Emily Foster
"What are you doing after graduation?"
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that question over the past 4 1/2 years I would already have enough money to pay back my student loans!
Up until last month I did not have an answer to that question. It becomes a real nuisance when you are graduating and still don’t have an answer. People give you strange looks and question what the heck you’ve been doing all those years at school.
Now I am happy to say I finally have an answer!
I will be serving the Lord through Mission Year! Hang out on the site for a bit and you’ll learn all you could want to know about our program!
Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with me, my name is Emily Foster. I graduated December 2009 Magna Cum Laude in Psychology from Appalachian State University. I love dark chocolate, shoes, Bath and Body Works, ice cream, wearing pajamas all day, and warm weather!
So why Mission Year you ask?
Well, throughout school, I was never sure what I wanted to do when I graduated. God did not give me a definite plan as to what he wanted me to do after school which at times was insanely frustrating. One day I was reading Shane Claiborne’s “Irresistible Revolution” and saw Mission Year referenced in the book. I did a little research and was very impressed with the program. The more I thought and prayed about it, I felt God strongly calling me to Mission Year.
I was not sure why and like Moses I asked God a million questions including “But God, I don’t have any experience in urban missions! Why me?!” The response “Because you are willing. Also, I gave you the passion to love and serve others, and this is how I want you to do it!”
Can’t argue with that. . .
So here I am, 7 months before my departure date and I am very excited to begin this year long journey to dive in and serve God completely and wholeheartedly!
So follow along with me as I go on my journey and be a partner in my ministry throughout 2010 and 2011!!!
In Him,
Emily
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…
Emily Foster's Blog
Normal Life? / Sep 30, 11:36 AM
We have made it through our second “normal” week of Mission Year. It is nice to finally have a routine and to have a rhythm now. South Atlanta is really beginning to feel like home, and I’m meeting amazing people daily.
I will walk you through what a typical week looks like for me and update you on some things that happened each day.
Saturday
Saturday is our neighborhood outreach day. This is the day where we go out into our neighborhood and get to know people and invest in their lives. This past Saturday, Maureen, Jyssica and I headed out ready to get to know some neighbors! As we were walking up Bowen, we met Mrs. Brenda who has the cutest dog!! We stood and talked with her for a few minutes. Through our conversation we discovered that she has brain cancer had surgery back in July and is now on chemo. The thing that really impressed me about her though was her positive attitude. She kept smiling and laughing and just remarking how blessed she is by God and just how thankful she is to be alive. We walked away from her encouraged and completely blessed by our interaction with her.
We also do a hospitality night on Saturdays where we invite neighbors to our house to eat dinner. We had a great time with Dee-Dee, who works at the coffee shop with me, and her ten year old son, Anthony. We played Quelf, a really silly game and just had a good time laughing and talking with each other.
Sunday
Sunday we go to church and then use the afternoon to grocery shop and do laundry.
This past Sunday was United Methodist Men’s day, so we had lunch after church. Delicious! I am so thankful that we have amazing cooks in our church!! We will be getting lots of free food this year!
After lunch, it was pouring rain and we were getting ready to walk home. Pastor Cobb would NOT let us leave though until he found us a ride. We were blessed to have Mr. Springs pile us all into his van and give us a ride so we didn’t get soaked!
Lauren and I were the two that got to sit at the laundromat this time and we had an uncomfortable experience that we were not expecting. As we were folding our laundry, a man approached us and wanted to know if we wanted to buy any socks from him. We respectfully declined and jokingly said “Do you see all the clothes we have?? We’re good thank you!” To which he replied,”How does it feel to have everything?” We were so taken aback we didn’t know how to respond. He proceeded to exclaim, “White people are so perfect and blessed. God hates black people. I hate being black. You think God blesses black people? You’re my Jesus because you’re white.” He said more than that, but it is definitely not appropriate to post here. We were so taken aback and so uncomfortable. The only thing we could respond with was “Yes sir, we believe God blesses everyone” We just didn’t know what to do. He finally left us alone and we just sat there staring at each other… The whole time I just kept praying “God, what would you have my response be?”
