Service/Mission/Leadership Blog

My first weeks as an intern with Sowing Seeds of Hope, a faith-based nonprofit organization here in Marion, have been wonderful and challenging. But, for me, this is the most challenging and surprising element of a summer ministry opportunity:

DOWN TIME

 Much of my job as an intern is to do whatever needs to be done. And I LOVE that! If a mission group needs a ladder to work on a home in the area, I get to call local people and then call the people who know those people in search of a ladder. If someone runs out of water, needs directions, or forgot to drop the plywood off at the other construction site…I get to hop in the car with my supervisor, visit the mission groups, and get them what they need. I rarely see the office, I’ve met so many new faces in Marion, and I’m already enjoying reconnecting with some of the kids in town that I met last summer (more about that later).

All of the “running around” is exciting, and taking care of even the smallest things reminds me of my value in Christ and His purpose in Marion, but I never really realize that until the end of the week…on a quiet Sunday evening when I, honestly, have nothing to do.

Student.Go, the student mission board that partners with Sowing Seeds of Hope, really stresses one thing about serving in a summer ministry:

REFLECTION

I’ve come to have a love-hate relationship with the idea of reflection because this activity of pausing and dissecting has proven to be the most revealing element of my summer thus far. Student.Go has challenged all of its summer participants to read Psalm 23 each week and reflect on some specific questions related to the daily life of service, and one of the first week’s questions really struck me.

Are you listening for God in whispers or shouts?

Pretty difficult to think about, right? It has been for me. We all have communication problems, but I’ve never even considered the communication problems I have with God. Often times, at the end of the day I lie in by bed, fighting sleep, and pour into pages and pages of my journal trying to explain my life to God. During daily challenges or life-altering moments we all, I think, yearn for God’s guidance and wonder why we can’t hear Him. Sometimes I even feel guilty for not waking up earlier or coming home sooner to have some momentous quiet time with God. Not that that alone time isn’t important…but I still wonder.

Am I listening for God in whispers or shouts?

Today seems like an appropriate day to consider something new and to commit to listening more closely. So far I’ve heard whispers of patience as I tutor a local student who has Down syndrome and shouts of perspective and understanding as I encounter the new faces of those who are drastically different than me. I’ve learned the importance if Godly influence from observing the subtle actions and words of ministers and friends in the area, and I’ve had to face myself, encountering the lies I allow myself to believe about God, service, and Marion.

 The summer is just getting started, and I know that there is much left for me to learn and reflect upon…I’m looking forward to sharing even more of both the whispers and shouts that I encounter this summer.

Without Wax,

“We do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. What do I mean by loving ourselves properly? I mean, first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give to others.”

Thomas Merton

No Man is an Island

Thursday, May 19^th, brought about an opportunity to participate in tornado relief work in Sawyerville, Alabama. I, along with five other five other Judson girls, one service learning director, and two Judson professors, loaded up in a school van and traveled the thirty or so miles to Hale County. When we first arrived at the Sawyerville Relief Center, I thought that the work we were planned to do would be minor. I hadn’t seen any damage during the drive in, and I began to let myself feel a bit of relief in hopes that I wouldn’t see too much damage during the day. But stopping at the relief center wasn’t our only stop for the day.

Our guide led us down a few curvy roads, and past some workers moving trees and other debris out of the road, to a plot of land covered in piles and piles of…junk. 

I tried to prepare myself before I stepped out of the van.

My fellow students seemed excited to be able to help, but I couldn’t get that, “How did someone ever live here?” sinking feeling in my stomach to go away.

 We began to work, picking up large and small pieces of the mobile home that had been destroyed, and the idea of helping became easier. After a few moments of this physical labor, I was able to see this task of cleaning up as just that…a task. I helped lift pieces of the roof off of the ground, raked up piles of insulation, and carried small loads of debris to a trash pile near the main road.

 Eventually, though, we Judson girls began to come across more than just debris from the destroyed mobile home. We found birthday cards, photos, report cards, and other odds and ends that reassured us all that someone had, indeed, lived there. In the midst of dealing with such devastation, I can truly say that my heart goes out to this family who has lost so much.

As I carried debris to the edge of the road, I knew that these people had lost a house. But as I looked through the photos, cards, letters, and other personal items, I was reminded that they had also lost a home.

This was more than the pile of junk I saw when we first pulled into the site.

 I can’t imagine how it must have felt for the family member who showed up to work alongside us as she swallowed that, “My family used to live here,” feeling in her throat. I can only hope that the personal belongings we salvaged will offer some sort of hope and comfort to the family members affected as their lives return to “normal” after these storms.

