Although our focus on this summer project is campus ministry, we do desire to be a blessing to the community as a whole and not just its students. As a result, our team will be doing some sort of community service every other Saturday. This past Saturday, we had our first service project where we joined one of the UH Crusade students (Matt) in an outreach he and his friends started last year of sharing lunch with the homeless (instead of just handing them food and leaving) at Ala Moana Beach Park. We divided the team (30 students/14 staff+2 staff kids) into groups of 3-4 and sent them out with bowls of chili and rice (a local favorite) and bottles of water to share with the homeless.
To be honest, it was a bit outside of my own comfort zone, but Matt reminded us the homeless are people too, and that they have a story and are hungry not just for food but for company and people to talk to. I ended up being in a group with 2 students (S and K), and we met a man named Jeff who was immediately suspicious of our motives when we came with food, asking if we were from a church group and if we were going to push Jesus on him. We told him that we were from a Christian organization but that we just wanted to have lunch with him.
He let us sit down with him and then proceeded to share about his own beliefs for the next 1.5 hours, during which we mostly smiled and nodded and tried to squeeze in questons about himself and his own story of how he ended up at the park, and how his beliefs affected his daily life. Those attempts didn't really work too well; he just kept going about why John Lennon was the source of all evil and the popularity of Christianity in the tates, something about a chair held in the sky by electromagnetic forces and a mish mash of history with scientific terms that were redefined in nonsensical ways. For example, he said homology was the mechanism behind telekenesis (he actually meant ESP). Other comments he made were either so racist or so outrageous that I really had no idea how to respond.
I know my group had a hard time with conversation, but it sounds like other groups got into some good conversations. One student discovered that she actually had a lot in common with the homeless person their group met, so she shared her story with him. Another group ended up getting into spiritual conversation and eventually an opportunity to share the gospel, which the man said he'd never heard explained that way before. It's encouraging to know that even if i personally didn't have a super positive experience, God was still at work on the park that day.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
First week - video update!
Just to switch things up a bit, here's a video update of the first week.
If you're more text-inclined, this is a quick summary:
Busy (and rough) first week for 3 reasons:
If you're more text-inclined, this is a quick summary:
Busy (and rough) first week for 3 reasons:
- Tired
- Learning to be flexible
- Figuring out my role as staff on project
- Relationships to be deepened and rooted in God
- Conflict to be resolved in mature and godly manner
- Our team's hearts to grow deeper in love for the Lord and for the people here
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Go!
Greetings from Hawaii and Happy Father's Day to you fathers!
I asked you guys to pray for a miracle, and the Lord provided! After a very stressful 25 hours, our team of students raised over $33,000 of their needed $66,000 and pledged the rest from their own pockets so that we were able to bring the entire team to project (for a while, it looked like we would have to send some students home). They will continue raising support while they're on island, but we want them to finish that as quickly as possible so as not to detract from their missions experience.
We left California in the wee hours of the morning for an early flight today and are now unpacking and settling in the UH dorms. It's a little strange to be back - coming into the summer, I definitely knew that I would have expectations from my last experience here as a student on project, but it's really hitting me now that this is going to be a different summer -- different people, schedule, dorm setup, amenities, responsibilities, etc. As someone who likes the known and doing things the way they've always been done, this realization comes hard for me, so would you please pray that I would be open to change and whatever else the Lord wants to teach me this summer? Thanks.
Please also pray for:
- Student financial support to be completed as quickly as possible so that they can focus on the summer missions.
- Praise God for bonding the team as they stepped up together to work on support and encourage one another.
- Good communication among the staff team and to our students
- Rest and our team to know when we need it. Personally, I am exhausted from the flight and being around so many new people all the time (I'm an introvert, in case you couldn't tell)
Thanks and let me know how I can pray for you all!
Jessica
I asked you guys to pray for a miracle, and the Lord provided! After a very stressful 25 hours, our team of students raised over $33,000 of their needed $66,000 and pledged the rest from their own pockets so that we were able to bring the entire team to project (for a while, it looked like we would have to send some students home). They will continue raising support while they're on island, but we want them to finish that as quickly as possible so as not to detract from their missions experience.
We left California in the wee hours of the morning for an early flight today and are now unpacking and settling in the UH dorms. It's a little strange to be back - coming into the summer, I definitely knew that I would have expectations from my last experience here as a student on project, but it's really hitting me now that this is going to be a different summer -- different people, schedule, dorm setup, amenities, responsibilities, etc. As someone who likes the known and doing things the way they've always been done, this realization comes hard for me, so would you please pray that I would be open to change and whatever else the Lord wants to teach me this summer? Thanks.
Please also pray for:
- Student financial support to be completed as quickly as possible so that they can focus on the summer missions.
