Harvesting Oranges

These are the first orange trees I have ever seen!

Today, I saw my first citrus trees! I joined our harvesting coordinator Heather and a refugee volunteer to harvest 2 orange trees this afternoon. It was a last minute harvest; the homeowner called us concerned because the meteorologists are forecasting a freeze this Friday.

I was SO excited to harvest citrus! The orange trees were beautiful..and there were so many oranges!  I learned how to properly pick the oranges off the tree and I also discovered that orange trees (at least this kind) have prickers on them. Unfortunately my hands and forearms are significantly scratched up, and I have two spots in my fingers were little thorns went in, but harvesting the oranges was so fun that I didn't mind.

The woman who owns the trees also has three lemon trees and one grapefruit tree. The lemons aren't ready yet, but the grapefruit was.

A lemon tree, but the lemons aren't ripe yet.

This lemon looks riper than most of the others.

We tried a grapefruit and it was bright red, tart and juicy. I couldn't keep the juice from dripping on the ground and stinging the cuts on my hands. We decided to leave most of the grapefruit on the tree and to come back another day to harvest the rest. Grapefruit trees are hardier than orange trees are, and the longer grapefruit stays on the tree the sweeter it gets.

           The grapefruit tree. 

Grapefruit up close!

The beautiful weather made it a perfect afternoon for harvesting. The Sudanese refugee we worked with has been here about a year, and it turns out that he was a farmer when he lived in Sudan. He said the climate was similar and they had a lot of similar fruits there: grapefruit, oranges, lemons, but also mangoes.

The amount we harvested was incredible. From just two trees, we had seven crates full of oranges, equivalent to about 400 pounds of oranges. 400 pounds, from just two trees. And this is after some of the homeowner's neighbors had picked some of the fruit, too. As I was picking oranges, I started thinking, how can people be going hungry when our natural trees and plants can produce so much food? These experiences make me question, once again, how we distribute our resources. It makes me thankful that I work with an organization trying to prevent food waste. Think about how many people 400 pounds of oranges can feed.

400 pounds of oranges, 50 pounds of grapefruit. 

Looking at food growing naturally helps me refocus my thoughts. Food doesn't come from a factory or from a building or a from shelf, it comes from the earth. God created these plants and trees to provide sustenance for us (among other reasons), and maybe that's why it's so therapeutic and meaningful for me to harvest and to eat gleaned fruit.

It's also exciting because at the store yesterday, I "flirted with" the idea of buying a couple oranges. I resisted, though, because I am trying to stick to buying fruits when they are in season, and I knew that we would be getting citrus throughout the winter. Lo and behold, today we harvested oranges, and I now have some oranges and a grapefruit in my kitchen waiting to be eaten. I think eating them will be far more enjoyable and meaningful since I picked them from a tree instead of from a grocery store aisle.

My next goal...harvest a lemon tree!

Oranges on the tree.

This was the lone orange growing up from the center of the tree. 

Giving Tuesday

Tomorrow, December 3rd, is Giving Tuesday. Between 12:00am and 11:59pm Eastern time , all gifts given to any Advance project through Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church will be matched. (Several restrictions apply; see here for details.

Every ministry, missionary, and project in the UMC has a designated Advance number which donors can use to designate where they would like their donation to go. Each young adult missionary has an Advance number, and the relief effort in the Philippines also has an Advance number. 100% of donations go toward the project they have been designated to. Click here to learn more about the Advance.

If you are interested in supporting me, this Tuesday is an excellent time since the value of your gift will be matched. You can read more about Giving Tuesday here.

To donate: Go to umcmission.org/give. You can either search for my name, find it on the list of missionaries, or put in my advance number: 3021848.

You can see all the donations that have been made on my behalf so far this year by clicking here. 

And remember, Giving Tuesday doesn't apply just to missionaries, it applies to all projects and ministries. There are an incredible amount of wonderful programs happening, and you can read more about projects by region here and projects by topic here.

Thanksgiving in Tucson

Yesterday I experienced the warmest Thanksgiving of my life: 71 and sunny. I have a hard time believing it is practically December because it is so warm here (although I keep hearing people say things like, "Now that it's getting colder...").

The first event of my Thanksgiving was attending an afternoon potluck at an apartment complex. The property manager had called us about a month ago to ask if we could be involved in helping to teach the people about Thanksgiving. About 28/34 families living there are refugee families, and the rest are Spanish-speaking. The refugees are primarily from Bhutan (but ethnically Nepalese), and there are also families from Somalia and Afghanistan.

We partnered with St. Francis in the Foothills UMC to make the event happen. They brought tables, chairs, and a traditional Thanksgiving dish to pass. The property manager supplied the plates, silverware, napkins, and drinks. He also supplied the families with ingredients for them to make their own traditional food to bring. The longer we were outside, the more people kept coming and bringing food, so that it was difficult to find enough room on the tables for everything! People had been encouraged to bring vegan dishes if possible since many residents are vegan. (With dishes like turkey this is obviously impossible though.)

The food was all delicious and I was thrilled to have so many different types of food to try! I was so full from my first plate that I couldn't even eat dessert. I spent time meeting people from St. Francis as well as refugees. Some could speak English and some couldn't, and often it seemed the children old enough to be in school could speak some English while their younger siblings and parents or grandparents could not. At one point I sat with a mother and daughter from Afghanistan and a man from Bhutan as they talked. The man from Bhutan switched between a language they all understood (but which I clearly didn't) and English. It is my hope to learn some basic phrases in many of these languages so that I can at least exchange a few words with the refugees who don't speak English.

After the event ended, I went with Fran and her son to their friends' home for Thanksgiving dinner. The house was full of family and friends and delicious food. Before the meal started, everyone had a turn to share their name and something they were grateful for, which was nice. The conversations were many, lively, and interesting, ranging in topics from Cuba to Obamacare to caregivers to memories from the day JFK was assassinated. We also had eight children running around as well as a dog and a cat. Since several of the families are Jewish, we also celebrated the second night of Hanukkah. The story of Hanukkah was told and the candles on the Menorahs were still burning when I left.

Although I missed my family and my own traditions, and the dear friends with whom I celebrated Thanksgiving in the past few years, I still had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

And, to top it all off, Iskashitaa's new joint culinary venture was featured in the paper yesterday! I was able to attend the cooking retreat and it was a wonderful experience. See the article here.

Apples and Onions

When we talk about highs and lows, our director likes to call them "apples and onions." (Because those are food resources. She also told me that I can use a carrot to hit people to get them to start following food product inventory protocol. Carrots are also a food resource.)

Apples are good things; onions are negative (which isn't quite accurate because I do like onions.) Anyway, today I wanted to share lots of different little things, so it seemed better to put them into this list. I'll start with the onions so I can end on a good note. 

