Wheeler
Mission Year Here We Come!
Hi! We are Ben and Monica Wheeler. We are excited about joining Mission Year!
We have been married 2 1/2 years and have settled ourselves into a nice, comfortable routine. Ben works in oil and gas and I am a first grade teacher. Life couldn’t be better, or could it? For a while now we have struggled with the idea of being comfortable. Is that what God really has called our lives to be: comfortable? For us, we know God has called us to do something different.
When I (Monica) was a sophomore in college I had the chance to go on a mission trip to a women’s and children’s homeless shelter in Kansas City, MO. It was one of the first times I had ever come face to face with poverty. It was heartbreaking for me to realize these children were homeless. It was even more shocking for me to realize the children who stayed there at night went to school during the day. At the time I was an education major and this was the catalyst that led me to become interested in urban education.
We know there is much unfairness in our school systems, but even more than that, we realize that there is a lack of communication between social classes. We are eager to become a part of an urban community and to learn how to serve the people we will be living with and around. It’s easy for us to talk about the problems and social ills that plague those who are poor. However, just talking doesn’t bring change or renewal. I believe relationship building is key to having any kind of have impact on any area of society.
Mission Year is going to be a part of our journey. We are looking forward to learning how to serve the urban poor with our future housemates.
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…
Wheeler's Blog
LaGrange: the perfect location???? / Apr 29, 05:55 PM
When Ben and I first signed up for Mission Year, we were excited about getting to move back to a large city. After all, the large cities are really where are the needs are, right? When we found we were going to LaGrange I’ll admit I was a little disappointed. LaGrange, where is that anyway? Moving to a small town was definitely not why I signed up for Mission Year. But then, why did I want to do Mission Year? Was it simply to move to a big city or do go where God placed me? Sometimes it’s easy do say we are doing things in the name of God, but secretly in the back of our minds and hearts, our motives are selfish.
Thankfully, we realized God must have a reason for the married team to be in LaGrange so we went. In smaller towns poverty can be easily overlooked. As long as you are in the right neighborhood, right school, and right church you can “protect” yourself from the godlessness of the world. It can become easy to forget about the poor when you avoid their side of the tracks. Although we are not living in an inner city neighborhood, our neighborhood does have many of the same dynamics and issues you would find in the inner city. Fortunately, our neighborhood also has many residents that are committed to making it a better place for everyone.
Through this year I have learned that there is no perfect location. God doesn’t need me to be in a certain place to be useful to his kingdom. God requires that we are faithful wherever we may be: whether it’s small town Georgia, or NYC! I have to come love my neighborhood. Besides the city thing, neighborhood ministry was what drew me into Mission Year. This has been my favorite part of the whole year. In fact Ben I both like our neighborhood so much we have decided to stay for another year! The school where I have been volunteering as offered me a job teaching 2nd grade next year. Ben has been offered a job at his service site continuing with his role of community and neighborhood leadership.
LaGrange was certainly not what we had in mind when we applied to Mission Year. But it was the right thing for us. I’m glad we didn’t allow our agenda to take the place of God’s bigger picture!
Roommates / Apr 2, 12:34 PM
I think I romanticized what it would be like to live in Christian community before Mission Year. I first thought about living in community because it would be economical. Living with people means you don’t have to spend as much money on stuff because you share what you have. I don’t think I realized how hard it actually can be to share your things. A while back I noticed that my pans were getting really dirty. I would always put foil on them to keep them clean. It was just what I did. I noticed that some of my housemates did not put foil on the pans and they started getting really stained. I was kinda mad, because these were after all my pans. I like shiny things! Well, I guess I’m not that good at sharing after all! Shiny pan or stained pan, it’s still a pan and it still helps bake my cookies. If you really share what you have you have to, in a way deny your ownership.
Figuring out how to share, my things, my space, my time, has been much more challenging than I ever thought, but most of the time it’s so worth it. I am so thankful for my roommates. We have so much fun together. Zach and Margareta have a huge 84 Caprice. This car has to be the greatest Mission Year car ever! A couple weeks ago we all piled in the Caprice and made the short trip to Alabama for a night of wings and bowling! For some reason the guy that worked at Wing Stop gave us 50 free wings which brought our total wing consumption to 100 wings!!! Wings, black light bowling and old country music made the night fun, really fun.
In a few months when this year is over I know the thing I will miss the most about this year is living in our home. After about a month or two the excitement of community wore off. I wasn’t sure if we would ever really function as a family. But now, most of the time, it’s one the best parts of my year. The community we have in our house is real. The friendships we have made with kids in our neighborhood are real. Even though I sometimes get tired of answering the doorbell, I am lucky to live in a place where my doorbell constantly rings. It’s good to be needed, and loved.
Check out our real blog
www.benandmonicaw.blogspot.com
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The ONE / Mar 5, 09:08 PM
Our afterschool center has been running for about 2 weeks now. The first day was rough, really rough. I was an afterschool teacher for 9 months. It was by far the worst job I have ever had. I was very hesitant at first. Even thought I fully believe after school programs are both needed and necessary they seem to attract difficult kids. There are about four boys who consistently hang out at our house. Most of these kids have both academic and emotional needs. My initial thought when asked to start this program was to make it a place for all the kids we entertain in our home. I figured that having a structured environment would be just the thing they needed. I think I somehow thought that just by bringing them to an after school center they were going to magically change and want to learn! Crazy, I know.
