Sarah Anderson
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…
Sarah Anderson's Blog
I don't really know where to begin. / May 4, 10:53 PM
So here is the blog I promised. I was thinking about what to write here last night, seeing as I haven’t written anything all year. Most of the people who are reading this I’m sure have read my newsletters, but for those of you who haven’t, you may not know much of anything.
Anyway, I realized that the most important part of my life has always been my relationships. This year is no exception. So I’ve decided to write about the ones that have meant a lot to me this year, I’m good at being mushy, so if you’re not good at tolerating it, it’s probably your time to look elsewhere.
Last night I was on our back porch talking to my dad on the phone when I saw our friend Theodore walking down the back alley, I opened the gate for him, and he came into our house and the six of us (him, me, my roommates) hung out for a couple hours. He showed us his new internet gizmo, and we all checked our email (and yeah, our facebooks) at our house which never happens because we don’t get the internet. We listened to Soul from The 70s, a compilation disc that he brought over, and ate some chocolate chip cookies.
One of the things that I have struggled with this year was the structure of Mission Year, I don’t handle rules and schedules very well, and Mission Year has a lot of them. For example, we spend every Saturday out in the community hanging out with our neighbors. It always bothered me that it only happened on Saturdays, scheduling in time to build relationships seems bizarre to me. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important for an organization this large to have a set schedule, I just don’t really jive with it all the time.
Last night when Theodore came over, it was a Monday… and it felt different. It wasn’t forced, it didn’t seem like a task, he was our friend and we wanted to enjoy his company, and I think he wanted to enjoy ours…
Theodore has introduced us to so many people in the neighborhood, he doesn’t know a stranger, and he is always willing to help. (One day we ran into him when we were bringing our groceries back and he carried the entire cart up the stairs for us before we had time to stop him.)
Last night my roommate Corrinn (my roommate) asked a couple of us to borrow our computers for today, and Theodore chimed in to tell her that she could take his computer, and he’d pick it up the next day. We were all sort of humbled by his generosity and the trust that he had for Corrinn. We all agreed later that we really weren’t sure if we’d do the same thing for somebody else.
A few Thursdays ago Jessica (another roommate) and I stopped by our friend Delores’ house to invite her over for dinner that Saturday. She couldn’t come because she was working, but we hung out at her house for a couple of hours, drinking coke and sharing stories. It was just so much fun, it didn’t feel forced, it was just another part of our day. Delores brought us taco salad a few days later to thank us for the invite. Again, very humbling.
I love the friendships that I have made this year, and the people that I have gotten to know, and learn from. I feel so blessed that God has placed me here, and am relieved to find that these relationships are no longer on one day a week, but are beginning to feel more spontaneous. God puts us in places at certain times for a reason, I feel like I am always running into someone on my way to and from places.
On my way to work one day I was stopped by a woman named Pam who sells pens that she tapes fake flowers onto. Sounds kind of tacky, but they’re actually really cute. Anyway, I saw her everyday on my way to work for about 3 weeks, and every day Pam would ask me if I wanted a pen, I said no every time, but one day, in admiration of her persistence, I told her to come to my work when she had change for a five (the pens sell for 2 dollars). Sure enough, roughly 3 hours later, she showed up at Teamwork Englewood with five ones in hand. I bought the pen and then talked to her for a little while. I see her just about every week now, her persistence hasn’t stopped (though I have yet to invest in another pen), but I am getting to know her more and more ever time we bump into one another.
I stopped at the grocery store one Friday afternoon to pick up an avocado on my way home from work, and was about to leave, with my change in hand, when an older man from choir stopped me, told me that I better put my change in my pocket before setting foot outside, then struck up a conversation with me. I ended up walking him home that day and ever since then, we have shared prayer requests with one another at Thursday night practices and Sunday morning performances.
Again, I love that God knows me well enough to know that I work best in a spontaneous manner, and doesn’t ask me to stick to the schedule and do nothing else. Yes, I still go out on Saturdays and play soccer with the kids, or bring cookies to my neighbors, but these random encounters are becoming more and more frequent, and it feels right.
My life in MissionYear is becoming more of a life, rather than a missions program, sometimes I wonder to myself if I’ll be able to leave on July 31st.
I know this is ridiculous. / Nov 14, 04:04 PM
I’m sorry if you (my friends and family) have been checking this website awaiting new entries, but the truth is that I am just now getting around to figuring out how this whole thing works. I’ve realized since being here that I’m stuck in 2001 as far as computer technology goes. Anyway, this blog is just to let everyone know I am still alive and healthy. It’s also to tell you that I will write a real one soon, I promise.
Comment [1]
- 1
