that they might know Him.
-Pastor Travis. He is going to be the first full time pastor at Highlands, starting in September. Pray that God would give him strength and wisdom in directing the church through these changes. He is incredibly gifted. Pray that God would continue to bless these gifts.
-me. in general, prayers are always good. I'm doing well and enjoying life, work, and people. I could always use a little more wisdom, however, and more God in me.

here and there

here i am again. this time, this internship, in chattanooga, TN. actually, that is kind of a lie. i'm living in Chickamauga, which is in north Georgia, and the church i am working with is in Lafayette. I'd like to tell you what I am doing, but I don't really know. In a very general way, I'm helping the church to evaluate the needs in the community, as well as those in the church, and in so doing, hopefully helping them to aid both. With a strong desire for more holistic ministry, the church hopes to reach people in the name of Christ by making use of a sort of catalog of church assets.
So right now I am waiting to meet with the pastor to talk about more specific goals and questions needing answers. I am living with my professor's mother-in-law... well actually, i am living with his daughter, who lives in the grandmother's house, who is not there. I sleep in her bed. it is a nice, cozy, grandmotherly sort of house. a house that i cannot actually get into by using the key. so i have unlocked my window. it's not pretty. but it works.
i apologize that this is not a very informative bit, but i promise there is more to come. please feel free to email, call, or comment. i would love to hear from you!
oh, ps. the picture is also kind of a lie. i took it while climbing in PA. but it was a good time and i thought i should share that with you.

here am i

I'm sitting on my bed. My bed is in my room. My room is in my house, which is on a road, which is in a town, which is in Pennsylvania, which is in the United States. And that is very strange. One week ago, I would not have believed you if you told me I would be here today. I thought it would be good to come home. I thought i would be relieved. And I am. But I'm not. I keep thinking that I shouldn't be here. somehow it's not right. But I also know that God is good, and His plans are perfect. For some reason, God knew that I should not be in Adjumani, as was the plan. His is much better. I have no idea what that plan is, but I am learning to wait.
However, my time in Adjumani was good. It is an incredible place. I've decided to include some picures in this post so that you can see a bit more of it. And I think that I need people to know that this time was not all completely horrible. I fell in love with the place. I had to go, but I didn't want to. Hope that makes some sense.

Moyo

today i have arrived in Moyo, which is across the nile from adjumani.
there is a story behind this, and i need to tell it, but to be honest,
i just really dont feel like it right now.
lets just say that it has become incredibly clear that i am not in control
of my life. But i am thankful for that, and trusting.
pray. God is good and working out many things in me.
working usually means that pain comes too.
thank you to all of you who have been sending such encouragements to me.
i really appreciate it and hope i can get back to you in a not-so-mass-mail sort of way.
liz: ... ... ...
dad: daddy
gram: thank goodness you are afraid of computers
com devers: do your thing (chuckle chuckle, shaking of head...)
mom: Psalm 34:7. thank you.

The Family

only 6 minutes left on the internet time card, so...
arrived last night in kampala to the chirping of crickets.
i forgot how much i loved the smell of night here.
Rev. Christine picked me up about an hour after the rest of
the Muzungu (white people) were gone: which ended up being the
perfect opportunity to listen in on several conversations about
me, in Swahili, which i am pretty sure i wasn't supposed to understand.
also, i am thankful for chopped hair and bucket showers, which
when combined are incredible.
Rev. christine's family is fabulous, and basically consists of five
adolescents, one of which is a niece, all of whom are amazing.
king of wish i was staying in kampala just to be with them... but really,
i'm excited to be leaving five am tomorrow for adjumani.
sorry short but sweet. love you all.

Adjumani

this tuesday I will be flying to Uganda, where I will be an research intern for the next three months. I've been preparing for this for years, but it would be a lie to say i am even slightly prepared. but i'm excited and expectant.
i'll be working with the Anglican Church of Uganda, under OHDYP, the Organization for the Holistic Health and Development of Young People. I will be researching their Peer Development program, and attempting to determine whether or not it is effective. I am hoping that this experience will be beneficial for the program, but also that it will open my eyes and allow me to be a better developer.
I will be conducting the research out of Adjumani, which is in the north west, with Gulu to the south, and Sudan to the north. I think it is rather rural, so I'm not sure how often i will have access to the internet, but I plan to post updates as often as possible. Feel free to leave comments, advice, or whatever you wish.