Email: Alicia Janzen

Greetings from Miami,

Another transition is fully under way as I am finishing up my first month in Miami serving with the Dwell Program of DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection). I am learning more and more about the program and my involvement every day. DOOR is a program that partners with Mennonite Mission Network as well as PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer Program.

I am living with two other women, Laura and Andrea, in a house located in a neighborhood sometimes referred to as Little Gables. We have been exploring what it means to live intentionally in Christian community while serving, growing spiritually, and learning about urban ministry in Miami. We have enjoyed exploring our neighborhood by having a garage sale on our front lawn, visiting the grocery store just two blocks away, and meeting our neighbors and chatting with them during a power outage as well as while we’re outside working on our lawn.

My assignment is working in an organization called South Florida Urban Ministries (SFLUM). It partners with many churches and organizations to empower people in local communities through holistic youth development, small business development, and hunger relief ministries. Through SFLUM I am also an AmeriCorps member. I continue my learning of how I understand my position and my responsibilities.

There is a lot of potential growth working in south Miami with an after school program called Branches. It strives to provide a safe and fun learning environment for middle school students. Along with tutoring the kids and helping out with different activities I will build connections with the church where the afterschool program is housed, First United Methodist Church of South Miami, and with the families of the youth. I continue to be excited about the people that I meet and the ideas people are thinking about and working towards.

All the DOOR participants have community days once a week. Two different houses take part—the house I live in and a house of six women who live in Homestead, a small city south of Miami metro. We tell about our life journeys and spiritual disciplines, and how we relate, understand, and connect to God. This week we will be doing a service project together with Habitat for Humanity.

I have been blessed this month by the many wonderful people who have welcomed me into the various communities I am getting to know. I have been meeting people at work, at churches, and while riding public transportation. The person that sticks out the most is one I met walking while on my way from the rail (train) to my job site. One day as I was leaving the rail station and starting my five-block walk under the metro rail to work. I came across a man I had met the previous day. I hadn’t spoken to him, but had said hello as we passed. As I passed the bus stop where he was waiting he had the biggest smile on his face and his hand raised in the air waving at me so I wouldn’t miss him there saying hello to me. I have seen him only once since then and haven’t had a chance to talk to him. But he made my day, as I felt welcomed to a community that I am just starting to get to know.

I feel affirmed that God has placed me here, and yet I can’t describe how I know this is so. I do know this year will be a time of learning and growing in new ways. I have already been so surprised and awed by the experiences I have had, and I know they are not over yet. I have been working at understanding how I connect to God personally and what that means to the relationships around me. It’s a new understanding of what my faith means to me, as an individual, as I’m most comfortable looking at it with community. Yet I’m here living in community. God is indescribable and I would love to share stories together as we are each on our own journey in living out God’s kingdom here on earth through peace, mercy, justice, and love.

I would appreciate your continued support and encouragement through prayer, letters, phone calls, care packages, donations, and your presence walking alongside me as I journey through this experience. The Dwell program provides housing, groceries, insurance, and travel reimbursement for its participants. It costs the program $14,000 to host a “Dweller” for a year. South Florida Urban Ministries will provide some of this through the AmeriCorps program, but all of the costs will not be covered by this. If you are able to help the program out through supporting me with donations it would be greatly appreciated. If you would like to receive specific prayer requests or other information please let me know as well.

I appreciate your continued support throughout my journeys in this time of discernment. I continue to be blessed by your letters, prayers, and encouragement.

Peace, hope and joy,