On the first day we had a great group of kids, except for ONE. And wouldn’t you know it, that ONE almost made me crazy. Teachers always have that one student, the kind that makes the classroom completely go from chaos to peace upon their absence. I knew this child was that ONE. Yet crazy me just had to invite him. Actually, I felt obligated to. Somehow I have convinced myself that I am responsible to change his behavior and to teach him to read. After all, that must be why God put in my path! That’s a ridiculous responsibility to carry around. God has put our team in our neighborhood, in our house for a specific purpose, but that purpose is not to change our neighbors. Frankly, we can’t. God has put each of these children in our lives for a reason. For some it may be to tutor them, for others to simply show them we care by spending time with them. But this doesn’t mean they have to come to our after school center. The past few days at our center minus the ONE have been fun. Now the ONE still comes to our house, but I’m glad! I have roommates that can entertain him there!!!!
Ping Pong and Cookies / Feb 16, 09:35 PM
What do 4 boys + 3 sticks of butter + 1 bag of chocolate chips + 1 makeshift ping Pong table equal? Neighborhood bonding with the kids of Hillside of course! So it may seem odd to make cookies with a bunch of boys but let me explain how this came to be!
Gabi and I work on homework after school. He’s the kind of kid that when you ask “How was school?” his answer is almost always “Bad.” But lately he has been writing how to papers and eating and making the things he writes about. Finally he is having at least one good thing to tell me about!!!! I thought we would do our own how to by following a recipe and documenting the steps with pictures. We were just about to start when 3 other boys came over to hang out with who ever was at home. We have made our kitchen table into a ping pong table and let me tell you, ping pong is way to get kids to want to come over! Well, that and food!
I told the boys they were just in time to make cookies, and what do you know they actually wanted to make them with us. Baking with one kid is fun, baking with 4 boys well, it’s really fun!!!!! They measured out everything themselves and the cookies actually were pretty good! While the cookies were baking Ben came home and took the boys outside to play soccer. I figured after the cookies were done they would eat one and then go home. Not so!
They decided they wanted to stay for dinner so Zach took them home to ask their parents. Wednesday night is sometimes experiemental food night because we normally don’t have guests. Margareta was making a African groundnut peanut sauce with rice and fresh kale. These foods don’t exactly scream kid friendly. But what do you know, they loved it. Marvin was a big apprehensive to put the brown sauce on his rice but after I convinced him to just try it, he loved it and came back for seconds! I couldn’t believe it. These kids had wonderful table manners!
That night was really fun. Our doorbell just kept on ringing. In addition to the kids, our friend Adam, and Shilan, Amin, and Mohammad from next door came over. It was such a fun night, but I’ll admit but at 9:00 when the ping pong tourney started, I went to my room. I was officially ping-ponged out!
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Anton Made Me Do It / Dec 18, 09:38 PM
Christmas holidays are a good time to reflect on the past four months. Mission Year has not exactly been what I expected, but to be perfectly honest, I’m thankful. The decision to apply for Mission Year was hard for me. For me, life was pretty perfect. I was just about to finish my third year of teaching. I loved my job, I loved my kids and I loved my school. When I told my principal I was not coming back next year, I cried. I actually officially quit my job before we even knew we were accepted. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
Even though the program sounded like a great fit for Ben and I, I was very nervous. But Ben and I both had a sense of restlessness. We wondered if our lives were truly reflecting the kingdom of God and if our lives and lifestyle were reflecting kingdom values. It was risky to leave our friends, our jobs, and our belongings. When God told the rich young man To “sell all his possessions and follow me,” he didn’t say it would be safe. He just said “Follow me.”
I’m thankful we did. Being a part of the LaGrange married team was not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for Mission Year. I didn’t realize that this year I would: Spend 8 days in Guatemala, almost lose my mind while hiking up a volcano, fertilize a garden with elephant dung, eat a chicken foot, chase chickens with a net with a bunch of kids in the chicken coop, become fully aware that it was a horrible decision to decide to NOT pay attention during high school Spanish class, go on a 100 mile peace walk, visit an immigrant at the Stewart Detention Center, become alarmingly aware of the injustices that affect Latino immigrants and the poor in our city everyday, spend a week with 3 Buddhist monks, go to court, go to Spanish Mass, hang my clothes on a laundry line, become aware of my white privilege, actually not miss shopping (that much anyway!), meet one of the players from the Fugees, still get to have really fun parties, learn that living in community is more that just hanging out with people that are just like you, and the list could go on and on.
This year has been such a good experience for both us. But the thing is, I don’t want this year to just be that, an experience. I pray that the lifestyle I have grown accustomed to this year will be the lifestyle I live into for the rest of my life. Love God, Love people, nothing else matters.
Check out my other blog, www.benandmonicaw.blogspot.com I actually do write about things on a weekly basis!
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