Another week come and gone...

Another week has come and gone. So much has happened this week; I hardly know where to begin updating you. I guess I will just go by categories:

Internship: Last week at Joshua Station was very similar to the week before. I helped out with some filing at JAMLAC. On Wednesday, I got to go to court with one of the attorneys and a client he was representing regarding her ex-husband’s parenting time with their son. It was different from what I expected. The court room was very small and the only people there were the judge, the two parties, her attorney, me, and two other people. It was interesting to see our justice system in action.

At Joshua Station, we are continuing to do interviews to figure out which families will be moving into the empty apartments. All of the stories of the potential residents are so different and sad. Some of the people who are homeless have made bad decisions in the past that have led them to their current situation. But many of the people who come to us simply have experienced unfortunate circumstances that were beyond their control. Becoming homeless is really something that could happen to any of us. We are all just a pink slip away or an eviction notice away from ending up in the shoes of the people at JS. The people here are normal people, just like you and me. It has been humbling to get to know them and their stories.

One of the things that has really been a blessing with working at JS is the chance I have to attend the MileHigh staff meetings every Tuesday morning. We are currently going through a book by Ruby Payne, who has written several books on poverty and societal issues. The book is called What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty and talks a lot about hidden class rules and values. Her stuff is very controversial and we have had some really good conversation about how to best work with the poor.

Classes: The classes this past week were so good. In my Friday class, Street Psalms, we talked about how we read the Bible and barriers that keep us from really encountering the Word. Barriers include hyper-personalism, domestification, reductionism, isolationism, heroism, moralism, and dualism. It was very helpful for me to be able to recognize these barriers in my personal Bible reading time.

In the Monday class, Leading from Within, we finished going through the book In the Name of Jesus (great read—I recommend it for all Christian leaders) and had a Jesuit priest come talk to us about Ignatius spirituality. The topic is not something I was very familiar with, but it was good to learn about. On Monday after class, one of our teachers led us on a walk around Denver and told us about gentrification and how Denver has been changing over the last few decades. Gentrification, for those of you who don’t know (because I didn’t know before yesterday) is when people with money renovate a run-down, impoverished part of town, increasing the land value. The result is that many impoverished people are displaced to the outskirts of town because they cannot afford to live where they used to. This has happened a lot in Denver and it is difficult to know how to respond to the problem. One of the things that has been difficult for me here in Denver and in many of my social work classes in the past 3 years has been the realization that many of the problems in society are big, complex, and really do not have easy answers. This can be frustrating for me, as I am a fixer and like to see hope in every situation and work towards a solution.

Weekend: On Friday night, I and three of the other interns drove up past Boulder to Nederland, CO, where we went hiking and camping. We went for a short hike on Friday, then set up our tent and made hot dogs and s’mores over a fire. Saturday morning, after eating breakfast at a neat little café, we went hiking again. We went way up a mountain, until we were tromping through snow. It was gorgeous—lots of mountains, streams, waterfalls, and trees. Though I love the city, I am a nature girl at heart and it was so refreshing to be out in the woods again. The weather was perfect, too; it didn’t start raining until we were heading home. On the way back, we stopped in Boulder, which is a really cool town with a lot of unique shops. The weekend was refreshing and just what I needed.

Overall: As you can probably tell by what I have been writing, this summer has given me a lot to think about. I have been stretched, challenged, and at times, frustrated. But I have also been so blessed by the relationships I have built and the awesome experiences I have had. It is going to be really hard to go back to Dordt for another semester of classes. But… next spring I get another amazing opportunity… I get to do my senior internship in Chicago! I just received my official acceptance letter! I am super excited!

Prayer Requests: First off, I ask that you pray for my sister, as she has completed her “boot camp” training at Teen Missions and is now in Haiti. She was able to call home the other day and was sounding quite homesick. Please pray for her as she experiences new, challenging situations in a foreign country.

Also, please be in prayer for Carlos, one of the staff members at MileHigh Ministries. His wife is extremely sick and is in intensive care at the hospital. She has a strep infection, which has been very damaging because she does not have a functioning spleen to fight off the infection. Please pray for complete healing for her and comfort for her and Carlos.

