Peak Picacho! - Emily

From left to right: Grace, Hanbyeol, Abby, Allie, Wes, Josh & Joshua! All of us are serving at the following organizations & non-profits in Tucson: Borderlinks, CHRPA (Community Home Repair Project of Arizona), Iskashitaa Refugee Network and Primavera. Photo Courtesy: Emily Oshinskie

This past MLK Day, some of my housemates (fellow YAVs) and I as well as the Mennonite Volunteers headed out to Peak Picacho for a hike! We headed up this 3,384 foot -above sea level- peak in hopes of summiting and checking out some sweet views along the way. There are several service-oriented groups in Tucson: Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Food Corps, AmeriCorps VISTA, Methodist Global Mission Fellows, Mennonite Voluntary Service and of course, the Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteers.
I really appreciate hanging out with our fellow volunteers because we all come together and discuss about our year or two years of: simple and low-income living, our placements within social justice-y contexts/organizations, biking all over Tucson, living in intentional Christian community, starting to explore the thrills and terrors of being young adults/becoming adults, etc. It makes me really encouraged to know that so many other Christian denominations and really amazing organizations are excited about sustainable service and young people involved in ministry and/or outreach. We are all equally confused and excited about our lives, we all daily stumble as we navigate our first – maybe second or third – job. The laughter on this hike refreshed my soul and my outlook on my year in Tucson, ready to start the new week.