Chelsea Edwards
Why I'm Doing Mission Year
My name is Chelsea and I’m 19. I’m a freshman at Ball State and I am undeclared in my major. I love reading and once I start a book, I’m incapable of putting it down until it’s done. I love Taco Bell.
I guess it all started when I interned for a youth group last summer. I thought I wanted to be a youth director, so checking it out and getting some practice seemed like a good idea. Long story short, it was not the right profession for me. But I did go onto a trip with the youth group to New Orleans.
I realized that I have a heart for people. I love people. That doesn’t really come as a surprise to anyone who knows me! As I read the Bible more and more, I started seeing how many times God mentioned caring for the poor. When I looked around at my life, I really had the desire to live more simplistically and spend time with the poor more.
As I went to college, I loved it, but I also felt this unease about it. I started looking into summer programs, but the more I prayed about it, the more I knew that God wanted me to make a major change.
I think the thing that drew me in the most about Mission Year was how their goal is to love God and love people. It’s not about denominations or church politics.
I am so excited for Mission Year. Thanks for all of your support. I love you all.
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…
Chelsea Edwards's Blog
Ramblings / Sep 27, 08:50 AM
Hello There!
Well it’s time for another blog. We’ve had two weeks of the after school program, and I have really enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, all of us come home exhausted and with stories of how the kids found new ways to act out. But I definitely love these kids and am looking forward to this year. Being an aspiring teacher, I feel like I am in my element. It feels good to be doing this and getting real experience.
Community living is difficult in all of the ways I didn’t expect and beautiful in all of the ways I thought would be hard. The idea of 4 girls in a room at first made me pretty nervous, but now I wouldn’t have it any other way. One bathroom for 6 people makes me want to pull my hair out, and has taught me a new form of bladder control!
Every morning we get up as a team and do devotionals. We’ve been going through Romans, and I am amazed daily at my team mates insight. Coming from all over the country with a couple of us having out of the U.S. experience gives so much perspective on things.
Lately I am battling with this crazy thing called culture. I get frustrated with myself when I realize that some of the things I thought were universal rules are simply United States, or even Delaware or Indiana culture. It is definitely something that I haven’t really been aware of until now, yet it affects my life so much. This frustrates me because I know that as a Christian I’m supposed to have a different culture than my surroundings on some areas. I’ve been disturbed about just how much I do fit in where ever I go.
This post is completely random and next time I’ll try to plan so a jumbled mess doesn’t come out, but it’s something about where I’m at right now in this whole experience.
I love you all. I say this a lot, but it doesn’t make it less true. Thanks for taking the time to care about what God is doing in my life. I know that I am being prayed for and that I am loved, and that means so much to me.
Until next time,
Chelsea
Comment [2]
Orientation Fun / Sep 8, 01:55 PM
Hey Friends,
Well I finished orientation yesterday, and I feel way more equipped to serve and way more excited to get going. So what did I learn? I’m going to try and fit it in one post.
I think that when I decided to be in Mission Year I had the whole love God and love people thing understood. I felt that both of those could be achieved in serving the poor. One of the things Mission Year is big on, however, is justice. I remember reading about it on the website and thinking that the injustices of the world are simply too big to fix. Orientation showed me that there are so many injustices in the world, and that it’s not merely a suggestion for me to care about them. In my neighborhood, I will see a lot of things that aren’t fair. Some of them will be beyond me, and it will be my job to stand with people and show that they are not alone. But some things I can help to change, and I need to keep my eyes open to them.
We also learned a lot about community, which I found fascinating. My house mates and I are a community, where we share our failures and triumphs without fear of rejection. Does that sound intimidating to anyone else? Does that sound beautiful to anyone else? If we achieve this authentic community we’re aiming for, where Christ is in the center and we lean on each other for support, I can’t think of many more things that would glorify God more.
I learned a lot more things at orientation, and I’ll share them with you gradually over this year!
Thank you, as always, for reading and for supporting me.
I love you all.
Chelsea
Comment [3]
So Soon? / Aug 25, 11:12 AM
Hey ya’ll!
I figured since I’m moving down south I’d give ya’ll a try…it still seems unnatural. Well here I am, la couple days away from packing up a portion of my belongings and moving into the unknown world of Atlanta, Georgia.
Here are some new things I know: my team mates. Kelly Cefalu is our team leader. Then there’s Rachael Sandhagen-Turner, Kimberly Rixon, Andrew Elledge, Joseph Givens, and me. We’ve been communicating on facebook and are all excited.
What I’m most excited about besides meeting the people I’ll be living with this year is seeing the whole MY family together in Atlanta in the beginning of September. It’s so amazing to see how God used all of our different pasts to bring us to this same spot, and meeting everyone that I’ve been building a relationship with since March will be awesome!
My prayer requests in these last couple weeks are that I can finish strong. My to-do list is intimidating, and I’m worried about getting it all finished in time. Also, that I pack sensibly and don’t bring things I don’t need.
Thanks for reading and going on this adventure with me!
In Christ,
Chelsea Edwards
Comment [4]
- 1
