Kendra and I have been home from Northern Ireland for about two weeks now and things have been crazy. In those short thirteen days we've already had two weddings, a family reunion, and gave a presentation at Laramie UPC about our first YAV year. But in the midst of all of the traveling around and seeing friends and family, Kendra and I have had to repack our suitcases for a much warmer climate. In November of last year, while in Belfast, Kendra and I decided to do a second YAV year. As the months carried on, we narrowed our options down to New Orleans and Tucson. Both sites were appealing to us, offering Kendra opportunities to use her engineering skills and offering me a variety of completely new endeavors to choose from, but in the end, Tucson was clearly the right choice for us to make. Therefore, in two weeks we'll be moving to the southwest to experience a climate completely opposite of the one we left behind in Belfast.
In Tucson, Kendra will be working for Habitat for Humanity. I will be working with CHRPA (Community Home Repair Project of Arizona). CHRPA is a non-profit that seeks to assist low income and disadvantaged homeowners in the Tucson area by providing emergency home repairs and safety modifications for people living with disabilities. I'm incredibly excited about strapping on the tool belt each day and living out my faith with my hands. I'm also looking forward to getting to know our clientele, as one of the reasons I chose to work with CHRPA was the promise that they strive not to remember their clients as "the roof repair" or "the broken furnace" but take the time to hear their stories. The work was described to me as a combination of handiwork and social work. It is really shaping up to look like an exceptional year, one that will compliment the year in Belfast perfectly.
One of the challenges we will face in Tucson is living in intentional Christian community. We will be in a house with eight other people, six YAVs and two YAVAs (Young Adult Volunteer Alumni). Contrary to the belief of most people we've told this to, however, we are excited about the prospect of this living arrangement. One focus of the YAV program is living in community and we began to explore this in Belfast with our comrades on the north side of town by having meals and other get togethers frequently, always gathering with purpose. This was a nice, easy introduction to living in intentional community since Kendra and I lived in a different house than Christina and Zoe, but as the year went on, we decided we wanted to explore living in community more. Thus, we definitely brought this on ourselves but are looking forward to it!
Because we're doing a second YAV year, we also have to fund raise a second time. Last year we had to raise $16000 for our year in Belfast, and, due to an incredible support system of family and friends, we were able to meet that goal. This time around we have been asked to raise $10000 for our time in Tucson. If you would like to support us in meeting this goal, you can do so by sending checks made out to Tucson Borderland YAV with Heimbuck in the memo line to:
Linda Marshal
716 S. Lucinda Dr.
Tucson, AZ 85748
In addition to financial support, and more importantly, we also need your prayers! Please support us by keeping us in your prayers over this next year.
Thank you! We look forward to beginning our time in Tucson and keeping you up to date with what we're doing there.
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