Emmy Johnson
Why I'm doing Mission Year...
What does a college graduate who is not ready to settle into the routine of “the real world” do?
Mission Year.
I learned about Mission Year at Urbana 06 over Christmas break in St. Louis, Missouri. There I attended seminars on issues of social justice and decided to venture into the room with 135,874 organizations to talk to people who have completed this particular program. As I talked with Mission Year representatives they told me how the program includes studies of social justice, all while being able to see real-life issues in the neighborhood you reside in for the year. Their motto is “Love God. Love people. Nothing else matters,” which is the heart of Jesus’ work in so many words. Mission Year seemed too good to be true with how much it lined up with what the Lord has put on my heart for quite awhile, and when I visited one of the Chicago sites I knew I wanted to be a part of their program.
My goal for the year is not to “save” my neighborhood, but to learn from it. Learn from my roommates, neighbors and community. Learn what it means to love people, put my trust in the Lord and how to make seeking social justice a lifestyle. I believe actions speak louder than words and being a part of Mission year is my attempt at doing so.
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…
Emmy Johnson's Blog
Final Newsletter. / Aug 4, 01:50 PM
ENDING ONE JOURNEY, STARTING ANOTHER
One year. It seems like a long time when moving to a place where you don’t know anyone or anything about the location, other than you are living and volunteering there. On the other hand, one year doesn’t seem like much time in the bigger picture of one’s life. Either way, it’s hard to believe I’m writing my final newsletter to all my faithful supporters of my one-year commitment.
First of all, I want to be sure and say thank you, to all of you. No matter what form your support came in (thoughts, prayers, finances, etc.), I am so grateful for your commitment to go through this process with me. I truly feel it was a privilege to experience this year and all of its ups and downs. It has challenged, changed, and strengthened me as well as altered the path of my future.
Had I not done Mission Year I never would have figured out how much I enjoy social work, as well as what it’s like to be passionate about my future career. Passion was something I lacked in education. I saw the importance of education, enjoyed kids, and from time to time was okay with the work being a teacher required, but I still felt like something was missing. After my experiences this year, I think that thing was passion. If it wasn’t for my awesome support network, I never would have been able to do Mission Year, thus never discovering this about myself and finding a career I can and will be passionate about. Something I think too many people dismiss when figuring out what to do with their lives. So even though I feel like it is not nearly enough, THANK YOU!
Since I’m interested in social work, that means I need to go back to school! Something I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do… at least not for a long while! Life is funny sometimes. So my plans are to start graduate school in the Fall of 2009 pursuing a Master’s in Social Work as well as possibly a Master’s in Business Administration. I’m not sure which school I will attend, but that is part of what I plan on figuring out in the next year.
As for my immediate plans after Atlanta I will be visiting my family in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the first part of the month. Then I will be moving home and living with my parents in Towanda, Illinois for the fall semester and taking a statistics class at Heartland Community College as well as applying to schools.
While it’s nice to have life until January figured out, there is still much to be discerned in terms of which school to attend and what do January through July. Please continue to pray for me as I transition to life after Mission Year, figure out more of my future, and apply to multiple graduate programs.
As I said before, it’s hard to believe this is all over and it is much more difficult to leave than I expected. However, I am excited for my future and what is in store, even though it is MUCH different than I pictured for myself only a year ago.
If you are interested in getting together to see pictures and/or hear about my year first hand, please, do not hesitate to contact me. I would love to not only share about my life in the inner-city, but also catch up with you and your life! Thanks again.
SAYING GOODBYE
These are some of the people that my team and I grew especially close to, therefore it was a bit more difficult to part ways with them…
NAKIA AND FAMILY
We spent a lot of time with Nakia and her three children Khadijah, Angela, and Jerry. Nakia spent a lot of her days off with us in our apartment or taking us around Atlanta. Her kids were involved in S.A.Y. Yes! and also spent a lot of their days at our place. I will miss seeing them almost every day!
REGGIE
Reggie “Bo-Bo” Jones lived below us this year and attends New Life. He was a huge help to us at the beginning of the year when we were getting settled into our apartment and looked out for us through out the rest of our time here. It has been such a blessing having him around and becoming friends.
TARA
Before Christmas break my roommates and I had to say goodbye to a neighbor who moved away. That person was Tara, and we were to lucky enough to be around when she moved back to Atlanta in March. In that time we have spent a lot of time laughing with her and Tara has become like a little sister to most of us on the team.
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June Newsletter / Jun 11, 04:13 PM
THOUGHTS AS OF LATE…
One thing I love about this year is the reading I’ve been able to do. A favorite from some of my latest reads was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Morrie, a college professor in the Boston area for the last couple of decades or so, is diagnosed with Lou Gherig’s disease and given a short amount of time left to live. Through a couple of letters and calls he lands a spot on Nightline with Ted Koppel, to talk about what it’s like to know you’re dying. One of his former students, Mitch, catches the show and decides to visit his former, and favorite, professor from college. They pick up right where they left off almost 20 years before and forge a beautiful relationship towards the end of Morrie’s life. Mitch visits Morrie every Tuesday to catch up and make up for lost time. They talk about everything under the sun and record their conversations as they work on their “final thesis” together – the book.
