Emily King's Blog
March Newsletter / Apr 2, 02:55 PM
Written on March 26, 2008
Dear Friends,
Another end of the trimester newsletter, I can’t even believe it! How does seven months pass by so fast? It’s true that this isn’t a perfectly divided 11 months, but March marks the end of this trimester for Mission Year Chicago. March really is one of my top favorite months, for several reasons: 1.The seasons start to change…goodbye stinky winter, hello beautiful spring! 2.There is a day devoted to wearing my favorite color…St. Patrick’s Day 3.This year, and for several in the past, we celebrate our dear Savior’s resurrection and defeat of death! 4.Spring Break has been in March, I’m pretty sure, ever since I started school and just happens to be in this month for Mission Year as well. Oh March, I rejoice in its arrival and departure…because that means summer is not far behind!
This month has been the end of some major emotional and physical pain for me personally. My sister seems to be doing well with the resuming of school and has set her mind on her May 17th graduation date. Thank you all for your loyal and loving prayers on her behalf. God is good and faithful. Also, at the end of February, I had an accident involving a pair of scissors, my left index finger, and eight stitches. Seriously, never talk on the phone and try to cut a cardboard box at the same time! This incident allowed my roommates and I to experience several new things: our team working together in crisis mode and a true “city” hospital. I also realized that I live with four of the most servant-hearted people I have ever been around. They have taken up the slack on my part of doing the dishes during the three weeks before Spring Break and even volunteered to make up my bed. We are truly family here in our third floor flat in La Villita.
At El Valor, Maggie, the art teacher, has brought us a possible contract with UCLA for papier-mâché mermaids for an exhibit they are hosting presenting the African goddess of the sea. I have been really hands on with this particular project, and have enjoyed learning the fine art of papier-mâché. Not to mention that I have enjoyed one-on-one work with various participants. However, I think I will have glitter in my hair for the rest of my life from all the glitter that sprinkled on me while glittering the mermaids’ tails. I have also gotten to know the staff much better this trimester. I have so many conversations with staff persons about life and God. It never ceases to amaze me where people have come from and how they end up where they are. El Valor is filled with beautiful souls hungry for something more, and I know that God is all around them. I pray that they see the little glimpses of truth in the splendor of this life God has provided us.
Sí Se Puede has been different this month because of two weeks of state testing in schools and Spring Break. In Illinois, these tests are called the ISAT. I haven’t seen Jack at all this month! There has not been as much homework, so Cristian and Brandon have had more time to read aloud and work on their addition and subtraction facts, and I realized how much they are improving! In reading, they pronounce words much better and their understanding of what they are reading has increased dramatically. I am so proud of them! The Chicago Public Schools’ Spring Break was March 17-21, and the break really refreshed their attitudes towards learning!
Since CPS had Spring break March 17-21, so did we! I spent the first part of my week in Oklahoma City visiting friends, and spent Easter weekend with my family in Texas. It was such an encouraging and refreshing time for me. As I sat around tables with friends and family, I was overwhelmed with love and appreciation for each of them. God is so good, and His goodness was so beautifully reflected in all those around me. I was ready to come back to Chicago after my “vacation”, but I really wish the warm weather had followed me!
Support raising is still going well. One month, I was behind $700, so I am still seeing that in monthly totals, but God has provided $1,000 every other month through the generosity of those that read my newsletters. My total reached about $6,500 this month, so I am very close to being on track for
the year. If you would like to support me financially, 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 the red “Donate Now” button on the right of this page.
Twice a month, we get together with the other two Mission Year teams here in Chicago and have what we call a “City Wide”. It is a time to come together and fellowship, worship and share different things that pertain to our experiences here. On the 9th, we had a woman from The New Sanctuary Movement talk to us about the unpleasant challenges of what most undocumented immigrants coming from Latin America face to get to our country. Before she got involved with this organization, however, she also did a year of volunteer work. She shared a little about her experience during her year. She said that her year really was all about Jesus teaching her more about Himself, not her helping others. While she spoke, I thought, “She is telling my story!” How is it that when we give of our time and our hearts, we receive more than it seems we are giving? God has done so much for me during these past two trimesters. He has revealed so much about Himself…who He is, what He stands for and what it really means to be a follower of Christ.
For Lenten season, our team decided to take on solitude time five nights a week at 9 p.m. for half an hour to reflect on God’s goodness and the day that is ending. I also personally added waking up at 6:30 a.m. five days a week and at 7:30 on Saturdays to pursue God at the beginning of my day. During my mornings with Him, I read the Gospels and looked at Jesus’ words and His interactions with His disciples, the church and the marginalized. He imprinted so much upon my heart during these times. For example, I am realizing how much I can relate to the disciples. Have you ever noticed how much Jesus rebuked the twelve for having such little faith? He did the most amazing miracles right before their eyes, yet they still doubted that He was the Son of God. How many times in my life has God done the most amazing things right in front of my eyes and I, in return, doubt that it was God working? Too many times to count!
Living where we do, knowing the people we know, walking in this world around us can bring us to a place of total hopelessness, and you don’t have to live in the “inner-city” to experience the overwhelming need humans have for meaning. However, the needs we encounter in the people in our neighborhood are very different from the needs of the people I have associated with in small town Texas and in a private Christian university setting over my last 22 years of life. Trouble is more accessible and acceptable. People are in over their heads. We don’t see a solution, so it is hard to hope for one. Despite our unfaithfulness, God has been working through the despair. During my solitude/quiet time, when I am cluttering my mind with worry and contemplation of the problems that surround me, God has been whispering, “My grace is bigger than this.” People are in over their heads, but God’s grace can be the life preserver to pull them up to breath. Maybe my hope should be less in the desire for people to change and more in the desire for God to change them. So, my prayers have shifted from asking that humans help themselves to asking that God would open humans’ eyes to His goodness and love that surround us all throughout our day. I have realized that only God can change the impossible, and not only that He can, but He WILL. So, in a way, not only do I have to constantly submit my life to God, but I must also commit into His hands my concern for those around me that have such great need.
Thank you all SO much more than I really can ever express for your loving prayers and support. Life is beautiful and I love sharing mine with you! It is so hard for me to let my mind imagine what life will be like after August 5th, when my Mission Year ends. I do know that it will be challenging, maybe even more challenging than being in Chicago this year. However, if I can imagine it or not, the time is fast approaching. I ask that you join my team and me in prayer that in this last trimester of our year, we will continue to give our whole hearts to our community and this experience. Pray that we stay focused on our purpose of loving God and loving people, and continue to trust that God will guide us into a place where He will use us for His glory after August 5th.
God is good, and I know that if I continue to commit each day to Him, daily pursue a personal relationship with Him, and allow Him to use me as a vessel for His love, He will lead me into goodness for the rest of my life. I am content in His love. I am satisfied in His grace.
God bless and keep in touch,
0 Comments
Leave a Comment...
Read more of Emily King's Blogs.
