About us Location: Los Angeles, California Term start date: 9/1/2010 Home congregation: Madison Avenue Church of Christ, Pierre, S.D. Ministry: During Dwell, Alayna volunteered at PATH Achieve Glendale, a homeless services provider in Glendale, Calif. Her work included assisting with outreach and case management, forming relationships with the chronically homeless, working at Glendale’s winter shelter, and assisting case managers with clients who needed extra attention. Blog: http://alaynahyde.wordpress.com

On a beautiful Friday in January of the most exhausting week of my time here in Los Angeles, with a tired and somewhat defeated attitude, my co-worker, Richard, and I turned down an alley in search of a client, who we’ll call Jimmy.

After more than a year of working with him, Jimmy admitted he was ready for rehab. My supervisor decided Jimmy would be my first client, making it my responsibility to look into where he should go and what it would take to get him there. I did a little research, and the next time we found him, we scheduled a time to meet and drive to the facility.

After he failed to show up for the appointment, we finally found Jimmy and set out for the clinic in West LA, 30 minutes away if we were lucky, over an hour if we weren’t. And we weren’t. The whole process took forever. We got lost. Richard was late for his second job. Four families were waiting on us back at the office. I was an hour late to pick up my parents from the airport.

Despite all that, we sat there with Jimmy. We watched TV; we chatted. He opened up more about his past and his family than he ever had before. I couldn’t just leave him there. I didn’t want to make him sit by himself, nervous and alone. So we waited. After occupying several different uncomfortable plastic lobby chairs in several different waiting areas, Jimmy finally got to where he needed to be. I was anxious about leaving him, but I tried to be encouraging.

“We have to go now. You’re OK, right? You’ll do great. This will all work out. Do you have my number?”

He smiled and assured me he was fine. I was nervous to leave him. What if he walked out right after we left? What if we went to all this trouble for nothing? I knew I couldn’t hold his hand through the whole process. We could only show him the door and hope he stepped through.

After the madness had all died down, I was still struggling with the possibility that it may all have been for naught; Jimmy might have decided to leave, and we might have failed. Then I happened upon this quote by Mother Teresa: “The success of love is in the loving—it is not in the result of loving. Of course, it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.”

I invest my time and energy and passion into the people I meet. But I cannot make Jimmy stay at the rehab facility. I cannot wish him sober. Whether he stays does not detract from the fact that we cared enough to keep visiting him, find him help when he asked, and will continue to work with him, no matter the outcome of rehab. A success story would be great, but it’s OK if it doesn’t turn out just the way I hope because, as I’m learning, the success of love is in the loving.