#yagmdip16

[betweenandbeloved]

Look at this fine group! YAGM 2016-2017 here to take on the world!

[betweenandbeloved]

Meet my new family for the next year #YAGMYear #YAGMDIP16

[betweenandbeloved]

YAGM preaching dream team. Shoutout to Ashley and Nate for an amazing experience of delivering the Word in three parts #YAGMDIP16 #YAGMYear #lutheran

[betweenandbeloved]

DIP Day 3: 4/16/2016

 Here I am Lord, is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if You lead me,

I will hold Your people in my heart.

Today was a lot of logistical information.  We had a presentation about fundraising and all that good stuff.  There will be an online giving page for those tech savvy people and donations through the mail for everyone else. Once everything is finalized that will be up and running.  The program costs just over $13,000 to send 1 YAGM, and we make up 30% of the ELCA missionaries (which is pretty sweet if you ask me).  We also had a presentation on the logistical information (that was really fast paced and not informative), but it covered a bunch of the forms we will need to fill out at some point in the next few months.  Basically once everything is finalized we will be given a very extensive checklist.

I had my lunch and interview with Cambodia so I can finally start to process all the information.  Per my usual self I made pro and con lists for both countries hoping to find some clarity in my decision and call to serve.  Unfortunately this did not work and I ultimately decided not to decide.  I will genuinely be happy in either country placement and I voiced my concerns on my decision card and am going to leave it up to the country coordinators and God.  Ultimately, they know better than I ever could.

So here’s what I need from you.  Please pray for me and my fellow YAGM’s as we go into tonight and tomorrow voicing our preferences and making decisions for ourselves.  Please pray for the country coordinators and ELCA Global Mission staff to guide them in their decision making and placement choices for each of us.  Please pray for all the countries and the people of those countries who are preparing to receive us.

[betweenandbeloved]

DIP Day 2: 4/15

In case I didn’t explain yesterday- and I’m pretty sure I didn’t. DIP  stands for Discernment, Interview, and Placement.  This weekend is about exploring, discovering, and reflecting about what it is God is calling me to do for the next year of my life.  Pretty deep.

Well today was utterly overwhelming, and if you know me, (which if you’re reading this I’m guessing you know at least a little about me), me getting overwhelmed takes a LOT.  Today was packed full of information, prayers, learning, and talking.  So much in fact I feel like my head is about to explode, and I feel more confused than ever.  I genuinely cannot tell you right now that I have a preference for either of my countries, because I do not.  Here’s what I learned from each of my country presentations in short:

Southern Africa: This consists of South Africa and Swaziland.  South Africa has a really rich and awful history with racism and the apartheid.  Even though it is formally over, racism is literally everywhere and in everything.  Should I be placed in South Africa, I will already have the label of privileged and powerful because I am white and American.  HIV/AIDS is kind of the norm, there is a lot of economic disparity, and infrastructure challenges.  Swaziland does not have as much racism because it is predominantly black, but they do have the highest rate of HIV and poverty.  They are also a monarchy so you have to be sensitive to what you say and do. The placements for Southern Africa are pretty spread out and can be anywhere from urban, to rural, to township living.  Safety is definitely talked about- street harassment is common (but I’m pretty sure that’s everywhere, wouldn’t be the first language I was cat called at in), and you are most definitely not allowed out at night by yourself.  Basically they said it’s a lot of street smarts and being aware of your surroundings (but isn’t that how anything is in life- I do the same thing in Baltimore).  The interesting thing about the SA program is that they are focused more on being rather than doing.  The slogan for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa (ELCSA) is “growing together in Christ.” Everything about the country is focused and based on relationship building.  When in Southern Africa you will be there to learn and grow more so than having a job to do.  They said sometimes you might not even have a placement until a few months in and you could feel like a waste of human life; but it’s what you do with that spare time and the relationships you build that are more important than anything else.

Cambodia: The country of Cambodia is roughly the size of Missouri (fun fact!) and the placements are much closer together.  Currently this is the first year for the program so they are still trying to grow and develop relationships.  There are 2, almost 3 Lutheran churches in the country we could be placed at, but it is much more common to work with the local NGO called Life with Dignity.  Since Cambodia is 95% Buddhist, unless you are placed in a congregation, there is not much connection with the church and a lot of reflection and devotion is on your own.  As this is a new country to the YAGM program, it has lots of room to grow and there could be new potential placements that, should we be placed there, we could get to explore and develop. It’s interesting that the country is profoundly shaped by their recent past with the Khmer Rouge, but identifies more with it’s ancient past (because they were pretty awesome for a while before the French came in).  There is not too much concern in the way of safety and internet access is in abundance, apparently, it is also cheaper for us to call home than it is to call the country coordinators (fun fact).

For both countries I will be learning a new, rather interesting language.  For Cambodia it would be Khmer and for Southern Africa it could be (literally) any of the following: Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, or Zulu.  

So basically today was more confusing than I ever imagined it would be.  I had my dinner and interview for Southern Africa tonight and I have lunch and my interview with Cambodia tomorrow.  I have a lot to discern and pray and think about.  I thought going into this weekend I would be more clear about which country I would be called to.  Let’s be real all of my family was pretty sure I’d come out saying South Africa- but I genuinely do not know right now.

[betweenandbeloved]

DIP Day 1: 4/14/2016

Le lo le lo lai lo, Le lo le lo lai lo, Le lo le lo lai lo, lo le lo le lo lai (Puerto Rico)

Hamba nathi mkululu wethu, mkululu, mkululu, mkululu wethu (South Africa)

Today has been a very long and interesting day.  I was up at 6am getting ready and heading to BWI.  I flew to Detroit and it was a pretty short flight.  By the time we got off the airplane I had to run across the airport to get to my next flight.  I did however find enough time to buy a Detroit spoon because I never got one at the ELCA youth gathering last summer.  My flight from Detroit to Chicago was 45 minutes; I literally spent more time getting on and off the plane than I did in the air.  

Once in the Chicago airport it was kind of awkward because I had three hours to kill.  I got some lunch and decided to go to the waiting location and do homework.  When I got there a group of people were sitting together and as I walked towards them someone was like “YAGM?” and so I joined the group.  We then proceeded to yell at every remotely young looking individual to see if they were part of our group.  It was actually a lot of fun.  The group got larger and larger.  There was a mix up and we ended up stranded at the airport for a lot longer than anticipated but we finally got a bus and it brought us to Techny Towers where we will remain for the rest of the weekend.

We were introduced to all the staff, country coordinators, and alumni present for the weekend and then we played some ice breaker games.  We had a yummy dinner and then were given more information about the weekend before we had a worship service.  The service was a TON of fun.  So many different languages and cultures were incorporated into the service and it was truly a fun time of laughing, singing, dancing, and stomping.

Tomorrow’s day includes: a presentation about YAGM, presentations for both Cambodia and Southern Africa, a presentation from the alumni, my headshot, dinner with one of the country coordinators for Southern Africa and my Southern Africa interview!!! Tomorrow is a big day and I’m super excited to see learn, grow, and discern about the next year.