Email: Stephanie Pashby

Dearest Family and Friends,

Greetings from sunny California!  I cannot thank you enough for the overwhelming outpouring of support that you have given to me in preparation for my time in Hollywood. I arrived in California two weeks ago, after driving 2,500 miles with my mother. Rest assured that my mom and I are still friends after the drive!

Since coming here, I feel like I am in a different world. The neighborhood that I live in reminds me greatly of where I lived while I was in Santiago, Chile. The weather is warm, there is a great deal of traffic, and many of my neighbors are from Latin and South America. A man comes down our street every afternoon pushing an ice cream truck and ringing a bell to alert the neighbors that they are in for a treat. A grocery truck drives through the neighborhood every day with “La Cucaracha” blaring through its loudspeakers. Neighbors who have run out of groceries flock to the truck and order whatever they wish.

In the midst of my neighborhood, there are also glimpses of a more materialistic and complex world. The BMWs parked at the end of the driveway alert me to the fact that this neighborhood is changing. A few steps down my street leave me outside the Dr. Phil show and Paramount Pictures. The bus stop I wait at to get to my job takes me by the trailers used by actors filming at Paramount. It seems to me that this area is a collection of paradoxes. I can speak in Spanish on my way home from work to any passerby, and ahead of me getting out from work are employees from Paramount Pictures.

I still have to get used to the mixing of so many cultures! There is a Little Armenia, Historic Filipinotown, Chinatown, and Koreatown. And the Seattleite in me is not used to having no rain. I actually took my mini-umbrella out of my purse the other day because I don’t need it. My favorite time of day here is dusk: there are amazing sunsets that I can see daily (thanks to the prolific amount of smog here). Watching the sun set behind the palm trees makes me feel as though I really am in a different country.

I leave on Monday with my roommates for Tucson, Arizona. We will be joining other Young Adult Volunteers and doing border work with Borderlinks for a week. We get to see the beginning of the immigration continuum and how it all starts. Crossing over into Mexico will allow us to see where our neighbors have been and all they have come through. After this, we will be driving to New Mexico for our national Young Adult Volunteer orientation. So there is much we will be doing.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I feel their effect daily. I wish blessings upon you. May you feel the abiding presence of God and his love and purpose in your day-to-day lives, the mountains, and in the valleys.

Love and peace,

Stephanie Pashby