Well I have around two weeks left here at God's Resort. I cannot believe we have been here for over a year and now my time is coming to a close. This past year has literally been the most amazing experience of my life and I could not imagine having expected to learn the lessons in life I have over the past year.
I have some updates on where I am heading next. I was chosen to be the team captain of my team of 3 girls and 2 guys. We are from all over the US and I am so excited to meet them soon! We will be living in a neighborhood known as La Villita (Little Village) in Chicago that is apparently 83% Latino. We will be attending both Spanish and English services with New Life Community Church there. I am so excited to be more immersed in Spanish culture and have more opportunities to use my tiny amount of Spanish and hopefully learn more.
Things are still going amazing down at God's Resort. We are moving forward with obtaining our status as a non-profit organization and that should be in place soon. Our church just announced that North Joplin Christian Church, which disbanded a few months ago, has offered College Heights their property in order to create an outreach ministry similar to that at God's Resort on the north side of town! I continue to be amazed at how God works in our community. It is truly amazing how much more incredible His plan is than ours. This new neighborhood faces many of the same problems as our current work at God's Resort and I know God wants to do great things there. Our church is currently meeting in preparation for a vote to determine the congregation's feelings on acquiring the property and then the elders will make the final decision, so we need lots of prayer right now for this decision to match God's will. I'm not too worried, if God wants it He will find a way.
If you want to keep up with my new adventure in Chicago check out my blog for Mission Year at www.missionyear.org/blog/katiehargrove
Showing posts with label Mission Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mission Year. Show all posts
Aug 11, 2008
Jul 29, 2008
No Internet = No Blogging
Well, internet access has been somewhat limited lately after quitting working at the university. It's a lame excuse for letting stuff slide, but it's the only one I have. Life has been interesting for a long while at God's Resort, but summer brings a whole new element to the playing field. No school = lots of kids bored and looking for something to do. We have had a blast swimming, going to church camps and VBS, playing at the parks, and going to movies and the library.
There has been a lot of shifting in the neighborhood. One of the families moved away and that was really hard to see them go, even knowing it may be the best thing for them at this time. Eddie and Emilie moved up to Iowa for the summer to work and we were very sad to see them go, but they have come to visit a lot and that has been wonderful. Josh moved in with our friend Brandon and that has been a great time having them there serving alongside us. Abi moved out this past weekend back to Iowa in order to prepare for leaving for North Africa this Fall as a nanny to missionaries from our church. She is so awesome! We have a new roommate Leah who also plans to do missions in Africa but cannot leave for 2 years and wants to spend those two years at God's Resort. We are so excited to have her. She is an amazing prayer warrior and incredible woman. I move soon. Too soon it feels like sometimes.
I move to Chicago August 29th for team training and then go to Atlanta for a time to do group orientation and then back to Chicago for a year! I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with Mission Year, but it is a bittersweet feeling to be leaving God's Resort. One month left. I cannot believe in just a couple days we will hit our one year mark. I remember a time at the beginning where we had no idea if we would make it and here we are :) It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, no doubt. Keep us in your prayers! A lot is coming into play down at God's Resort. We are becoming our own stand alone non-profit organization and partnering with the City of Joplin (!) in a neighborhood redevelopment program! Incredible isn't it? Who knew that one year could see so much change. Almost all of the buildings have been remodeled to better standards, we have a brilliant newly landscaped backyard, a music stage where we had our first puppet show last Sunday, and a fully functioning community house. God is good, very good.
There has been a lot of shifting in the neighborhood. One of the families moved away and that was really hard to see them go, even knowing it may be the best thing for them at this time. Eddie and Emilie moved up to Iowa for the summer to work and we were very sad to see them go, but they have come to visit a lot and that has been wonderful. Josh moved in with our friend Brandon and that has been a great time having them there serving alongside us. Abi moved out this past weekend back to Iowa in order to prepare for leaving for North Africa this Fall as a nanny to missionaries from our church. She is so awesome! We have a new roommate Leah who also plans to do missions in Africa but cannot leave for 2 years and wants to spend those two years at God's Resort. We are so excited to have her. She is an amazing prayer warrior and incredible woman. I move soon. Too soon it feels like sometimes.
I move to Chicago August 29th for team training and then go to Atlanta for a time to do group orientation and then back to Chicago for a year! I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with Mission Year, but it is a bittersweet feeling to be leaving God's Resort. One month left. I cannot believe in just a couple days we will hit our one year mark. I remember a time at the beginning where we had no idea if we would make it and here we are :) It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, no doubt. Keep us in your prayers! A lot is coming into play down at God's Resort. We are becoming our own stand alone non-profit organization and partnering with the City of Joplin (!) in a neighborhood redevelopment program! Incredible isn't it? Who knew that one year could see so much change. Almost all of the buildings have been remodeled to better standards, we have a brilliant newly landscaped backyard, a music stage where we had our first puppet show last Sunday, and a fully functioning community house. God is good, very good.
May 13, 2008
May Update
I found out, almost a month ago now, that I am going to Chicago! I cannot believe the path that God has created for me over the past year and leading into this next one. Only He could have taken me from where I was to where I am now and I am so excited to be on this crazy journey walking next to Him. I am truly psyched for Chicago. In all honesty I have wanted to move to Chicago since I was a freshman in college and knowing I am going to be living there in just a few short months is incredible. My friends I think are just as excited, if not more, that I am going to Chicago because it's the closest of MY's destinations to our "home" here in Joplin. It still is like 9 hours away, but it's the closest. I keep telling them that there are only certain times we are allowed visitors and that I can come home, but that doesn't seem to change their excitement. Many of them are from the Chicago land area and therefore I guess feel this new sense of bonding with me now that I am moving to their home turf. Whatever the reasons are for their excitement, all I know is I am so glad they are excited. My community here are my brothers and sisters and transitioning together as a group through changes for our friends has always been key. We want to be in each other's lives enough that no distance will change our commitment to one another. So moving to Chicago is an awesome high this month!
