Giving Thanks

The following is a letter that Little Village House Volunteer Melissa Carnall sent to friends and family in this season of Thanksgiving.

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope this letter finds you enjoying some crisp near-winter weather!  Will you grab a cup of tea or coffee and join me as I share a bit about what I’m up to here in the windy city of Chicago?

As you probably know, when summer drew to a close and my days of post-grad relaxation and snuggling with my precious nephew dwindled in number, I set out on an adventure to a city that I knew nothing about…Literally, I had to look up what Great Lake Chicago bordered (Lake Michigan) and I didn’t even know that the Sears (well, Willis) Tower is in Chicago. But I packed my bags and flew north to this city I’d never been… and Chicago quickly won my heart! Some naysayers like to tell me I might change my mind come winter though. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!

But something that has won my heart even more than Chicago is Amate House itself. Amate House is the Catholic young adult volunteer program that I currently have the blessing to be a part.  Amate House is actually three houses throughout the Chicago area. I live in the one in a predominantly Mexican immigrant neighborhood called Little Village or La Villita. Here in Little Village, I live in community with 8 other volunteers. We like to say that you can’t spell ‘love’ without LV.

We all work at different full-time service sites throughout the Chicago area.  My “service site” or job, is not what you’d consider your normal, “I’m- doing-a-volunteer-year” placement. It’s much more administrative/analytical than direct-service.  But I knew that going in.  Much to my own surprise, it felt right regardless of my preconceived notions of what my year would look like.  AND it’s still volunteering, still needed and helpful service, and still a mutually beneficial placement. Most importantly, it’s where I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be—where God wants me. Nothing better, right?!

All that to say, I work as a “Parish Transformation Analyst” for the Archdiocese of Chicago.  The Parish Transformation group provides guidance, support, resources, and encouragement for parishes as they undergo a process to renew their mission/vision and to stabilize their finances. Parish Transformation is really about inspiring parishioners to inspire others to follow Christ...and helping make sure they have the resources to do so. It’s about building strong, stable communities so that we can better be the Body of Christ and pursue lives of stewardship, fellowship, service, and joy.

Sometimes… what’s needed in this process is financial analysis so we can pursue strategic methods that work, even for churches!! And often, since my boss is great at what she does and gets pulled into 1000 different projects, I find myself doing analysis for other efforts outside of Parish Transformation as well, most commonly for the Catholic schools office concerning enrollment and tuition. Microsoft Excel has become a dear friend ;-)  The greater purpose of these efforts keeps me grounded and passionate about this work even though computer analytics don’t quite seem to fit into my long term ministry plans! Though some additions to my job that I think will make it even better include coaching the Parish Transformation facilitators in the next round of churches and also working with the Year of Teens and Young Adults (the theme of the Archdiocese from July 2011-June 2012) on some of their projects.

Around our house… we like to joke that we have a second full-time job, and it’s called: COMMUNITY. Why would 9 recent college grads choose to live together in intentional community? There are so many reasons I could choose but I’d like to point out a cool way to answer the “Why?” question: it’s an alternative way of being formed.  If we’re not being formed intentionally, then we’re being formed unintentionally by whatever unknowing influences happen upon our hearts and minds. I wish everyone could have this experience of intentional communal living, because it really is a microcosm of larger humanity. As one speaker joked to us, “there will be war, poverty, hunger…” But really, as we live life together—sharing chores and stories, mixing personalities, perspectives and life goals, and facing the difficulties of conflicting schedules, simple living, and communal decision-making—we are being “forced” to constructively deal with issues that everyone  must deal with throughout their lives. We are constantly part of a multitude of communities, our families, our work places, our friend groups, our churches (they’re endless really!) that this is such a practical opportunity to learn how to be community members in all those respects.

So… Anna from Illinois, Anna from Utah, Katie from Minnesota, Katy from Hawaii, Nicole from Illinois, Courtney from Kentucky, Felipe from Massachusetts and Earl from the Phillipines/Florida/Hawaii (how cool?!) are my wonderful microcosm of humanity. We eat and cook together 5 nights a week, we have community nights once a week (often with the other houses), we live on $15/week/person for food, we share cars, we laugh together, we disagree on inconsequential musings and considerable issues, we support one another, and we challenge each other.  This year of service would not have half its formative power without their presence. And my life would not be as rich.

I could go on and on about everything I’m experiencing and reflecting on so far but I’ll try to start bring my effusiveness to a close. I joke that I chose Amate because it starts with an ‘A’ and was thus close to the beginning of the Catholic Volunteer Network book. While there may be some truth in that, I ultimately chose it because Amate values everything I was looking for—faith, service, social justice, and community. And I have not been disappointed!!  I’m continually impressed by the program’s intentional formation efforts and my fellow volunteer’s commitment to their service sites and to the city of Chicago and the world. It truly is a blessing to be here.

And it is also such a blessing to have the support of a wider community of family and friends!  I ask your continued thoughts and prayers for me and the wider Amate community.

And since I (accidently I promise!!) sounded like an Amate House commercial (can you tell I really like it here?!), I would also like to take this chance to ask you to prayerfully consider if you want to support Amate House with a donation. Check out www.amatehouse.org. Just like they counsel us to be good stewards of our resources (incl. our $100/month stipends), they exemplify stewardship in how they use all the donations necessary for this great program that forms leaders for the church and the world!

           

I’d love to hear from you! And I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. You’re in my thoughts and prayers!

                                                                                               

Peace,

Melissa Carnall

To learn more about how to give to Amate House, please visit our "Support Us" page on our website, or you can call us at 773.376.2445.