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 community development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community development. 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 18, 2008
Irresistible Revolution
Yes! I admit it. I, like everyone else have been reading the book "irrresistible revolution". It has been going around a lot recently. This book is a mix between the author sharing stories of his life, that make living as a crazy Christian seem a lot more radical but also do-able. So here goes a quote from Chapter five "Another way of doing life"
"if you ask most people what Christians believe, they can tell you, 'Chrsitians believe that Jesus is God's son and that Jesus rose from the dead.' But if you ask the average person how CHristians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everybody elsel; they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way. And doctrine is not very attractive, even if its true. Few people are interested in a religion that has nothing to say to the world and offers them only life after death, when what people are really wondering is whether there is life before death.
As my teacher Tony Campolo used to ask 'Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now' I am more and more convicned each day that i would. dont get me wrong. im exited about the afterlife. we are going to party like there's no tomorrow (umm, and there won't be). and yet i am convinced that Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live. Otherwise, much of Jesus' wisdom would prove quiete unnecessary for the afterlife. After all, how hard could it be to love our enemies in heaven? and the kingdom that Jesus speaks so much about is not just something we hope for after we die but is something we are in incarnate now. Jesus says the kingdom is 'within us' 'among us' 'at hand' and we are to pray that it comes 'on earth as it is in heaven'. no wonder the early Christian church was know as the way. it was a way of life that stood in glaring contrast to the world. what gave the early Christians integrity was the fact that they could denounce the empire and in the same breath say 'and we have another way of living. if you are tired of what the empire has to offer, we invite you into the way' even the pagan emperor Julian confessed 'the godless Galileans feed our poor in addition to their own'. the way has little cells multiplying all over that ole empire. of course, everyone was forewarned that in this kingdom everthing is backward and upside-down - the last are first and the first are last. the poor are blessed and the mighty are cast from their thrones. and yet people were attracted to it. they were ready for something different from what the empire had to offer.
coming out of college, my friends and i were pretty unwilling to 'conform to the pattern of this world' as the Scriptures say (rom 12:2) we knew all to well that there is a broad way that leads to death and that most peopple would take it, but we also knew that there is a narrow way that leads to life, and we wanted to find it (mayy 7: 13-14)....
... an expreriment in truth
my friends and i had a hunch that there ismore to life than what we had been told to pursue. we knew that the world cannot affor the American dream and that the good news is that there is another dream. we looked to the early church and to the Scriptured and to the poor to find it.
When Dorothy Day recalls the beginning of the Catholic Worker movement, she says very unassumingly 'we were just there talking and it happened....'
My most favorite part of this chapter is on page 120.
"one, there was a small group of kids who decided to go to a park in the middle of the city, and dance and play, laugh and twirl. as they played in the park, they thought that maybe another child would pass by and see them. maybe that child woudl think it looked fun and even decide to join them. then maybe another one would. then maybe a businessman would hear them from his skyscraper. maybe he would look out the window. maybe he would see them playing and lay down his papers and come down. then maybe another businessman woud walk by, a nistalgic man, and he would take off his tie and toss aside his briefcase and dance and play. maybe the while city would join the dance. maybe even the world. maybe...regardless, they decided to enjoy the dance.
We went to the ghetto. We narowed our vision to this: Love God, Love people and follow Jesus (which is similar to Mission Years vision: Love God, Love People, nothing else matters)
We had no idea what we were getting into. We had no big vision for programs or community development. We wanted only to be passionate lovers of God and people and to take the gospel way of life seriously. Some of us dropped out of school; some finished. Some of us were pursuing careers; others left them.
Since those early days we've made plenty of mistakes and have never learned the secret to not hurting each other. we have begun asking new questions and have challenged each other to risk more. Some of the faces have changed, some of us are still here. Now some of us are married and some have chosen singleness, and some have kids. We recognize each of these choices as a gift. we have created some healthy structures and rhythms of our communal life...
The next sections is entitled "Shouting the Gospel with our lives" I encourage all of you to read this book and get an image of what the Christian life could be like. Get encouraged by hearing about someone who has been able to do amazing things for Christ and hes just a normal guy.
Im still not done with the book. By no means is this book perfect. There are certain things I dont like. I was talking to Katie and i told her that i felt like it was a mix between an autobiography, and an evangelism/christian living book. and thats ok. And now as i look on the back, it actually is categorized as Christian Living/ Spiritual Growth/ General by Zondervan the publisher.