- Praise God for bonding the team as they stepped up together to work on support and encourage one another.
- Good communication among the staff team and to our students
- Rest and our team to know when we need it. Personally, I am exhausted from the flight and being around so many new people all the time (I'm an introvert, in case you couldn't tell)
Thanks and let me know how I can pray for you all!
Jessica
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Get set!
Today during briefing, I ran into someone who looked oddly familiar. He turned out to be Jason,* one of the local believers that my summer project team met in Hawaii 2 years ago! I asked him how he decided to come on project, and he said, "Well, you guys came 2 years ago, and so I wanted to go on a project!" It was so encouraging to hear that our team had (and is still having!) an impact on the local believers in encouraging them to take steps of faith for the kingdom of God! I can't wait to see what else the Lord has done there since the last time I was there.
However, before we let our students get on the plane on Sunday, we are requiring them to have at least 83% of their support in. Many of our students are not anywhere near their goal; collectively, our team of 30 students is short $60,000, and they only have until 5pm on Saturday to raise it all or make out a personal check for the balance. As of 3pm today, only 10 students had enough to get on the plane.
Our students have have been diligently making phone calls, sharing their calling, and inviting people to join with them for the summer and grow in their faith. Those who are done with their own support have been helping their roommates brainstorm names, give them pep talks as they make phone calls, and praying for them. It's been really encouraging to see them step up as as team. Please pray for the Lord to provide -- this is no small miracle we need.
However, before we let our students get on the plane on Sunday, we are requiring them to have at least 83% of their support in. Many of our students are not anywhere near their goal; collectively, our team of 30 students is short $60,000, and they only have until 5pm on Saturday to raise it all or make out a personal check for the balance. As of 3pm today, only 10 students had enough to get on the plane.Our students have have been diligently making phone calls, sharing their calling, and inviting people to join with them for the summer and grow in their faith. Those who are done with their own support have been helping their roommates brainstorm names, give them pep talks as they make phone calls, and praying for them. It's been really encouraging to see them step up as as team. Please pray for the Lord to provide -- this is no small miracle we need.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
On your mark...
Greetings from Southern California! Thank you guys so much for your prayers for safety in the Bay; I'm alive and well, and my ears are fine. I'm now in SoCal for a few days for summer project training. Yesterday and today is for the staff teams to get to know each other and plan for the project, and tomorrow the students from 4 different projects will arrive for more training/briefing/getting to know you before we leave for our various locations: San Francisco, Hawaii, Japan, and East Asia.
It's a little surreal to think that the months of anticipation, the uncertainty whether I'd be allowed to remain on this team, the packing and shuffling from city to city (this is my 4th in 2 weeks)...is all unfolding right here, right now. The names on the summer project staff emails are now faces with stories, and the students that I've been coaching over the phone will soon be here too. It's both exciting and nervewracking all at once -- exciting because I know it's going to be an incredible summer as God grows us all, but also nervewracking because I'm not really sure what to expect this time as a staff member. A lot of things are still up in the air, but even what we do plan is bound to change and flex throughout the summer, so I think it's another lesson in learning to let go and stop being such a control freak :)
More later,
Jess
It's a little surreal to think that the months of anticipation, the uncertainty whether I'd be allowed to remain on this team, the packing and shuffling from city to city (this is my 4th in 2 weeks)...is all unfolding right here, right now. The names on the summer project staff emails are now faces with stories, and the students that I've been coaching over the phone will soon be here too. It's both exciting and nervewracking all at once -- exciting because I know it's going to be an incredible summer as God grows us all, but also nervewracking because I'm not really sure what to expect this time as a staff member. A lot of things are still up in the air, but even what we do plan is bound to change and flex throughout the summer, so I think it's another lesson in learning to let go and stop being such a control freak :)
More later,
Jess
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Summer 2010, here we go!
Ok, so I know I've been pretty delinquent about this blog, but I promise I'm really going to try to update this regularly for the summer project because I know there will be WAY too much to write about to fit into a single end-of-the-month letter.
Anyway, I'm now in San Francisco for a few days on a ministry trip, sharing what I'm doing in NYC and inviting people to be a part of God's work there. There are also a number of friends I get to see, so I'm excited to catch up with them too.
The flight was pretty smooth except for the last hour when one of my ears started hurting like nothing I've ever felt before. At first, I thought I just needed to pop it, but it won't "pop" and my hearing is muffled in that ear, so if you wouldn't mind praying for my ear (or offering some suggestions about what I can do about it), I would really appreciate that. Praise the Lord that I got here safely, and please continue to pray for safety as I drive around the Bay Area -- definitely not something I usually do in NYC!
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