Honoring Dr. King's Legacy Through Service

The following is a reflection written by John Albrecht, one of this year's Little Village House Volunteers.

“Do you think doing a day of service is the best way to honor the memory of Dr. King?” This question was posed by one of my housemates, Rae, who enjoys asking thought provoking questions.

According to mlkday.gov, the holiday was signed into being in 1983 and made a National Day of Service in 1994, just 11 years later. It is the only federal holiday with this designation. The idea of MLK Day as a ‘National Day of Service’ is a new concept to me and I did not even know that there was such a designation. For many of my peers and me, it was just a day we got off school in honor of some distant, historical figure. I doubt this is a way Dr. King (or any historical figure) would want to have his life and vision remembered. This is why MLK Day was made a National Day of Service.

Now is doing a day of service the best way to honor the memory of Dr. King? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~Aristotle

If we take one day out of the year to volunteer, an act, then I would say no. In this context, the day was merely a time to hear overplayed and decontextualized soundbites and do relatively easy work so we could feel good about ourselves. But, if we use it as a way to remind ourselves of the mission of Rev. King and rededicate ourselves to ideas we strive to live each day, a habit, then I would say a day of service is a true way to honor the memory of Dr. King.

“But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” ~Paul

Initially I did not want to write this blog. It’s not that I’m  incapable, I simply felt I had nothing significant to say on the matter. I spent most of my time whitewashing part of a hallway. It’s not particularly difficult and it doesn't stand out. I worked by myself and did not get very conversational with those around me: not the best example of service.

Paul’s works on the body from his first letter to the Corinthians (12:12-30) offered me some insight into the importance of whitewashing. If the paint around a mural is splotchy or chipping away, it detracts from the whole. If a mural’s background is even and smooth, it may not be noticed, but it enhances the whole.

Most of us will not end up with a high profile life such as Dr. King Jr. and it is easy to dismiss our labors as menial or worthless, as I felt about whitewashing. But our work and our life is as important as the work and lives of the great historical people who have come before us and continue to lead us.

Amate House Volunteers Matt Cunnane, Kara Olenick, and Nick Hammond participate in a CityYear-sponsored MLK Day of Service Event at Lafayette Elementary School.

Recommitting to Service and Community

The following is a reflection written by Julie Pomerleau, one of this year's South House Volunteers.


“Let us hold unwavering to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.  We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works…encouraging one another to love and good works.”

As I read this passage from Hebrews today, I was struck by how accurately it resonates with my reflections about my transition into the second half of Amate.  Though I’m not usually open to sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings on the internet, when Ryan asked for a blog about midyear experiences I felt driven to share, despite my reservations.  So here goes.

The first half of my Amate experience was wonderful in many ways: making new friends, exploring Chicago, having fun with my community. However, I must admit that this joy was coupled with an equal amount of challenges and frustrations.  How would I touch the lives of my high school students when I couldn't even get them to stop talking long enough to learn anything?  How would I balance the demands of planning, grading, and parent meetings with Amate events, my community, keeping up with friends and family, praying, and still find time to sleep at night?  Though I was chipping away at finding this balance, by the end of December I was worn out mentally, physically, and spiritually.  So before I had even finished submitting final exam grades, I was on a plane home to get some much needed R&R.

It was such an enormous blessing to celebrate Christmas and New Years with my family and old friends, spending a full week soaking in their abiding love, joy, and support.  Once I had gotten a chance to relax, I began reflecting on what it would be like to return to Chicago for Amate: Part 2.  I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive, recalling the tensions from the end of the year and holding onto the many ways I had failed in the past five months.  I couldn't let go of the lessons that had flopped and the relationships that were still distant, the perfectionist in me insisting that if I hadn't gotten it right by now, it just wasn't going to happen.  Also, I had just reconnected with friends and family with whom my relationships were so natural and easy, it would be tough to return to all those young relationships that were still growing.