My next books on my list to read are
Everybody wants to Change the world (practical ideas for Social Justice by Tony Campolo and Gordon Aeschliman. Ive already read some parts of it, and he got me real exited about the environment.
and The treasure principle by Randy Alcorn. I got it at Roy Weece's funeral. I never got the privaledge to meet him. But i went to his funeral with the college age staff. This testimony makes me think a lot about my finances and the amazing things God can do when we let go of the purse strings.
"if you ask most people what Christians believe, they can tell you, 'Chrsitians believe that Jesus is God's son and that Jesus rose from the dead.' But if you ask the average person how CHristians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everybody elsel; they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way. And doctrine is not very attractive, even if its true. Few people are interested in a religion that has nothing to say to the world and offers them only life after death, when what people are really wondering is whether there is life before death.
As my teacher Tony Campolo used to ask 'Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now' I am more and more convicned each day that i would. dont get me wrong. im exited about the afterlife. we are going to party like there's no tomorrow (umm, and there won't be). and yet i am convinced that Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live. Otherwise, much of Jesus' wisdom would prove quiete unnecessary for the afterlife. After all, how hard could it be to love our enemies in heaven? and the kingdom that Jesus speaks so much about is not just something we hope for after we die but is something we are in incarnate now. Jesus says the kingdom is 'within us' 'among us' 'at hand' and we are to pray that it comes 'on earth as it is in heaven'. no wonder the early Christian church was know as the way. it was a way of life that stood in glaring contrast to the world. what gave the early Christians integrity was the fact that they could denounce the empire and in the same breath say 'and we have another way of living. if you are tired of what the empire has to offer, we invite you into the way' even the pagan emperor Julian confessed 'the godless Galileans feed our poor in addition to their own'. the way has little cells multiplying all over that ole empire. of course, everyone was forewarned that in this kingdom everthing is backward and upside-down - the last are first and the first are last. the poor are blessed and the mighty are cast from their thrones. and yet people were attracted to it. they were ready for something different from what the empire had to offer.
coming out of college, my friends and i were pretty unwilling to 'conform to the pattern of this world' as the Scriptures say (rom 12:2) we knew all to well that there is a broad way that leads to death and that most peopple would take it, but we also knew that there is a narrow way that leads to life, and we wanted to find it (mayy 7: 13-14)....
... an expreriment in truth
my friends and i had a hunch that there ismore to life than what we had been told to pursue. we knew that the world cannot affor the American dream and that the good news is that there is another dream. we looked to the early church and to the Scriptured and to the poor to find it.
When Dorothy Day recalls the beginning of the Catholic Worker movement, she says very unassumingly 'we were just there talking and it happened....'
My most favorite part of this chapter is on page 120.
"one, there was a small group of kids who decided to go to a park in the middle of the city, and dance and play, laugh and twirl. as they played in the park, they thought that maybe another child would pass by and see them. maybe that child woudl think it looked fun and even decide to join them. then maybe another one would. then maybe a businessman would hear them from his skyscraper. maybe he would look out the window. maybe he would see them playing and lay down his papers and come down. then maybe another businessman woud walk by, a nistalgic man, and he would take off his tie and toss aside his briefcase and dance and play. maybe the while city would join the dance. maybe even the world. maybe...regardless, they decided to enjoy the dance.
We went to the ghetto. We narowed our vision to this: Love God, Love people and follow Jesus (which is similar to Mission Years vision: Love God, Love People, nothing else matters)
We had no idea what we were getting into. We had no big vision for programs or community development. We wanted only to be passionate lovers of God and people and to take the gospel way of life seriously. Some of us dropped out of school; some finished. Some of us were pursuing careers; others left them.
Since those early days we've made plenty of mistakes and have never learned the secret to not hurting each other. we have begun asking new questions and have challenged each other to risk more. Some of the faces have changed, some of us are still here. Now some of us are married and some have chosen singleness, and some have kids. We recognize each of these choices as a gift. we have created some healthy structures and rhythms of our communal life...
The next sections is entitled "Shouting the Gospel with our lives" I encourage all of you to read this book and get an image of what the Christian life could be like. Get encouraged by hearing about someone who has been able to do amazing things for Christ and hes just a normal guy.
