Hannah Gentiles
Bio:
- Hometown: Cedar Park, TX
- Served: Oakland, CA 2004-2005
- Did Mission Year: After High School
- Where They Are Now: Nashville, TN
What made you decide to do Mission Year-what was the draw for you?
When I was a senior in High School I saw a Mission Year promo video while at a church retreat. While watching the video I went through a series of emotions. I thought wow, that is radical, I could never do that... then hmm, that makes a lot of sense, love God, love people, nothing else matters... to having a very distinct feeling that God was telling me to pay attention. After that weekend, I sort of went into denial, trying to forget that urge from within to further investigate, and tried to focus on applying for colleges. But God kept reminding me (in many different forms) untill I finally visited the website. After browsing a bit, and checking out current teams and reading their stories, the idea began to sound more appealing and not quite so crazy. I had several conversations with close family and friends, trying to get some advice, and allow myself to think about it logically. After this about 5 month process, I decided to apply and told myself that if this is what God wants, then I am going to have to step out on faith and let him lead me, as out of the ordinary as it may seem. And as soon as I turned it over to God, I knew I had made the right decision- not to say that I didn't face conflict, but I was confident in my calling. I was anxious to be able to fully devote my time and energy to helping people, being challenged in my faith, and the excitement of not knowing exactly what that was going to look like.
Describe the types of service and outreach you were involved with during your Mission Year.
I volunteered full time at a local elementary school in two first grade classrooms doing everything from decorating the bulletin board, to tutoring, to playing with the kids on the playground. My position in school allowed me to gain respect from the kids outside of school, allowing me to reach them on many different levels.
How are you different from having lived for a year in the city?
My eyes have been opened in so many ways. The way I see the world and the way I see myself has completely shifted. I quickly realized all of the things that I took for granted my whole life, and was able to put who I am into perspective with the rest of the world. The inner city is a different culture, that is in some ways very different from the world I was living in, but also had many similarities that I never could have seen before. I learned that the inner city isn't a different world, it's one important part of the world we all live in.
How has your Mission Year experience affected your future plans and goals?
It has solidified my wanting to do some form of social work. It has shown me the honest sides of the way people live which gives me a more genuine approach to helping people. My priorities have shifted in many ways, which is a difficult thing to adjust to at first but something I wouldn't change for anything.
What did you learn about God during your year? What did you learn about yourself?
I learned that God is truth. Even in this place of sucky situations and sometimes sucky answers, God has his hand over everything, even when it's not the easiest thing to understand. I learned that I will never stop growing. My biggest gift this year was the ability to really ask my self “Who am I?” and to have the support of people, and the room to do that from a broken and honest place. And more importantly to ask myself “Who do I not want to be?” and challenge myself in that.
Can you give some words of wisdom to potential Team Members?
Go into the year completely open to change, and vulnerable to allow yourself to see all that God has to offer you. Allow those people that you will meet, Team Members, neighbors, and co-workers to begin to really see who you are, so that you can begin to really understand who you are yourself. Figure out how you can truly Love God. Love Peole. and figure out that Nothing Else Matters.
