5 weeks in and I am doing well and enjoying life over
here. :)
New Hampshire is beautiful and it is awesome to take in some of the
scene of this side of the country. The
barn and a couple of the homes and buildings here on His Mansion property were
built in the 1760's and its crazy to think they were around before our country
ever officially was! On one of my
weekends off I got to go camping with a few of the other mentors and had a
blast. We hiked along some of the
mountains and up a creek to the highest waterfall in NH. It was peak season of the year for all the
trees changing color (NH is 80% forested) and a beautiful warm sunny
weekend.
I like it here (most of the time!), but its
definitely a radically different community and I come to more of the awareness
each and every day that people and life can be incredibly broken and
painful. Some of the residents and staff
here have some of the most traumatic and overwhelming stories you can
imagine. On the surface many of the guys
here look incredibly street tough. But
underneath their surface you will find some of the most genuine, compassionate,
soft-hearted followers of Jesus who have been radically redeemed by the
Gospel. His Mansion is a non-profit
ministry originally founded upon the George Mueller principle of trusting the
Lord and praying for Him to meet every need.
Everyone serving and living on the Hill still raise their own support
and as such the program is provided virtually free of charge to the residents
(In contrast to many other programs and rehabs which can cost thousands of
dollars a month!).
His Mansion is a tough place and lives are undoubtedly being
redeemed here, but don’t refer to this place as a rehab….(Re)habilitation
assumes that life was once well and desirable, but as one of the directors here points out, many of the people joining this community life have
never experienced a life they want to return to; they come here for a chance at
new life. HM is a place of starting
over; a place of transformational living.
A place where the Gospel comes alive and the lost and broken encounter
the presence of Jesus and their vast need for Him. Indeed we are all lost and broken outside of
Christ and on this side of Heaven. Those in positions and roles of leadership
here simply act as guides pointing people along to our Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty Redeemer, Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are the broken guiding the broken;
disciples making disciples. Sinners and
saints, one in the same, joining hands to pursue the Kingdom of God here on
earth and stumble along on this journey of redemption…welcome to life on the
hill.
The structure and rhythm of life at His Mansion has been
intentionally set up to strip away all facades and make people real with each
other. Residents come here in humility,
knowing they need a challenging community and a lot of support to turn their
lives around and find change, but most of them have no idea what they are
getting into at first. Transparency is a
must and the counselors quickly help people notice and become aware that the
addictions that they brought in to fix are simply surface issues hiding a vast
amount of pain and personality/character disorders that abuse, trauma, neglect,
and their own choices have built over time.
The Gospel, worship, and service permeates this place as it is believed
that true redemption & healing are found in Jesus (holistically, alongside
professional counseling, group therapy/processing, a rigid cycle of physical
work and classes, and a tight community which will not hesitate to confront and
call out, but always offers grace and love).
At times this place
feels very invasive; you quickly learn-if you’re choosing into life out
here-that you cant hide behind anything or any part of yourself. But it’s also a place where I, and everyone
else I’ve encountered, have experienced a tremendous amount of comfort and
peace and quickly began to feel at home.
To many of the residents, it’s the first time in their life they've
truly experienced belonging and a place they feel they are wanted. It's no wonder to me that everyone constantly
refers to the His Mansion 'family' up on the hill and calls the male residents
and mentors 'brothers' and the females 'sisters'.
I live in the dorm with the men 24/7. It’s pretty much just 2 wings with no
separate bedrooms, just halls of bunks and closets. The mentors have our own rooms at the end of
the hall, but even they don’t have any doors (you just walk around the corner)
so pretty much anything or any conversation can be heard by anyone else in the
hall at any time. Meals are an intense
version of family style where a male and female staff head each end of the
table and serve everyone else food and you must ask them for permission to
leave for any reason (getting a napkin, seconds, bathroom, etc.). They also open and close the meal with prayer
and we scrape up and save all food scraps to feed to the pigs. Speaking of food, we eat a lot of our own
meat here and pretty much all our own veggies.
Their corn and peppers here are amazing!
And their homemade maple syrup!
haha, im starting to rely a bit too much on coffee. The meat is honestly a lot better tasting,
but I am very grateful I don’t have to be involved in the process at all!
I work in the building and maintenance department alongside some
of the other mentors and residents. We
do all sorts of odds and ends projects from constructing decks, to cleaning
carpets, to simply moving equipment and appliances all over the hill. The value of simple work and a disciplined
lifestyle is emphasized here and work often serves as a great venue to build
relationships and get to know the other residents and mentors well. We do highs/lows, devos, and a time of
confession with smaller groups of guys at the end of the day as well as
breaking up our work schedule by spending an hour together in worship, prayer,
and open sharing before lunch.
There are currently 11 mentors in the men’s program and we all
live alongisde the residents together as companions in their day-to-day
lifestyle. We lead activities, devos, and act kind of like RAs in enforcing/reporting
anything. There is plenty of time and
space to interact with and get to know guys one-on-one though, and I have had
many opportunities already. The men and
women are kept really separate in the program (which is probably a good thing
with some of the trauma and severe addictions people are facing). Its also just the beginning month with a new
group of residents though, so everything is a lot stricter, and I’ve heard the
genders are brought together more as the program goes on. I get a little bit of downtime in the
evenings after the residents go to bed at 9:30 and have a couple weeknights
free, as well as every other weekend so I’m finding time for myself, to study,
and to connect with people back home a bit.
At times it is incredibly difficult to be so far away from
everyone I know and care about. Im
adjusting to life here and have a sense of belonging but sometimes I still feel
really out of place. Occasionally I feel
pretty alone because no one in this community really knew me at all before I
came here. Its strange coming from the strong communities I had in Oregon, specifically at Fox and Twin Rocks where my identity was so established and I had
such a strong support system around me.
But this is a year for service, ministry, and outreach for me so I am
learning to lean on the Lord in everything (literally, He's been teaching me a
lot about my own strength, and lack thereof, and that I need to trust in Him).
If you think of me pray that I stay humble and rooted in the
Lord and that He provides the grace and support I need to serve here and find
my own strength and healing in Him also. Were
all broken people helping and guiding other broken people! Something I was definitely aware of before I
came here but has been made all the more apparent to me the longer I’ve been
here.
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