Being With vs Doing For

 Being With vs Doing For

Our time in LaGrange is rapidly coming to a close. It has continued to be busy, although it has also felt good to cross off many projects as "done." The rental apartment is ready for the two Mission Year young couples who come the end of August and will reside here for a year. The apartment is on the same street where the director couple of Casa Alterna lives and where most of our interactions take place.

Consequently, we've been able to move to this remodeled apartment and have a bit more space. The space also got used some for the second week of summer camp, and for Ruth to teach English classes to adults and youth. Ruth continued to do the scheduling of visitors to immigration inmates at Stewart Detention Center through El Refugio. We both also served with El Refugio another weekend.

Besides the physical labor of working on the apartment, we've been involved with driving people to immigration check-in appointments in Atlanta, driving a child to camp three hours away, observing court proceedings when it involves neighbors and friends, explaining how to fill out school registration forms, taking people to doctor appointments and to fill out job applications, etc.

Much of our work here and in other locations has centered around justice issues. The age-old question when it comes to social justice issues is: Which is better: to simply be with a person facing a justice issue or to work for justice in some overt way? The 'being' vs 'doing' message of religious circles bounces back and forth, each side saying they are the true reflection of what it means to be a Christ-follower.

Ruth's English background got her to thinking that maybe the problem isn't with the verb, but the preposition that follows it. [Don't tune out here. You really don't need to know parts of speech to get this!] Changing those little words could make a world of difference. Instead of being 'with' persons (a passive stance), perhaps we should be 'for' them. That may include sitting with them as they wait three hours to be called in for a scheduled appointment, but it also may mean speaking up for them as a 'person of privilege' who has a voice when they don't. And instead of doing 'for' them (an active stance instigated and propelled by the donor), perhaps we should do 'with' them. It takes time and energy to know and care about others enough to identify the needs they see as important and get them involved in the leadership and fulfillment of the needs. In fact, at times it might feel like we are doing nothing as they step forward. And, as we've said before, in this whole process 'they' turn into 'we.' We become one in ways that transcend need and instead flow from friendship.

In each place we've been, new friendships have developed that we hope to carry with us in our heart and through continued contact. We've thought and prayed a lot about what is next and waited for doors to open. Several SOOP opportunities looked promising, but then they were already filled. There were some other places available, but they were too far away and remote for now. Another opportunity involved a year commitment which we didn't feel able to commit to.

We can now inform you that our plans are to head to Camp Deerpark as our next (and final for now?) SOOP assignment. We hadn't even checked out camps as we wanted a city setting again, but in looking over the need, we see ourselves fitting in quite well. We plan to arrive there September 14 and stay until mid-December. The first month Jim will be able to use his love of woodworking to make bunk beds and other furniture for the camp. Ruth will be helping in various areas at the camp. The last two months we will be doing hosting work, which will build on what we learned while serving in DC. We will be able to interact with the many retreat guests from NYC who use the camp, which will be a mix of people from many nationalities and backgrounds.

We also will be just 3 1/2 hours from Ruth's Dad who still lives on his own in PA. So that will be good, as well, since the past half year we have been a good distance away.

Plans are to leave LaGrange, GA on August 24, spend a bit of time connecting with church friends and Ruth's sister in NC and then visiting Ruth's Dad and our daughter, Michelle, before driving to Cuddebackville, NY, about 80 miles from NYC. [An interesting side note is that Jim often took lots of children from NYC to Camp Deerpark about 2 years after it opened as part of his voluntary service work in NYC back in the early 1970's. The camp, of course, is much bigger now with many new buildings and program changes.]

We hope to keep you posted through continuing the blog. As always, we'd love to hear from you, too.

May you "be for" and "do with" others each day in some way.

Jim and Ruth Mellinger

Second week of daycamp with the new playground in the background that
a local church donated and helped install, with lots of help from the children, as well.

Jim and Ruth helping to unload a geo dome climber and two picnic tables made by youth at a camp at Koinonia Farm in Americus, GA. Several of the youth on our street also went down there for a day to help build this equipment.

Getting ready to walk to the library to listen to a presentation about animals and insects.

Cuteness: a brother and sister who live across the street from us