Jessica O'Brien
Why I'm Doing Mission Year
Hey! So, if you’re visiting my blog you pry know my name is Jessie O’Brien, I’m 21 and am leaving my home of Jackson, Michigan to go to a city I am yet to know the location of for one year. I graduated from Spring Arbor University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and in youth ministry. For the last year I’ve been helping lead a youth group at my Hispanic church: “Comunidad Agua Viva” which is Community of Living Water in English. Through college I have developed a real passion to work with inner-city kids and to live in the inner-city as a missionary for the rest of my life. My two callings and passions are to serve in urban areas of the U.S. and to serve in Africa, helpling people in need, spiritually, emotionally, and physcially. I went to Zambia a year ago, and want to go back to Africa someday. I am going to get my MSW at University of Michigan when I finish my year with Mission Year. That’s the simple stuff about me. I’m also an only child and I am really excited to be serving on a Mission Year Team.. I’m also a spaz and I freak out a lot, so I’m pretty nervous right now, but God always amazes me on how much He’s in control and I never had a need to worry. I’m doing Mission Year for a million and one reasons, but I can get wordy, so I’ll restrain myself and keep it simple. Basically, the reason I am doing Mission Year is because I know this is the best way I can really love God and love people in this time of my life.
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…
Jessica O'Brien's Blog
I'm so good at Spanish I can speak it in my sleep....no really...:-) / Apr 17, 12:11 PM
So I slept like a rock last night. I’m not kidding, I felt like an actual rock. Usually, when I wake up my roommates love me enough to know and respect 2 things about me: 1) I am not and never will be a morning person and 2) It is close to physically impossible for me verbally communicate within the first hour I am awake. With these 2 facts known very well, Anna, one of my beloved roommates ventured out and spoke to me, sharing with me a surprising incident.
“Last night at like 1 a.m. you were talking in your sleep Jessie, and it scared me so bad. You were talking in Spanish!” Anna explained.
I didn’t believe her at first. Who speaks in a different language in their sleep, especially one they aren’t completely fluent in?? Crazy. Then Justina, whose my bunkmate said the same thing! This is the first recorded time I have ever talked in Spanish IN MY SLEEP! And I want you all to know. Emily said it’s a sign of being borderline fluent when you dream in another language..maybe means the same for sleeptalking? Hmm…maybe I’m fluent and I don’t even know it!
Well, other than this interesting adventure, things have been rather eventful around her. I went to the doctor and found out my broken hand will be A-ok! I just need a wrap cast for a little while longer.
I say and think here a lot “there’s never a dull moment in Little Village” and I truly stand by that. God really reminds me in the everyday experiences here, that He is not a God of canned routine, go through the motions, and never try anything new. God is a God of unpredictability, answering prayers in what we see as the most unexpected moments. He is a God of adventure, where even the most ordinary moments of Sunday grocery shopping can be a time to have an amazing conversation with a roommate. He is a God that desires us to not be so focused on our own plan, our own mission and expectations in life that we walk right passed Him everyday and don’t even know it. My question I leave you with is the question God has been whispering into me lately. If you were on your way to work today, in the car, focused on not being late, and God whispered to you, He desired you to speak to someone specific during the day, or do something different than what you have planned, would you hear it? Would you follow it? Or would you be too distracted to even know He’s whispering? Lately I’ve been distracted too much by my own plans… and I’m so grateful that God has the patience to bring me back to His Attention. He is truly, truly good to all of us.
Doors and casts= the introduction to 3rd trimester!!! / Apr 7, 09:42 AM
So, it’s been like almost a month since I blogged last. :-) Lots been going on here, and at home as all of you must know. The day before I took a train home, to be with my Mom with her medical tests and to begin my Mission Year Spring Break, I slammed my hand in a giant door at our church. For the last month, I have been complaining about a slight soreness and wierd bump that has appeared on my hand. To my ultimate surprise this Friday, I found out, on a too-long awaited trip to the Lawndale Health Center, that my hand is indeed broken!