Finally, my car is having issues again. It overheated again tonight and I will have to call the mechanic again tomorrow. I am hoping it is something that is easy to fix again.

Thank you for your prayers and support. God Bless.

Newsletters, Kids, Baseball, and Funnel Clouds!

What a week! It has been full of challenges, storms, fun, busyness, relaxation, and learning! I don't even know where to start....

I guess I will start with telling you about my internship. This was the week of newsletters. Both at JAMLAC and Joshua Station, they were sending out their quarterly newsletters/support letters. Much of my time in the office was spent helping prepare those. I also had the opportunity to sit in on a Family Advocacy meeting. I was able to learn a little more about some of the families who are here and how the Advocates are empowering them to meet their goals.

I really enjoyed the evening activities this week. Tuesday night I went to the Women's Fellowship. A group of ladies from a local church came to hang out with the women and we all made scarves. Wednesday night was Teen Night. We took some of the kids to a local skatepark. It was fun. :) I made it down one of the (little) hills on a scooter without killing myself! :D There were also a couple of nights this week where I just went and hung out with some of the kids informally. I finally feel like I am getting to know some of them and am building relationships with them. They are amazing kids. What's really amazing about them is that they are growing and flourishing despite the difficult situations many of them have come from.

Thursday was an orientation day at Joshua Station. A couple of weeks ago we had 3 families graduate, so we now have 3 rooms to fill. On orientation day, homeless families can come, learn about the program, and fill out applications. We had over 40 people come and a couple of dozen kids! It's sad that so many people are looking for a place to live. Next week the staff will interview potential residents and then we will have a meeting to decide who will move in. You can pray that God will give the staff wisdom as they make the decision.

Classes last week were really tough, but good. On Friday we talked about lament. We watched a couple of videos and talked about the brokennes in the world. We looked at some of the Psalms and how David cried out to God. It was especially hard because on Wednesday, I found out that two little kids I knew from Alaska- ages 6 and 9- were killed in a house fire. Sometimes God does not make sense and sometimes I can't help but ask "why?" even though I know in my heart that He is in control... I guess I am learning how to lament while still trusting God.

In my Monday class we are learning about leadership. We are reading a great book called In the Name of Jesus. We have also been learning about the Ennegram and learning about our different personalities and the strengths God has given us. You can find out your type at http://www.9types.com/ if you are interested. :D I am a #2....

This weekend was fun. On Friday a bunch of us interns hung out at a cool coffee shop called Stella's. We played the game Loaded Questions. Lots of fun. :) Saturday I went to a Puerto Rican Festival with some friends in the afternoon. It was alright... kind of small and not a lot to do. In the evening we went to a Rocky's baseball game. Apparently someone donated a bunch of tickets to Mile High, so a bunch of the staff and interns got to go. It was my first professional baseball game.

Today (Sunday) was stormy. I was actually out for a walk in the rain when I was warned to get inside because we were under a tornado warning. I walked back quickly, but stopped for a second to watch a funnel cloud come down, then go back up. It was awesome, yet scary and eery. What a reminder of how utterly small and powerless we are and how amazing and powerful and worthy of fear our God is. Amazing. Tonight I had the privilege of going to church and hanging out with some awesome people from Dry Bones, an organization that reaches out to homeless teenagers. Both the volunteers and the kids/young adults they reach are awesome.

One last thing: my car is fixed! :D When I first called around about it, I was told it would cost me several hundred dollars and/or that it might be dead for good. BUT... God worked it out and the people at Joshua Station connected me with a great mechanic who was able to get a used part and fix it for very cheap! Yay! It is running great now!

So this post is ridiculouly long. Sorry! I am sure I am missing some things, though. I am so blessed to be here and am learning a lot. May God bless you wherever you are.
Love and Prayers, Britt

City Life

It's weird to think that I have only been in Denver for one week. In some ways, it has gone by super fast, but on the other hand I feel like I have been here and known the people here forever. The city is great; I love the diversity, busyness, culture, and even the traffic.