Onions: 

-It's hard to make friends. I feel lonely often. Even though I am making some friends, I don't always see them often. I also want to be able to do other things. It's hard to go places because it is getting dark so early and I don't like traveling alone in the dark. 

-Though I enjoy Arizona, I miss Michigan a lot. I miss my family, my friends, my work, my Bible study, learning Chinese, the MSU campus, my dorm room, the trees, the water, the weather...I'm not sure if this will diminish as time goes on because I feel like I am still in a culture shock stage. 

-Sometimes I feel stressed out by my work. I like it but it can be chaotic and confusing at times. 

Apples: 

-My Dad and Lori visited me this weekend. We had such a wonderful time! It was so good to see them. We were able to visit some beautiful places in Tucson that I have not been able to see yet, like Gates Pass for the sunset and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which was amazing. 

-When Dad, Lori, and I went to the food workshop on Saturday, one of the refugees who met my dad told him that he would be a father to me when my dad was in Michigan. I almost cried. 

-Tonight we had a wonderful Food for Thought dinner. We have these dinners every other month at a restaurant either owned by refugees or which hires refugees. The idea is to support these businesses, to have cross-cultural conversations, and to form new friendships. This month we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho 88, which is owned by several people who were Vietnamese refugees. I was nervous about everything leading up to the event, but it ended up turning out very well. We had wonderful conversations, lots of laughter, and representatives from 5 different countries.

To end, these are some of the wonderful pictures my dad took this weekend: 

Lori and I watching the sunset at Gates Pass. 

Sunset at Gates Pass, looking east 

My dad and me after the food workshop. 

Events

On Saturday I spent all day at an event at the St. Mark's UMC in northwest Tucson. It was a "Masterpiece Festival" with lots of crafters and vendors. It was a really neat show, but I didn't get to see much outside of the bake sale (at which I got some pumpkin bread!)
We set up to sell our food products and African baskets made by refugees. It was a warm day but we were glad to be in the shade, where it was comfortable. We did pretty well in sales, especially since we split our product between 3 events. The Farmer's Market happens every Saturday, so that was one of the events, and the other was a sale at the UNICEF store for UN Day.

Event days (for sales) consist of trying to set up a visually appealing display and then engaging people who come by our booth. Even if they are not interested in buying something, we still want to share with them about Iskashitaa. We are always looking for volunteers, and we are also trying to spread the word about our harvesting program so we can keep food from going to waste! It's always great to hear people say, "My neighbor has a huge grapefruit tree; I'll give them your flyer!"
We have a lot of events coming up as the holiday season draws nearer. This is a busy time of year for us. We have lots of sales, and lots of people purchasing products for Christmas gifts. This means lots of food preservation workshops to actually make these products!
This weekend we are having our next food workshop, and we plan to make a wide range of items:

• Pumpkin butter
• Apple butter
• Cinnamon apple sauce
• Lemon Curd
• Ruby Red Grapefruit Curd
• Dressings
• Prickly Pear Syrup

We will be doing a lot with apples and pumpkins. On Friday we had a huge apple harvest in partnership with Brown's Apple Orchard in Wilcox. Because Halloween is this week, lots of pumpkin patches are letting us come harvest their excess pumpkins starting November 1st! We will have a lot to do. On a personal note, this weekend my Dad is coming to visit! He's going to join us for the food workshop, and I'm hoping we'll be able to see some of the great landmarks around Tucson. 

Pictures from the event at St. Mark's on Saturday. 

The green basket in the back is one of my favorites. Beautiful. These baskets take weeks to make. 

Recent Days

Just some quick bullet points about what I've been up to lately. This week has been a quieter one for me (though still pretty stressful, just fewer events.)

• On Friday we had a food preservation workshop.My main contribution here was peeling garlic for about 2 hours. It's fortunate that I like garlic, because my hands smelled like it for a few days afterward. It is great to be able to connect with more of the volunteers, though. It makes it a lot easier for me to find volunteers for upcoming workshops. At our next workshop, I'm looking forward to working with pears and pumpkins! Tomorrow we are having a big pear harvest at an orchard outside the city. (I'm not going, but I'll be working with the pears!) 
• This week I have been trying to get some other logistical things done. The main issue has been trying to find a new location for our Refugee 101 volunteer training. We wanted to hold it in a more central location that is accessible by bus. I think we have finally found somewhere, but it has been quite the process! Hopefully tomorrow it will all be solidified. 
• Saturday I am going to be at an art show all day selling Iskashitaa's crafts and food products. 
• I've continued going to Wesley on Wednesdays and for the past two weeks I have gone to the small group/Bible study/life group on Sunday. I like the Sunday meetings because of the opportunity for discussion and reflection, and of course interacting with people outside of work. Beginning to have some friendships that are more than surface-level has been a wonderful development for me in the past couple weeks. Now I am just hoping that I can expand this by getting involved in some other activities. 
• I biked to church on Sunday morning, and despite getting a little turned around on my way there, it went pretty well. I was late for the service but I still enjoyed it. I especially like that the chapel is open between services for anyone who would like to take communion. 
• Looking forward to resting on my days off this Sunday/Monday, and also to seeing my dad next weekend!!! 

moving forward

Today was a good day for many reasons:

• We now have a MICROWAVE at the office! Heather and I are thrilled; this greatly expands our lunch options!! 

• We got Google Voice for our office cell phone. It can transcribe messages and email them to you, and we are beyond excited about this. We get lots of calls and we don't have the staff capacity to go through them, especially during the weekend when no one checks the messages. Having to listen to 15 voicemails on a Monday morning is not the best feeling. Though the transcription will obviously not be perfect (especially when we are taking messages from refugees), it will be extremely helpful and cut down on the amount of time we spend going through the messages. 

• I rode my bike for the first time. I have been avoiding it because riding in the city makes me very nervous. But Heather and I had a meeting today and the best way to get there was via bike, and she is much more experienced than I am with the biking. It felt good to be riding a bike again, even though I am woefully out of shape.
  
  The best part about today was the meeting that Heather and I had. Last week I received a call from a man who is a manager of an apartment complex. He explained that nearly all of their tenants (28/34 families) are refugee families (and the remaining families are Spanish-speaking.) The owner the refugees to learn about Thanksgiving and they were looking for a group who worked with refugees to come do some sort of presentation about Thanksgiving.We are now working with them on preparing this event for Thanksgiving Day. I won't write too much more about it now, but I feel so thankful to be a part of this!
  
  It was beyond encouraging to see firsthand how people with wealth and means are interested in making better the lives of others. So often it seems like business owners and apartment managers are inconsiderate of the people they work with and primarily concerned with profit. This is clearly not the case at this particular apartment complex: instead they are interested in building a community and creating a welcoming place for refugees. Seeing this gave me a concrete example of some of the ways my many business major friends might be able effect change in their futures, and that was an exciting prospect for me, too. I'm looking forward to our participation in this project and having something so worthwhile to be a part of on my Thanksgiving Day. As I told Heather on our way back, that meeting was the kind of experience that made me think: "This is why I am doing this."