Thinking and praying over these reflections, a single thought entered my mind and stuck with me: I didn't choose to do Amate because it would be easy or comfortable but because I felt called there by God to carry out the mission of love in action.  I realized how much my reflections had become about me and my personal contentment, not about those whom I was serving or the community to whom I had committed myself.  I understand now that God was asking me to trust him “unwaveringly” and to allow him to replace my fears and self-doubts with a new sense of hope.  In some ways, I think this re-commitment to Amate was much more demanding than the initial covenant signing in August.  Instead of committing to a broad idea of “service”, I was signing on to all the demands of first-year teaching with which I was now so familiar.  Instead of committing to “community”, I was now agreeing to be patient when the twelve of us take an hour debating the best method of cleaning dishes.  In essence, God was asking me to say “yes” every day to the very tangible joys and the challenges of community.  I knew what I was signing on for, but what I didn't know were the blessings God had in store for me when I got back on the plane and trusted him unwaveringly.

When I stepped out of O’Hare and onto the blue line that chilly January afternoon, I knew I was returning back to South House with a small spark of renewed purpose, and I soon found that I was not alone.  Each of my community members seemed to  radiate a new spark of their own, passionate about living out our mission together.  Having spent many days apart, we were all thankful when all twelve of us were back around the dinner table again.  Coming together, our individual sparks of renewal are starting to grow into a steady flame as we “rouse one another to love and good works.”  As I begin part two of my Amate experience, I have been pleasantly surprised by the abundance of joy and renewed zeal that is overflowing in South House, proving once again that God is indeed trustworthy when we have even a small amount of faith in His promises.

I am also amazed by the ways Amate is transforming me that I would not have believed a few months ago.  Though being a new teacher seemed impossible at first, now I find myself confident in my role at Seton and grateful for the opportunity to touch the lives of my students, and more often have them touch my life in profound ways.  I find myself connecting with my community members at a deeper level, feel comfortable sharing my insights on even the most controversial issues at meetings (syrup in or outside of the fridge???), and sometimes even leading the meeting myself.  Somehow I’m finding time to balance school responsibilities that swamped me in September with Amate events, keeping up with friends and family, exploring Chicago, joining the gym, and continuing to build all these beautiful new relationships with my community.  Though the challenges still persist, I find that the way I approach them is different these days, focusing my energy on what I can change and not forgetting to triumph in the small everyday victories.  It is this unwavering hope for deeper relationships, for learning from mistakes instead of dwelling on them, and for the excitement of learning and discovery that ultimately make transformation a reality.  Who knows how these next few months will transform me or my community, but with this sense of renewed hope, I am open to surprises.

Early Application Deadline this Friday!

Hello everyone,

Our early application deadline is on this Friday, February 1! Download the application at www.amatehouse.org/volunteer or call the Amate House office at 773.376.2445!

Giving Thanks

The following is a reflection written by Ruth Elias, one of this year's North House Volunteers.

On a beautiful Thursday morning, I was faced with a difficult decision: whether to continue to lazily sleep in, or take the unfamiliar road by driving an hour away in an unfamiliar city to celebrate Thanksgiving with a family. Despite my weakness of often getting lost in this city, I finally decided to go. I got into the car and followed my written directions to John Lucas' house to celebrate Thanksgiving. Upon arrival, I was welcomed with happy smiles and laughter, and of course, delicious food. I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving Day surrounded with a wonderful company, delicious food and moments filled with joy. John's grandchildren infused me with great joy. Having the chance to celebrate my first Thanksgiving in Chicago with his family is one of the things I am grateful for.

Second, I am thankful to God for his continuous protection, love, and guidance in my life. His unconditional love gives me strength to live each day to its fullest. Despite my hardships and moments of joys, I know that I can always turn to him for whatever I need. I am thankful to him for blessing me with an amazing family, awesome friends, great teachers and mentors. The lessons they've taught me, the advice they've given me, the challenges they've provided me with and their unconditional support continue to shape the person I am.

