What's next? MVS!


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, beginning 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 to go on this journey with me, in prayer and financial support. Going with MVS requires me to raise part of my financial support because we do not ask the communities we serve in to fully support us financially. I also covet your prayers and thoughts during my time of service.

 I invite you to prayerfully consider contributing whatever feels appropriate for you.While each of you can pray in equal measure, the funding is a little bit more complicated. 

For my American friends: 

All gifts in US funds should be made electronically on the Mennonite Mission Network web site http://www.mennonitemission.net/GiveToService. Please designate it for MVS and include my name as the participant you wish to support. All donations made through the website are tax-deductible and you will be sent a donation receipt from Mennonite Mission Network on behalf of MVS. 


For my Canadian friends: 

My home church, River East Mennonite Brethren, will be supporting me through their Service/Education fund. I invite you to prayerfully consider contributing to this fund whatever feels appropriate for you.  All gifts should be made payable to River East Mennonite Brethren Church, with “SeEd fund” indicated on the memo line.  The gift is tax-deductible, and you will be sent a donation receipt from River East MB. 


For everyone:
I want you to share in my learning and reflections during my time with MVS. I have started a new blog, temporarily entitled "My Life as an MVSer" until a I come up with something better (feel free to offer suggestions). 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Reflection on Mothering

The second Sunday of May. May 13, 2012. International Mothers Day. My planner tells me it is celebrated in USA, CAN, AUS, NZL. Very international. (note the sarcasm).  I have noticed mother's day come and go several times. I pride myself on never forgetting the culturally mandatory, and always rewarding, phone call to my mother, even when she is across the globe. Often I call my grandmother and single aunt as well - they too have been mothers in my life.  This year, however, I was struck by how Mother's Day, with it's focus on gift giving and flowers designed both to empower the economy and praise feminine domesticity, losses sight of the character of mothering.  I celebrated Mother's Day with "The House of Peace," a church community run through Fourth Street Community Fellowship (Virginia Mennonite Conference) for the impoverished and homeless of inner city Washington, D.C. In honor of thee occasion, Rev. Sang Jin Choi asked members to share test...
Read more

change

read this : http://www.thesimpleway.org/resources/details/50-ways-to-become-the-answer-to-our-prayers/. I did. And while I knew it was a call to change, I kept checking off all the things I already do. I hate that somehow, in my mind, the few things on that list I have done or do, like laughing at advertisements or writing someone in prison, seem to justify my fears of actually sacrificing something to make a difference. Here, at this point in my life, when I have all the time in the world, I read that list and check off the things I did at school without thinking of the things I could do here and now, in my lonely existence. I know full well that my sadness and my loneliness have to do with having nothing to be passionate at the moment, having nothing to keep me in love with the world. And yet, I don't know how I can adapt the list of simple, radical living, to inspire me today to make a difference. I'm not sure how I can be the answer to prayers in this place while I continue...
Read more

hippie me

I made a decision the other day. A friend of mine encouraged me to be proud of how I spend my time this summer, to plan things to look forward to, and in many ways to enjoy life. For awhile now I've waited on God to change this summer, and somehow I've forgotten that I have hands, feet, a heart, and a brain to change it too. And so I set out to make a list, a list that will bring joy, encouragement, and excitement to me as well as others. In many ways it's a simple list, consisting of smiling, leaving random notes of encouragement, and caring a trash bag around town to pick up the worlds litter. However, this list is helping me to find the passion for life that I felt I might have left at school in Virginia. Being so far from the God-loving, hippie culture of the past year is forcing me to come to terms with how I can love God's world and Her people in my own way. And this time, doing things like not-washing my hair, washing my clothes by hand, and building calluses on ...
Read more