Well I finally made it here! I arrived in Seattle on the 26th of July and it has already been really crazy here. I have been so busy moving into my house and I just started working with City Year on the 2nd of August, so I just finished my first week. I live with three fellow corps members, Dan (Ohio), Robert (Ohio) and Chris (NY) in a blue little "cottage" in Rainer Beach, which is about 1 hour south of downtown Seattle on a bus; 15 minutes by car. The area is a little rough, but I don't mind at all and we will be working with the school systems just north of this area. The first week, we spent a lot of time running around getting groceries, a bed, and other household stuff. I had never used Craigslist before, but I tell ya, it saves money. We didn't have seating in the house for the first week and we just got a table HAHA. We even bought a TV and it sat on the floor for the first couple days until we saw a table/cabinet outside of our friend's house being thrown away, so we got that. I live in the basement or I call it the dungeon. There was a flood in the house 2 years ago, so they had to rip out the carpet in the basement, so the landlord gave us some rugs to use because the floor was just a black concrete floor and white walls. It was kind of gloomy and spelled like paint. I am in the basement with Chris and its going pretty well. I am still waiting for my bike to get out (thanks RW) here so I can get around quicker.
Seattle has a lot of advantages....great outdoors, good public transportation, bike friendly, music, HUGE REI, plentiful farmer's markets, community bikeshops, seafood (doesn't beat Maryland crabs though...already tried), friendly people, good soccer fan base....and it goes on. The first two weeks we were a little spoiled because the weather was so nice and the rain just started coming down. I have already been taking trips into downtown Seattle to get used to the bus system and they just built a light rail, which opened a year ago..AMAZING! Seattle is an amazing city and I am so excited to be here!
It's kind of crazy how I ended up at this city to begin with. I was just talking with my friend Jason last week and he had just reminded me something I said last year when I was here. If you didn't already know, three of my friends and I did a road trip last august for about 3 weeks throughout the west (hit 9 national parks) and we ended up making a stop in Seattle.
I believe God has great things for me, but that doesn't necessarily mean an easy walk. This year will be challenging and I believe it will be giving me direction for where I am to go next, whether that is back to grad school or to teach. I have a dream that I would live and work in the city; live and work with kids and partner with a local church to restore families and mentor young men who are fatherless in the community I am living in. Something like this, http://www.thementoringproject.org/. It's just been really crazy just seeing how I got here and the ways in which the Lord has been faithful to me and the things he has done to get me to this place.
I could definitely use some prayers for:
confidence - with my roommates,people i work with about why I serve and who I serve
provision - in a community out here to encourage and challenge me with in my walk with Jesus in this new city
discipline - to spend time in his Word and rest because we can be pretty busy.
Thanks for checking this out and I will just be doing an update every month while I am out here because people wanted me to. I still have my same phone number and if you want my address, just ask me. roberto.s.gutierrez@gmail.com
Holla and I will not give in to drinking coffee.
Roberto Gutz