This past week we have seen record high numbers of over one thousand people passing through our doors in a single day and eerily slow days with less than two hundred people. I can't tell you what we are supposed to make of that. We do our best to prepare for the busy days and find plenty of housekeeping tasks to do on the slow days.
This Thursday the Hesston choir, Bel Canto, was visiting Tucson on a concert tour. Before setting up at the church, they spent a few hours of the afternoon with me at Casa Alitas! It was one of the crazy quiet days, so after some conversation and a tour we set to work cleaning. They helped pick up hundreds of blankets laying around in the cot area, sweeping the floors that had not been swept since we moved in, and cleaning up trash outside. It was amazing how quickly we could get a lot done with many hands to help.
I, along with my coworkers, were incredibly grateful for their 2hrs of service because they were able to the tasks we have been putting off for months. It made me reflect back on all the times I had done short little service days that to me did not mean anything. I always came away frustrated because I felt like an imposter, someone from the outside, out of touch with the community, this always felt icky to me. But, to be on the other side of this experience helped me see it a bit differently. Of course the ideal situation is to serve in a community that you have invested time into and built relationships; however, there is nothing wrong with asking what a community that is not your own needs and giving a day or week of your life to serve that purpose. There is something beautiful about this exchange of resources, that I had not fully appreciated before. So thank you Bel Canto for your help (and your music!) this week!
This weekend, Andrea and I biked The Loop, the bike path that follows the perimeter of Tucson. We spent the morning enjoying the beautiful desert views and all the little lizards scurrying about. In total we biked 61 miles.
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