Beloved Supporters, Thank you for your continual encouragement and involvement in my Mission Year. You help to make this experience possible and worthwhile. I am excited to share some of what has been going on in my life this past trimester. It has been a difficult, but rewarding time for me. For many Mission Year participants, second trimester is the hardest time of the year. This is due to many factors, including the reality of returning to a taxing schedule …
As I prepared to return to Illinois, I began to worry that people would not be able to relate to my experiences, and thus would not be interested in what I had learned. I thought that perhaps only I was able to understand injustice and racism. Maybe only I could see all of these new things because of the church I went to, the neighborhood I lived in, the people I lived with, and the books I read. Thankfully, I was very wrong.
Recently, in one of our weekly gatherings as a Mission Year City, each team had the opportunity to look back on their first trimester and reflect on key events and their emotions and thoughts as each occurred. It was surprising to me just how much had happened over the past three months. It is easy to move at such a fast pace that one quickly moves on from and even forgets significant events that have happened to them. My eyes have been opened to so many new things thus far. It is an amazing feeling to know that I am a different version of me than I was a year ago, and that God has been at work constantly in molding me into that person.
I have participated in homeless ministry quite a bit over the past three years. What this primarily consisted of was handing out food, talking with the homeless, and then having a Bible study with those willing to come. This was my picture of how one should interact with the homeless when trying to build relationships. However, my picture was about to be stretched.
God has been teaching me a lot this past month, but one thing in particular stands out and has shown up in my life in multiple ways. God has taught me more than I could have imagined about how I am called to view other people.
Let me start by saying that over the past few months I have realized that I had a lot of expectations in signing up for Mission Year. It is then quite fitting that God has been at work most notably in the unexpected in my life through this period of time.
Hello Everyone! I would like start off by thanking everyone that has supported me through prayer and finances. This endeavor could not happen without both types of contribution. I am so grateful for everyone that has decided to join me in this journey. It has been a great reminder of the unique community that God has surrounded me with, and I am already seeing the fruits of your prayer and financial support in my life as I have learned so …
Dear Friends, For some time, my parents and I thought I should take a gap year between high school and college. We believe that it will be best for me to have a break from school in order to recuperate from a hard four years and prepare for more school. We have seen significant personal growth in our friends who did a service year and believe the same will be true for me. Finally, this year will be a good …
