Hello Friends and Family!
I’m back in the City of Brotherly Love. Temperatures have finally begun to settle into the low 30s as my house and I begin the winter trimester of Mission Year.
Two weeks ago we all came back from our Christmas vacations. It was only a two-week break, but it gave me time to step back and reset. It was tough to spend almost four months away from my fiancé and family while I was here on the East Coast. This is a unique time in my life; I’m far away fully involved with life here in Philadelphia, yet I’m far away this year in order to come back as a more fully prepared man to serve in California. I have to be fully here, but I cannot neglect the relationships that I have back home.
Last trimester, my house spent a lot of time building and developing the foundations of community and friendship. However, this next chunk of Mission Year will bring new challenges. We will need to battle apathy and comfort to keep developing as a community. It would be easy to stay comfortable with where currently are now. We’re friends, we know people in our neighborhood, and we perform well at our service sites, but how will we push forward from here? What is God going to do with our house?
God has brought me several glimmers of hope and life that promise to flower during the cold of this winter. One of the most promising moments occurred at the beginning of the month. A teenager from one of the families we know well on our block came to our house to escape a fight that was going on between his siblings. He saw our house as a place of refuge and safety. After that, he and his brothers have been coming to our house more often. We have spent time with them outside on Saturdays, but it is a very different experience for them to be in our house and seeing how we interact with each other in our home. We get to naturally share the love that dwells in our house.
Please understand that the winter months can be the most difficult time of Mission Year. Seeds have been planted, but we now need to be patient and wait as we cultivate the relationships we have built. This is a time when we learn what it is like to do ministry once it has become mundane, part of everyday life. Please pray that I can find new life in my relationship with God. Pray that our house continues to develop. Pray that we would continue to be diligent as we water the seeds we planted in the fall. We rely on your prayers.
My roommate Schuyler in the snow outside our house.
With Love,
Michael Mann
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