Emily King's Blog
and this is June... / 06.26.08, 10:47 AM
Dear Friends,
I hope you all enjoyed reading Shawn’s newsletter this month. We are in an amazing place here in Chicago, and I am very thankful he took the time to share about all three Mission Year teams, and our year learning and serving. Shawn’s pretty cool.
I want to put a disclaimer/warning on this blog/newsletter. Newsletters are good for me because they limit how many words I can use to tell you about my month. This is NOT the same with a blog…I have all the room I want. I’ll try not to blabber on, but I really can’t promise anything…
So June…it’s been crazy…a roller coaster of emotion…getting to see my work come together, realizing that I really only have July left to spend with all of these beautiful people, my beliefs being challenged constantly by loved ones back home and loved ones that entered my life when I came to Chicago. I guess the unique thing about Mission Year is that you always expect to be able to get comfortable in your place here, and start getting used to some things, and then you realize you’ve only got a couple of months left. You can never let your guard down or expect to ease into things. You’re here, you’ve got to give it all you have, and there is NO looking back.
The highs of the month have included celebrating the birthday of our beloved Hortencia, our second mother here. She has given us so much food, encouragement, and just genuine love this year, and it was so special to be able to return the favor with a heart-shaped, vanilla/chocolate swirl cake that Areli, her youngest daughter, and I cooked up for her in secret. We sang her happy birthday along with her four children, and watched as tears formed in her eyes. I have discovered that nothing makes my heart happier than watching people feel loved…and Tenci was feeling the love!
Another extremely high point of this month (and in fact, the year) was the opening for PROJECT S.N.A.P. at El Valor on June 6. We were able to hang around 50 pictures taken by our participants with disposable cameras, matted and/or framed. The response was overwhelming! We have about 60 guests come and go throughout the night, and about $1,000 made in profit for our participants! I would be MORE than happy to email anyone some images if you would be interested in purchasing one of these pieces of artwork (emilyelizabethking@gmail.com). The artist will get about $100 for each 11 × 14 photograph and $75 for each 8 X 10. I am so grateful that God lead me to El Valor this year. It has been incredible to be able to use my passions for marketing and creative ability to put on this much needed gallery opening. I pray that gallery openings will be a continuing thing for our participants!
Sarai, Hortencia’s eldest daughter, graduated from high school this month as well! What a joy to be able to celebrate this amazing accomplishment with her family and her! Although we were not able to attend the actual ceremony with her family, I was at her house the whole day helping her get ready for it! She was so excited and looked so beautiful! Sarai and I have been talking about Southern Nazarene University for a couple of months now, and she has applied to attend in the next fall or the spring. I am thankful that I have had the resources to help her get her application requirements together, and the connections to get her better acquainted with the office of admissions. It just goes to show; you never know the gifts God has blessed you with until He opens your eyes to a need!
All of the Mission Year teams were able to meet up in Atlanta for the weekend, June 13-15. We got to hear all that was going on in other cities and how God was using Mission Year to shine light on His hope and love in Philadelphia, Camden, NJ, Wilmington, DE, New Orleans, and Atlanta! Not that I didn’t think God was big enough or gracious enough to provide the other cities amazing experiences like our own in Chicago, it was just hard to believe that all 60 people could have amazing experiences! But I am happy to reassure that God IS that big and gracious! In addition to catching up with everyone, we were given the opportunity to attend several workshops. I attended one on foster care and child abuse, and one on health care for the poor. I really appreciated both of them because the speakers gave us some very practical ways to help our neighbors with these issues. For instance, many children in our neighborhood suffer from unintentional and intentional abuse at home, neglect being the major kind. It seems so daunting-to protect and heal our children, or forgive our children’s parents. But what our workshop leader told us that we ALL can do to help our children is to be consistent. They have homes where they sometimes cannot depend on even basic needs being provided, so a consistency in reactions toward our children’s actions, and saying what we mean can provide stability in their lives. It’s a pretty small thing that can make a HUGE difference!
So, there were hard times this month…mainly because I think I had to seriously realize what my priorities are. This world is constantly competing for my heart, but God and Mission Year are the top priorities as of now. That makes life pretty hard sometimes. God has brought me to this place for obvious reasons, like to learn how to love more like Him and to see His goodness in all, and for some not so obvious reasons that I am sure will surface later on in this year or in my life. All I know is that I am growing, and growing is painful, and that my heart is breaking for my neighbors, and THAT is painful.
Financially, I am at just $25 under $9,000 for the year…which means $3,000 to go! I thank God for such obvious provision! I cannot believe that He has rallied so many of you to give to my year in Chicago! I was at zero dollars when I came to Chicago, and now I am only $3,000 away with a month and a half to go! So, finishing strong is a challenge in reaching my goal of financial support. If you are feeling challenged along with me, and would like to help me reach the end of my year with the full $12,000 raised, you can mail check donations, made out to Mission Year with my Account Fund ID# 07-0080 in the memo line, to Mission Year P.O. BOX 17628 Atlanta, GA 30316. You can also donate by clicking on the red “Donate Now” button on the right.
While we were in Atlanta, we got to visit the King Center, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife are buried, as well as honored by a remarkable visitors’ center and numerous memorials. My walk through the visitor center, or walk through MLK’s life more like, was a changing experience for me. Although I have grown up knowing who this man was, I never truly understood how much MLK lived to overcome, and then how our country has overcome very little since his death 40 years ago. Yes, races mingle now in our public places, but are we equal? I won’t get into it now, since this is my wrapping up paragraph, but I will leave you all, my dear friends, with a quote from the wise Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as I have in an earlier newsletter.
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”
God bless and keep in touch
0 Comments
Leave a Comment...
Read more of Emily King's Blogs.
