Thanksgiving

As we approach Thanksgiving, I offer some thanks for these experiences I (probably) would not have had were it not for Mission Year:

• I’ll start with the obvious: I moved to Philadelphia and took up residence in a row house with six other people I didn't know.
• Raised $10,000+! (If part of it came from you, then thanks!)
• Volunteered over 250 hours.
• Hand-washed laundry for the first time because I had waited a month and ran out of clean underwear.
• Became an urban biker, turning my 30-minute (one-way) trolley ride into a 30-minute workout!
• Fasted from technology for 8 weeks and simplified my use of technology thereafter. (Read more here.)
• Tried water ice, a Philadelphia frozen treat.
• Had the thought, “In this setting, I’m the only white man,” about once a day.
• Went without a shower for three days for lack of heat or hot water on a cold winter weekend.
• Wrote out a covenant with my teammates. (Read it here.)
• Got a library card at the Free Library of Philadelphia…and paid $3.00 in overdue fines. That’s 5% of my monthly stipend!
• Earned back one of those dollars by eating a whole onion, raw and covered in chocolate. (Don’t ask.)
• Saw seven of my neighbors join my church, Grace Christian Fellowship. (Read more here.)
• Developed enough cooking skills to look into the fridge and come up with a decently tasty dish with what I found there.
• Worked through conflict with a teammate derived from a game of Monopoly.
• Spent a day on the streets with new homeless friends. (Read more here.)
• Embraced regular solitude, silence, and new prayer practices. (Read more here.)
• Mastered SEPTA, or Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

I am thankful for all of these experiences, and they are just the tip of the iceberg. They don’t begin to explain the spiritual experiences for which I am so much more grateful. It’s only been a couple of months, but I already have much for which to be thankful.

I am also thankful for you, who follow my blog and support these experiences and others through prayer, letters, financial gifts, phone calls, and other encouragement. Keep it coming, and offer a prayer of Thanksgiving for what the Lord is doing in Southwest Philly this year.

A Week in the Life of Mission Year

            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!

Details!

So here it is! The full and complete answer to the question I’ve gotten so many times, “What will you be doing?”

Well, of course I can’t answer that question fully and completely, but I now have exciting details such as what neighborhood I’ll live in, what church I’ll attend, where I will be working during the week, and who is on my Mission Year team! Take notes so that you have specific people and places to pray for!

Where?

I’m going to live in Southwest Philadelphia (click here for a map)! My neighbors will mostly be African and African-American, mostly working class. Many of the homes there are in the style of “row houses,” where the long, narrow homes are lined up side by side down the block, with a very small front yard and a stoop leading straight to the sidewalk. I will live down the street from my…

…Church!

I will attend Grace Christian Fellowship (visit their website here), “a non-denominational Christian fellowship dedicated to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and His resurrection to all men, women, boys, and girls.” It has grown from a small Bible study of 22 in the home of Rev. Cean R. James in 2005 to a growing congregation of 250 with a permanent home on Grays Avenue in Southwest Philly. They are committed to reaching the people of their neighborhood with the gospel.

Service Site

I will be serving at the People’s Emergency Center (PEC) (check out their website), an organization that “nurtures families, strengthens neighborhood, and drives change. We are committed to increasing equity and opportunity throughout our entire community. We provide comprehensive supportive services to homeless women and their children, revitalize our West Philadelphia neighborhood, and advocate for social justice.” The services they offer range from emergency, transitional, and permanent housing to employment training, to childcare and healthcare. In addition, PEC is involved in developing and rehabilitating affordable housing and spurring the growth of business in West Philly. They also advocate for policies that protect the working poor and homeless. Although the details are not yet set in stone, I'll be working in the digital literacy programs designed to "bridge the digital divide." (visit the digital literacy website) I'm very excited to join alongside what PEC is doing to pursue change in West Philadelphia!

Finally…

Team Members!

These are the people I’ll be living with for the next year! I am excited to be able to experience so much with them in the next year. We will pray together, be discipled together, eat together, walk together, learn to love in so many new ways, and so much more! Learn their names and faces by visiting their personal donation pages:

Priscilla Bui

Walter Levi Wawra

Sophilia Hubbard

Denise Lee

Nicole Roberts

and my alum team leader, Isabella Fout

Start following their blogs now and over the course of the year get a different angle on my life in Philadelphia, through their eyes!

When?

Here’s my somewhat complicated schedule:

• Visit Atlanta friends August 30-Sept 6
• Mission Year national orientation in Houston Sept 6-Sept 11
• Mission Year Philly orientation Sept 11~Sept 18
• Start living the Mission Year life ~Sept 18!

Thanks so much for praying through these things and taking the time to walk with me along my MY journey.