Food Justice

Earlier this year I read a book called "Everyday Justice." Each chapter discussed a different justice issue linked to common items in a Westerner's life: chocolate, clothing, gas, and food, to name a few. Since reading this book, I have felt a great desire to live my life with more awareness as to how my use of these everyday objects might be contributing to slavery, injustice, and other problems in our world.

Since moving to Tucson, I have been focusing on the area of food. This is especially easy for me because Iskashitaa is food-justice minded (our programs are food-based!) and the lady I am living with is also conscious about her food choices.

Thanks to Iskashitaa and donors to Iskashitaa, I am often able to take bread and fresh produce home with me. I have been trying to buy organic (which I know is not perfect, but better than non-organic): Organic milk, eggs, sugar, flour, honey, and carrots have been some of my main purchases. I was a little nervous about the taste of the organic milk, but it is pretty good. It is also nice to know that the eggs I am eating do not come from chickens that are fed unnatural food and allowed no space to move.

I am actually hoping to be able to buy some of these things (like honey and eggs) at a farmer's market. Unfortunately on Farmer's Market days I am often busy and unable to go.

I am also trying to eat foods while they are in season! It's interesting how I never thought about the seasons for fruits that don't grow in Michigan; they are always available year round in the store! Since I want to eat more local foods, it makes sense to eat what is in season. I have been eating a lot of apples lately! (aka daily) I'm looking forward to citrus season (winter) which is our busiest harvesting season. I've never seen lemons, grapefruit, or oranges growing on actual trees and I'm hoping to take part in these harvests.

I wanted to finish my post with some pictures of the different foods I have been working with and learning about with Iskashitaa. My hope is that as time goes on I will eat more and more natural foods and less processed foods, and get acquainted with more local foods! All photos are taken from the Iskashitaa facebook page.

This is the pitaya fruit I posted about several weeks ago. We have branded it "cactus kiwi" since the inside looks so similar to kiwi!

These are calamondins or calamansi. We call them limes and they are in the kumquat family. The orange ones are ripe! They are abundant in the Philippines and also very tart! We use them to make a tart marmalade. 

These are carob pods. They grow on trees. We grind them, sift them, and then sell the powder. Today Barbara sent me home with some carob powder so I could try it out with my baking. I am currently trying to bake brownies with it. Carob powder can be used as a partial substitute for flour. When put in for some of the flour in a recipe, you can add less sugar because it is naturally sweet! I am told that the powder is also great to add to smoothies because it thickens it and adds sweetness and protein. 

We have had lots of pomegranate harvests lately, which is great because most of our refugee friends love pomegranates! 

This picture is from our last food workshop. We are cutting open the pomegranates to take out the 'seeds' to juice! 

Pomegranate has a beautiful color. It also stains clothes, whereas prickly pear (below) does not. 

Prickly pear! I had never heard of this cactus fruit before coming here. It is beautiful in color but the spines are brutal. The cooler we used after the prickly pear harvest was getting people for days after we washed it out. 

Prickly pear on the cactus. We juice the prickly pear which is a difficult, tiring, and often painful process. We have to strain the juice many times so the tiny spindles don't get inside of our product. 

These are quince! I had never heard of them before coming here. I tasted some quince for the first time today; it reminded me of applesauce but with a different flavor. They are very hard until they are cooked. We are going to use the rest of our quince to make prickly-pear quince jam. 

Tucson Meet Yourself

This past week was crazy as we were preparing to take part in a major city festival in addition to other routine items. Tucson Meet Yourself is a 3-day folklife festival featuring cultural foods, dancing, crafts, and musical performances. Downtown was transformed into an area full of tents, stages, and food stations. Local people often call the festival "Tucson Eat Yourself" because of the great amount of food there.

Iskashitaa had a tent in the Heritage Foods section for all three days, where we sold our canned food products from 12-6 each day. These are the products that we make during the Food Preservation Workshops (which I coordinate.) We also had crafting demonstrators on Saturday and Sunday from 12-5. On Saturday we had some young refugee girls demonstrating knitting and crocheting, and on Sunday we had refugee women demonstrating Burundi basket weaving. We also sold our refugee-made craft items on Saturday and Sunday.

Volunteers and me at our tent at Tucson Meet Yourself on Friday morning.

I worked at the festival in our food products tent on Friday and Saturday. It was a fun experience despite being tiring and occasionally stressful. Not only are we trying to sell our products, we are also simply trying to let people know about our organization. We are always looking for volunteers and people willing to donate their trees by letting us harvest the excess fruit.

Our tent was right next to the Food Demonstration area, where a kitchen was set up for people to give cultural cooking demonstrations. This was wonderful because some of the refugee women we work with were giving cooking demonstrations. It was nice to be able to see them and support them, and some of them brought me samples of the food after they were finished!

The stage for dancing was also behind us. While I didn't see much of the dancing, it was still neat to see all the various performers getting prepared behind the stage while wearing their traditional clothing. It was a cool weekend, but I was so exhausted by the end of it!

This week Heather and I also lead our first Refugee 101 Volunteer Training. We are going to be running these monthly trainings from now on. One of my current tasks is to find a new location for the training; our current location is only accessible by car, which isn't good for Heather, me, or probably many of our potential volunteers. We were both extremely nervous, but I think doing the presentation showed me how much I have already learned. The main part I need to focus on now is learning more about the conflicts in each country and why people have fled their homes.

This week we have another food workshop. I'm hoping to get some pictures this time to share! It's a little challenging since I don't have a camera anymore, but I'm hoping to find a way.

To finish, here is a news article that was in the Arizona Daily Star about a family of Syrian asylees that we work with.

this reality

Not having a car has been difficult. It has also helped me to understand what it means to be privileged enough to have a car. It's easy for me to be annoyed about the 10 minute walk to the store in the Arizona heat, and being limited to only the groceries I can carry. It's easy to be frustrated about the long trips I have to take to get to church, the library, or anywhere else I want to go. It's easy to be upset that I always have to ask people for rides if I go somewhere after dark since I don't feel comfortable walking to my house from the bus stop in the dark.

Yet whenever I think these thoughts, I remind myself that for so many people, this is their reality. They don't have enough money to have a car. The bus is the only option. And some of them live much farther away from grocery stores and workplaces than I do. This is especially true for some of the refugees we work with. Even if they were professionals in their home country, here in the US they don't have a degree, so they are unable to get good jobs. The only way to do so would be to go through the education system here with the money they don't have. They often do not have cars and are forced to live in parts of the city that are more remote, since they are less expensive.

