Mentor Spotlight: Michaela Lindley
Small groups from local churches can lead to all kinds of positive changes in life. From the more banal (Netflix recommendations?) to the life-changing (new loves, spiritual growth, deep friendships). For Michaela, a small group at Summit View Church led her to meeting a Faithful Friends staff member and former mentor, Cia Howell. They became friends and the topic of mentoring came up pretty quickly.
Michaela has a big heart and is very relational, both for animals and for people, and she felt the tug to go deep into the life of a young girl in her area who wanted an adult friend and mentor. She hoped to provide the kind of encouragement that she wished she had received at that age.
One of our six core values focuses on the relational aspect of each of our mentor and mentee matches. “We invest in long term relationships with the goal of mutual transformation and belonging.” Michaela met Eva (pronounced Eeva) in April of 2022. Though not even a year old in their friendship, they already feel like old friends.
It is wild to think now that it wasn’t very long ago that we were only strangers. Eva was a little shy at first, as was I, but it didn’t take long at all for us to warm up to each other.
Each match considers where to meet based on one another’s schedules and needs.
For our visits together I will often go see her at her school, and it has been really nice to also get to know her friends and to be a positive influence for all of them when there are issues like gossiping, subtle bullying, or trouble communicating through conflict. Eva and I have also enjoyed playing ping pong and foosball at her neighborhood’s clubhouse, playing video games at my place, and when the weather is nice Eva and I also like to go to various parks with my dog.
Michaela marvels at the depth they’ve reached in these past few months:
Through my time mentoring Eva I’ve learned to be more present and enjoy time away from my phone, just having fun or having meaningful conversations with her. I don’t take it lightly that we’ve grown close enough to where she can share really vulnerable things with me, and it’s an honor to be someone who can hold that space for her to just speak and be heard.
Michaela studied Media Arts and Biblical Studies at Corban University and operates her own business as a family & birth photographer based in Vancouver, Washington. She continues to grow in her craft with the goal of incorporating more of her background in photojournalism into her business product to provide photos that are more documentary in style and tell each family’s story with more authenticity.
She is known to get really excited about her dog and horse, loves to stuff her home with houseplants, and is a big fan of Mexican food.
