Insider Outsider

This weekend I was made an offer that I couldn’t refuse for a gym membership in the ritzy neighborhood just a few miles away from my house here in Phillips. I’m glad for this opportunity because I do need to get in shape, and winter in Minnesota isn’t the best motivator for outside workouts.  The gym is really nice and I think that I get healthier just by walking in the door.

 

But this new identity that I have, member of this gym, makes me feel a little more like an outsider in the circles I am working to be a part of.  I have the extra spare change per month that my membership will cost—families I know are struggling just to put food on the table (which was me last month, but with only myself to support and no debt, my financial situation didn’t take very long to become semi-stable).  Why didn’t I use this extra money to help out those families?  What about the time that I will spend at that gym instead of building intentional relationships with my neighbors.  Was it really worth it?

 

How do I live in this world but not be of it?  Where is the line between being a responsible young professional and living an abandoned life of grace?  Is there even a line?  Can they possibly flow together for this missionary-wannabe?  I challenge you to pray for me as these questions become a part of my daily struggle, and also to examine your heart to see where your motives are for seemingly inconsequential decisions that you make each day.

 

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

- Psalm 130:5-6

I’ve moved!

After two months of the daily commute, of living over 30 min. from work, school, and church, I am happily settled in a beautiful house in the middle of the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis.

 

 

Yesterday when I got home from work one of my new housemates had also just gotten home, and she invited me to go with her to walk to the local Somali mall to get a cup of chai.  On our walk it was clear that our neighborhood is far from perfect—our house has just been remodeled and is in good shape, but several need lots of TLC, young kids walk themselves home from school, and threatening graffiti is a reminder that we need to be cautious.  However, this area is wonderful, too.  Our two white faces in a sea of black at the mall, friendly greetings from people who recognize my housemate on the walk, and people flying by in the bike lanes before it is too cold to run errands this way.

 

There are many here from people groups who are completely closed to the gospel.  I pray that the light of our house will shine beyond just the front porch and into the hearts of those who need Good News.

 

I am feeling so content to be where I am right now.  I live within walking distance of the school I work at.  A walk around the neighborhood makes it clear that I am the minority, and the young women I live with are excited to be here as well.

 

I just want to clarify that I don’t want to write about where I live without leaving out the cultural and racial diversity that exists, here, but I never want to sound or be prejudiced in my words.  I am here to create justice and equality, so if my words ever sound prejudiced, please leave a comment!  After growing up in Scandinavian Wisconsin, I’m still learning how to correctly express what’s on my heart when it comes to the racial injustices I see in the world.

Setting Stereotypes Straight

Small Thought for the Day:


I love it when a refugee comes in to the coffeeshop I work at and orders a latte, and I am sweeping and mopping the floor.  To me, in a very small way, that is some kind of social justice.

Bilingual

For years since my Spanish has been decent I have struggled to label myself as bilingual.  Regardless of how good I sound to an English speaker,I still have conversations with Spanish speakers where I leave saying, "If I didn't understand what I think I understood, we could be in trouble."


But three weeks ago I took a test and was hired for a job which has bilingual right in the title.  And suddenly, regardless of any hesitations or doubts I might have, I have been thrown into the world of required fluency.  Kids in classrooms are calling each other names in Spanish that I have to catch, I am expected to listen to English words and write them down in Spanish, and tonight I interpreted for parent/teacher conferences.  These experiences have been blowing my mind!


Language is a powerful thing!   There is a reason that God gave us language confusion (and also linguistic beauty) when our heads were getting big at the tower of Babble.  Speaking a second language is like having a bridge where there used to be only a gorge.  I love that my language bridge, which used to be safe for personal use only (you've gotta stick with the analogy here), is now substantial enough that others-- students, parents, and teachers-- can be supported by it when they need to get information across.


Tonight I responded to an emergency interpreter call to a classroom, and when I arrived, the teacher had been trying for ten minutes to get a message across to a parent with the few Spanish words she knew.  The parent was giving her blank stares.  I walked in and sat down, and suddenly the conference flowed.  I was astonished. I am so glad that I studied this phenomenon of sounds, words, and ideas, but not only parent/teacher conference purposes.  There is beauty in the fact that God allows language bridges to be the route of transportation for the delivery of His word to every tribe, tongue, and nation.


Picture from here

Be Her Guest

I guest posted again, this time on my friend Amy's great blog! You can check out my blurb on living out the gospel as a single person here.  Enjoy!

Fall in Wisconsin

A collection of pictures I may or may not have taken while driving.

My Big News

I have a job!  And I will get to use my Spanish daily in my job!  After months of searching, applying, interviewing, praying, working at a coffee shop, more applying, being rejected, being offered jobs that I didn’t want, being frustrated, and then accepting God’s timing, I finally was offered the exact job that I wanted.

 

Last week Wednesday I received a call from Minneapolis Public Schools offering me the job.  God’s timing was perfectly perfect, allowing me to become established enough at the coffee shop that I can stay on for a few hours a week, but also giving me this job just before I was offered another job that I didn’t want as much.  I see His grace and provision in every step of the last two months.

 

I will be a Bilingual Associate Educator at an elementary/middle school in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis.  This school is almost 80% Latino, and I will be doing a variety of jobs from bus control to ESL groups to lunch duty to testing students.  Maybe this doesn’t sound like a glorious job, but I will actually be helping people!  I will be using my Spanish so that it improves and becomes less rusty, I will be able to make a decent living, and I think it’s a perfect job for the place I’m at in life right now.

 

Today was my first day, and I am exhausted.  I think that I met over one hundred first and second graders today.  Praise be to God, who gives us all we need for grace and glory.  I can’t wait to see how this year turns out.