Third, I am grateful to be a part of Amate House this year. Living in community is one my main sources of happiness. I enjoy spending time with my housemates and all the other Amate volunteers. Cooking and eating meals together with my housemates, and interacting with my Amate community are some of the things  I enjoy greatly. Living with my housemates is teaching me so much about myself and living with others. For instance, I am very picky when it comes to cleanliness, but everyone has a varying definition of what that is. I have learned to compromise and leave my judgments behind and accept everyone the way they are and where they are in life with their different lifestyles.  After much adjustment to my community, I can finally say I am so happy living with my family of 12 wonderful housemates with unique personalities. I appreciate each and every one of them and the gifts they bring to our community.

Fourth, I am grateful for my awesome job. I tutor ESL and math to 3-8th graders at St. Thomas of Canterbury School. The student body is diverse and the students are dedicated, tenacious and well-behaved. They are eager to learn as much, just as I am eager to learn from them! Being an immigrant from Africa, there is often something new I learn every day! Assisting them with their assignments, sharing stories and interacting with them transmits so much light. I see an abundance of joy in their faces and their jolly presence makes me so happy!

Thanksgiving was a great day to actively think of some of the people that have shaped my life. However, despite the Thanksgiving holiday celebration, we should be regularly grateful for who we are, where we are in life, and the people and things that God has blessed us with.

Spinning, Fallling, and Getting Back Up

The following is a reflection written by Matt Cunnane, one of this year's Little Village House Volunteers.

“Ya know, if you spin around in a circle for about a minute, then I shine a flashlight in your eyes, you’ll fall right to the ground.”

“No, Beth, that can’t be true.”

“It’s true.  I can explain the science to you.”

“Forget the science, grab the flashlight.”

So we walked off into the middle of the empty field, flashlight in hand, stars overhead, and that’s how it came to pass that after 30 seconds of spinning around like a loon, Beth knocked me clean over with nothing save for the bright exposure of flash light, the both of us laughing like children understanding the “orange-ya glad I didn’t say banana” joke for the first time.

Believe it or not, but my community experience is exactly like the above story.  I started off in the dark, completely unaware of my surroundings, creatures of the night lurking, completely invisible except for rustles made in the wilderness.  Then, we passed through orientation.  Suddenly, I felt companionship, a sense of belonging in the urban wilderness of Chicago.  No longer alone, but with guides.  Stars slated to point me North, if ever I found myself off track in my journey.  After orientation I began work at my service site, the Lawndale Christian Legal Center.  More stars emerged in the form of my supervisor and another support system, people who have my best interest at heart and wish for me to succeed, both for my individual benefit and for those whom we serve.

So far so good.  Community life began to make sense.  I started to learn the patterns.  Who gets upset when you leave dishes in the sink, who is willing to put all things aside in order to help you out with a problem, and what causes others distress.  Then the spinning started.  Tasks at work started to pile up, chores at home began to suffer because when I’m at work I’m thinking about community and when I’m in community all I can think about is what has to be done tomorrow at work.  I didn't realize it until I felt like I was about to throw up, but I was spinning like a loon, taking in the stimuli as best as I could with a brain that was too disoriented to know which way was up.  This continued on until finally...Bam!  Light flooded my vision, I hit an emotional breaking point, I fell to the ground, the inescapable result of a lack of footing, mixed with cochlear confusion and the sudden brightness.  “Just get to the ground,” my brain fired, “Wait for the spinning to stop, then we’ll get back up and take on the challenges of this world.”

In community, you have to fall down in order to know what standing is.  You have to be overwhelmed in order for your eyes to adjust to increasing amounts of light.  What Beth had wanted to tell me on that night with the flashlight were the facts, the hard science of the matter.  She tried to save me from falling down in order to learn the truth, but if community has taught me anything thus far it’s this: you can’t be told these things, you have to see them for yourself.

So, how do you cope?  How do you stay present, stop spinning, find your footing, and stand when the light is blinding?  Each community group has to answer this for themselves, but in Little Village House, we do simple joys.  Each evening at dinner, Monday-Thursday, we go around the table and we say one thing that gave us joy that day.  Each community member speaks, and all listen.  We even dubbed Kara the “Viceroy of Joy” so that if side conversations begin to take over there is someone to hold us accountable.  “Today, my boss congratulated me on helping him with a task”, “Today, a little boy told me that he liked my lunch bag”, “Today a young man came to our organization with nothing but the clothes on his back, and we were able to help him”.  It doesn't matter how big or simple the joy is, what’s more important is what it provides.  Simple joys not only remind us to be attentive to the experiences of those in our presence, but they also allow us to answer two very similar questions, “For what am I grateful today?” and “Where did I see God today?”

