As I walked out of the Morgan County Motor Vehicle office the other day with new license plates in hand, I was thrilled to have one more item checked off the long “to do” list. I also couldn’t help but wonder how the process would have been different if I didn’t speak English well or was new to the U.S., possibly without an intact family unit and lots of worries swirling around me. There is a pretty good chance I will one day soon have the opportunity to help someone work through similar processes, hopefully helping make it a little less anguishing than it could easily be.
Misha and I are at the stage where the steps towards adaptation and integration seems endless. I’m grateful that many of them, in an of themselves, aren’t too daunting. It’s just the long list that is daunting. We now have new driver’s licenses, a local bank account, and are registered to vote, among other things.
We have spent a lot of time studying local churches. Though some of it is for work purposes, a high priority is finding a place we can regularly worship as a family and participate in church life. Doctrine, teaching, kid opportunities, and general feel are all important to us. We are grateful that we had a good church experience yesterday and feel optimistic about it as a potential church home for us – an answered prayer.
I have officially completed my orientation for work with the Northern Colorado IAFR team. We are a team of three, which may not seem like much, but I am greatly appreciative of my teammates. They have already taught me a lot. In the past week and a half, we have looked at church relationships, office practices, current refugee issues, working in a secondary migration location, engaging in spiritual conversations, and planning for the months ahead.
What I most appreciate about the team is how much priority is given to prayer. Prayer is almost always a prominent part of our meetings, and every Thursday we have a special time of prayer devoted to Somali issues (there are a lot of people originally from Somalia here) and prayer for each other.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by two people from Colorado’s Office of New Americans. Here are a few of the interesting statistics that were cited in their presentation:
19% of the people in Fort Morgan are foreign-born.
31% of the people in Fort Morgan don’t speak English at home. About 20% speak Spanish and more than 10% speak another language.
Approximately 30% of immigrants in Colorado have advanced degrees (an interesting detail to chew on).
Though in some ways it is overwhelming, I love this period of learning. I look forward to learning more in the coming weeks related to culture, language, immigration processes, local dynamics, and much more.
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