Sunday evening was fun though. We had a very heavy day and so Maureen suggested that we play hide and seek in the dark in our house. It was AWESOME! We got so creative and really silly trying to find good hiding places around the house. At one point, I hid all the way under my bed behind all my stuff and I was the last one to be found. Jyssica decided to hide ON TOP of the fridge during one round and Maureen hid inside her covers in her messy bed once. It was so much fun!!!! We’ve also had a lot of random dance parties where we blare the music and just go crazy!
Monday
Monday begins our work week and our Mondays begin at 6 am when the alarm goes off. We do our team devotions at 6:30 Mon-Thurs and then have our quiet hour til time to go to work. I head off at 7:40 to make it to the coffee shop by 8.
We also have our family night on Mondays which is a night where we just intentionally spend time together and one team member every week plans an activity or something. Last week we made cards together. This Monday we shared things that we are struggling with and prayed over one another. That is such a wonderful bonding experience and it really helped us open up a bit more and become more vulnerable with one another.
Tuesday
Never in my life have I been a person that hits the snooze button, but EVERY DAY this week, I have hit the button at least twice!!! Crazy!
Tuesday I was in such a good mood during quiet time. God’s love and mercy were just overpowering me and I was walking on the clouds! I always recognize in those moments that I am also very vulnerable to attacks by the enemy so I prayed protection over myself as well. Sure enough, Tuesday was a really rough day and I could have ended the day in tears, but God was my strength and I made it through! First off, I accidentally set off the alarm in the coffee shop, because I couldn’t get to the box fast enough to put in the code lol. Then I stubbed my pinky toe and almost broke it. Then while I was making a drink, I hit the cup and spilled the espresso all down the front of me. And that was all before noon!
Every Tuesday and Thursday, Jyssica and I help with our churches after school tutoring program and Tuesday the kids were exceptionally wild. There are a lot of issues with how the program is run, but I am trying to be gracious and just do what I can to try to keep the chaos down.
Our church also has bible study Tuesday evenings, so most of our team had decided to go to it Tuesday. It was interesting but I was so exhausted by the rest of the day that I wasn’t fully mentally present. I appreciate Pastor Cobb though because he obviously has a passion to see the church grow and that is great!
Wednesday
Every Wednesday morning at 10, Ben, Katherine and Caz come to the coffee shop so we can have our Team Captain meetings. I really look forward to those three hours where we get to sit and talk about whats going on in our teams, in our own lives and to just get some spiritual direction and practical advice from Caz.
Wednesday was exceptionally encouraging and I went back to work feeling so blessed.
I also had some really good conversation with Dee-Dee. She is an amazingly sweet person and so giving and loving. I enjoyed listening to her talk and was blessed to have her open up to me about some things going on her life.
Thursday
Thursdays are pretty normal. I go to work, then tutor after school and then we go home for a quick meal before we attend citywide and training with all the teams from across Atlanta. Its nice to see everyone and to have fun and also chat about spiritual things with guidance from Caz. We always have a good time and its uplifting to hear about what God is doing in the other neighborhoods.
Friday
Hooray for Sabbath!!!! Fridays are fantastic and I am so thankful that we get an entire day every week that we can just spend time loving on ourselves. It is definitely needed.
So that is my life in a nutshell for now. I would like to ask you to continue to pray for my team and for our neighborhood. Pray for Dee-Dee in her struggles. Pray for our church, Henry M White and our Pastor, Harold Cobb. And pray for me as God continues to stretch and grow me daily. I know change is happening, its just difficult to articulate at this point.
Thank you for taking this journey with me and God bless you!
Emily
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First Month! / Sep 29, 11:03 AM
Not too long ago, I felt that Mission Year would never begin and now I can’t believe that a month has already passed! So much has happened since I arrived in Atlanta so I will try to give you some highlights from my time without writing a novel.
Week 1: Team Captain training
This year Atlanta has three teams and each team has a new Mission Year participant serving as team captain. I am team captain for the South Atlanta team, Ben Soto is captain of the East Point team and Katherine Langley serves as captain for the English Ave team. Our first week we hit the ground running and learned SO much about the city and about leadership. The three of us had an instant bond and I am looking forward to our weekly meetings that we will have throughout the year.
