I hope this
blog entry will give you some more clarification about how my life functions
while in Mission Year. Our time is rather structured, which at first was
difficult for me to submit to, but after one week operating within the
structure, I am beginning to see how each component is important to my
experience this year. I’ll give you a brief rundown of my week and why each
component is included in our schedule.
Our week
starts on Saturday. We spend the morning cleaning our house, which makes me
happy. J
My team isn’t particularly messy, but with seven people in the house it can get
pretty messy in a week. After the house is clean, we go grocery shopping. That’s
usually an ordeal. We have planned out all of our meals, so it’s a matter of
collecting the necessary ingredients for each meal. We usually try to stay
below $100 for all groceries for the week so that later in the week we have a
cushion of $17 for anything else we need. The first week was difficult, but
this week we actually have food left over, including a 10-pound bag of chicken.
Saturday night we host a community dinner, inviting our neighbors to come over.
This week we had three teenage girls over who we connected with right away. We
had a lot of fun dining together and then played some card games afterward too.
Sunday
morning we go to church, and we have the afternoon free. People usually do
laundry, read, hang out with neighbors on the porch, or write newsletters.
Sunday evenings we have “points meetings,” which include several key elements:
announcements from our team leader, planning groceries for the next week, and
one person from our house shares their life story. I’m sharing mine this week. J
Sundays we also go through our curriculum. We are all reading a set of books,
and during curriculum we go through a set of questions and discuss what we’re
reading.
On Monday
we start work at our service sites! I’ll probably post more about mine later,
but I’m working at the Center for Digital Inclusion and Technology at an
organization in West Philly. I work from 11-6, taking a trolley about 30
minutes north of my house. Even though I start work later, others in my house
start at 8:30 and 9. For that reason, we have quiet hour every day at 6:00am.
We rotate through sharing a brief devotion (5-15 minutes) and then we spend the
rest of the hour in prayer, scripture study, and meditation. I usually take a
nap between quiet hour and work. J After work on Mondays, we have a team dinner, all
eating together.
Tuesday is
pretty much like Monday, but instead of team dinner we have family night, which
looks different each week. Someone different plans it each week, and basically
it’s meant to give us time to do something fun together that isn’t too serious.
Wednesday we have Bible study at church, and on Thursday we swap between two
different activities. Every other week we have training with the two other Philly
MY teams, and on the other weeks we have “city-wide,” which has more of a spiritual
formation emphasis, still with all MY teams in Philly.
Friday is
our Sabbath! We have nothing planned for Fridays, and we are encouraged to
rest, relax, and spent time with the Lord. For your purposes, you probably know
it as the day that I get on the internet. We break our technology fast every
week on Fridays.
That brings
us back to Saturday! I hope this have given you a good understanding of the
flow of my life. The cracks and crevices are filled with reading, journaling,
silliness, deep conversations, time outside with kids and their parents, and
all manner of other things. It’s a great lifestyle. I encourage you to pick one
aspect of it, maybe one day or schedule item, and pray for me and my team.
Thanks again for taking the time to read and follow my life!
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