Today I heard someone say, "I don't know how people can just sit at the bus stops in the middle of the day with the sun beating down on them like that." And I just thought..."Because they don't have a choice.." Riding the bus exposes me to a different population. It makes me understand realities that I wouldn't have to deal with if I had a car. Having a car is a luxury that shelters me. It is easier to ignore the poor if they are on the buses and you have a car. The people who ride the bus become an abstract idea when you don't have to look into their faces. The separation makes it easier to think that the "less fortunate" are in some vague otherplace, with their names and faces and stories blurred.

At one of the bus stops I go to, I typically see people who I suspect are homeless. (I was told that Tucson has a huge homeless population. Because of the weather patterns here, many homeless people try to save enough money to buy a one way bus ticket .) They sit in the bus stops talking with each other, and when the bus comes, they continue to sit. Often people ask me for change, but I usually don't have any with me. (My bus pass is paid for by the month and the information is in the card.) Many of them seem to have mental illnesses. It is saddening to see the disproportionate amount of homeless people who have mental illnesses who are probably unable to get treatment. But that's another topic.

Earlier this week, I was sitting at a bus stop after picking up a package from the post office. It was hot and sunny, and I was worried I might get sunburned. A man with a plastic bag came by and began to search through the trash can at the bus stop looking for food. He pulled out a soft drink cup that had been thrown away and tried to drink the last of it. Then he sat down on the bench and waited for the bus with the rest of us.

I felt twisted with emotions--sadness, compassion, helplessness. We live in such a wasteful world. How often do we throw away the leftover food on our plate without a second thought? How often do we pour the rest of a drink down the drain or into the grass, or simply dump it into the trash? If we were more responsible about our consumption, what effect would that have on the hungry and the thirsty? What effect would it have on our environment and our natural resources?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post contemplating what it meant to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Hunger and thirst can cause a person to search through garbage to find relief. What do we have to search through to satisfy the hunger and thirst for righteousness?

It's Always Sunny in Arizona

Now that I've been here about a month, I have noticed even more Michigan/Arizona differences. Please enjoy part two of culture shock / simple facts I have learned about Arizona/Tucson in general.

• It is literally sunny every day. Whenever I check the weather for the week, it's always a little row of suns. No clouds in sight. This is a strange concept for me. 
• In the paper the other day, I saw an article about places to go to see leaves changing. It was so strange to me! Three places were listed and none of them seemed to have an abundance of color-changing trees. What a dramatic difference from having color-changing trees visible out my window for the past 22 years!
• Business casual is more casual than it is in Michigan (or in Virginia or California, according to fellow staff at Iskashitaa.)
• Someone told me that they had scheduled a speaker for November, but they canceled it because 70 was the average temperature and people wouldn't sit outside because it was too cold. 70 degrees. Too cold....this is not something I am able to comprehend.
• The mountain ranges are a natural compass. Catalinas to the north. Rincon to the east, Tucson to the west. (The southern range isn't as visible in most of the city.) 
• Helmets are a thing here. Tucson is considered a bike-friendly city (although most of the people who tell me that own cars), and I've noticed that the majority of people wear helmets. Typical MSU students don't wear helmets while biking. I think this can be easily attributed to the setting (MSU is a largely enclosed campus with bike paths separate from roads; Tucson is a large city with bike lanes.)
• I now recognize the Tucson area code in phone numbers. It's interesting because after being on campus for 4 years, most people have different area codes, so it is normal to say the full 10 digit number. Here, however, the area code (520) can be assumed and many people simply give out their 7 digit number. This sometimes throws me off at work when I'm taking down a number.
• Lizards are the squirrels of Arizona. In Michigan, squirrels are everywhere. Here, it's lizards that scramble frantically through yards.
• In my neighborhood, nearly all the mailboxes are physically attached to the houses. (A few are embedded in the fences that enclose the entire yard, but these are the exception. In Michigan, practically all mailboxes are at the ends of driveways.)
• The sidewalks are random and unreliable. Apparently when Tucson was built the street plans did not include sidewalks, so some places have them and some don't. In addition, if there is sidewalk in front of your home and it gets damaged, the city won't replace it, you have to.
• Citrus grows here. I've always thought of lemons, oranges, and grapefruits growing in exotic places, but they grow here! A part of town is called Orange Grove; it actually is an orange grove.
  
  Probably there are more things, but this is all I can think of for now. Apologies for any typos; the keyboard on this computer is terrible. Fortunately I should have mine soon!

In the Cultural Kitchen

Unfortunate circumstances have prevented me from updating in a while, but I am back now!

Today I attended my second Food Preservation Workshop. This is one of the main parts of my role here at Iskashitaa. Coordinating the volunteers can be tough, but I think the longer I am here and the more people I meet the easier it will get.

I have enjoyed these workshops greatly and I am so glad I will be able to continue to participate in them. It is a great way to get to know people and their stories, all while learning how to make delicious products! In addition, it is a wonderful feeling to be able to do this with foods that Iskashitaa has picked from local backyards, gardens, and farms. It is also wonderful to learn so many different recipes that are multicultural. Some of the foods that grow here are native to refugee countries, so they are able to teach us their recipes for some of the foods, such as figs or dates.

Today my efforts were put toward pomegranates: cutting them open and getting all the berries in a bowl, and then juicing them.We ended up with about a gallon of pomegranate juice, and we still have pomegranates to juice next time.

We also juiced prickly pear (a cactus fruit) and made Prickly Pear Syrup and we have prickly pear juice. This is a though and tiring job, plus the prickly pear has lots of little spines (hence the "prickly") that easily get into skin. I was lucky to be with the pomegranates!

We also made some dressings: orange grapefruit marmalade, grapefruit orange pecan, and grapefruit vinaigrette.

At the last workshop, we made lemon curd, Rwandan grapefruit marmalade, Cactus Kiwi Jam (made from the pitayas I talked about in another post), and we canned previously grinded carob powder.  Carob powder can be used as a sugar substitute and it is also high in protein. When I have access to a camera I will try to get some pictures!

Today I also tried a calamondin lime for the first time. Imagine my surprise to find that they are orange! They look like baby clementines but are not sweet at all! The peel can also be eaten and they are part of the kumquat family.

This weekend get to participate in a cooking retreat with Iskashitaa's new joint venture, "Dishes and Stories." This is a culinary enterprise for refugee and immigrant women. It will provide job experience and training, starting out as a catering business, but the eventual hope is that it will become a small café serving multi-ethnic food options, with the menu coming from recipes of the women's mothers. I look forward to sharing more after Saturday!

Grace Alone

Today, I attended a United Methodist Church (Catalina UMC) for a Sunday service for the first time since I've lived here.

I have discovered that the bus system is not very reliable. This morning I went to the bus stop and waited half an hour before the bus came, and it wasn't the bus I expected. I boarded it anyway, and it did stop only a block away from where I was planning to get off on the original bus. I was then planning to take one more bus over to the church. 