I am doing my internship Tuesday through Thursday. Part of the time I work at JAMLAC, which stands for Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Clinic. JAMLAC is the legal part of MileHigh Ministries that offers free/ low cost legal advocacy and counseling to people who are poor and cannot afford it. This week I basically just helped sort files and do paperwork stuff. At Joshua Station, I helped sort through some things that were donated for the families and I helped with their night activities. It has been great to get to know the families who live here. A lot of the kids remind of some of the kids from Alaska, so I pretty much love them already. :)

On Friday and Monday mornings all of us interns come together for classes. Friday was our first one. We talked about how we view Jesus and how our view of Him determines our ministry. It was very thought provoking and I am super excited about the class.

The weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday was a free admission day to the Denver Art Museum, so we all went there for a while. They have a pretty diverse collection of art there. Saturday was also Denver's "People's Fair," which was basically like a mini state fair. There were a lot of booths from local businesses and organizations, door prizes, food, and live bands. It was fun to walk around. Saturday night we all went to a Fray concert. Apparently, Greg, the director of the program, has connections and was able to get us in for free. It was a lot of fun, even though I do not know a lot of the Fray's music (basically just stuff that is played on the radio). We ended Saturday night by going out to Chili's. I have really enjoyed getting to know the other interns. We are all so different and it is so cool to think that God brought us all together this summer for His purpose.

Today I had the privilege of visiting two churches. Both of them were awesome. The one I went to this morning was called Pathways and the one I went to tonight was called The Scum of the Earth. I think both of them have websites if you want to find out more about them. Both had good messages, good worship, and authentic people.

I think one of the things I love most about Denver is how honest and authentic the people are. Today I was waiting at the bus stop (public transportation is interesting, let me tell ya!) and had a conversation with a women from Georgia. She just started telling me about her life and her family. That's just how people are in Denver, from what I have experienced so far- open and friendly. It's awesome!

I do have a couple of prayer requests. The first is for my sister, Hannah, who left yesterday for her summer missions trip to Haiti. Pray that God would use her in an awesome way and that she would not get too homesick. Also, my car is having some serious issues. It overheated and started leaking radiator fluid all over the place. I am hoping to have it looked at tomorrow, but it doesn't look good.

Thanks for your prayers and support! Have a beautiful day! :)

First Day in Denver

I made it to Denver! I left home yesterday (June 1st) at 7:00am. After driving almost 700 miles, I made it to Colorado! The drive was pretty much uneventful, until the end. About 1 1/2 hours outside of Denver, I stopped in a town to get dinner and pick up a couple of things from Walmart. After stopping at a couple of stoplights, the "check gauges" light came on my dashboard. I looked down and realized that my car was overheating. Fortunately, I was right across the street from Walmart, so I was able to run in and get some coolant. Then, as I was trying to figure out where to pour the coolant, another car pulled up next to me and out stepped... a car mechanic! :) It was such a God thing. Not only was he able to show me where to pour the coolant, he was also able to point out that my fan needs to be looked at. Fortunately, the coolant did the trick and I made it to Denver! When I arrived, I unpacked and met the other interns. There are 8 other girls working at different agencies around the city.

The place I am living, Joshua Station, used to be a motel, so I am sharing a motel-style room with one other intern. It's a nice place, but it will take some time to get used to the busy road right next to our window. :)

This morning all of us interns went to the Mile High Ministry staff meeting. We had a devotional/prayer time and learned about some of the programs that Joshua Station offers the residents. Most of the afternoon was spent on orientation stuff. We learned about different churches/events/places in Denver and how to use public transportation system. We are going to have a lot of freedom on the weekends to explore the city. I am very excited! Even though I have my car here, I am only allowed to use it on the weekends so that I can experience the transportation the people in Denver use on a regular basis.

Tonight I helped out with the Kid's Club, which I will help with every week while I am here. It was great to meet some of the kids and hang out with them. Tomorrow will be my first full-day at my internship. So far I really like the city and look forward to building relationships with the people here and learning about urban ministry.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!
Britt