Timothy Bastedo
What's the Point of Mission Year?
I’m a senior philosophy/political science major at Houghton College in upstate New York, and I will be spending a year starting in early September doing Mission Year. I’m doing Mission Year because I believe that Christians are meant to be a certain sort of people, a people whose lives form a story shaped after the story of Christ. Christ spent a great deal of time with the poor and indigent, and so his followers should spend time with them as well. I’m definitely pumped to spend a year in the inner city getting to know a new group of people in an unfamiliar place, and to spend time getting closer to God and living out Christ’s example.
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…
Timothy Bastedo's Blog
brief update / Aug 22, 11:54 AM
Since I haven’t updated this since my brief post a few months ago, I figure it’s time to get into the habit. I will be sending out postal letters to all of you soon; I’ve been putting it off until I had enough concrete, letter-worthy information to fill a page. So instead of writing all of that here, I’ll simply say that now that last year’s Mission Year groups have departed, preparations for our arrival are speeding up, and I’m extremely excited about the opportunities our group is going to be presented with. I’ll say more in the letters.
The lead-up to September 5 (our date of arrival in Philly) has been an interesting one for me. I can honestly say I’m not all that nervous; after all, I spent two months last summer in the capital city of a third world country on whose language I have only a meager grasp. Even though the time frame is considerably different, the thought of going to a strange place to do volunteer work is not unfamiliar. It’s still a little unnerving, though, and I suppose a little nervousness is healthy when going into an unknown place not without its share of dangers, both known and unknown. Please do keep me in your prayers.
Chances are I’m going to start philosophizing in these things as they continue, but I’ll spare you that for now—I really need to come up with a bombshell for the first one to drop on Tom.
Comment [1]
- 1