I've found that these two questions are tantamount to having a positive experience while in community.  For one thing, they keep me focused on the positive.  Each evening I know that I will be asked to speak an experience of my day which is life-giving.  You’d be surprised how many times you see God when you’re looking for him in the street, in the office, in the car, or in papers strewn across your desk.  From there I've noticed that I have grown in my ability to see God in each experience.  Of course I fall on my face and get frustrated just as much, if not more than, the average Joe, but when my mind is oriented towards asking where God is, I focus my attention when I see him that day.

Building Community

The following is a reflection written by Davidlee Klimchuk, one of this year's South House Volunteers. 


The current of ongoing change that has been propelling our lives since arriving in Chicago just over three months ago took a refreshing detour on October 19th as all three houses loaded up their trusty Amate House vehicles and sojourned forth to Watervliet, MI for three days of spiritual exploration, community development, and fellowship.   Such a break was well needed from the grind and beautiful chaos that is our new lives in the Windy City. Having personally grown up in a small rural town in Western New York, I was beginning to long for the rolling fields, quiet starry nights, and humble farmhouses that defined my childhood.

I received all that and more as our Amate caravan rolled up the long gravel driveway to the dining hall of Ronora Lodge. The clear and fresh air that entered my lungs as I pulled myself out of the car served not only to remind me of my upbringing but also to bring me back to Christ and make me all the more grateful for the opportunities and experiences that I have been afforded this year. There is always some element of nature that succeeds in reeling us in and placing us fully in the presence of God and all the gifts and graces He has placed upon us.

The next 36 hours were jam packed with so many amazing talks, activities, and interactions that would unfortunately take me six pages single spaced to delineate in full, so I will zoom in on a few of the highlights:

Saturday morning the North House community got our first full day of retreat off to an optimistic and hopeful start with a silent affirmation exercise. In this activity the group stood in a circle with their backs to the center. A handful of people would be selected at a time to enter the center, and, while a plethora of positive and affirming attributes were read by one of the leaders, they would quietly tap the shoulders of all the people in the circle who they believed to exemplify those qualities.  The element of silence in this exercise was a powerful assurance to all those being tapped that they are individuals of value and worth. It does not matter who it is that thinks so; the point is that there is someone out there who believes in you for one reason or another. In our challenging and fast paced lives as volunteers we at times lose site of the aspects of ourselves that make us a person worth knowing and respecting. We tend to forget about the gifts that we have to offer our community and the world around us.  Though small and silent, these gestures of praise are meaningful and this affirmation circle was a great tool for preparing us for our next group discussion which centered on the theme of trust.

Throughout the rest of the day we engaged in a trust partner exercise, a trust continuum activity, and had several hours of free time in which there were so many options for things to do. We were fortunate enough to have a beautiful lake available to us just a short walk down the hill from our living quarters. Many of us took advantage of admiring it while having thoughtful conversations with new and old friends. Others utilized the extensive library of spiritual and social justice themed texts that our loving house coordinators were gracious enough to bring for us to enjoy. I myself began to page through a book of prayers and reflections by the influential Salvadoran priest, Oscar Romero. Others chose to use this silence to catch up on journaling, or another hard to find necessity…sleep!

The day ended Saturday night when we all gathered in an open field for a bonfire accompanied by s’mores and Ryan’s gift of song.  For several hours we opened our hearts and minds to the beautiful gift of nature that we have missed out on since coming to the city.  The skies, though cloudy, still shone with stars and several constellations were recognized. We all rallied around Ryan as he serenaded us with everything from The Beatles to Mumford and Sons.  There couldn’t have been a more fitting way to wrap up a weekend of prayer, new friendships, and community. Even as the fire burnt to its last ember we were all warm with love and the promise of good things to come the rest of the year.

