Emily Foster
"What are you doing after graduation?"
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that question over the past 4 1/2 years I would already have enough money to pay back my student loans!
Up until last month I did not have an answer to that question. It becomes a real nuisance when you are graduating and still don’t have an answer. People give you strange looks and question what the heck you’ve been doing all those years at school.
Now I am happy to say I finally have an answer!
I will be serving the Lord through Mission Year! Hang out on the site for a bit and you’ll learn all you could want to know about our program!
Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with me, my name is Emily Foster. I graduated December 2009 Magna Cum Laude in Psychology from Appalachian State University. I love dark chocolate, shoes, Bath and Body Works, ice cream, wearing pajamas all day, and warm weather!
So why Mission Year you ask?
Well, throughout school, I was never sure what I wanted to do when I graduated. God did not give me a definite plan as to what he wanted me to do after school which at times was insanely frustrating. One day I was reading Shane Claiborne’s “Irresistible Revolution” and saw Mission Year referenced in the book. I did a little research and was very impressed with the program. The more I thought and prayed about it, I felt God strongly calling me to Mission Year.
I was not sure why and like Moses I asked God a million questions including “But God, I don’t have any experience in urban missions! Why me?!” The response “Because you are willing. Also, I gave you the passion to love and serve others, and this is how I want you to do it!”
Can’t argue with that. . .
So here I am, 7 months before my departure date and I am very excited to begin this year long journey to dive in and serve God completely and wholeheartedly!
So follow along with me as I go on my journey and be a partner in my ministry throughout 2010 and 2011!!!
In Him,
Emily
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Emily Foster's Blog
Carrying The Banner / May 11, 05:45 PM
Let me go ahead and admit. . .I am a musical theatre fanatic. There’s just something about characters expressing themselves through song and dance that gets me every time!
One of my all time favorite musicals is the Disney film “Newsies”. The movie is based on the true story of the Newsboys strike of 1899 in New York City. This was a youth-led campaign in which the newsboys forced Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst to change the way they compensated their child labor force. The strike lasted two weeks and was successful in the end.
Last night I decided that it had been entirely too long since I last watched the movie, so I popped it in and started singing along (yes I am one that sings at the top of my lungs in the car).
Now there are many memorable quotes throughout the movie, but one stood out to me last night that I have never thought twice about before.
One of the characters, Brian Denton, is a journalist for the New York Sun. Some of the newsboys have come to him asking for help because they have been physically beaten by the cops and emotionally beaten by not succeeding so far. Denton says, “Sometimes all it takes is a voice. One voice that becomes a hundred and then a thousand, unless it is silenced”
I was stunned. I believe that many of us doing Mission Year have a burning passion to be one voice. A voice to make a difference in the world. We want to bring to light the injustice and suffering that our neighbors endure on daily basis. We desire to be one voice that joins with hundreds of other Mission Year participants and administration that eventually joins the thousands of voices of our neighbors and community partners who’s lives we have impacted.
May we have the courage to continue to be that voice. May we not back down and be silenced when hardship and obstacles show up in our path.
All it takes is a voice.
Fundraising / Mar 5, 09:08 PM
$12,000. . .I did a double take the first time I saw that number. Even after accepting my mission year invitation, I am still not sure I can raise that amount.
I know God will provide everything I need this coming year, including the financial support. It just seems incredibly daunting.
I am feeling a little overwhelmed now because I have started throwing out ideas for fundraising, and am getting little to no response so far. I understand that the economy is terrible, and that people are donating money to so many things and they are being asked for money left and right. . .
Where does that leave me?
Completely and utterly reliant on God and His timing to provide for me.
It will happen, I believe and know that it is possible and God will display His glory in this situation just like He always does in the seemingly impossible moments.
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