The following excerpt is my favorite from the book. It seems Morrie has had many of life’s wisdoms imparted to him, and he is able to leave this knowledge with Mitch, and consequently the rest of the world who reads their book. (If you haven’t picked this up by now…I would highly suggest reading it to those of you who have not. It’s the first book I’ve legitimately shed a tear while reading.)
“ ‘Look, no matter where you live, the biggest defect we human beings have is our shortsightedness. We don’t see what we could be. We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves in to everything we can become. But if you’re surrounded by people who say “ I want mine now,” you end up with a few people with everything and a military to keep the poor ones from rising up and stealing it.’
Morrie looked over my shoulder to the far window. Sometimes you could hear a passing truck or a whip of the wind. He gazed for a moment at his neighbors’ houses then continued.
‘The problem, Mitch, is that we don’t believe we are as much alike as we are. Whites and blacks, Catholics and Protestants, men and women. If we saw each other as more alike, we might be very eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way we care about our own.
‘But believe me, when you are dying, you see it is true. We all have the same beginning – birth – and we all have the same end – death. So how different can we be?
‘Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you.’
He squeezed my hand gently. I squeezed back harder. And like that carnival contest where you bang a hammer and watch the disk rise up the pole, I could almost see my body heat rise up Morrie’s chest and neck into his cheeks and eyes. He smiled.
‘In the beginning of life, when we are infants we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?’
His voice dropped to a whisper. ‘But here’s the secret: in between, we need others as well.’
This passage got me thinking. What is it about American culture that has us convinced we have “arrived” once we are completely independent? Our collective mentality seems to be that to have any sort of dependence on anyone or anything is a sign of weakness. Whether that dependence is in the work place, in our neighborhoods, or in our friendships and/or families, we have convinced others that we don’t need them, and even worse, we have convinced ourselves. This can end up leaving us feeling lonely, depressed, and worst of all empty because we think we should have this feeling of “making it,” but turns out making it alone isn’t such an amazing feeling.
Luckily for us, God gives us a bit of an advantage through the truth of the Bible. Those pages are filled with directives to be in relationship. With God. With others. But it seems to me that many of us still seem to be missing the point. In today’s culture, even if one believes in the God of the Bible, it’s easy to lose the relationships of faith to the morality of religion.
I hope I am not coming across as trying to look like I have it all figured out, because I certainly do not. But Morrie certainly seems to be on to something here… and his words bring me back to this idea of community. Relationships. Neighbors.
It is not always easy to pour oneself into and invest in others. That is definitely one thing I have learned this year. It is not always convenient, and you do not always have the energy it takes. I have an extra “shove” to get out and attempt to pour into others because this is one of the main components of my program, but I also wanted to learn what it truly means to love others. And one thing I can say for sure: truly loving others means taking risks. Especially when you may not have much in common with the people you are trying to get to know. You can’t be sure your efforts will be well received or the person will appreciate you for who you are. It can be a bit scary to put yourself out there like that. However, when I think back on the last 9+ months and look at all the friendships I have formed, from roommates to neighbors alike, I wonder if risks were not taken, would there be much to show for those relationships now?
I can’t say for sure. And I know there are definitely times that I could have risked more. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, it’s how guarded I can be when it comes to building relationships, but I think realizing this about myself is half the battle. And even though I’m not sure what realizing this fact means for my life, I know I want to take risks, as difficult as that might be at times. I don’t want to “play it safe” and miss out on relationships from which I can learn and grow.
Morrie had this figured out. He said it was because he knew he was dying and had the chance “to come to peace with living.” But no matter what the reasoning behind his insights, I wish more people would read this book and start to take risks of their own. Then maybe we could get closer to being “one big human family” and stop focusing so much on ourselves. There’s no denying our world is globalizing, but I hope one day it will be for more than the sake of making an extra dollar.
After all (and I think Morrie would agree) :
“It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.”
~C.S. Lewis
PRAISES *We continue to get closer to our financial goal. *The first week of the S.A.Y. Yes! summer program went really well! *New Life started the community garden last week. (pictures to come)
PRAYER REQUESTS *Continue to pray for our team (and city) to be fully funded by the end of our year. *Pray my roommates and I would have energy despite the heat and business. *Pray for my roommates and I as we continue to make decisions about our lives after Mission Year is over.
TEAM FINANCIAL UPDATE
Amount Raised: $54,208
Amount Still Needed: $5,792
May Update. / May 22, 12:56 PM
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER…
As of Wednesday, May 14th summer has officially begun. This was the last day of our S.A.Y. Yes! program for the academic year, and I have to admit there were times when I felt like this day could not come fast enough.
