thoughts from Chicago

My first week in Chicago is almost finished! I am enjoying everything that I am learning about the city. Things such as how to use the public transportation system, increasing my map skills, meeting new personalities, and continuing living with roomates as well as overall city life. I am going to try to post on here once a week and this will be an excellent way to keep up on my life. So lately we have been exploring the city. Chicago is set up on a grid so knowing an address of a place is really helpful. The past couple days we have just been exploring different neighborhoods. We went to Greektown, Downtown, Little Italy, Devon Street (which is an Indian neighborhood), Andersonville (A swedish neighborhood), Pilson (where one of my directors lives) as well as Garfield Park where I am staying. One of the questions i have thought about is do I really want to say that I am a particular denomination or is it that important. Personally I am feeling like it really doesn't matter that much as long as I am Christian, however one person made the comment that (in her opinion) because I came from a Mennonite family (my extended family is mennonite but my parents and siblings do not go to a mennonite church) and I went to a Mennonite highschool and i am in RAD that that makes me pretty darn mennonite. However, it has been about 12-14 years or so since I have regularly attended a Mennonite Church and even though I did go to a mennonite highschool and college there were also muslims, hindus and atheists that went there (so would that make them mennonite because they went to a mennonite school? In my opinion no.), also i was baptized in an Episcopalian Church so I guess if I had to pick a denomination it would be Episcopalian. Hmmm....some other thoughts on that anyone?

Chicago- day 2

So this is my second day in Chicago and it has been packed with things to do and learning new people. I have really enjoyed meeting the group and hanging out with them. Most of our day today was spent making a group covenant as to how we want to spend our time here. We also have had many meetings and spent quite a bit of time exploring the city and using the public transportation. Today we went to Chinatown and had REAL chinese food and not the Chinese-American stuff that most Chinese restaurants serve. We had a lesson on map reading, safety and learning about each other. Everyone is commited to the group and I am excited to see how things will develop. I must admit Chicago is absolutely gorgous though the neighborhood I live in is different in the day then in the night but as long as I use common sense and remember a few safety rules I should be fine. I have enjoyed these times with the group and look forward to more. I think the challenge will be good and it will show me whether my calling is really missions or not. I am ready for the year though I don't know what it will hold for me. We also have some free time to do what we want in the evenings. I gotta say lots of laughter takes place though.

new adventure

Well in 6 hours I will be leaving for Harrisburg airport to begin the first part of my new adventure and new stage in life. This is the training ground for the mission field come November. I feel excited and nervous as for once in my life i am letting God direct my every move. I have very little idea as to what this next year holds for me and even less of an idea of what my life will consist of after I return in June. Some things to pray about are: Unity among the group, safe and smooth preparations, open hearts to God, and that God will show me what he wants me to do when I return.....well I really need some sleep.......so good night all

the joy of family

Last night mom invited a few family members plus a lady from my church who has been my prayer partner for the last several months to our house for a meal and time of fellowship before I leave on Saturday (or Sunday). It was great to feel the support from all my family. I made empanadas, rice with veggies, fresh salsa, cucumber salad, plantains and a tropical fruit salad that had papaya, mango, pineapple, bananas and peaches in it. Then they prayed for me and we watched a movie about what I will be doing in Colombia. I am so excited as I feel God will so some powerful things.

support

I just wanted to thank my church for all the support they have given me. There is a lady in my church that I meet to pray with every Sunday and yesterday we met and made 90 empanadas. For those of you who do not know what empanadas are they are a typical Spanish food that is stuff with meat and fried. They are very good. So we sold $105.50 worth of them after church today. Thank you Jesus for everything. Well as the countdown begins, I leave for Chicago on Saturday to start my training for Colombia. Right now it feels like I am just leaving for college. I think it will hit me more when I am actually in Colombia, though I am very excited as I feel God will do something incredible this year. Keep me in prayers

weekend reflection

What a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends! I can't remember the last time I was in upstate New York. My weekend started out by accompanying my aunt to JFK airport in NYC to pick up my cousin who was arriving from having spent the summer as an exchange student in Spain. Then I continued with her to upstate New York (about 2 hours from the Canadian border) to visit family that live there. My mom has 2 brothers that farm up there. So I spent time hiking in the Adorandack Mountains, talking with cousins and cousin-in-laws, playing with my cousin's children and chit chatting with my aunts. I have come to realize (though I know there are ppl who would strongly disagree with me) that New york has 2 kinds of beauty. It has the beautiful mountains and lakes and huge farms but also the city. By the beauty in the city I am talking about the beautiful skyline the buildings make, the unique pattern of the outline of the buildings, the mix of culture, places like Times Square, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty, etc... Yeah Yeah I recognize the ugliness of the trash and crime as well but well there is crime everywhere and if we only focus on the crime in an area we miss the joy of it. Well I am tired so I will write more later.

