September Newsletter

September 21^th, 2012

Greetings from Philadelphia!

My third week of Mission Year Philadelphia has come to a close.  It has been amazing how different the city appears to us now compared to our initial gut reactions.  We have found that Philadelphia is a wonderfully diverse city.  Just traveling from our home to the city center, we encounter a huge amount of ethnic and economic diversity.  The public transit system that first confused us is now becoming second nature.  The neighborhood that seemed so foreign feels so familiar.  Both our neighbors and our new church family have warmly welcomed us.  Our carpets may be a little sticky, but this house is rapidly becoming a home.  I’m going to like it here.

This month, I’ll only give you a brief introduction to my team, but I’ll give more thorough introductions throughout the year.  At the top left is Katelin.  Katelin is from Wisconsin and studied education and history in college.  She has a desire to be a teacher and is spending this year with Mission Year to learn how she can bring the Lord into whatever she does.  Next to her is Rachel.  Rachel is from North Carolina and spent last year in art school.  She has been journeying to find Christian community and God has finally led her here.  To the right of Katelin and Rachel are Ashley and Ashleigh.  Ashley, on the left, is from Texas and graduated high school last year.  She looks forward to discovering more about who she is as a woman of God.  Ashleigh comes to us from Virginia and spent the last several years working a 9 to 5 job after graduating college.  She’s searching for what else God could have in store for her.  To the left of me is my roommate Schuyler.  He is also from Texas and also just graduated from high school.  God has put a desire for community and service on his heart, so he is here to experience exactly that.  We are all here for similar reasons, but we are each different and bring something unique to our house.

We have completed two weeks of training in preparation for the year and have begun working at our service sites.  The days have been long and the weeks are packed.  In two weeks we had a crash course in topics including community, conflict management, multiculturalism, and the city transit system.  This last week I began work at Logan Hope, a kindergarten through 8^th grade Christian school.  I will soon begin teaching art to the kids.  The school is a wonderful place full of chaos and joy.  The teachers genuinely care about their students and provide them with quality education.  I’m eagerly anticipating what God will be teaching me through these students and teachers.

As I bring this newsletter to a close, I want to point you to the blog I’ve set up for this year.  It is located at http://michaelinphilly.blogspot.com/.  We are continuing our technology fast for several more weeks so my computer time is very limited, but look forward to hear more about what I’ve been learning and experiencing.

Anticipation

August 29, 2012

Time is an interesting creature. Sometimes it moves past like the blink of an eye and sometimes it drags on so slowly. But regardless of our perceptions, before we know it the future has a way of catching up with the present. It is currently Wednesday. In two days, early Friday morning, I will head to the airport to fly off to Philadelphia where I will spend the next 11 months taking part in Mission Year and living up to its mantra “Love God/Love People//Nothing Else Matters.”

I’d like to set a tone with this first newsletter that will hopefully continue throughout the months.  In my mind, these newsletters might be the most challenging thing I will face, not because I won’t have much to say, but because I will be experiencing so much more than what I can condense onto a page of text.  I also know that what I will experience and learn will not be mine to horde and never share.  I have been given the opportunity to do something that very few people have the luxury of doing.  I can devote a whole year, I have friends and family who have graciously supported me financially, and I don’t have a family to support (I will very soon though.  I’m getting married in August of 2013!).  I must also pay attention to the somber reality that even though Mission Year is almost a year long, time will catch up with me and Mission Year will be over.  It is the things that I learn, the experiences that change me, and challenges that I receive that will endure past Mission Year and can extend beyond myself.  And with all this in mind, I will be taking these newsletters very seriously.

Well, I haven’t even left yet and I have a lot to say, so I’m going to try to wrap this up quickly.  My newsletter will be a place for me to share what I’ve been doing and what God has been doing around me.  I’ll be posting these newsletters on my Mission Year Blog, but I’ll also use my blog as a place to express my thoughts, things I’m being challenged with, and other things that can get more philosophical in nature.  In the meantime, please pray for traveling mercies as everyone who is participating in Mission Year is going to be headed to their assigned cities this week.

With Love,

Michael Mann