Even though I can usually be found trying to strike up a conversation to offer some words of comfort and encouragement in situations like these, I wasn’t brave enough to talk to this woman on Thursday. I’m thankful that my Judson friends and professors were there to minister to her in this way…because I just couldn’t handle it. Like anyone, I’ve experienced loss. In the past few years, friends have died, family situations have been difficult, and things in my life have gone through drastic changes. But I had no context for understanding this type of devastation, and I can only hope that the few hours of work I contributed, along with the prayers I continue to offer, will somehow assist this family as they begin the journey of starting over.

This service-learning experience has reminded me to see people as people, and much like Merton’s words in the opening quote, I am reminded that people are not designed to be alone. The experience of serving a hurting family in the most practical way that I can imagine, by helping them pick up the pieces and begin again, has been a humbling experience that has truly taught me to love myself properly by “accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give to others.”

Without Wax,

You wouldn’t think that there would be any danger in going to a small private college like Judson. It’s a safe place in a safe neighborhood surrounded by loving, Christian people. Literally…the homes surrounding campus are those of our professors, and there are about five churches within walking distance of the school. Strangely enough, this is where the danger lies. We Judson girls often joke around about being inside the  “Judson bubble.”  It’s too easy to get so caught up in this school and all of its activities that you really do forget about the outside world sometimes. I suppose this is typical of any college student. I’m young, I’m on my own, and at the end of the day, the only person I really have to worry about taking care of is myself.

  Matthew 25: 40

This verse and mission work is at the very core of Judson. The college is even named after missionaries to Burma…the Judsons. Students travel to the ends of our nation and even our world every year to spread the Good News, and serve “the least of these” in every location imaginable. This Christmas break a group of about thirty students, along with some pretty amazing adults (the parents of Judson junior, Laura Hyer) decided to serve those right here in Marion, just as we’re commanded. Working under a Perry County organization known as Sowing Seeds of Hope, we were able to reach out to the people of this small Alabama town by building homes in a fashion that is very similar to the well-known Habitat for Humanity. All of the girls worked hard painting, putting up dry wall, and crawling around in small spaces to insulate these homes. 

While this week was a huge success and soon there will be several brand new homeowners in Marion, the most important happenings of this mission are more underlying. I think the work we did during this week caught the attention of the city. It’s kind of like we were saying, “We’re here, and we care, and we’re going to do whatever we can to help and serve you.” Seated in a county that is one of the most impoverished in the country, Judson students have the privilege, the responsibility, and the mission to serve this city. Throughout the week prayers and ideas for future projects were coming from every direction, and just as the theme for 2009’s Marion Matters…greater things are still to come.  

     Now that things are moving again here at Judson, I feel like I need to slow down and think about everything that has gone on the week and a half we’ve all been back. My classes are going very well. Chemistry, medical terminology, and math are going to require a pretty good bit of studying, but I enjoy learning about the sciences. I’m taking Sociology online, and it seems pretty easy so far. All I have to do is e-mail my professor an essay based on the reading assignments every other week. My Western World Literature class is fabulous! I just love reading ancient Egyptian poetry, epic stories about heroes and monsters, and any other type of classic literature.  Even though I do enjoy my classes, the highlight of my first week back at Judson has definitely been Marion Matters.

Marion Matters is a campus-wide community service blitz that the office of service-based learning organizes for the first Friday of every fall term. Our community service coordinator spends tons of time calling different organizations in Marion and asking if there is anything we Judson girls can do for them.  By the Wednesday or Thursday before Marion Matters is scheduled to take place, sign up sheets are placed in our dining hall with descriptions of the different projects. Last week there were a total of fifteen projects to choose from. Some of the options included visiting the nursing home and just spending time with some of the residents, reading to preschoolers at Marion Academy, painting for a local church, and building homes with a new self-help housing project in Marion. There were plenty more to choose from, and there’s always something for everyone! 

The group I worked with went to Perry Lakes Park, located just a few miles away from campus. The park has several walking trails, about 600 acres of forest, and four lakes that were formed when the Cahaba River changed its channel over 150 years ago. It’s truly a beautiful place for residents of Marion and students of Judson to enjoy God’s wonderful creation, and Judson girls have been keeping the park running for years. During Marion Matters, Dr. Wilson, the biology professor for the college, led my group in mulching different areas of the park, cleaning up litter, and we even got an informational tour along the way. Some of the girls in the group climbed the 100 ft. birding tower for the first time, and they literally got a bird’s eye view of Perry Lakes.