Sarah Bell
My Role with Mission Year
Thanks for visiting my Mission Year blog! As you can see, my name is Sarah Bell. I am the Director of Recruitment and Admissions here at Mission Year. Basically that means I oversee the ways we spread the word about Mission Year to people all over the country and even internationally. I also walk with people through the application process. I have a great team working with me (see Crystal, Chris, Doug, and Catherine) to make the entire process work as smoothly as possible. I also did Mission Year in Atlanta in 2004-2005 (I was Sarah Hayes then) which is a great asset in a job like this!
Sarah Bell's Blog
A New Perspective / Dec 11, 10:11 AM
I am a total lame and haven’t kept up with my once a week blog at all! There have been so many things to blog about but unfortunately that means not much time to do the actual bogging!
There have been a couple of ‘firsts’ for our baby girl, Ruby, in the last few weeks. First teeth, first rice cereal, and unfortunately, first cold. And of course, being the amazing mom that I am (and naturally the most humble) I slathered numbing medicine on her gums, videoed the dinner, and caught the cold.
I think that being a parent gives you such new insight into God’s perspective. For instance, rice cereal. For weeks Ruby had been starring at us eating our food, trying to grab our silverware, and nearly pulling our plates right off of the table. So when we first sat Ruby down, draped from the neck down in a bath towel, to feed her food that is a mix of 95% milk 5% fine powdered rice I couldn’t help but adore her expressions of wonder and amazement. I imagine her thoughts being, “Ok, everyone else seems to like this so I’m going to give it a try! What was this new thing? It’s a bit scary but I think I like it. It’s not what I expected but I can tell it’s going to be great. More please!” How similar new Christians must look to God. Like little birds with their mouths open waiting (im)patiently for more knowledge, more understanding, more Jesus! It’s scary but wonderful; daunting but safe; messy but worth it.
And with teething and the cold, well that’s such a lesson in faith and patience. It’s really really hard to watch your child go through pain. Teething hurts, coughing is uncomfortable, and sneezing in annoying and for a baby who has never experienced these things before I think it can all be really scary. So, as a new mom, what do I do? I can’t take away her discomfort completely. Sure, I can give her medicine, sit in a steamed up bathroom with her, and hold her upright while she tries to rest. But in the end, she simply has to suffer through these growing pains. I rock her gently, rub her back, and suck out her snot with the bulb syringe (not the most glamorous job). I hug and kiss her a hundred times and tell her she is loved and that we’ll get through this pain together.
As a parent you laugh when your children laugh, hurt when they hut. Even when you know that they are going through necessary pain you still cry when they suffer. Sure God is God and knows all things past, present, and future. Of course he isn’t physically here to hold our hands when our wobbly legs don’t let us stand on our own. But in my heart of hearts I trust that in so many different ways, if I just listen and pay attention, he is telling me over and over that I am loved and that we’ll get through this pain together. I mean, I’ve only known this parental love for 5 and ½ months….imagine love that has been there forever.
Of course we will go through painful times in our lives and maybe the holiday season is one of those times. But just keep opening your mouth wide for more of Jesus and feel his tight embrace. He loves you more than you could ever imagine.
Extreme Neighbors / Nov 12, 01:21 PM
So, last night I indulged in my weekly catharsis. It goes by the name of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to this show. Watching families who have had to endure hardship and heartbreak, disappointment and hopelessness go away on vacation and come back to a brand new amazingly beautiful house. I literally cry at least once per episode.
There are times when I struggle with the value that the show puts on material possessions – furnishing each home with thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of furniture, electronics, decorations, and appliances. I know that these families will still struggle with their problems of ill health, grief, abandonment, and the like but there is something nice about seeing their reaction when that big bus moves out of their way to reveal the house that they could only dream of before Ty and the gang showed up. And sometimes there is that sense that this white savior has come in to scoop the downtrodden out of the menial existence.
But putting all of that aside (it’s a lot to dismiss, I know), last night’s episode was remarkable. It took place in Camden, NJ and highlighted a single father raising 5 teenage boys. The dad had had 2 heart attacks and could no longer work. Their rental was in horrible shape: broken windows, bad plumbing, no heat, no beds (not even mattresses) and an empty refrigerator. Yet this family was strong, loving, compassionate, and generous.
Because they lived in a rental apartment the builders had to find a plot of land to construct the home and what happened next was incredible. The wonderful neighbors at Urban Promise stepped in and donated a corner lot to the family. Now this family in the depths of poverty will own their own piece of land! And the goodness of Urban Promise continued. They donated two rooms in one of their office buildings to the group Single Fathers of Camden which was stared by the father in this episode. The rooms were transformed into a meeting space for this group of men dedicated to their children and a playroom for kids.
