Email: Rachael Bauman

Dear loved Ones,

I hope that my last letter did not cause you too much alarm or panic. I received several letters of concern after my last reflection. I feel safe almost all the time. I have learned which corners are drug corners and I try to avoid them when at all possible.

I have started tax classes. I actually find the subject fascinating and enjoy being back in “school.” I am doing really well in class, and I think I will be comfortable doing over a hundred returns this next tax season. Though much of what I am learning will not apply to my clients, who will not be making over a 100,000 dollars and don’t have to worry about fringe benefits. In addition, Sunday mornings I have taken over the chiropractors’ paperwork. Twice a month two different chiropractors come and provide free services to our patrons.

In addition, one of my many jobs is to copy and print job listings every week to hand out. People who come in looking for work can get a job listing with the available positions and contact information. Last Sunday, I was walking through an outside mall and someone called my name. It was a lady who I had talked to and given a job listing. She was working in the shop where she had just been hired. Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline talks about celebrating with others in community how God is working in their lives. It was great to celebrate with someone who had been praying for a long time for this second job. Also, it is a good feeling to know that God is working through you to do good things.

I voted here in Florida. You actually bubble in the person, which is a bit different than our computer system. Then you scan the ballot through the optical scanner. I admit that the first time I heard that name—“optical scanner!”—I pictured something from sci-fi that would scan your eye. I am a nerd. Everybody who was anybody in the campaigns was coming to Florida. I tried to attend one of the many Obama rallies here but was unsuccessful. I waited three hours to see Hillary Clinton but it ended up getting cancelled due to a plane delay. I was twelfth in line.

The CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) conference just finished. It is basically a conference for non-profit people. It was awesome (and I mean this word in the way it was originally intended) to be surrounded by all the people “doing good” in the world. I attended a workshop on helping victims of sexual abuse (specifically, incest). It was depressing and hopeful at the same time. Almost all of the people that attended told their personal stories. “Eye-opening” would be the least I could say.

In Overtown this month there was another murder of a high school student. This time the boy had been continually receiving anonymous threats. When he went outside to the dumpster at his job he was shot and then burned. Please pray for the family and community.

Love,

Rachael Bauman