Another high has been the fifteen billion birthdays this month. Literally like 60% of our entire friend group has birthdays in April and May and so the last month and a half has been like one long birthday party, but what better thing to celebrate right? Also, May 1 marked 3 years of following Christ for me and that just rocks in itself!
The final and greatest high has been the birth of Uriah Daniel Gonzalez, the first baby in our group! The parents are my neighbors and dear friends and being beside them through the whole pregnancy has been an incredible journey. It is so exciting to have him here now with us.
This is just a taste of the great things that are going on these days. As the weather warms up, all the kids are coming out to play and biking around town has become our new favorite pastime (I even learned how to ride with a kid on the bike with me yesterday!). We have started taking cookies across the street to our local AA/NA meeting and that has been really cool meeting new people and their kids. There has been a lot to rejoice over this past month and I wanted to share just a little with you all.
Another high has been the fifteen billion birthdays this month. Literally like 60% of our entire friend group has birthdays in April and May and so the last month and a half has been like one long birthday party, but what better thing to celebrate right? Also, May 1 marked 3 years of following Christ for me and that just rocks in itself!
The final and greatest high has been the birth of Uriah Daniel Gonzalez, the first baby in our group! The parents are my neighbors and dear friends and being beside them through the whole pregnancy has been an incredible journey. It is so exciting to have him here now with us.
This is just a taste of the great things that are going on these days. As the weather warms up, all the kids are coming out to play and biking around town has become our new favorite pastime (I even learned how to ride with a kid on the bike with me yesterday!). We have started taking cookies across the street to our local AA/NA meeting and that has been really cool meeting new people and their kids. There has been a lot to rejoice over this past month and I wanted to share just a little with you all.
Jan 22, 2008
You say you want a revolution?
Everyone who reads the Irresistible Revolution tells me it changed their life. After a while I got tired of hearing that response. I mean I'm glad it apparently changed their life, but it's kind of like when people come back from a trip out of the country or a missions trip and you as them how it was and all you get back is "it was amazing" or "it was life-changing". I have no doubt that they fully believe that this book has changed their life, but why this book and why not the many chapters of the Bible that I know they also are reading simultaneously. So I just started asking the dreaded question no one wants to answer. "Why?" Why has this seemingly simple book about some guy in Philadelphia changed so many people's lives and the next question is always "How?". About half the time the people stare blankly back at me, not having expected to have to explain why this book had such an impact on them. It gets them thinking though, almost all of them have come back later and said, "so when you asked me "Why and how?" the other day I was shocked, but now that I have thought about it here is how." I have loved the responses I have gotten back. They range anywhere from a simple change of financial responsibility to people like Eddie and Emilie deciding to up and move down here to God's Resort with us. I have decided that the reason this book has had such an impact on our group is found in 2 reasons:
1. It is the life story of one Christian guy selling out to Jesus instead of the world and actually living radically in our world. There are not a lot of wholesome people out there who when being radical are safe to follow, but this guy is one example of how you really can living radically different from the world in a way that shuns everything that Jesus would hate, but embraces all of his teachings as well.
2. It gives us the excuse to do it. Most of us are at a point in life where the world is calling and we have the choice to start down an upward mobility path or a downward mobility path and this guy gives us the excuse to go a way radically different from the world that most of us were just waiting to find an excuse for. It's hard to be just starting out with little financial stability or clout in the world and say "I am going to reject the norm and go for something that may leave me with no money and no worldly success because it really is where I want to be more than anywhere else.”
I am so excited to keep talking to people about this book, merely because it has caused so many people to think about what it means to follow Jesus in a world so drastically different then that of the disciples in Acts.
On a different note, I just finished reading the book Kingdom Works by Bart Campolo. It is basically a collection of thirty stories from Mission Year, the program I am applying to for next year. I had a lot of fun reading it because honestly a lot of the stories about teams in the field sound like the stories Megan and I tell in this blog. It is always comforting for us to read similar accounts and know we at least are experiencing the same setbacks and challenges, and every once in a while successes, as other inner city neighbors. I love Bart Campolo’s outlook on Christianity and his passion for telling it like it is. It sometimes makes people uncomfortable, but hey so did Jesus.
1. It is the life story of one Christian guy selling out to Jesus instead of the world and actually living radically in our world. There are not a lot of wholesome people out there who when being radical are safe to follow, but this guy is one example of how you really can living radically different from the world in a way that shuns everything that Jesus would hate, but embraces all of his teachings as well.
2. It gives us the excuse to do it. Most of us are at a point in life where the world is calling and we have the choice to start down an upward mobility path or a downward mobility path and this guy gives us the excuse to go a way radically different from the world that most of us were just waiting to find an excuse for. It's hard to be just starting out with little financial stability or clout in the world and say "I am going to reject the norm and go for something that may leave me with no money and no worldly success because it really is where I want to be more than anywhere else.”
I am so excited to keep talking to people about this book, merely because it has caused so many people to think about what it means to follow Jesus in a world so drastically different then that of the disciples in Acts.
On a different note, I just finished reading the book Kingdom Works by Bart Campolo. It is basically a collection of thirty stories from Mission Year, the program I am applying to for next year. I had a lot of fun reading it because honestly a lot of the stories about teams in the field sound like the stories Megan and I tell in this blog. It is always comforting for us to read similar accounts and know we at least are experiencing the same setbacks and challenges, and every once in a while successes, as other inner city neighbors. I love Bart Campolo’s outlook on Christianity and his passion for telling it like it is. It sometimes makes people uncomfortable, but hey so did Jesus.
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