Looking back to the day I arrived, it's hard to believe I've only been here for two weeks and two days. So much has happened since I've got here, I've met and grown closer to many people, I've already seen God working in tremendous ways, and I've learned a lot about myself. His Mansion is all about relationships and openness, so the people here are very welcoming and honest about themselves. I can tell some of them are going to become some of my best friends. But along with the all the positive aspects, I know there will be many challenges and I will face my share of struggles as well.
For everyone who wants to know what I’ve been doing since I got here, here’s a brief summary of my schedule. The first week I was here I took the HCC course (Healing in the Context of Community) which is required for all mentors to take some time while they’re here. It’s also open to anyone else who wants to come for a week just to take the course. We covered topics about the history of His Mansion, the process of healing, the importance of community, self exploration, mental health disorders, addictions and recovery, and spiritual warfare. Halfway through the week we made a Genogram, which is a picture of the relationships in our lives and a timeline of events in our lives until now. We then shared them with several other people, including all the happy moments as well as the ones that were hard to share. I learned a lot about myself and my relationships and shared some things that weren’t easy to talk about. The classes ended on Friday, and that evening I started doing things as a mentor.
The weekend schedule is pretty relaxed, on Saturday mornings we have work crew (usually cleaning something, sometimes organizing or sorting, whatever needs to be done). After lunch is free time and the mentors hang out with the residents and do whatever they want to do, like take a walk or play volleyball or hang out in the dorm. Saturday evening is family night, so the men and the women are together and we play some sort of game (last week it was a scavenger hunt, so much fun!). Sunday morning we have church, which is a very powerful service which includes taking communion, a time of silence, a time of sharing, confessions, and of course singing and a sermon. Sunday afternoons are also free time for the residents. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are work days so we work in the mornings and afternoons, and in the evenings there are different things going on depending on the day of week. Tuesday and Thursday are class days, so the mentors have free time Tuesday morning. In the afternoon we sit in on their group class, and Thursday morning the mentors work, and in the afternoon have mentor class.
I could write about so many things right now. As I said earlier, I’ve already learned so many things and seen so much happen, so its hard to decide what to say and what not to. Hopefully this gives a better picture of what my life looks like here. I will continue to post updates on how I’m doing and what I’m learning and what’s going on here.