This episode made me so proud to be a part of Mission Year, proud to be a part of an organization that partners with other long standing organizations like Urban Promise to show Christ’s love in difficult neighborhoods. Though ABC and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition may not have given God the glory for the provisions I know that serving the Lord was the motivation behind the donated land and office space. Urban Promise was mentioned so many times that I am sure viewers from around the country have since Googled them drawing even more attention to the Kingdom of God.
And to think…none of that would have been possible if Bruce Main and Urban Promise wouldn’t have followed Jesus’ lead to love God by loving people in the city of Camden. Because of their faithfulness to God and their neighbors they were able to let the outpouring of God’s love flow over onto this family of men.
What a blessing to be used by God in both small and large ways.
A Day of Rest / Nov 6, 04:36 PM
So, I took a full day off for the first time in a long time (with the exception of maternity leave). Let me tell you, it was so nice. I originally had plans to get all of this stuff done but instead spent time swimming with my family, napping with my baby, and watching multiple episodes of John and Kate + 8 to remind me of home (they went to Hershey’s Chocolate World on one episode!). It was delightful to wake up without the normal routine of checking and responding to emails, making phone calls, organizing applications, etc., etc. I could simply devote joyous amounts of time to my sanity.
The Lord tells us rather plainly to keep the Sabbath holy which implies that we, in fact, have a Sabbath in the first place. Even though I work for a ministry that requires our team members to take a day of rest each week I don’t require the same of myself. Sure I typically don’t work on Saturdays or Sundays but those days are still full of housework, church work, and the like. Never a day to just be. When I was in Mission Year I loved Mondays when I could sleep in, stay in my pajamas all day, snuggle under the covers, and catch up with friends. Granted, it’s a bit harder now with a 4 month old who rarely wants to be away from me (she loves me that much!) and never wants to be still but even that is wonderful when I have nothing else to distract me from her.
I love my job and usually look forward to the start of each day but yesterday I realized that liking your job doesn’t mean you have to do it all the time. Rest is good. Rest is necessary. Rest is a commandment. And who am I to disobey God. So bring on those vacation days!
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A Matter of Opinion / Nov 2, 01:54 PM
So we did it. We decided that putting our adorable daughter in a cute orange onesie with a pumpkin hat (made for a PA Halloween instead of a New Orleans one!) was an ok thing to do. We spent some time at our church’s fall festival socializing with friends and collecting way too much candy. Ruby, like most 4 month olds, didn’t have a clue what was going on but seemed to enjoy herself none the less. And in my opinion she was the cutest one there!
Decisions... / Oct 31, 11:49 AM
So, here I am, posting again. I can hardly believe it! There are lots of things going on in life these days. Work is going well. We’ve got a lot of quality applicants working their way through the process which is exciting. I’m so blessed to have an amazing staff to work with. It makes the hustle and bustle of work much more enjoyable.
Motherhood is going well too (we have a 4 month old girl). It’s still hard to believe that God saw me fit to nurture this precious child. Already I have grown humble in the face of the many single mothers I encounter. How do they do it?! I have a husband and a strong support system to help me through the questions, stress, and chaos that comes with parenting. It’s hard to imagine having to work, keep up a house, and raise well-adjusted children on my own. I thank God for his provision in my life and his strength in the lives of mothers everywhere.
Another interesting thing that I’ve been thinking about recently is Halloween (appropriate timing, don’t you think). I used to not put much thought into it. I know it’s not the most ‘Christian’ of days but I admit that I grew up dressing up and going trick-or-treating (my family is definitely a Christian one). So, now that I’m an adult, and a mother, I have to wrestle with these sorts of things. Is it wrong to want to dress my daughter up in an adorable orange onesie with black cats and bats on it. Or put her in a huge round fleece pumpkin sack? Is participating at all in a ‘holiday’ whose origin is admittedly un-Christian wrong even if I’m not celebrating the pagan-ness of it but rather enjoying time with family and friends eating unhealthy candy and taking pictures of cute kids? This is a tough question for me. I think I understand both sides of the argument but which direction do I go? Maybe if baby clothes weren’t so cute I wouldn’t be having this dilemma right now. But inevitably a stance will need to be taken because as she gets older and starts making friends other than the stuffed animals in her crib, we’ll have to be firm in our decision around the issue. Jeez…this is whole parenting thing isn’t easy! Fun but not easy.
