Back in Town

We got back from Orientation on this afternoon. The week was good; great community was formed, but it was wonderful to finally and officially “land” where the work is to begin.
Our house, now full with the five of us, was patiently waiting for us to arrive. After figuring out the tv & discussing how the bathroom sharing was to work, we ventured out into our East Nashville community for dinner. We stopped, happily, a few blocks East at a Mexican restaurant “Las Maracas.” (Very similar to El Canelo in PA). We enjoyed laughs, stories, and great food. It felt as if we had known each other much longer than just a week.
My housemates are wonderful women of faith and character. Diana is originally from Washington State, and served last year as a YAV in Tuscan. This year, she’ll be working with TCASK, an organization fighting for the abolition of state killings. Leslie, a native Tennessean, is a 2009 college graduate. She will be working with the homeless ministry, Room In the Inn. Lisa, another ’09 college grad is from Arizona. Lisa is to work with the Martha O’Brien ministries, which works in a public housing development to provide after school programs to the youth of that community. Rebecca, my roommate, is also a PA gal. She’s been teaching GED courses in Philly and will be working with a church just down the road (Eastminster Pres.).
It’s a great group of us to be sharing this house. We spent most of the evening talking and learning about each other. We should have been unpacking . . . but fellowship seemed more important. What was really great was that just before we were all going to go to bed, Rebecca called everyone into our bedroom. She felt (and we all agreed) that evening prayer would be a blessing to each of us. To quote her: “A family that prays together stays together.” We couldn’t have christened our time together any better.