During that week, we were given a lot of opportunities to sit down with Mission Year alum to ask questions and listen to their advice and wisdom. We were given a lot of great information to think about and process and were pretty much mentally overwhelmed every day!
We had a MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) day, which consisted of learning to ride the bus and train (the two together are referred to as MARTA). That was really interesting and we had fun going all over the city! We also learned a lot of history about Atlanta from Jeff, the previous Atlanta city director.
The first Sunday, each of us got to visit our respective churches by ourselves. South Atlanta attends Henry M White United Methodist church. It is a small African American church located 6 blocks from our house. There is a very intimate community there and everyone welcomed me with open arms! People there are very passionate about worshipping Jesus and the gospel choir along with Pastor Cobb’s preaching really gets the congregation fired up!
One of my favorite things from the week was the chance the three of us got to spend with our city director, Caz. She is originally from New Zealand and did Mission Year herself 6 years ago. She has been serving as the city director in Philadelphia until this year when they asked her to move. Its been good to experience Atlanta with her and learn things alongside her. She is a very wise wonderful individual who challenges you at every angle but you know she loves you and only wants to help you become who God intends you to be.
Overall it was a fun week, but the three of us were ready for our teams to arrive and to get the year started!
Week 2: Orientation in Chicago
FINALLY on September 3, our teams arrived!!!! We all met at Community Grounds, the local coffee shop. Everyone was chatting and getting to know each other and we got to eat some wonderful food, provided for us by Mission Year alum. We also met our church facilitator, Mrs. Cynthia, who is a member of Henry M. White and serves as our point person and a contact in our neighborhood if we ever have any questions. She is amazing and has lived in the neighborhood for about 40 years so she knows a lot of history!
My team consists of myself (I am the oldest), Jyssica Schutz who is 22 and from Wisconsin, Lauren Kewley 21 from California, Kaitlin Kliewer 20 from Kansas and Maureen O’Malley 18 from New Jersey. We are a diverse but fun group and I’m pretty sure we loved each other right off the bat. They all think I have a southern accent, but no one from here OR home thinks I do so it makes me laugh when they say that.
We left Atlanta at 4 am September 5, and traveled 12 hours by van to Chicago, IL for our national Mission Year orientation. It was a long ride and we slept most of the way. Some of us ended up playing Phase 10 (a card game) and it lasted for about 5 hours. The LONGEST game of phase 10 I have ever played.
While in Chicago, we stayed in a church called La Villita. La Villita is also the name of the community in which it is located. It is a Latino community and primarily a Spanish speaking church. All us Mission Year girls were packed into one room for the week and it looked like a refugee camp most times with all our air mattresses on the floor and stuff strewn everywhere! Between 40 girls, we shared one toilet, one sink and three showers.
During the week, we were blessed to hear the different city directors share their words on Mission Year topics such as Biblical justice, living simply, evangelism, incarnational ministry and a whole lot more. It was neat to hear the different ideas and to get a lot of useful and practical information for our year. Although at times it felt like we were attempting to drink from a fire hydrant!
That week CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) was also in Chicago. We were able to attend that a couple evenings and it was interesting to see how God is working in Christian Community Development all across the nation.
Week 3: Orientation in Atlanta
After another 12 hour van ride, we were back in Atlanta to have our own city orientation. We got to finally live in our own house, which is about 90 years old and definitely a typical Mission Year house. Our neighborhood is what you might consider a normal urban neighborhood. It has lots of issues including prostitution, substance abuse, theft, squatters, unemployment, etc. Overall though, it is a great place to be and we have LOTS of wonderful neighbors. Many people associated with Mission Year live in our neighborhood as well so we have lots of support and resources surrounding us.
We got to experience church together that Sunday and my team really enjoyed themselves. Everyone loved us and we got so many hugs. We also spent some of our weekend time walking around our neighborhood making a map to keep in the house so we have an idea of where things are and where different people live.
