Mission Year: A Recap

I've learned more and experienced more beauty this year than I can list. Nevertheless, this is my attempt to break a few things down – concepts, experiences, changes. Even now I'm sure there are things I'm blind to because I'm still in the midst of it...different is what hits us. But these are some things I've been trying to notice and grasp from this year, and a few developing thoughts....

Ways we have connected with our neighbors this year:

• Community dinners! And one-on-one family dinners.
• Soccer at the park!
• Supporting local businesses
• Music together
• Our Justice Project! (see previous posts)
• Lending a hand with projects, like spring cleaning
• Bubbles, chalk, frisbee, jump rope
• Baking them cookies
• They teach US how to cook
• Starting a community garden and sharing the harvest!
• Visiting local churches
• Going to garage sales (which happen to take place all the time in our neighborhood)

Community:

• Intentional. Starting and ending with unity through active commitment. Openness.
• Pseudo community = avoiding conflict. Community = conflict resolution
• Taking off our veils. Veils allow us to see but to not be seen, giving us a false sense of power and control. What we truly desire is to see AND to be seen.

Justice:

• Pursuing God's heart for the world
• Overcoming entitlement
• The command for right relationships – God & man, Man & man, Man & nature
• Loving the person right in front of you...and more
• “What love looks like in public” - Cornel West

Prayer: 

Expressed attitude of our dependency on God in all things.
“To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you.” (Theophan the Recluse)

Sustainability:

“What would happen if I lived a slower-paced existence?” (Serve God, Save the Planet)

• Helping to build and cultivate a community garden.
• Doing laundry by hand.
• Limited technology usage!
• Making art from trash/recycled materials.
• Using public transportation to get around the 4th-largest city in the country.
• Learning where our food and other products come from. Supporting local business and committing to purchasing only Fair Trade coffee and chocolate in the beginning steps of understanding our roles as consumers.
• Budgeting (Mission Year budget: $17.50/week/person for groceries, $70 stipend)

Reconciliation:

...Ask me about this one if you're curious.

Spiritual Disciplines:

Have you ever heard of the “Examen,” by Ignatius Loyola? If not, you MUST check it out: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/

"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates

Poverty, an illustration:

On Sunday afternoons, we go to a local park for Simple Feast, a ministry where we serve and share a meal with the people at the park, play volleyball, and just hang out. One day another church drove in to pass out Lunchables and, well, preach. I can see how people think they're doing something good when they do this. But multiple people have come up to us afterward and say, “I appreciate what y'all do. You just come and hang out with us and get to know us. You don't try to cram crap down our throats like they do.” People assume they don't know Jesus. They assume homelessness is purely the result of poor choices. But let's be real: I'm sure a lot of those guys at the park know Jesus better than I do. At any rate, I've learned more about Jesus from them than I have from drive-by churches.

“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

A few of my favorite memories:

- One night three of us hung out at our neighbor's house. Maya, 10 years old, wanted to give us pedicures. We sang songs together in her room, as one by one she washed our feet and painted our nails. My feet are super ticklish, so I was laughing uncontrollably through the whole experience, which made everyone else laugh too.

- For my experience with Sergio, see a previous blog post.

- Translating “Are You My Mother?” on the spot to a couple Hispanic girls in the nursery. They asked me to read it again and again until they had it memorized and were reading to ME in Spanish, pointing to the words as if they were in Spanish.

Things I've been learning in Mission Year....

How to affirm people well and receive affirmation well. Compliments are based on actions and superficial elements. Affirmation highlights the truth of someone's character. Both are good, the latter has made the biggest impact on me this year. We, like children, are desperate for affirmation, but we are not quick to admit our desire for affirmation. I am learning not only to share good thoughts as soon as they come to mind, but to actively search for goodness and imago dei in my brothers and sisters.

To flow. And I thought college life had taught me to be spontaneous...HA! One of my art professors used to tell me all the time: “Let the process inform the work.” I have a whole new concept of what that means in life, not just my artwork.

How to trust God with my future. He will grow me wherever I am, and use me to grow others because that is who He is.

To hope in people. The hardest people to love this year were some of the most unexpected. This is not about getting what I want; it's about serving others. I can let go of my judgments and anxieties of others because it is God who does the fixing. God said, “I'll deal with their hearts. You LOVE.”

To let go of controlling things to be the way I wish them to be. This means letting other people write the grocery list and do the dishes. We all have different standards of what life together should look like...who knew?

Forming new habits, breaking old ones. Habits of response. Habits of staying updated. Habits of affirmation. Habits of revisiting dreams and who I am.

Generosity.

Drawing close to those who are suffering, not running away.

A healthy transparency that invites people in, not revealing all at once.

Sensativity.

My faith doesn't mean anything until it costs me something.

Things I'm learning about myself:

I want to live in community.

I am a professional artist, and I want more art in my life.

I am valued, beautiful, and wanted – not just for my talents, but for my heart.

I want to live in a warm climate, with Spanish-speaking neighbors. That has been such a GIFT this year!

I want more silence, and a steady, deliberate rhythm to life.

God's dreams for my life have never been so much at the forefront of my mind, and I am learning to embrace them without fear. I have confidence that as long as I keep those dreams fresh in my mind and commit myself to prayer, the Lord will be faithful to guide me to where I ultimately hope to be. And in the mean time, I will unapologetically savor the journey.

I've heard someone refer to Mission Year as the ultimate “you had to be there” experience. And that's not a cop-out, but a challenge: Wherever God places you, be there.

Upcoming post: The latest news on my future! It only took me til the last day of Mission Year to figure it out...

Grace and peace, friends