As we packed up our vehicles once again on Sunday after mass I thought back on the discussions and group talks we had over the weekend and one element that came to mind was that of trust. I have been slow to trust most of my life and still am, but North House’s activity and the partner exercise helped me to recognize its importance and how fruitful it could be to take a risk for its sake. We all had to trust in ourselves and God when we chose to do what many of our friends and family back home scoffed at; a year of volunteer service. So far we have been guided rightly and all that is left now is to begin to place that trust in those we live with. Having faith that one’s intentions are pure is a scary thing but what is even scarier is not trying and never knowing.  The union of nature and prayer this week managed to put into perspective all that we had been through together and the roads that were still left unexplored. Now is the time for me and my fellow volunteers to give ourselves to this year and to each other. This is the point in our lives where the objective is not to hide from being hurt but to be pained by not having been.  There are so many beautiful things yet to be experienced.

Serving My Brothers and Sisters

The following is a reflection written by Ali Heinen, one of this year's North House Volunteers.

Biologically, I have 4 siblings. However after my past two months working as a legal assistant on the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Children’s Project, in my heart I have about 60 more little brothers and sisters to add to that. Over the next 8 months, that number will continue to grow but if you met some of these kids you would know how hard it is not to fall in love with them.

My new “hermanitos” and “hermanitas” are from Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and even a few from as far away as China and Romania. So perhaps now you are wondering what exactly it is I am doing, right? That is a great question. I am still learning exactly what my responsibilities and different roles are everyday, so bear with me as I try to explain them.

On my first day of work, my supervisor Ellen told me, “you have a super steep learning curve ahead of you.” This comment scared me but mostly excited me. She was absolutely right, I hardly knew anything about law let alone immigration law. I knew I wanted to use my Spanish and work with kids. So far, I could not have picked a better placement in which I can do both.

During a typical week, I spend Monday and Wednesday at centers throughout the Chicago area where those younger than 18 are sent after they are detained for attempting to cross the US border. Most of the kids are about 11-17 years old. The centers are nice places, they go to classes, have three meals a day, their own bed. These minors attempt to cross into the United States for various reasons: they want to make a better life for themselves and their families and/or they are fleeing from increasing gang violence in their home countries. The number one reason I have heard is that these kids purely want to be with their parents or older siblings. Their families have good intentions for immigrating to the US; they want to be able to provide for their children economically because there are no opportunities for them to do so in their home countries. Their only other choice would be living in complete poverty. Most of the kids understand this reasoning; however, the inevitable result is a lot of young people who desperately want to find and be with their parents who they miss so much.

My organization goes to these centers and gives Know Your Rights presentations so the kids know why they are being detained and that they need to go to their court dates or they will receive an order of deportation. Without the presentations that we give, it is possible these kids would not even know why they are at the center or that they are now in the court system. The United States requires that all detained minors under 18 years of age be assigned a court date.

We then do individual intakes with these kids to screen them for the possibility of qualifying for a Visa that would allow them to stay in the United States legally. Some of these types of visas include asylum, trafficking, and/or if one or both of their parents have abandoned or abused them. The reality is that many of them do not qualify for these visas and we then explain to them the options of either voluntarily deporting to their country or receiving an order of deportation. The latter is not my favorite to explain but it is important that these kids know the truth and whether they have a case to fight in court.

We can represent them in court only while they are in Chicago. When they reunify with their family in the United States, which all of them are allowed to do once they leave the centers regardless of whether they have a legal way to stay here, we change their court venue to that new city. This is where the administrative part of my job comes in. Three days out of the week I am on the 20th floor of a building right down in the Loop, on the same block as the Chicago Board of Trade. There are a lot of databases to update for our funders and court venues to file in court and kids to keep track of as they come and go. I knew I would not love sitting in front of a computer and filing things but being able to meet and get to know some of the kids I am doing all the paperwork for, puts so much more meaning behind the routine tasks to which I am assigned.

