Yvonne Chang
Intro!
Hello! My name’s Yvonne Chang, and I’ve decided to be a part of mission year. I’m a korean-american, born and raised in Hollywood, CA (not as glamorous as it looks on TV), and I’m currently a senior at UC San Diego majoring in Human Development (not as interesting as it may sound). I’m going to be graduating soon !!! yeayuhhh!!
I decided to “do” mission year because I feel like God has called me to minister to His people in the city. For a few years now, I’ve been planning to go into social work, but had a hard time motivating myself to help people in the “christian way” (aka ministry). Because social work is such a broad field, I was decided on going about it the secular way (working myself up in the system, for the government, etc.), and was deathly afraid of doing it for God’s kingdom due to my own lack of commitment to his kingdom. How can I help his people and spread his Gospel when I am so sinful and … dumb myself? haha
Anyway, long story short, about a few months ago, God put it in my heart to go into social work with the intention of spreading His Gospel of hope rather than just providing for immediate needs (not that that isn’t important too). and what do you know…. mission year! (that last sentence sounds so weird)
I think mission year will be a great opportunity and introduction to how to meet the needs of people in the context of the inner city, and it will definitely be a much needed change from the comfortable, 70 degree weather year-round, middle-class, laidback bubble called san diego that I’ve been in for the past 4 years.
Biggest fear going into this???? raising 12,000 bucks.
2nd biggest far???? not being able to keep up on the dance floor with the kids (although I HAVE mastered the soulja boy dance.)
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…
Yvonne Chang's Blog
Through the Generations / Feb 10, 01:06 PM
In a 2 minute sequence on the MARTA…
Waiting for the bus, I heard someone guys hollering behind me to a lady walking by. It turned out to be an older white women who were actually soliciting THEM for drugs. I watched the whole encounter. Slip into the indent of the building, a slight handshake, move on.
After a few minutes on the bus, in the middle of my Kanye-fest, my eyes wandered to the people getting on. A little boy, cuter than a dozen baby bunnies, ran in fearlessly. Through the whole bus ride, he was waving at the other passengers, trying to stand on his seat to pull the stop cord. Innocent as can be.
Still on the bus, a ridiculously thin woman walking by the window caught my eye. She was smoking a cigarette and wearing a mini-skirt. She also looked to be about 70 years old. Her skin looked like it was dripping off her face.
What’s the lesson here?
I’m not really sure. What I DO know is that it hurt my heart to think that this little boy would most likely grow up to be like those men dealing drugs, and maybe even end up emaciated because of drug use. Unless something/someone intervened.
It's been awhile... / Feb 2, 11:42 AM
wow wow wow wow wow, I need to update more!
So it’s been almost 5 months now and so much has changed. Dang, I should have blogged more so I wouldn’t have to summarize as much.
Last trimester, I feel like God really met me in terms of showing me my identity and working out a lot of the junk that was gathering dust in my heart. I struggled so much with racial tension, self-made expectations, community. OH MAN intentional community!
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Now, a month into the second trimester, I’m at a very different place. I know what I’m supposed to do, I have developed relationships that I can honestly attribute only to God, and God has indeed delivered me from the roots of some of my struggles of last trimester. BUT BUT BUT… for some reason, it’s freeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaakin hard. Maybe it’s desensitization, maybe it’s the desert place (says my brother). It’s hard to connect with God. I know the truth, I have experienced the truth, but why don’t I FEEL it anymore. feelings feelings I hate my dependency on feelings.
tsxrdycftuvgihonjok
anyway, it’s not as hard as I say, but it is definitely as hard as I say.
On other news, one of my teammates was asked to leave this past week. It was definitely a loss felt by all, as if a family member died. I didn’t realize the impact of our relationship on me until it was taken away. Just goes to show the power of intentional community. You will be missed.
On OTHER OTHER news, God is still good. Amen.
Real Talk / Sep 23, 04:15 PM
real talk: i am a city girl, for life
real talk: it’s hard to live in community
real talk: i love/hate kids
Our first week in, all the MissionYear teams (from all over the country) were shipped to a farm in Georgia for a week long orientation. This is where I realized how different I was from the ‘normal’ demographic of MissionYear participants. This is where I realized how much I LOVE the city. This is where I also realized I grew up in a totally different subculture of Christianity (aka non-white, non-middle-of-America, non-Christian-college). At first, it was a huge struggle. In the span of a week, I went from excitement to bitterness to struggling with self-identity to isolation to anger and finally to trust that God would stick by me anyway. I know it’s a lot of feelings to take in/understand so if you really want to know the details ask. Just know that it was a draining first week.
After our week-long cow-poop-filled orientation, we came back for a second City (atlanta) orientation and our first week of living together. I forgot how tiring it was to live with roommates. Yea, it’s only been a couple of months since college, but it was different. If I didn’t like a roommate, I didn’t feel obliged to make it work. I could just let it be. But not here. Living with 5 other girls = no privacy, no privacy, and repeating everything at least 3 times (especially bc my voice can be really soft and I tend to mumble). It’s been so hard, and I just want to give up sometimes just because it’s so hard… butttt it HAS only been a couple of weeks, and I need to give it time.
Finally, this week (our 3rd week) we’re starting one of our service sites- an afterschool program at Atlanta Youth Academy (AYA). yesterday was our first day. Basically, I remembered how much I love but hate kids. After working in afterschool this past year at Linda Vista, I was so relieved that I didn’t have to deal with kids in the school setting anymore, but boy was I wrong. It’s funny though because a lot of the experiences i’ve been through have trained me to be up to this point. Just how God won’t call you to anything without equipping you. My job at the YMCA was so random, but I can’t help but thank God that he at least gave me some experience/training before putting me to work in Atlanta.
Overall, I’m doing ok. This is definitely not the “mission year” I thought I would be living out, but then again, “urban missions” is definitely not the same as missions abroad. Friends, family, and anyone else reading this… please continue to pray for me.
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