Just as I began working on today’s blog post outlining our team’s progress, I received a message from my partner Joy asking me to read HER blog.
She did a fantastic job! (and I’m not just saying that because of all the compliments she paid me on my web development abilities)
As Joy indicated in her blog, today we spent a fair amount of time defining our project. It felt good to finally sit down and organize our ideas, draw out a plan, and create a task list and project timeline. Working with Joy is… well… a JOY! I believe we compliment each others strengths and weaknesses and are able to compromise and support each other when needed. There is no doubt that our plan for this project is an ambitious one, but as the saying goes… “Go Big or Go Home!” Individually there is no way we could accomplish all we have set out to do, but as a team I’m confident it is possible. Click on the link below to see our up-to-date project contract (click on the back button to return to this post).
And it is true, I did spend a ridiculous (almost obsessive) about of time this past weekend working on developing our website, but I have no regrets. As I am a VERY visual learner, it was very important to me have our website organized as soon as possible. It will help me as we move forward to gauge our progress and better assess our needs (e.g. where we may be missing important information or where we need to focus more). Check it out!
Moving forward, Joy and I decided that I would concentrate my time on the Apostolic research and history and she will focus on local Mexican history. This Wednesday we will be meeting with a local Apostolic historian who is a direct descendant of one of the first Apostolic pioneers to Stevens County. He and his wife are very excited to share their knowledge with us. We (Joy and I) have talked in class and blogged a lot about our goal to use the history of the Apostolic Church migration in conjunction with the history of the Mexican migration in Stevens County in hopes to make a difference in the way people view migration and culture. But, it wasn’t until this weekend that I realized how equally important this project is in preserving the local Apostolic history. In church on Sunday I began to ask various people if they had information about their ancestors in the church. Very surprising to me, they did not. It is a history that is being forgotten and lost. One women even commented to me, “You better ask Rueben while he is still alive and sharp, otherwise it will be lost forever.” When I explain to people in the church about our project, they light up with excitement.
There is no doubt that this is a migration story that needs to be preserved and shared.
Making your community “light up with excitement” is the type of history that we want to be doing. The division of labor that you two have worked out seemed to be working quite well. I look forward to digging more deeply into the project site. I’m also looking forward to seeing the compare and contrast between Apostolic and Latino migrants.