JVC times two?

So my mind has been occupied the last few weeks entertaining the thought of doing a second year of JVC. In terms of job security and continuing to do the work I love to do, JVC would be a great option. Though socially, for the sake of family and friendships that I already have, I'd rather be in Seattle. So keep me in your thoughts and prayers that I might get some more clarity in the next few weeks. I have my interview tomorrow and if I'm accepted I will have two weeks to decide. It's all coming up rather quickly, so I'm a little freaked out. In the mean time, I wanted to share my 2nd year application essays to shed some more light on my experience of this year. Here's the first one:

There is a language and a culture that belongs to Jesuit Volunteers that has helped give a voice to my personal values and ideals. Intentionality, community, peace and justice are becoming concepts that motivate my thoughts and actions. Compassion has always been a part of who I am. I am one who wants to experience the love of Christ, and live my life in a way that is true to that love – to be a glimpse of that love for everyone I interact with. JVC has helped me to do that. I am a person who has lived a life of privilege, of good health, of ample resources, and who is determined that because of this I have a responsibility to empower others and ensure that others have the chance to live with these as well.

As a JV, the way in which we live, serve and support each other have given me the opportunity to further develop my values and understand what it means to live them out. Conversations with my community, our struggles to love each other, the shock of my patient’s stories, and pushing myself to think about my impact not only on the people on this earth, but the earth itself have created some substantial growing pains. It is difficult to realize that I’m wrong. It is scary to recognize my faults and judgments. But it is the starting place of personal growth.

I am growing in many ways. I have tasted what it is to truly be hands and feet on the front lines for justice. I have been called out and challenged on the way that I express myself. I have realized how pervasive and debilitating domestic violence is, and how dehumanizing it is to have to stand in a line outside in the cold just to see a doctor. I have a whirlwind of questions spinning around in my head and six months is not enough time to sort it all out. My whole life may not be enough, but I desire to continue my development with a community that will keep challenging and supporting me. I crave an environment that will delve deeper into the JVC values. I have been exposed to new thoughts on social justice, community, simplicity, and spirituality and I want to continue to explore them with JVs that I can learn with; people who desire to better this world and listen to those who are hard to hear beneath the hum of the majority.

I am slightly anxious about a second year of JVC and have a lot of questions. Will my new housemates be as amazing as this year’s? Will they be outgoing and willing to adventure in the city and in nature? Can I handle living in the same house again? Will I be the controlling second year who knows how to do everything and wants to enforce my own ideas? Am I avoiding something? Will I miss out on another year of the lives of my friends and family outside JVC? I recognize that it will be a difficult process. It’s not as if I feel like I need a re-do. I have had an amazing first year and feel like I’ve only begun to tap into my life force. I simply yearn for more.

I have great aspirations for the year to come. I hope to give more stability to my agency and to further my empathy and compassion for the patients we serve. Wallace is about to go through a multitude of important changes. They are expanding services by adding a mobile clinic, hiring a doctor, and having to move to a new office space by January 2011. Though our houses are designed to be our intentional community, my office has become that for me as well. I am invested in my relationships with my co-workers, and fall more in love with Wallace’s mission every day. To have to train a new JV is very possible, but would be difficult in the midst of the new changes coming on. Maintaining continuity of care is important, and I don’t want the care of our patients to falter as the organization continues to change and grow.

Though my passion for my job and the work I do there is a major motivation for me to apply for a second year, I also hope to turn the idea of living in an intentional community into a true lifestyle, to decrease my carbon footprint, and to really appreciate the people and places within the city I live in. I want to further explore what simplicity means and to push myself to live a life that is more ecologically sustainable. I want to think critically about the sources of injustice in this world and how I can make a difference in the lives of people who experience injustice. I hope that a second year will help me become a strong advocate for peace and justice and a world that struggles to see the value in that.