Towards a Joyful Soul

About a week after I started working at Eden House, a coworker came up to me and said, "I know I haven't known you very long, but I'm going on vacation. My roommate said he would look after my cats, but I'd like someone else to have a key just in case he screws something up. Would you mind helping me?" My first thought was, "Do you not have any other friends in this city that you can ask?" I was shocked that someone who had known me for a week would trust me with her house key and fur-babies. But, of course, I said yes. About a week after she got back from vacation, she came up to me and said, "I have a weird question and you'll probably say no, but do you want to go to a burlesque show with me?" Us at the burlesque show Who was this woman who so quickly trusted me and so boldly invited me into her life? Her name is Emily and she and I have quickly become close friends. The first time I went to her house was because she was ...

As I write this, I am brokenhearted. As I write this, I am angry. As I write this, I am discouraged. One of our residents has anger management issues. Soon after I started, she became outraged with me. I learned quickly to depersonalize her actions and to leave it at work. Over the last few months, I have seen this resident grow tremendously; I don't remember her last anger outburst. She has become a leader in the house, holding other residents accountable and communicating with the staff. She wrote me a note that included both "please" and "thank you"! I have even seen her smile at my jokes on occasion. We are all very proud of her progress. Then, one evening, she went AWOL and relapsed. According to our policy, if you go AWOL at night, you are immediately dismissed. The next day was a hard and somber day at work. It felt like a funeral. We are so sad to see her relapse. We are so sad to see her go. While I say that I learned to depersonalize, I d...

One of my most common prayer requests over the last few months has been for my relationships with my housemates and our community atmosphere. Often, I feel like our house is a place of tension and conflict. There seems to always be one person or another that I'm vaguely annoyed at. But, looking back on the pictures that I've taken since August, we've actually had some really fun and funny times together. I'm reflecting that the people I live with have become my family. We navigate the mundane of life together; I often want to strangle them, but at the same time they bring joy into my life and are helping me grow. So, here is a photo journal dedicated to me appreciating the family that I've made in New Orleans: I came to Louisiana and was welcomed into the Big Green House. We started out as a house of 6 and spent the early weeks visiting the various PC(USA) churches in New Orleans. Sarah tried very hard to get pictures with all of us in them; the guy...

Early in September, when our house visited John Calvin Presbyterian Church, the pastor there asked what our hobbies were. When I told him that I dance, he asked if I would do a liturgical dance for them (dance movement incorporated into liturgies or worship services as an expression of worship). I thought he was joking. My response was something along the lines of, "I'll do it, if you do it with me." The next week, he followed up with an email. He was being serious. After some time to adjust to New Orleans and then coordinate, choreograph, and practice, I finally performed my liturgical dance for their service. Click HERE  to view the video of the dance! (This video is from a rehearsal, which is why there is no one in the congregation and the choir isn't singing. Also, the sound quality isn't the best, but it's the best we could do.) Apparently, everyone at the service loved it. They have been talking about it all week long. Pastor Jonathan hopes t...

A Photo-Journal:  For our November community day, we drove about 90 minutes south-west of New Orleans for a boat ride on Bayou Pointe-Aux-Chene , which resides along the Gulf of Mexico. On this boat ride, we heard and saw the tragic land-loss that is occurring rapidly along the Louisiana coast. In preparation for this day, we had read a book, Bayou Farewell , that does a really good job detailing both personal stories and scientific stats of this land-loss. Unfortunately, due to the strong influence of oil companies, historical corruption of the Louisiana government, and national prejudices considering those who live in rural Louisiana to be "backwards," most of the country is ignorant concerning this impending environmental disaster. What struck me most in the book, as well as from the experience of our guides, is that the environmental disaster is not slow or unnoticeable. They have memories from not so long ago where the land was tangible different than it is today....

This year, I decided to share some of my Austrian Christmas celebrations, specifically a German Advent song and Sankt Nikolaus Tag traditions, with my fellow housemates and Dan, the site coordinator. Tradition has it that St. Nicholas comes around houses and puts goodies in the boots of good children. His counterpart, Krampus, purportedly steals the children who have been bad. But those who have been good get small goodies, often food and socks or mittens. Unlike Santa Claus, Sankt Nikolaus Tag is separate from Christmas Day. It's during the same season, but the Christ child is the gift brought on Christmas (in my mind, this is one reason that there is less of a conflation of capitalism and consumerism with Christmas in Austria). On December 5th, I told my housemates to put their shoes outside with essentially no other instructions. All I told them was that it is part of my cultural heritage. They were suspect and probably a little confused, but did it anyway. I went to th...

As you may or may not already know, this year I am working as the Program Assistant at Eden House, a long-term residency program in New Orleans for survivors of human trafficking. Even though I have written many weekly blog posts, I have rarely included anything about my work because of confidentiality and because I struggle knowing how I ethically present the things that my day includes. One of my tasks at Eden House is to schedule Professional Development workshops for our interns. A couple of weeks ago, Leanne McCallum, who leads the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force, was our scheduled speaker. After getting a general understanding of what the Task Force does, one of our topics of conversation included myths about human trafficking. Some of these myths include that only foreign nationals are trafficked, that trafficking always includes smuggling, and that trafficking always includes physical violence or abduction. (read more about  misconceptions  and...