Juan is the owner of the apartment I live in.  In the beginning of summer in 2008, Juan and other neighbors came together to criticize the local church, Long Beach First Friends Church (LBFC), in the neighborhood. They did not like homeless neighbors being in their neighborhood.  The church listened to their concerns and set up greeters and security at the church to gather the homeless neighbors into the church building.

Later in the summer, LBFC started to work in the neighborhood.  Somatra and I moved into Juan’s apartment building and started building relationships with him and the other neighbors.  He has been asking us about the events at the church.  Recently, he has been making repairs to the apartment and has been hiring some of the homeless neighbors to help with repairs.

Juan started to share his resources with other neighbors such as giving tools to Ray another neighbor.  It seems his relationship with the church has been reconciled.  He sees the church as an asset to the community and is, also, willing to contribute.  He also says that Somatra and I are his best tenants.