That Monday evening, we went to our first community meeting (those are held the first Monday night of every month). It was interesting to see what different people are passionate about and the ways in which they want their community to be better and more livable. One thing I struggled with though were the responses that people were giving. For example, dealing with prostitutes and drug dealers. People in the neighborhood were talking about just putting them in jail. Now, my team has befriended one of the prostitutes from our neighborhood and she is one of the sweetest people I have every met. It would break my heart if I found out she got locked up in jail. Do I agree with how she makes her living? No. But does that give me the right to judge her? No. I wonder what kind of rehabilitation options we have in our community and how we could work towards those instead of just throwing people in jail.
Anyway, off my soapbox. I’m sure I’ll have more to write about the issues in our community as the year progresses.
Our team got to have a MARTA relay day where we had to use MARTA to get around the city and take pictures of different things. That was fun but we were all exhausted by the end of the day. One of the highlights from that was when we visited the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, which is an indoor market with a ton of vendors. We stopped by one called Miss D’s Candy Shop. Fortunately Miss D was there and she was fantastic! We spent an hour walking around the market with her, getting free samples and telling her about why we’re here in GA. She was so supportive and encouraging and wants us to come visit her again!
One low point from the week affected our next door neighbor, Cathy. Thursday morning about 3:30, her car was hit while we were all sleeping. The entire drivers side was torn up and it left the car in an inoperable condition. The worst part is, she just bought the car about 2 months ago. She had a car last year and it caught on fire so she has been riding the bus from about December until June when she bought the new one. And now this one is messed up. It made us so sad to see the pain and frustration in her face.
Week 4: First “normal” Mission Year week
Saturday: Saturday was our first neighborhood outreach day. This is a day when we walk around the neighborhood getting to know our neighbors. Saturday night is our hospitality dinner where we invite people over to our house and we cook the food and just have a good time. That morning we set out ready to meet people and invite them for dinner. We met Mrs. Walker that day who is one of the cutest older ladies I have ever met. We sat on her screened in porch for about two hours just getting to know her and she gave us some delicious iced green tea. On our way home we met Dorisa, who lives around the corner from us. We invited her and her family to dinner and they gladly accepted. So we went home where I was slated to make fried chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies for dinner. When time came for them to show up, Dorisa wasn’t able to make it, but her two daughters Brandie and Nesha came with several of their nieces and nephews. We enjoyed dinner together and had a good time playing cards, chatting and Maureen and I had Brandie braid our hair!! (pics will be uploaded soon!) It looked SO GOOD but it definitely hurt. Totally worth it though!
Monday: Maureen and I have to be at our service sites by 8 am every day so our regular wake up time is 6 am We wake up at 6 and have team devotion and then an hour of quiet time before we head off for the day. My service site is Community Grounds and South Atlanta Marketplace which are the local coffee shop and thrift store. I do a lot of cleaning for them, but it’s a good place for people in the community to come and hang out and we have a lot of good stuff in the thrift store for pretty cheap prices. It’s a neat place.
Tuesday: Jyssica and I will also be helping with our churches after school tutoring program on Tuesday and Thursdays. Tuesday was the first day we were able to help with it and we were really excited. We showed up and the kids are crazy!!!! They’ve been sitting in class all day and have all this pent up energy. I ended up working with a little girl, Xavia, who is in 4th grade. I helped her finish her math homework and we read some together as well. She is very smart and it was a joy to see how much she loves learning. She told me she does extra homework sometimes just because she can.
The rest of the week pretty much looks the same with some other stuff thrown in here and there. But this has become extremely long already so if you are still reading, I appreciate your interest and apologize if you are bored at all.
I will write more later and will keep posting weekly as much as I can. I hope my blog will become somewhere I can share my fears and hopes and struggles and joys of my year with all of you. For now, God bless and take care!
One Week To Go! / Aug 24, 05:35 PM
Grace and Peace,
There is just one week until my departure date for Atlanta and I am blown away at how quickly time has passed. A lot has occurred since my acceptance to Mission Year so I will bring you up to date on what’s happened.