This might come as a surprise to some of you, considering my choice of major in college, but part of my motivation to do this program was to try things that did not necessarily involve kids. However, I am thankful for how my year has played out and for the variety of service sites at which I volunteer. Working with these kids has opened my eyes to the disadvantages inner-city children face — but I am a strong believer that this should not be an excuse for them. I think it’s important to have the same expectations of these kids that I do of middle to upper-class, suburban kids, but at the same time allowing inner-city kids more grace as they strive to meet those expectations.
The center overcame a number of challenges this year. We went through two directors as well as various curriculum and discipline systems. But even with all of the transitions we were able to have a number of fun activities for the kids that included: a Block Party, a Multicultural Thanksgiving, a Christmas Program, a Good Friday Service and a Year-End Cookout.
Since it was such a good year, New Life decided to try and run its first Summer Program that starts June 2nd. We will meet three days a week for two hours. Two of the days will rotate between fun, educational activities and bringing plans of a community garden to life on Echo street. We will be able to see the garden from our apartment! The other day will be our field trip day. We plan on taking the kids to the following places: The King Center, Botanical Gardens, Piedmont Park, The Natural History Museum, Atlanta Zoo, Atlanta History Center, and Center for Puppetry Arts.
The program will run for the months of June and July and we have the next two weeks to get ready. It should be a fun and challenging summer of which I am excited to be a part!
PRAISES
~Our team has less than $10,000 to raise!
~The scorching heat seems to be holding off a bit.
~Conversations with neighbors are deepening.
PRAYER REQUESTS
~Pray for our team to be fully funded by the end of our year.
~Pray for the S.A.Y. Yes! summer program starting June 2nd.
~Pray for me as I continue to think about and make decisions concerning life after Mission Year.
April Update. / Apr 18, 04:17 PM
LOVING CINDY.
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:3
Living where we do there are a lot of faces from the streets that become familiar quite quickly. One of these faces is a lady my roommates and I continually saw on the corner begging for money. What distinguished her from other familiar beggars was that she held a sign saying she was deaf. All of us were curious if that was in fact true, or not, until after we got back from Christmas break.
On our second night back from break, two of my roommates and I were walking back from a MARTA station after a meeting. This familiar lady was walking a few paces ahead of us and we decided to catch up and try talking to her.
After finding out “Cindy” truly was hearing impaired and could read lips, we also found out she was staying in an abandoned house not far from us. We all talked almost the entire walk home, at times resorting to writing notes in a journal back and forth to aid communication. By the end of our walk, Cindy and I had plans to meet up one of the mornings the following week so she could walk with me to Crossroads and get her identification card. One of my roommates gave her a watch to use to ensure Cindy would make it on time to meet me and walk to Crossroads. We gave her a hug and were on our way home.
I never saw Cindy that following week and often wondered what became of her. About a month later the same roommate that gave her the watch told me she saw her across the tracks at a MARTA stop; Cindy mouthed that she was in a program and doing well. I assumed that night in January was the last I would see of Cindy and was glad to hear she was alive and doing well.
Towards the end of March I saw Cindy on the same corner on which I first saw her, only this time she was not begging for money. She looked better, but still quite weathered. We gave each other a big hug and she said she was still in the program, but that she was waiting for someone to pick her up. We chatted for a few minutes and I was on my way again, happy to have seen her.
A couple of days ago I was walking home from Crossroads on my way to New Life for S.A.Y. Yes! when I saw Cindy back on her corner, begging with the sign I grew accustom to seeing attached to her before we met. Like usual, Cindy came over and greeted me with a big hug. She told me she was still in the program, but there was only a week left. She was just begging to get some money for lunch. I asked her what would happen after that week, and Cindy mouthed that she wasn’t sure but she would be alright. I handed her an apple, told her to take care, and to come visit me at Crossroads if she needs help finding a place to stay once her program was over.
After this last interaction with Cindy, a part of me wonders if she was telling me the whole truth. I want to trust her and believe she actually is in a program and trying to get things together, but I have no way of knowing for sure. But I’ve realized that ultimately it does not matter if she is or not. My job is not to judge where she is at in life, but to love her and let her know someone cares about her in our brief visits with one another.
PRAISES *I have met my financial goal and our team continues to get closer to our $60,000 goal. *I had a great spring break with my family in Albuquerque. *I am getting closer to figuring out life after Mission Year.
PRAYER REQUESTS *Pray for the remaining $10,468 to come in for our team. *Pray for the S.A.Y. Yes! summer program in the works for the months of June and July. *Pray for Saturday outreach to continue to go well and relationships to strengthen for the time remaining.
TEAM TOTAL
Amount Raised: $49,532
Amount Remaining: $10,468
