Second Week of Work

So, here's the end of my second week of work! Things are starting to make sense at both Fourth Church and Sarah's Inn -- I have my own computers with working server access, phones in case people want to call me, and all those trappings of employment. That said, I'm still new enough that when somebody did try to call me at Sarah's Inn, I had no idea how to pick up on my extension and somebody had to run in and show me which buttons to push (apparently, landlines with extensions are beyond my current understanding. Who knows what'll happen when I have to transfer a call).
I am getting better at using the phone at Sarah's Inn, since I've been calling our current volunteers to introduce myself. My boss Colleen has been trying to give me some background on who all these people are, what they like to do, etc, but speaking with them has really helped me attach files to people with personalities. I started keeping little notes about each call so I could remember people better, and then realized that every one involved a note like, "Awesome", "Friendly", or "Really nice!". It makes sense that people who work on a crisis line would be generally wonderful and especially welcoming on the phone. I'm looking forward to actually meeting more of them in person at the Sarah's Inn Reunion (30 years of open doors!) coming up this week.
Today was my second day teaching the 6th and 7th grade class at Fourth Church. This week was definitely less intimidating than the first session, especially since I'm starting to learn kids' names. The kids shared their favorite Bible stories, and many of them chose ones I wouldn't have expected. Some of the most surprising were the stories of Abraham going to sacrificed Isaac, and the Parable of the Talents. A girl explained to me that she chose a parable as her favorite story because she didn't understand it yet, and was curious about it. It's really challenging to get all of the kids to focus, or even to stop yelling, but in small groups they tend to pay attention more, which is fantastic.
This week we ordered a basket of produce from a group called Growing Power (http://growingpower.org/chicago_projects.htm). Growing Power has a few farms which grow food, including one owned by Fourth Church. The organization sells bags of produce in areas where people don't necessarily have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, which includes the neighborhood we live in. The basket included basics like potatoes and corn, but also things like tiny hot peppers, kale, and one lone okra. It's fun to have a variety of things, even things which we're not sure how to cook.
Here's a picture of the mural on the side of our house. It was painted last summer while I was living in Faith House, so it's great to see the finished product. The people on the mural are members of the First Church of the Brethren, who owns the building.