Unfortunately, the other bus drove by before I could get to the next stop. That meant I had to walk the rest of the way to the church. Googlemaps claimed this was only a 15 minute walk, but in reality, it was double. In the hot Arizona sun this was not the most fun. I am thankful for my investment in an insulated water bottle. 

This might seem a little extreme, but there is only one UMC closer to my home than Catalina, and that is the church I am attending the next 2 weeks for work. I wanted to go to church today, so I was willing to make an effort. 

Catalina UMC has 2 traditional and 2 contemporary services. I went to one of each. 

The highlight for me from the first service was a song called "Grace Alone."  I almost stayed for another traditional service just so I could sing it again. The music was elaborate; apparently it is part of a program called "Third Sunday Music." The choir was large and they also had quite the ensemble, complete with a timpani. Some highlights from the message:

"When I don't feel like I need to be forgiven is when I really do need to be forgiven." 

"When you don't want to hear about Jesus dying on the cross for us is when you are lost like the sheep, the coin, the prodigal son..." 

After the service I met a wonderful and friendly man who I exchanged business cards with (I'm such an adult now) and who helped me find the contemporary service. The contemporary worship was different even from other contemporary bands I have experienced in churches. Some of the songs they sang were written by people in their band.  I liked that this service had a "greeting time" and a time for prayer requests (even though that was short.) The traditional service, which was in a large sanctuary, did not have those times. Some message highlights:

"It matters what you believe. It matters how you live. Your faith MUST inform your life."
"How am I being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ for others today and what will I do to model the presence of Christ for others tomorrow?" -John Flowers  

"If you treat people like dirt, you probably don't believe in Jesus."

Another thing I like about Catalina is that they serve communion in the chapel after every service. Unfortunately I was too late to take communion this week, but if I ever return here I could probably take communion between services. The chapel was beautiful and empty when I stopped in after the 2nd service, and the Bible on the altar "just so happened" to be opened to one of my favorite Psalms. (43) This was a sign of comfort and peace to me.

After the second service, I talked with two people. One of them is a dual Ph.D student and she ended up giving me a ride home, which I was very thankful for. If she had not, I would have ended up waiting for the bus for a long time, walking a long way, or both. Because it was the middle of the day by then, I may have even had to go into some of the small stores or restaurants along the way to get out of the heat for a while.

I also learned that during football season, fans go to the early services so they can be home in time for the games, since they start in the morning on the west coast!

Today I am thankful for the opportunity to go to worship in this new place.

 Grace Alone

 Every promise we can make

Every prayer and step of faith

Every difference we will make

is only by His grace

Every mountain we will climb

Every ray of hope we shine

Every blessing left behind

is only by His grace

Grace alone, which God supplies

Strength unknown, He will provide

Christ in us, our Cornerstone

We will go forth in grace alone

Every soul we long to reach

Every heart we hope to teach

Everywhere we share His peace

is only by His grace

Every loving word we say

Every tear we wipe away

Every sorrow turned to praise

is only by His grace

Grace alone, which God supplies

Strength unknown, He will provide

Christ in us, our Cornerstone

We will go forth in grace alone

Quarterly Public Meeting

Today was a very long day for me! I'm so glad to be home, and to have the day off tomorrow! (Although I do have to go into the office for about an hour to finalize some things for Saturday...)

Today we had the Refugee Resettlement Quarterly Public Meeting for Strategic Planning. Members of organizations that work with refugees attended this meeting to develop a 2-year statewide strategic plan to address some key issues regarding refugee resettlement. The first meeting took place in June and focused on different issues. The meeting today focused on three main areas: integrated health, K-12 education, and employment. The summer intern and the other new staff and I attended for Iskashitaa and we were each assigned a different "track." I participated in the employment track.

Once in our tracks, we had to decide as a group which goals we thought were most important to address. For example:

• Develop/expand job search assistance options six months after arrival in the US 
• Identify options for affordable and accessible childcare
• Expand on-the-job training opportunities

We had nine of these potential goals, and each member of the group received three stickers to vote for whichever they felt were the most important. We ended up focusing on three goals: 

• Develop/expand Vocational English Training
• Expand on-the-job training opportunities
• Develop strategies for refugees to earn a living wage 

We then split into groups to address the goals specifically. We were supposed to determine objectives to achieve the goal, identify a date by which the objective should be accomplished, decide what the performance measures should be (how to measure success), and suggest possible responsible parties and participants. What a task! 

Somehow I ended up being the scribe for my group, which involved writing down all of these things to be turned in at the end of the session. These will then be reviewed the overall team, revised, sent out to everyone, and then an implementation team will begin working on them. All of the goals here were community input through past reports, conferences, and listening sessions with refugees. 

It was a very informational time for me. It is easy to talk about problems, but it is not always easy to talk about solutions. When we talk about solutions, we have to think about what is feasible and realistic. We have to think about the resources that are available and also make sure we are not duplicating existing services. We have to realize that this is a process, and the problem is not going to be solved in 2 years. But we can make a start. We can make progress. 

The idea of it being easy to talk about problems stood out to me especially. Whenever my group was off-topic, it was because we were talking about the needs. So many needs exist, and many people have firsthand stories to tell about the needs. Sometimes it even becomes tempting to say, "Well, if there was a solution, wouldn't we have already found it?" It seems that we often enjoy complaining, but we offer no suggestions on how to fix the problem. But this was not the reason we came together. We came together to seek solutions, and that was something we would do together. It will be interesting to see the results of this collaboration when everything is compiled, revised, and sent out to us to review. 

Another interesting note is that the facilitator of the employment group was a former US-2! He said he participated in the program around 1975. That was a great connection to make! 

After this meeting, we went back to the office and did some work there. We have a food preservation workshop on Saturday, so I am trying to coordinate volunteers for this at the last minute. Then I went to our Refugee 101 in the evening. This happens once a month also functions as our volunteer training. It was great to hear this more in depth and build on my knowledge about refugees and some of the countries they are coming from. It was also encouraging to talk with those attending who are interested in volunteering!

After an interesting but long day, it is good to have some time to rest. 

Pitayas and Pomegranates

Today I went on my first harvest! It was unexpected (for me), and pretty small. We harvested fruit from one cactus and one pomegranate tree.

It was so cool to touch a cactus and to pick and then eat its fruit! We each ate some of the pitaya fruit while we were picking it. (And who knew pitaya was a fruit before it was a store? I didn't, until today. The fruit is better.) It is sort of like a kiwi, except bright pink/red on the outside and white on the inside. I'm going to look for pictures to put up! I need to start bringing my camera everywhere.

We also harvested a pomegranate tree. I tried some pomegranate while we were harvesting, too--it's tart but good! We came away with about two boxes of pomegranates and one bag of pitayas.

