Emily King's Blog
July Newsletter / 07.24.08, 04:58 PM
As written on July 15:
Dear friends,
I haven’t really spent much of July so far in Chicago; in fact, I have spent most of the month in Texas with my family and have just returned to finish up the last three weeks of my Mission Year. While at home facing an intense amount of grief and challenge, I realized that things that I have learned in Chicago thus far are still being taught to me when I was home, and that somehow, that experience was really supposed to be a part of my Mission Year.
Starting on June 27th, my family’s life was changed forever. That is when my aunt Kathy Hiebert went to the hospital complaining of stomach pain. She traveled to Houston that night to meet her doctor for surgery to “unkink” her small intestine, which turned into a very severe fight with infection that her body was not equip to battle. After about six days of intense prayer and faith in God for healing, we found out that Kathy had significant brain damage and made the decision to remove her from life support and commit her body to God’s restful arms. My precious aunt Kathy passed away on July 3, at the age of 43, leaving her husband and five children (all under the age of 16) to trust in God for direction for the future.
This year in Chicago’s Little Village, El Valor, “on the mission field” has challenged me in so many different ways. Sometimes I feel like the life I lived before this year was a waste and the complete opposite way of life than Jesus calls us as Christ-followers to live. Sometimes I would feel guilty or just disappointment, which would carry over when I went back home for breaks. I am very disappointed that I felt this way about my home, the place that raised me, and gave me the tools to become the person I am today. I have seen over the past two weeks the most beautiful community of my church family and biological family unite in a time of tragedy and praise God with all of their hearts. I have seen others scoop my family up in God’s love and comfort us with prayers, conversation, housekeeping, and food. God opened my eyes and heart to the intentional community of Nacogdoches, Texas that my family has been a part of for about 50 years. I feel absolutely foolish for judging my community so harshly, and I ask for forgiveness, knowing that God understands that its all part of the process of growing.
One thing that we learned at the beginning of our Mission Year is that we cannot judge the things that happen in others lives, as well as our own, as being good or bad. A saying that my team and I say repeatedly is, “It could be good, it could be bad…who knows?” The point is that we do not have God’s omniscience, and cannot see whether something happening now will truly affect the big picture of our lives positively or negatively. That is what I kept thinking in my head while I was at the hospital, and during the preparation for all that is involved in someone’s passing. Yes, this hurts badly now, but God is in control now, and that is what we cling to. We have no way of knowing how this will all work out in the end, or how it would have worked out if God had miraculously healed Kathy at that time. So we trust in God and that He is good, and works out all things for His good.
I also had my 23rd birthday on the 12th, while I was at home. I was glad to be with family, but my team back in Chicago was throwing me a birthday party that we had been talking about for a couple of weeks. In Mission Year, it is encouraged that you have a cookout and invite all of the significant relationships of your year so that they can meet each other and hopefully get connected. So we decided to turn our cookout into my birthday party, so when I wasn’t able to come back to Chicago for that Saturday, my team threw the party anyway, which was actually pretty funny. Our neighbor George opened his back yard to my team and our friends, complete with pool and an outdoor stereo system, and they partied from 3 pm to 9. They dressed up this huge red frog in one of my t-shirts and put a nametag on it that said, “Emily King”. So, in a way, I was there. From the pictures and the stories, I could tell it was a very good time, I just wish I could have been there with them.
I went back to El Valor today for the first time in two weeks, and was greeted with participants saying, “Happy Birthday, Emily! I missed you!” It never ceases to amaze me that they can remember when my birthday is, and that it is really that important to them personally. I don’t know what next year will be like without seeing their faces everyday. Since Sí Se Puede was over with school, I am helping with the summer club that our church puts on for about 6 weeks in the summer. I will be going with the kids on field trips the last two Fridays of the month. I am really looking forward to all that God has for my team and me over the last two weeks of service here in Chicago.
On a financial support note, as of today, I have lovingly received $ 9,500 out of my $12,000 goal for the year (ending August 5th). If you would like to help me reach that goal before July is over, 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.
I ask that you pray for my team and me that God would provide us the strength to be completely present in our relationships here in our neighborhood over these last few weeks. It is so easy to look into the future, but there is a reason why God made it Mission Year, so we need to be all in. Thank you for your love and faithful support.
Much love,
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