I live with two other girls and two boys from all over the nation and ranging in age from 22-25.
Julie is from North Carolina and was the first person I ever met when I moved in. She is also working with Branches, however she works for the South Miami location. We are exact opposites. Not really, there is a lot we have in common, but our "likes" as far as movies, leisure activities, and food are completely different. It has become a joke between the two of us that if I like something, I know she will not, and vice versa. However, we do both enjoy using terrible British accents from time to time. (No jokes from the family, please...)
Erin is the social justice worker from Iowa. She has spent one year (well, really only 3/4 of a year because of sickness) in the Philippines being a YAV in 2006-2007 and a year working for social justice in Iowa. She will be working with migrant farm workers at South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice. We enjoy gardening and practicing our horrible Spanish together! The backyard is kind of our pride and joy.
JJ or Hota Hota as we call him in our Spanish class, is the quiet yet cunning one of the group. He is from Maryland and has been working in Miami for a year already at Latin American Missions. You never quite know what JJ is thinking, but the things that come out of his mouth will make you laugh so hard. He also has the hilarious way of cracking himself up so easily that his leg will start stomping. Quite entertaining. Plus he has a very funny, noticeable laugh. It's a good thing!
Isaac is me in male form. We have taken to calling each other "twin" from time to time because it is a bit ridiculous just how similar we are. He is still in school at Goshen College in Indiana but is from Kansas. He is only going to be here for a semester and is working at the Yvonne Learning Center, a Haitian school in North Miami. He is an art major and is 6'8", which actually seems to generate more conversation than anything else in his life.
So, these four roommates and myself all live in a house together in intentional Christian community. Which basically means, we have to figure out a covenant that respects all of our wants and needs as well as figure out budgeting and daily chores and all the other daily junk that goes into living in a house with five people. However, it is all done in a loving, Christian manner and disputes are dealt with even more so in this fashion. It's a fantastic support group and friend circle to be able to come home to. Every evening we gather and take prayer requests and pray about our day and the days to come. We read books together that discuss topics like community living, poverty, injustice, etc. and discuss the topics openly with one another to generate conversation.
Then, during the week, I work down in Florida City with my organization, Branches. All the other housemates have their work to go to as well. It's an interesting living situation, because even though we don't work together,we all know the issues we are dealing with on a daily basis. We may be doing completely different jobs, but they all in some form or another, deal with immigration, poverty, race, and social injustice. These common themes seem to surround the Miami area constantly and it is so important to have this support group who can identify with what we are all going though so that we don't get bogged down and discouraged as it is so easy to do. The injustice that happens daily in Miami and South Florida would shock some. It's a frustrating world we live in.
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