So moral of the story is: When you slam your hand it a door and it looks and feels funny afterwards, going to the doctor asap! I cannot believe I’ve had a broken hand for the last month…. if only I would’ve known…:) Well, if I end up getting a cast, I trust all yous in close proximity to come and sign it with a beautiful word of wisdom. It could become a great item to scrapbook later:)
Spring Break was a great time to spend with my Mom and Dad. It’s funny, but I think God uses the hard times in our lives, when we’re sick, others are sick that we love, or in other serious situations, to still us. In American culture, we get so caught up in being busy, active, productive, that we end up spending less time than we’d like with those we love, including most of all, God Himself. Because my Mom was sick, I spent a lot more time with her than I usually would have, and it was amazing. We played Horse monopoly and had some really honest, open conversations, that encouraged me a lot, and pry wouldn’t had happened, had not God stilled me, and still her.
As I am now back into the swing of Chicago, and already done with 2 full of weeks of our final trimester, I am realizing my own need to be stilled again. I am amazed everyday at how God has gifted me with His Loving Presence through so many around me, including my roommates, neighbors, and co-workers, not to mention my family and friends back home. But God’s reminding me that the gifts He gives me, of the people around me, do NOT replace Him Himself. Us serving God for God, does not replace intimacy with God either.
When you are close to your best friend, it is not because you are constantly doing things for her, it’s because of time you have spent with her, just appreciating each other’s company. God is reminding me to just be still with Him, and enjoy His Company. As I get ready for Sabbath tomorrow, there’s nothing I would want to do more….:-)
What a rough week.... / Mar 10, 09:15 AM
So Thursday, I was excited to go to Home Run Inn, the local pizza place, after school. I was meeting my roommate Anna, our friend Emily (not my roommate Emily), Ben, and Joe Perez for pizza before we all went to ESL Class at the Toman Library in Little Village. Every Thursday night, from 6-8 I help Joe with the beginner’s ESL (English as a Second Language) Class. It’s been awesome to see how they improve, and how now, so many of our students are comfortable speaking English socially! They’re naturals. Well, I had a few minutes to kill before I met them at Home Run Inn, so I decided to call my Mom. I tried to call 4 times and she never answered, which is unlike her. And after class she hadn’t called me back, which left me a little concerned. Around 9 p.m. I called to find out my Mom had went to the doctor’s, which she never does, and is having some hard health problems I didn’t know about at all. It was very unexpected. This next week doctors are taking blood tests, testing her arteries, and doing an MRI to see if she had a minor stroke, or to see if something else is wrong. She’s fine right now, on the outside, but needless to say, I am… well… not comfortable right now. I’ve cried a lot, and will be home with my Mom soon. Truly Thank God.
A couple of weeks ago, God taught me through my roommate Emily, what it is to praise Him when we are discouraged, challenged, and in hard situations. The devil tries to tear us down, divide us, or make us think things are hopeless, but I am continually amazed at how God takes what Satan tries to use for evil, and God conquers Him by taking that pain, and reminding us of His Hope, His Love, and His Presence in the midst of suffering. I am struggling with anxiety, and worrying at times, but God is reminding me of how He is with my Mom right now. And no matter how chaotic things get, His Peace is with her. Nothing is too big for God to change, and no one is too far from God for Him to Love, and Love Intimately. I ask, regardless of whether or not your are religious, that you please pray for my Mom right now if you are reading this. I know health is always on people’s prayer requests, but my Mom is my heart, and I believe she can feel when people are praying for her. Thank you so much for caring, and for reading. I’ll write again soon.
This is part of a song I have been singing that has been giving me strength through this time:
If You Heal Us
We Will Be Healed
And If Save Us
We Will Be Saved
If You Raise Us
We Will be Raised
If You Fill Us
We Will be Filled
Cuz Jesus, You’re the Only One This Prayer is For
Make Us Whole
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Story Time: My Adventures with our 6th roommate... / Mar 5, 09:51 AM
(I wrote this story in my weekly reflection 2 weeks ago, and my city director Shawn, said I should put this on my blog… so here it is!)