After the harvest, we stopped back at the office and then headed downtown for our bimonthly Food for Thought dinner. This dinner is meant to be a time for refugees and non-refugees to spend time together sharing a meal and sharing stories. It is meant to be a cross-cultural exchange, and we try to hold it at a restaurant either owned by a refugee or that employs refugees. Tonight we went to a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant called Sinbad's. The food was so delicious, and I met many new people! And as our supervisor said, what better way to spend September 11th than seeking peace and change through building relationships with people from many different countries, cultures, and backgrounds?

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so I'm hoping I can get a lot of rest in tonight.

Activities and Acronyms

It has now been 2 weeks since I arrived in Tucson, and I have now had a full week of work, so I wanted to share about some of the things I have been doing. So much is going on that it is still hard to get a grasp on what my schedule will be like, but things are starting to take shape.

At work:

• Last Tuesday, I went with Natalie (the development director) to a lunch for the YAVs in the area, since Iskashitaa will have a YAV this year. YAV--Young Adult Volunteers, is a program through the Presbyterian church. It is similar to the US-2 program, but it only lasts for one year. It has been great to meet Heather (our YAV, and the harvesting coordinator), especially since we are learning things at the same time. 
• Last week I spent most of my time in the office preparing a presentation, sending emails, and familiarizing myself with the many Googledocs of Iskashitaa. The director's house is on the same property, so we also have 3 dogs running around. A common afternoon activity is comforting the dog that is afraid of thunder. (Since it is still monsoon season, we frequently have afternoon storms.) 
• Saturday we had the Farmer's Market, which I posted about a few days ago. 
• On Sunday, I went to Rincon UCC (United Church of Christ) for Connection Sunday. We set up a table and talked with people before and after their two services, and we also attended one of the services. The UCC was an interesting experience and a different viewpoint for me. The theological differences were evident in the service, but I appreciated the great heart for social justice & peace, the welcoming spirit, and awareness about global events.  This church is going to be a partner with Iskashitaa for a new program they are starting called Dishes & Stories. (More about that on another day.) 
• Yesterday, I went with Natalie to Casas Adobes UCC for a presentation. She gave a general presentation about refugee resettlement/refugee 101 and the programs that Iskashitaa offers, and then talked about potential partnerships. 
• This morning, I did a presentation for the United Methodist Women (UMW) at the First United Methodist Church (FUMC). The presentation focused on the US-2 program, my journey to this point, and what I will be doing with Iskashitaa. I also met the president and president-elect of Tucson's Church Women United (CWU), who I will be meeting/interacting with more starting next week. The women were very welcoming and I enjoyed the morning and lunch. 
• Acronyms are a big part of my life. 

Non-work Activities: 

• On Wednesday, I went to the second Wesley Foundation meeting. This was an uplifting evening of worship and fellowship. 
• On Thursday, my friend and fellow US-2 Darlene came over to visit. This was a great night! Darlene is also from Michigan, and because we are in the same program we are able to relate to each other well. Darlene has given me great advice about living in Tucson and it was so uplifting to see her.
• Thursday afternoon I managed my first trip on the bus! This is an accomplishment because the bus system is pretty elaborate and confusing. I went to one of the library branches and checked out 3 books. I'm planning to go back maybe once a week. 
• After Natalie and I finished the presentation at Casas Adobes, we went to an oriental mart. I was excited to get some groceries not available in typical grocery stores. 

This next week is looking just as busy, if not busier! I am still trying to find a Bible study to attend and we are also still working on my bike situation. I would appreciate your prayers in these areas! 

It's Time to Look Up

A few days ago I wrote a post about the origin of my blog URL, hungry4justice. This post is about the origin of my blog title, "It's Time to Look Up." Just as I owe my URL to Katie, I also owe my blog title to those who introduced this song to me.

This line is from a song called "Come On, My Soul" by Rend Collective Experiment. I first heard it at Wesley Woods this summer when I was a counselor at the high school camp. I had once upon a time found another song that I thought was paired with this one, but at this point it is lost to me. (Because the opening lines "sing my soul" are not in the official song by Rend Collective Experiment.)`

Sing my soul, sing my soul
Sing my soul, sing my soul

Come on, my soul
Come on, my soul
Let down the walls
And sing, my soul
Come on, come on, come on, come on
It's time to look up 

Heather Humm prefaced the song by talking about the line, "It's time to look up." What she said (as I understood it), was that sometimes in our lives we become caught up in all the things going on around us. We are overwhelmed by our obligations and preoccupied with tasks to be completed. She said that sometimes when she is at Wesley Woods, she takes a moment to pause and look up through the treetops into the light, into the sky. To look up to God and remember that He is good and He is love and He is more than these obligations, these problems, these tasks, these things.

As a person who is frequently tempted to measure self worth in terms of action and performance, this was such an important song for me. To me the line "It's time to look up" is what reminds me to look up to God in every circumstance, no matter how hopeless I might feel.

In the broader sense of injustice and human suffering, it is a line that says to me, Now is the time to look up to God. It is the time to let down the walls of fear, of anger, of hate in our hearts. Now is the time to believe in God--in His power, in His justice, in His mercy, in His love. Now is the time to look up and trust God and to know that He will give us the strength to move forward in the face of incredible adversity. Now is the time to look up--to believe, to trust, to hope.

Here is the official video of the song.

Thank you to Heather for the words that have stayed with me to influence my future (forgive me for any misrepresentations/misunderstandings/false memories.) Thanks to Miah and the others who lead the song in a way that spoke to my heart and stuck with me through the summer months. (I prefer your version, but sadly I do not have a video of it.) And thanks to anyone else who was involved in bringing the song to camp this summer. 

Farmer's Market

Today I worked at a Farmer's Market with Iskashitaa. They took a few months off for summer and this week was their first week back. It was both exciting and overwhelming to be working a booth here. Iskashitaa takes some of the gleaned fruits and veggies and makes jams, jellies, and preserves with them, and these products were our main focus. We also sell hand-made harvesting bags and African baskets.

The farmer's market is such a great environment. It is great to see vendors who are trying to sell their products locally and be mindful of the earth. I was a little surprised by the variety of products offered; when I think of farmer's markets I generally just think of vegetables. Not only were there vegetables and fruits, there were also plants, flowers, herbs, jams, eggs, honey, espresso fudge, bread, vegan gluten-free baked goods, candles/lotions/skin treatments, pet treats, and more. Our booth was next to a woman who was selling her home-made candles, lotions, and skin-treatments. She is very conscious of the ingredients she uses and how they affect the environment. She said her products are actually edible. Her products are almost vegan, other than the sugar she currently uses. She said she is hoping to be able to switch to a vegan sugar when she can afford the cost. 

It was enjoyable to talk with the people coming by our booth and to share about our programs with them. Many people signed up to receive our newsletter, to volunteer, or to donate unused fruit from 

their properties. We had samples of fig preserves and orange marmalade available, and they were delicious! I'm looking forward to learning how to make many of these products. 

