What am I up to? Way too much!!! Life is about the journey (or maybe it’s a highway I forget which). I am hoping to tell you a bit about where I am now and how I got here. I have recently chosen to leave the hustle and bustle of full time time retail management and step into ministry, two in fact! The first ministry is where I work. It is a home for persons living with HIV/ AIDS called House of Hesed and their mission is to share mercy, hope, dignity, and peace regardless of race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. It is a home-like setting promoting the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual quality of life of persons affected by HIV. I hope to provide the type of assistance and support that enables those who can, to return to stable, independent living in the community. House of Hesed is committed to affirming the value of each person who resides with us, and educating our community about HIV/ AIDS to help dispel the stigma and fear surrounding those living with HIV, replacing it with a spirit of compassion. It is a great job and many have joked it was made for me. I get to make dinner and love on a bunch of misfits! There are days when I am overwhelmed with the destruction that people choose, but it is often a source of joy for me. The second ministry is a little harder to explain. Little Flowers Community is a church that sinks our roots into the rich soil of Winnipeg’s West End, a wonderful but troubled inner city neighborhood. In addition to trying to be true neighbors in the area, many of us have also chosen to share life together in intentional community (shared housings, meals, etc.). Little Flowers deeply values genuine community, encouraging and nurturing it in various expressions for different people. This community reflects, in part, God’s Trinitarian nature- the God in whose image we are all created. I like to call my position assistant manager. Many people in the community call it co-pastoring, which I feel a little under qualified to be called a pastor of any sort! Time will tell! What I do mostly is create a lot of activities! I created Saturday Night Club a while ago with the idea that people could do fun things on Saturday nights that were life Summer 2012 LAURA JACKSON