SoJo had a lot of decorations from Christmas, and one that a teacher had was a mannequin Santa, who is life size, with a big, white, plastic beard and black boots on a wooden stand. The only thing missing was his legs, seriously. His waist rested on his shoes, and his hands are frozen in a handshake angle. Well, Ana was about to throw him away, but I said no, I wanted to take him home. Come on! The amount of pranks I could do with him in my house, is endless!!! Well, I was most excited Friday afternoon, for my walk down Kostner and my ride on the bus with my newfound friend. This is what happened:
(directly from my journal) When I was standing on 31st and Kostner, and had placed Santa next to me, and I rearranged him so he’d be facing traffic as we were waiting for the light to turn red. A silver car was stopped at the red light as well, with 2 girls who looked between 6-8 years old. They stared perplexed that Santa was legless & on their street corner in February. Then, as I walked down Kostner, I saw Miguel, a boy from my Division class, skateboarding. I was excited to see someone I knew while I proudly carried Santa down the street. As I walked by, saying hi to Miguel, I asked , ‘Hey Miguel, wanna teach Santa how to ollie?” He just laughed and said no. Then as I crossed the street, a man driving past a stop sign, actually rolled down his window, paused and yelled, “Hi Santa!” with a big grin on his face and a shimmery eye brown piercing. Then I sat Santa next to me on the bench at the bus stop, sitting side by side like old friends, as we carefully watched all the cars drive by and caught the double takes and confused smiles on drivers’ faces.
As I got on the bus, the driver, with his little furry CTA hat, shifted eyes from me, to Santa, and back to me. I asked with a smile “Does he need to pay to ride too?”. The driver just smiled, “No.” Adults were disappointing me on their lukewarm reactions, but the best was to come.
As I got off the bus and was walking to my house, an older man and a little boy, of 4 maybe, was walking towards me. The man just smiled, and to my surprise, the little boy, with a glazed over, amazed look on his face, looked up, not at me, but at Santa. As we crossed paths, the boy grasped Santa’s hand, and said hello to him! Then he just kept on walking. Then as I was just to my house, a man was on the other side of the street, staring, again at Santa instead of me (which was a nice change) and smiling and laughing, with his mouth wide open. I turned, and lifted Santa’s hand in a triumphant wave. The guy smiled even bigger and waved back. It was priceless. Santa Clause has been affectionately renamed as Bernie Clause. And I will be looking at thrift stores for a Hawaiian shirt for him to wear.
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It's Summertime in the City.... / Mar 3, 09:29 AM
Okay, so maybe it’s not summer. Okay, maybe it’s not really spring yet either. But it sure feels like it today. I woke up with the sun shining into our apartment (that lacks curtains), and went the 3 flights of stairs to get our Sunday Paper. It was beautiful outside, and when it gets even the least bit warm outside, people suddenly pop out on the street that weren’t there all winter, and give me excitement and hope for the warm weather seasons.
We will be leaving in 2 weeks for our spring break, and I will be making my train ride back to Michigan. It is the exact half way mark, at 6 months, and I am amazed it has gone by so fast here. Yesterday was Saturday, and my roommates and I had our typical routine of going to visit some of our neighbors. One of the neighbors I visited, was Tina, a sweet woman with 5 children, a loving husband, and a beautiful home that live a block from us. They were celebrating her youngest daughters 23rd birthday and invited us to come. I sat there, excited to be there, but feeling a little bad, like I don’t want to be an inconvenience to their home, as they scramble to make coffee for us and give us cake plates. From the time we first met Tina, she has been nothing but loving to us, and has opened her home to us to truly make us part of her family. We sat around her living room until 10:30 p.m. just talking and watching Ice Age in Spanish. I’m proud to say I learned a few new phrases. :-)
I was looking around at Tina and her family, so comfortably talking and laughing with us, and thought back to how we first met her. Our second week here, Joanna and I, in all our awkwardness, made 3 plates of brownies, covered them with foil, and went on a walk around our neighborhood to introduce ourselves to neighbors yet strangers, with an abundance of baked goods. We met Tina, who was wearing a bright purple shirt, and was having a garage sale. Her and her youngest son, Alex, whose 10, loved the brownies. Last night, I found it funny, that such a simple thing, a plate of brownies, brought us to such a great relationship with her and her family. God really shows up in the little things. We think in order to give or receive God’s love, we have to do great, profound things. But I’m realizing more here than ever, that Jesus was about the simple acts, and seeing how God is present in even the simplest of conversations, or the smallest of victories.
“We can do no great things. Only small things with great love.”
-Mother Theresa