Not to mention how amazing my co-workers are! The Children’s Project team consists of about 13 people: lawyers, legal assistants, and interns – they have been wonderful teachers for me. They are very knowledgeable and worldly and have seemed to find the perfect blend of a career where they can truly help others and work towards social justice while also making a living. For me, that is pretty much the ideal situation so I feel very blessed to be in a placement that allows me to witness that balance.

The National Immigrant Justice Center as a whole does a lot of phenomenal work in many different aspects of immigration. For example, during my first week on the job, the staff agreed to volunteer at Chicago’s DREAMer forum at Navy Pier. The government began accepting applications from immigrant youth applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals on August 15th, a policy by the Obama administration providing temporary reprieve from deportation and work authorization for DREAM Act-eligible youth. Thousands of people came to the forum and it was one of the largest in the country. I literally felt like I was witnessing history in action!

At the end of the day, what remains in my heart and mind through the hectic trips to court and long team meetings and cramming onto an overcrowded El train, is the faces and names of the kids I meet. My housemates and other fellow Amatians will listen to me talk about them sometimes relentlessly but fortunately for me they are genuinely interested (at least that’s what they make it seem like…) These kids want to be doctors and teachers and study English. They don’t care when I make mistakes conjugating verbs in Spanish, they get excited when I sit and eat lunch with them, and many have such a beautiful and pervasive sense of hope for the future that I cannot help but be affected by it. They have traveled thousands of miles, by foot or bus or car, just so they can be with their families. While most of my family only remains a few hours away in Wisconsin, I honestly can only hope I would be as brave and do the same.

Many of these kids have already experienced more hardships and tragedies then I will probably deal with in my lifetime. Some of these kids seem to have no hope, and this is when I have to hold back my tears and do my job. I want to give them the information and power to make informed decisions in their legal cases but I also just want to wrap them in my arms and tell them everything is going to be okay. As a professional, I cannot do the latter but chatting with them about their favorite hobbies or telling them it is okay to cry or coloring with them are all ways I can still serve them with love and care and solidarity. I receive that love back and can only hope that come June, my heart will still be able to handle constant heartbreak of seeing these kids leave and more often than not, never being able to hear from them again. With the support of Amate and my family and friends back home, I have faith it is a challenge I can handle with grace.

Discovering our Strengths - Recapping the Fall In-Service Day

The following is a reflection written by Mackensey Carter, one of this year's South House Volunteers.

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Difference is something that we often run away from in life.  Most of us are drawn to similarities, find comfort in seeing where two ideas have common ground or love to discover mutual interests or friends when just meeting a new person.  Difference may be uncomfortable for many of us but it is the very thing that Paul claims builds the community of God.  The excerpt above from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians speaks to this idea that God uses differences in each of us to create a unique, spiritual unity between believers.  Our first Amate House In-Service this year explored this idea and what it means to be a faith community filled with thirty-three distinctively different individuals.

The StrengthsFinder, which was the topic of our Fall In-Service day, helps to highlight these differences (and similarities) between individuals as they relate to certain strengths.  Each Amate House volunteer was asked to take the StrengthFinder assessment, which asked us a myriad of questions about ourselves and our personalities, and in the end received a list and explanation of our top five strengths.  While exploring our own strengths was enjoyable, our In-Service allowed us to see how our strengths and the strengths of our housemates complement each other and build our unique community.

While my top strengths included empathy, harmony and connectedness, I was able to discuss and sit next to my housemates that have the strengths of communication, intellection, or responsibility.  The diversity in strengths and thinking patterns within the Amate community, and even my own house community, gave me a renewed insight into the importance of individuals using their strengths to work together in service.  We all have tendencies and ways of thinking and behaving that are unique to our own temperaments and backgrounds but only when we work and serve together are we able to fully complement each other and create a cohesive whole.  Affirming the strengths that I see in myself and in others allowed me to become more aware of where I fit into the community and how I can use my special strengths to benefit and challenge the individuals around me.