The first major change was being moved from Camden, NJ to Atlanta, GA. Despite my initial disappointment and frustration, God has worked in my heart and I could not be more excited to spend my year in Atlanta.
Secondly, I was interviewed and chosen to serve as Team Leader for my South Atlanta team. This is an honor as Mission Year must ask and hire you based on characteristics they observe from your application and interviews. So, God has again placed me in a position of leadership and I ask for your prayers as I fulfill the role. Prayers for motivation, strength, courage, wisdom, patience and everything else that comes with being a role model and leader. This also means that I will receive an extra week of training than the rest of my team, so I will be departing for Atlanta August 27. During that week, I will live and train with the two other Atlanta team leaders and our city director, Caz Tod. So please pray for us and for the other team leaders across the United States as we learn what will be expected of us and begin fulfilling our roles.
One of the most exciting new developments has been finally finding out who I will be living and serving with this coming year! Including myself, my team consists of five young women ranging from 18 to 23 years old. Maureen, Kaitlin, Lauren, Jyssica and myself make up the South Atlanta team and I cannot wait to meet them in person and start our year. I ask that you now include these women in your prayers and begin praying for our team as a whole. Pray also for safe travels as we will join with all Mission Year participants from across the country September 3- September 10 for orientation, worship and training in Chicago, IL.
Now, a quick financial update. So far, I have received $4,000 of my $12,000 goal for the year. I am so grateful for that $4,000 but continue to pray that the remaining $8,000 will come. This cannot happen without your help. I am part of a vision that is amazing and exciting and I am inviting you to invest yourself through the resources God has given you in this mission that He has called me to. If you do decide to contribute please make your check payable to Mission Year and send your gift directly to the Mission Year office. That address is listed on the front of the response envelope I have included with this letter. Please use that envelope, fill out the information section on the front and place that inside with your donation. This provides Mission Year with your mailing information so that they can send you a tax receipt for your purposes as any donation you send is tax deductible. Also remember you can give online if you go to my blog and click the red “Donate Now” button.
As I depart, I am thankful that I go with your prayers, love and support. This journey will be one of transformation; for me, my teammates and everyone we meet along the way. I am grateful for your willingness to walk alongside me. Also know that as part of our immersion into our new lifestyle, all Mission Year participants have been asked to adhere to a six week fast from cell phones, email, Facebook, television and movies. So if it seems that I am extremely hard to get in touch with at first, know that I am not ignoring you! I will still be able to receive letters and I will provide you with my Atlanta mailing address when I return from orientation in Chicago. I will continue to send newsletters and update my blog www.missionyear.org/blog/emilyfoster as periodically as I can throughout my year.
Again thank you and God bless!
Emily
Carrying The Banner / May 11, 05:45 PM
Let me go ahead and admit. . .I am a musical theatre fanatic. There’s just something about characters expressing themselves through song and dance that gets me every time!
One of my all time favorite musicals is the Disney film “Newsies”. The movie is based on the true story of the Newsboys strike of 1899 in New York City. This was a youth-led campaign in which the newsboys forced Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst to change the way they compensated their child labor force. The strike lasted two weeks and was successful in the end.
Last night I decided that it had been entirely too long since I last watched the movie, so I popped it in and started singing along (yes I am one that sings at the top of my lungs in the car).
Now there are many memorable quotes throughout the movie, but one stood out to me last night that I have never thought twice about before.
One of the characters, Brian Denton, is a journalist for the New York Sun. Some of the newsboys have come to him asking for help because they have been physically beaten by the cops and emotionally beaten by not succeeding so far. Denton says, “Sometimes all it takes is a voice. One voice that becomes a hundred and then a thousand, unless it is silenced”
I was stunned. I believe that many of us doing Mission Year have a burning passion to be one voice. A voice to make a difference in the world. We want to bring to light the injustice and suffering that our neighbors endure on daily basis. We desire to be one voice that joins with hundreds of other Mission Year participants and administration that eventually joins the thousands of voices of our neighbors and community partners who’s lives we have impacted.
May we have the courage to continue to be that voice. May we not back down and be silenced when hardship and obstacles show up in our path.
All it takes is a voice.