This particular farmer's market is held at a non-profit movie theater in Tucson called The Loft.Throughout the market, videos that were created about Iskashitaa played on the loop in the theater for free. One of the videos Iskashitaa was featured in was sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation! What an exciting surprise that was for me. 

All in all, I enjoyed working at the farmer's market and experiencing a community of people interested in buying local products. 

The upcoming week is very busy for me, so please keep me in your prayers! Pray that I will be able to have good rest and that I will be relying on God as I am continuing to learn about my new position. 

California Days

Labor Day weekend for me was spent with Tucson Wesley in California! I was given the exciting opportunity to join the Wesley group as a chaperon for their weekend trip to the San Diego area. 

I was so thankful to have the chance to go to California--especially so soon! I love traveling and seeing different parts of the country, but since I don't have a car here I have expected that to be challenging. Thus, it was an amazing blessing for me to get to visit California my first weekend here. 

A lot of people were surprised to hear that I had never been to Cali or the Pacific Ocean before! San Diego is a common vacation destination for Arizonans. (I was also told that people from San Diego don't like Arizonans much.) 

Here are some main points from the trip: 

• Friday afternoon I left  the church with a group of 9 others in a church van. With a few stops, it took us 6 or 7 hours to get to the church we were staying at in San Diego (which, fun fact, is the biggest UMC in the Western Jurisdiction.) 
• The drive, though long, I enjoyed a lot because of the scenery: cacti, mountains, enormous piles of rocks that seem like mountains but probably aren't, seemingly endless desert sand dunes (where apparently Star Wars was filmed?), border patrol vehicles, and the fence marking the US-Mexico border. 
• After the second van and car arrived late in the night, we had a group total of 28 people. 
• We spent our first day at the beach on Coronado Island. It was my first time seeing and swimming in the Pacific! The beach has always been a special place for me, so it was wonderful to smell the salt water and feel the sand on my feet. I reached my personal goal of leaving without a sunburn, and the water was so warm! It only felt cold to me for a few minutes; it was far warmer than any of the Great Lakes or the north Atlantic. 
• In the evening, we visited the Arizona State Wesley at a nearby church to have dinner together as well as a short devotional time.  (Also a rivalry exists between ASU and U of A. Anyone surprised? I wasn't but I still had to ask.) 
• On Sunday morning, we had a beautiful worship service at a public park in the Mission Bay area. The ASU and U of A Wesley Foundations were there, as were the Lutheran student groups from both schools. A group from Northern Arizona University was there as well. The scenery was beautiful, and I loved seeing members of different groups all lead the musical worship together. (Some songs I really love, too. 
• After this, most of our group went to Mission Beach. I went with the other chaperons to Balboa Park, a historic part of San Diego with many museums, older buildings, and beautiful architecture. Unfortunately we couldn't spend much time here because we were hungry and the restaurants had high-price menus. 
• After a short walk in Balboa Park, we drove into downtown San Diego to try and find somewhere to eat. Sidenote--driving a church van in parking ramps is a bit scary. Even though the height limit is posted when you drive in and a bar hangs down, our van was so close to the cutoff that we were constantly flinching as we drove through the garage. 
• That evening we went to a restaurant called Stacked. It allowed for nearly endless customization. Each table is given an iPad, on which they can go to any menu area and either "start from scratch" or start with a pre-made menu item. You can drag and drop different items to either add them or remove them from your order--and watch the price change accordingly. You can even pay at your table using the iPad and easily split your bill. 
• We also went to Yogurt-Land once. This was a win-lose situation for me. On the downside, it was late and I was exhausted, and they didn't have taro-flavored frozen yogurt. :( On the upside, they did have mochi as a topping. 
• The last night, we had a short outdoor devotional time. One of the Wesley members gave a short talk that I loved. What stood out to me from it was the idea that if we tell our friends about movies/sports/foods that we love, why wouldn't we tell them about the God that we love? If God is so important to us, shouldn't we be sharing Him? We also sang some of my favorite worship songs, Cannons and Revelation Song. 

Overall, the whole weekend was a great experience. It was fun to get to know some of the Wesley students and learn more about Tucson Wesley's group culture. (The things I think about after being in IV...) The songs we sang for worship had very solid, Biblical lyrics and I appreciated that a lot. I learned more about Arizona and California and specifically the University of Arizona. I had some great conversations with the Wesley students and I'm grateful I was able to spend that time with them. My first California trip was a success! 

To Hunger for Justice

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." 

Matthew 5:6 

A few weeks ago, while I was still in training in New York, I was trying to come up with a URL for my blog. The wonderful and intelligent Katie Pryor, a fellow US-2 serving in Biloxi, suggested
hungry4justice as my URL, stemming from the idea that one of Iskashitaa's primary interests is food justice, and my position is Food Justice Coordinator. (Also if I ever start a twitter, I have a hashtag to match: #h4j.)

Since that time, I have been reflecting on what it means to be hungry for justice.
Hunger is something universal; all living things need nourishment. Hunger alerts us to a need in our bodies for sustenance, and the longer we go without that sustenance, the more uncomfortable we become. If the sustenance never comes, hunger becomes death.

To hunger for justice, for righteousness, might be regarded as a person's need for justice. It could be the knowledge that one will be unable to function properly until justice is achieved. Just as pangs of hunger and growling stomachs alert our bodies to the need for food, instances of systemic injustice and human suffering alert our souls to the need for justice. To be hungry for justice is to realize that just as seeking food is vital for survival, so too is seeking justice.

This Beautiful Creation

Do we tire of beauty?

This question has been on my mind as I have been taking in the new sights of Arizona and California this past week. I have never seen so many cacti or palm trees in my life. I am not used to mountains being visible from my front yard. The beauty here is astounding.
I wonder if to locals it seems commonplace?

Today, as friends were driving me home from the weekend trip to California (I'll write about that soon!), I was telling them where I lived. I meant to say, "It's the house next to the really tall palm tree." But instead of palm tree, I said pine tree!
I felt so silly because I haven't seen a single pine tree since I arrived in Tucson last Tuesday. Yet in a way it makes sense; I have spent my whole life looking at pine trees (my yard in Battle Creek is full of them) and I have rarely seen palm trees.

Being away from Michigan makes its beauty stand out more to me: the greenness of the grass and the trees, the way the leaves change color in the fall, the sparkling white on everything after snowfall, the budding trees and flowers in spring, and the seemingly endless blue waters of the Great Lakes.

Being a new resident of Arizona makes its beauty stand out to me in its newness. The differing flowers, bushes, and trees fascinate me, and I am constantly trying to comprehend the wonder I feel at these new experiences. I wonder if any Arizonans who have never been to Michigan would feel the same about the vegetation of Michigan if they were to go? I often wouldn't take a second glance at pine trees or other common parts of nature, and yet whenever I think about any of these things more in depth, I am easily astounded by their complexity. It is easy to see beauty when I take the time to reflect.