Throughout the day I was continually reminded of the continuation of Paul’s letter in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians in which he uses the metaphor of the human body to describe the community of believers.  Paul writes “you are the body of Christ, and each on of you is a part of it” and “God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (1 Corinthians 12: 18,27).  Just as the body has many parts that perform many functions, Paul reminds us that in a community each member has a different role to fill, which is not more or less important than the person next to him or her.  God’s work is accomplished when each part of the body or community performs its function with determination and passion.  This idea can help us better understand a cohesive community where we are able to willingly accept our roles, no matter what it may be, because we see them each as equally important and necessary in working together for God’s greater purpose.

If all the roles and strengths of the community were the same, then nothing would be accomplished or changed.  Therefore, just as God has created us with such diversity, we must embrace this difference in community, even when it is frustrating and confusing, so that we can work together to challenge and compliment each other. Discussing my strengths during our In-Service helped me realize that whether I’m the toe or the heart, which perform drastically different functions for the body, I have a central role to play in creating and sustaining the body of Christ in and through my community.

Adjusting to the City

The following is a reflection written by Livia Spilotro, one of this year's Little Village House Volunteers.

Chicago - The Windy City. No, friends, they aren’t kidding! From day one I’ve been battling the breezes as they come across Lake Michigan, attempting and failing over and over again to maintain some sort of composure to my hairstyle. Don’t worry—I’ve realized the futility of this cause and have moved my focus to bigger and better things, such as figuring out the lovely CTA system. Which color of the rainbow runs north and south? That would be Red. What about east and west? Well, that depends on how far you want to go!  What time do the trains stop running? The answer to that question has always been the cause of a comical ending to the night. And don’t even get me started on the Loop! On the map it looks like a box of Lucky Charms gone wrong, right in the center of downtown, and it’s always undergoing some sort of face lift in one place or another.

On the home front, I’m still adjusting to community life. Who’s cooking? What time is dinner? Better yet, what IS dinner? Due to the amount of vegetarians and lactose intolerance in my house, I think I’m slowly becoming vegan. I DEFINITELY consider this to be an adjustment. To be sure, there are other questions. Who’s leading prayer night? Where is the Sentra parked this time? Where is Community Night this week? Who’s driving? Did you grab the directions? Lord knows we’re still quite likely to get lost in this grand city from time to time. Besides the “daily grind” tasks of community life, getting to know my housemates and recognizing all of our unique quirks has proven to be a daily adventure that usually ends in laughter and a deeper understanding of each other. Even how I communicate with my loved ones back home has been an adjustment. Those who I used to see and talk to daily are now thousands of miles away, and I must say that although the distance is a force to be reckoned with, the wonders of technology have definitely proved to be the remedy for the occasional pang of homesickness.

It’s true - these are just a handful of some of the adjustments and changes of lifestyle I’m experiencing as I’m nearing the end of my second month here in the Amate House program. Although my mind is constantly flooded with questions, and my ears are filled with the sounds of Spanish, and the trains running by the house like clockwork shake my bed while I try to sleep, I can’t help but love this new life of mine. I’m slowly learning that this “adjusting” business isn’t going to happen in a day - nor should it. I’m accepting the fact that I will probably continue to find new ways to get home by getting a little lost at first. I’m also warming up to the idea that I will most likely be freezing my butt off for the next, oh, five or six months, because the lowest temperature this Texas girl is used to during an average Texas wintertime is only 40 degrees...Which, by the way, is the predicted low temperature for this upcoming weekend. And yes, it’s only September.

Here’s the beautiful thing - every day I’m learning something new. Whether it’s about what this city has to offer, or something new about my housemates,  or experiencing an epiphany about who I am and what I believe, this adjustment - although sometimes awkward and painful - is an adjustment that is helping me to grow and appreciate where I am and who I am. Thank God I have another eight months of this experience to continue exploring this Windy City that I’m excited to call home.

A Visit with the Amate House Founders

During the first week of our Orientation, we were honored to be joined by John Haggerty, Ken Brucks, and John Horan, the Founders of Amate House.  To mark this special occasion, we had their visit and their conversation with the Volunteers recorded.  Please enjoy!