thoughts

So God knows that it is a desire of mine to get married and have a family someday. I however, want to get married to the right guy. The guy that God has prepared for me. A guy that serves and loves God with all his heart, comes from a good family that desires God, will love me as Christ loves the church, is mission minded like I am and will treat me the way I desire to be treated. In the past I have rushed into relationships that have been less than perfect and less then what God desires for me and I have rushed into these relationships simply to fill a desire of having a companion. Really what I should have done is let God be my companion and fall in love with Him. It seems as though the right guy is a rare find and most of what is out there is less than desirable (like the two guys at church who I KNOW are much less then desirable and they are quite annoying). It is hard to wait and be patient when I see many of my friends and family already married or getting married. I felt like the Lord was once again reassuring me tonight that he has someone for me but I need to be patient and trust him. I needed to trust that when the time is right he will be revealed to me and I need to trust that God is working in his life to prepare him for me. Keep praying for this

thanksgiving

So the countdown to my training has begun. I only have 17 days before I will be in Chicago! The most i can say right now i thank you God for this opportunity to serve you in Colombia. Thank you for a family that supports my desire to serve in this way. Thank you that you have led me to a wonderful church that desires to do your will and see your will be done in the world. Thank you for giving me the ability to learn another language and the desire to do so. Thank you that you paid the price for us on the cross. You have taken me in your arms, you have given me salvation and all I can say is thank you, thank you dear lord thank you my Lord Jesus. You did not have to suffer for me, you did not have to do it but you did it out of love. thank you

thoughts

While I was praying tonight with a lady from church, God just kept bringing to my mind the city of Lancaster, Pa. It seems as though there is a lot of things going on that God desires to break and he desires to pour out his spirit and revive Lancaster City again but the people have to want it and permit God to work in Lancaster. Pray for the pastors and churches in Lancaster, pray fro the christians who minister there, pray that they will have the strength to stand firm in their beliefs, pray for a revival in Lancaster.....

O my strength I will sing to you
Because you Oh God are my refugee
God of mercy
I will sing of your power
I will praise you in the morning
Because you have been my refugee in my day of anguish
I will sing oh Lord of your power

Battlefield of the mind by Joyce Myers

So I started reading a book that one of my roomates recommended to me years ago but I never got around to reading it until now. It is called "Battlefield of the mind" by Joyce Myers. The first few pages talked about how it is important to control what we think because what we think affects our actions. It talks about how it is impossible to have a positive life and a negative thought pattern. So many problems in today's world are a result of the lies that we have allowed ourselves to believe. Lies such as "I am to fat, klutzy, lazy etc....to amount to anything" or "Nobody cares about my opinion so why bother saying it" and more. Kind of puts a new spin on the saying "I think therefore I am"

training in chicago

I thought I would post what we will be doing in training in Chicago so that you will all know how to pray for me during those 2 months. .This is part of an email I recieved from my director

I also wanted to give you a little bit more on your time in Chicago. This is a time where we try and prepare you at least a little to enter a cross cultural experience and begin the process of faith transformation that we hope you experience. The schedule is tentatively as follows.
Sunday you will visit a different church each time so that you get to experience a variety of communities of faith. People are at different places on their faith journey and build communities around a variety of expressions of that faith. We do not want you to merely take on someone else’s expression faith as your own but we do want the variety of exposures to effect you. Sunday evening will be the time usually that the resource person will come in for that week. We expect that you will practice the art of hospitality and utilize your time with these people to explore different topics of faith formation, personal development and cross cultural learning.
Monday will be a full day with these resource individuals with a mix of input and conversation. Tuesday morning will be the same. Tuesday lunch we again would like to see you all practice hospitality by opening up your meal together for others to join. We will talk about this more later.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday will be service days. In the late afternoons or evenings of each of these days you will have other activities as well. Wednesday you will also have group spiritual direction. Thursday you will have a conversation with Krista around spiritual disciplines where you will reflect on the discipline you practiced the week before and be introduced to the next weeks discipline. Friday will also be a time for group conversation in an open forum around topics or reflecting on how the group covenant is going. Saturday will be a time to explore the city, which we have a list of expectations for you. In your spare time you will need to cook meals, shop for groceries, clean, do laundry, read, journal, do language study and sleep.
This will be a full time for you and we will expect you to be emotionally, physically and mentally present. It will also be possibly the most amazing time of your year. We are thankful that you have committed yourself to this next years journey and we hope and pray that you will give it serious commitment and effort.