Do I tire of beauty?  I find myself hoping that I won't fail to notice the beauty around me and that I can every day appreciate the beautiful mountains and the cacti and the palm trees, regardless of what stresses and challenges might seek to distract me. I hope that I can recognize God as Creator every day and worship Him through my acknowledgment of the vast and awe-inspiring forms of beauty in our world.

48 hours

I've been in Tucson for over 48 hours now, so I wanted to give a quick outline of some of the things I've done since arriving.

• After being picked up from the airport, I went with my supervisors to Pasco, a local restaurant near the university here. They try to serve healthy, fresh, and locally grown foods. I had a grass-fed burger and it was delicious! 
• Once we finished eating, we walked over to First United Methodist Church, where I met the pastor and several other women. This was an encouragement to me because they were all so friendly and welcoming. 
• For the rest of the day, I unpacked, showered, picked up some minimal groceries, and tried to start settling in. 
• In the evening I met the person I am living with and her dog, Donald. She is friendly, hospitable, and helpful, so I feel comfortable and welcomed here! 

• On Tuesday, Natalie took me into town so I could get my bus pass and my library card. The office to get the bus pass was much more crowded than I expected it to be! It was like going to the Secretary of State in Michigan--drawing a number and waiting a long time. My SunGo card has a picture of me on it, and sadly it is like a return to school pictures. (AKA, it is not flattering.) 
• The library has 20 different branches, and I could pick from several different designs on the cards! I am pretty excited about this. I love Willard Library in Battle Creek, but my library card has been the same gray one since I was about 5 years old. This one has a Tucson sunset and a saguaro on it! In addition, the librarian who registered me grew up in Kalamazoo! 
• In the evening, I walked down to First United Methodist Church to attend the Wesley Foundation worship and dinner. It took me a while to walk there, but it was nice to see the campus and to get out of the house for a while. It was also wonderful to be able to meet students and see a campus ministry in action--nearly 100 people turned up for their event! I met someone who knows Diamond, a fellow US-2 serving in New Jersey, and it was great to make that connection. I also met two Indian international graduate students, so it was nice to be able to welcome them to the US, if briefly. 
• I have also been given the chance to go to La Jolla this weekend with the Wesley Foundation as a chaperon. I'm excited to go to California for the first time and to see a west coast beach! 

• Today, my main excitement was receiving the part to my phone in the mail, which means two things: 
• I can go to the library and get a full access card because now I have a proof of my Tucson address. (Right now I can only check out 2 items at a time. If you have ever come to the library with me, you know this is not my style.) 
• My phone works again! 

• Tomorrow morning I will start my training at Iskashitaa, then in the afternoon I will be heading to La Jolla! Please pray for the beginning of my training, for my weekend away, and for me to have transportation (via bike) soon! 

Initial Culture Shock

Yesterday I arrived in Tucson after 2 flights and a little less than 12 hours of travel. I have been warmly received (by both the people and the weather) and I'm settling in here. I haven't been able to come up with a coherent, well-thought out post, but I am making a list of things I have noticed about Tucson so far that are my initial, surface-level "culture shock" experiences:

• Saguaros! Other cacti! Palm trees! Basically, all the vegetation here is drastically different. I'm seeing all kinds of plants that at home I would only see in fancy greenhouses. 
• Mountains and desert! Tucson is surrounded by mountain ranges, and it's nice to be able to have these as a reference. I always know which way is north! Also, there is very little grass here. 
• Weather-- obviously, it is hot here! I haven't had too much experience with the weather yet, but it is monsoon season and it did rain this afternoon. 
• Sports experiences. 
• I was looking at the baseball section of the paper today, and the team standings are listed differently than I've seen before. At home, the American League is listed above the National League, and the divisions are listed in the order of east, central, and west. Here, National League is on top, and divisions are listed west, central, east. Given where we are and the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks are NL, it makes sense. It just wasn't what I was expecting when I thought about differences! 
• Simply the times of the baseball games are different. I'm so used to seeing 7:05, 10:05 for weekday games and 1-4pm games for Sundays. Here, lots of Sunday games start before noon, and weeknight games start at either 4 or 7. This will carry over to when college football starts.
• Time difference. I know I will adapt to this, but right now it's quite noticeable. I went to bed at 9pm last night, and I woke up at 4, 5, 6, and 7! It felt so much later to me at all those times. At 9am I was hungry for lunch, and at 3pm I was hungry for dinner. Also, daylight savings time is not observed here. 
• Building materials. A lot of the buildings and houses here are made from very different materials rarely seen at home. 
• Different businesses. People list out names of grocery stores and restaurants that seem commonplace to them but which I've never heard of before. (What? Fry's is a grocery store?) 

I'm sure more will come, especially on a deeper/more cultural level, but that's what I'm starting with having been here a little over 24 hours! 

Pronunciation Guide

Several of my friends and family members have been greatly dismayed and embarrassed to find that they have been mispronouncing the name of the city I will be living in! I am providing this video to help others avoid this situation.

This link will provide a brief explanation of how Tucson got its name.

Carried to Completion

Today I visited Faith UMC, the third church that I have visited in the last three weeks. I am so thankful for how these churches have welcomed me and allowed me to share about my program, my placement, and my calling. Preparing what to say has also given me a chance to do some reflection on ideas I might not have thought about otherwise. 

Today I talked a little about the mission and service trips I participated in during high school and college, and I talked about a few of the things these trips taught me: 

I learned that I have a lot to learn. Even though I knew about the existence of some of the justice issues in our world, I didn't necessarily know what these issues entailed. I knew poverty existed, but I don't know what it is like to be personally affected by poverty. I didn't know about cycles of poverty or about broken systems that perpetuate it. This is true in nearly every issue of social justice. Ignorance abounds, and I feel that part of being in mission is recognizing this ignorance and working to change it. I go into communities hoping that they will invite me in and allow me to experience their joy, their pain, their laughter, their struggles. I hope that I can come to know the culture of the community and the injustices they face. I hope that learning will allow me to join in with efforts to address these systemic injustices. 

I also learned that I can't do it alone. I am not strong enough. I am not smart enough. I am not patient enough. I am not wise enough, faithful enough, just enough, or loving enough. The good news here is that God is strong enough, smart enough, patient enough, wise enough, faithful enough, just enough, and loving enough. He is more than enough.

This recognition of my dependence on God is so important for me. Being a follower of Christ is not about pursuing my own glory, but about pursuing the glory of God. When I share my life with others, I want them to see God and to come away with evidence of His work in the world. Any admirable qualities that I have are results of God's presence in my life and Him changing my heart and forming my character. And when my negative qualities are apparent, I have hope in knowing that God is faithful and He has not given up on me, but is working in my life and my heart constantly.

Some Scripture that came to mind while writing this:

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. " 

-Philippians 1:5-6  (NIV) 

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." 

-Micah 6:8 (NIV)