Im still not done with the book. By no means is this book perfect. There are certain things I dont like. I was talking to Katie and i told her that i felt like it was a mix between an autobiography, and an evangelism/christian living book. and thats ok. And now as i look on the back, it actually is categorized as Christian Living/ Spiritual Growth/ General by Zondervan the publisher.
My next books on my list to read are
Everybody wants to Change the world (practical ideas for Social Justice by Tony Campolo and Gordon Aeschliman. Ive already read some parts of it, and he got me real exited about the environment.
and The treasure principle by Randy Alcorn. I got it at Roy Weece's funeral. I never got the privaledge to meet him. But i went to his funeral with the college age staff. This testimony makes me think a lot about my finances and the amazing things God can do when we let go of the purse strings.
Aug 15, 2007
The other tenant
So I am the other tenant of 312 W. 14th St. It has indeed been a long journey gettting to God's Resort. One that for me started over six months ago when I first wanted to move here. The timing just wasn't right at that point. No one wanted to live there, the neighborhood was worse then it is now, and the church was still getting things organized. After eight months a lot of that has changed.
I came back from Jamaica ready to be content with where God had me, in Joplin, at the Royal Orleans, working. It had taken forever it seemed to get to that point of contentment and Jamaica had given it to me. Then God called Megan to move to God's Resort and finally I had my partner to finish his call in my life. So we did it. I had come up with every possible obstacle we might face in the eight months preceding this so I was not quite so assured as Megan. It wasn't logical, it wasn't conveniant, and it was exactly the kind of thing God does to bring glory to His kingdom. His timing I have decided is never our timing, sometimes we miss it by minutes, sometimes by months, some wait years, but it always comes if it is truly a desire given by God and we must be patient and faithful until he has set the way.
So we moved! The house was less then clean, but we cleaned it. We had no refrigerator, so we ate a lot of Taco Bell and were blessed by many loving friends. We had no air conditioning, so we stayed with many other loving friends for the first almost two weeks. The house is coming together though. Day by day it becomes home. Having the kids there is such a joy, even in the tough moments you just can't help but love them and be so joyful to have the opportunity to spend so much time investing into them. We are already seeing changes in them which is incredible!
Right now we are setting up boundaries and they are testing them. It is almost like animals when they get new cages and start testing for secret ways in and out or the weakest link. These kids have tried everything. They knock at all hours of the day and night, windows, doors, walls. They yell when knocking doesn't work and all the while you must be patient and kind and explain what correct etiquette might be for that situation. Curfew is 10:00, which to me seems late, but for these kids is early. They haven't quite figured out what curfew is yet I think, if the lights in the house are on they take it as an invite to knock. Neither Megan nor I are getting the greatest amount of rest, but we know its worth it.
I came back from Jamaica ready to be content with where God had me, in Joplin, at the Royal Orleans, working. It had taken forever it seemed to get to that point of contentment and Jamaica had given it to me. Then God called Megan to move to God's Resort and finally I had my partner to finish his call in my life. So we did it. I had come up with every possible obstacle we might face in the eight months preceding this so I was not quite so assured as Megan. It wasn't logical, it wasn't conveniant, and it was exactly the kind of thing God does to bring glory to His kingdom. His timing I have decided is never our timing, sometimes we miss it by minutes, sometimes by months, some wait years, but it always comes if it is truly a desire given by God and we must be patient and faithful until he has set the way.
So we moved! The house was less then clean, but we cleaned it. We had no refrigerator, so we ate a lot of Taco Bell and were blessed by many loving friends. We had no air conditioning, so we stayed with many other loving friends for the first almost two weeks. The house is coming together though. Day by day it becomes home. Having the kids there is such a joy, even in the tough moments you just can't help but love them and be so joyful to have the opportunity to spend so much time investing into them. We are already seeing changes in them which is incredible!
Right now we are setting up boundaries and they are testing them. It is almost like animals when they get new cages and start testing for secret ways in and out or the weakest link. These kids have tried everything. They knock at all hours of the day and night, windows, doors, walls. They yell when knocking doesn't work and all the while you must be patient and kind and explain what correct etiquette might be for that situation. Curfew is 10:00, which to me seems late, but for these kids is early. They haven't quite figured out what curfew is yet I think, if the lights in the house are on they take it as an invite to knock. Neither Megan nor I are getting the greatest amount of rest, but we know its worth it.
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