a novel

I'm choosing to reflect on my weekend adventure on this blog - not my Rochester MVS blog - because it is a period of my life that has significance above and beyond, and mostly unrelated to, my time in the Flower City. Not that all of life is not interconnected and my experience in Rochester did not shape my visit and likewise my visit will not shape that experience. But because the relationships and people I shared food and celebration with this past weekend have influenced other parts of my life more in the past, and I expect in the future as well. Their love, acceptance, support, and hugs have shaped more than my MVS year and I want - and expect - them to continue to impact my life long after my time in Rochester has come to a close. And so, my reflections on a fall weekend spent in Virginia: I traveled at least a few hours every day for 5 days to see the man I love, celebrate an american tradition, experience the reunion of college roommates and attend at a wedding of two d...

We had a home blessing ceremony this evening. It was somewhat impromptu (for us at least), but it was beautiful - filled with reminders of hospitality, prayers of protection and rest, and the setting aside of our home as a sacred space for God to work. The prayers came from "Common Prayer : A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicas" put together by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro and one especially resonated with me. Prayer for Major Life Transitions: Lord, help me now to unclutter my life, to organize myself in the direction of simplicity. Lord, teach me to listen to my heart; teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it. Lord, I give you these stirrings inside me. I give you my discontent. I give you my restlessness. I give you my doubt. I give you my despair. I give you all the longings I hold inside. Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth; help me to listen seriously and follow where they lead through the breathtaking empty space o...

Today is the first day classes at EMU. I'm trying not to let it matter to me, but there is something final in the fact that my summer holiday continued on as normal and nothing marked the beginning of a new semester. My new adventure is beginning soon, in two days actually (you can follow my Rochester adventure  here ), but I am somewhat saddened that my EMU adventure is actually complete. It's not that I miss school (I'm sure that will come soon), but I miss the person I was at EMU. I miss the passion, the conviction, and the having of a goal. And I'm worried that the lessons I learned and the things that stretched me are fading away. Something I have been reflecting on since I walked across the graduation stage four months ago is how to mark this ending. How do I represent all of what EMU was to me, all the friends and memories, the hopes and dreams? And of course I cannot represent all of it, but I don't want things to simply fade away without making the effort...

It's less than a month until my last summer in Winnipeg comes to a close and I thought it was high time that I take a moment to reflect on what these Winnipeg summers have meant, and especially to share some about the current one. I have been back to Winnipeg for summer work 3 times since I started at EMU in 2009 and each summer has been completely different. My first summer was filled with loneliness, during my second I crushed my pinkie and built relationships with church folk, and this last summer has been about family.  Maybe it's that I have been gone two years this time, or maybe it's that I have no plans of coming back, or possibly it is just that I have family in town, but I have not felt the need to connect much to Winnipeg over the past 2 months. I have seen a few other people, and of course I am going to church, but knowing that Winnipeg will not continue to be home for me has encouraged me not to build too many new relationships or connections.  My w...

having graduated from college is really confusing for me. up until now i have had a purpose, clearly defined, achievable, and sometimes all consuming. I was a student, and i was more than fairly good at it. but that identity has changed. i am now a graduate. and i am searching for a purpose the whole world is open to me now. it should be exciting, but somedays, especially today, it's terrifying. i could do anything, be any body, and chose any destiny. and i could lose myself completely in the attempt to find my true self.  the day after graduation i gathered for brunch with some friends. we chose to honor the four years spent together and recognize the gifts, accomplishments and talents in each other than might have gone unrecognized at the official ceremonies over the weekend. we called the recognitions "awards that matter." at the event I received a certificate of excellence in 'persistently seeking her true self' - a testament to my attempts to li...

Almost four weeks ago I left the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia to begin the next phase of my life. As many of you might know already, b eginning in August, I am planning to enter the Mennonite Voluntary Service program. MVS is an experience designed for young adults to grow in their faith, develop a deeper appreciation for the church, learn how to see what God is doing in the world, and imagine ways to become a  part of God’s kingdom work.   Through MVS, I will be spending the next year in a Rochester, New York. There I will have the chance to live in a mall intentional community of other MVSers and be a part of the faith community at Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship. As my service placement, I will be volunteering full time with the Judicial Process Commission, a small NGO that supports ex-offenders in the reintegration process. I am looking forward to serving and building relationships that are transforming in my life. However,  I very much need you t...

Don’t go through life, grow through life– Eric Butterworth A tree blossoms with rain – Tanzanian proverb The time for transition has come again to my life. As of April 28, 2013 I will be concluding my four years of undergraduate study at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg VA. I have grown much during these years. The EMU soil is rich with inspiration and has nurtured my passions for community, for justice, for building peace.   I have honed useful skills, such as research, writing, analysis, etc.   I have questioned often, and perhaps learned to live into the questioning. I have eaten from dumpsters, participated in protests, and critiqued systems of injustice. I have been humbled by interactions across cultures, languages, faiths, denominations, and theologies. I have seen God reflected in many people and many places. I have cried much and laughed more. I have loved lots. I have been watered by wonderful people and I have grown. And now i...

On Sunday evening I was blessed by the opportunity to spend an evening with 3 wonderful woman, to tell stories, to share our lives, and to laugh together until we cried. The reunion of the "Pit of Awesomeness" (my wonderful apartment from junior year) was as epic as could ever be desired. As we drank tea, ate chocolate from Austria, and shared dumpster doven delicacies, we reminisced on the beauty and the pain of life. We had not been together in the same place since April, and yet we fit back together like pieces of the puzzles we worked on diligently each Sabbath on our apartment floor last year. Perhaps it is always so with the best of friends. At one point we talked and laughed and thought and pondered, our topic of conversation drifted to the topic of world events. We discussed stories of pain, of death, or trauma in our world. And as we sat reminiscing on all the violence, that instead of dwelling on the horror in th...

It is a New Year. The calender slips quietly into 2013. January begins again. And I return to the mountain valley that has shaped and molded and challenged and inspired me for one last semester at EMU.  I wonder what this new year will bring, and what challenges, tears, and joys will come in this last new semester of my undergrad degree. I wonder how I will make the most of my time - or better yet, how I will be in the time I have there - and how I will treasure and honor the relationships and friends there who have held and molded pieces of my soul over the past 3 and a half-years. I'm curious how I will apply the lessons and learnings from my months in DC, from my service with Action for Peace Through Prayer and Aid and my work with Shoulder-to-Shoulder, from my experience living with 12 wonderful women and a single man in Brookland, to my life back at EMU. I'm wondering how time spent with family in Europe, in Winnipeg, and in Abbostford has raised q...