I saw the following on a poster at the ELCA Churchwide offices and loved it. I hope it speaks to you as much as it has to me. I feel as if it explains a bit about what I feel called and empowered to do with my life in some capacity.

"Passover Remembered" by Alla Bozarth-Campbell

Pack nothing.
Bring only your determination to serve
and your willingness to be free.

Don't wait for the bread to rise.
Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing.
Be ready to move at a moment's notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind-
fear, silence, submission.
Only surrender to the need of the time-
love justice and walk humbly with your God.

Do not take time to explain to the neighbours.
Tell only a few trusted friends and family members.
Then begin quickly, before you have had time
to sink back into old slavery.

Set out in the dark.
I will send fire to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire, and I will be with you in the cloud.

You will learn to eat new food
and find refuge in new places.
I will give you dreams in the desert
to guide you safely to that place you have not yet seen.
The stories you tell one another around the fires in the dark
will make you strong and wise.

Outsiders will attack you, and some follow you
and at times you will get weary and turn on each other
from fear, fatigue and blind forgetfulness.

You have been preparing for this
for hundreds of years.

I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way
and to learn my ways more deeply.

Some of you will be so changed by weathers and wanderings
that even your closest friends will have to learn your features
as though for the first time.

Some of you will not change at all.

Some will be abandoned by your dearest loves
and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth
who feel abandoned by you.

Some will find new friendships in unlikely faces,
and old true friends as faithful and true
as the pillar of God's flame.

Sing songs as you go,
and hold close together.
You may at times grow confused
and lose your way.

Continue to call each other by the names I've given you
to help remember who you are.
Touch each other,
and keep telling the stories.

Make maps as you go,
remembering the way back from before you were born.
So you will be only the first of many waves
of deliverance on the desert of seas.
It is the first of many beginnings-
your Paschaltide.

Remain true to the mystery.
Pass on the whole story.
Do not go back.
I am with you now and I am waiting for you.

A foretaste of the feast to come

Since Wednesday me and my fellow YAGMs have been in Chicago going through orientation to prepare us for the next year. We've learned about the Accompaniment model of ELCA Global Mission work, self-care, health and well-being, YAGM/GM policies, and cross-cultural relations. For the week we're staying in University of Chicago housing, but hosted by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago, and it's been pretty fabulous.

Sara, Michelle, and I celebrating the approval of our visas!

Yesterday, however, was one of my favorite adventures so far :) After our afternoon session on health and well-being, we were told by Heidi, our director, to drop our stuff off in our rooms and head right back to where we had been. When our country group, Jerusalem/West Bank, had all arrived we were given a 24 hour bus pass, some directions in the form of riddles and sent off to find where we were going to be dining. We had to turn our cell phones off and rely on figuring things out ourselves and asking people if we needed directions.

My friend, Kaylyn, had a similar experience earlier this summer before she went on a missions trip to the Ukraine: when she arrived at the airport, her group had to navigate without using English, doing different tasks before arriving at her destination. After hearing about our task in finding our restaurant, I got a bit excited at having that same experience, too.

Needless to say, I saw a lot of Chicago. It didn't take us very long to get to the restaurant, but it did require a few bus and El Train transfers. At one point we had decided on getting off at a certain stop, but realized at the stop before that we needed to get off there instead. Our team worked well together, and all went smoothly.

This photo doesn't do my Chicken Schawarma
justice: it was so colorful and tasted AMAZING.

Then we found our restaurant, Chickpea, a Palestinian cafe. I cannot explain to you how good the food was, but suffice to say I am extremely excited about the cuisine I'll be experiencing this next year. I can't remember what everyone ordered, but Sara had a delicious (I would know, I tried a bit) dish of Musakhan -chicken, onions and pita- which is the Palestinian national dish. The chicken was amazing, like a meat pie.

I, however, went with my staple: Chicken Schawarma on hummus with pita. It was absolutely amazing, and the presentation was good, too. There was baklava on the menu but I was too full to indulge (I know, many of you know how full I must have been to pass up baklava).

Our group had a lot of fun spending time together and getting a small glimpse at some of what we will encounter this next year. It has certainly whet our appetites and filled us with more excitement :)

Chi-town

Ye olde Windy City. It's actually been quite overwhelming, as far as the city goes. I arrived here on Wednesday after saying goodbye to my parents at Albany International, switching planes and meeting a friend (fellow Jerusalem/West Bank YAGM, Michelle) in Baltimore, and flying into Chicago Midway. It was good to meeting Michelle in Baltimore, and it made travelling to the University of Chicago's campus, where we're staying this week, much less stressful.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, we were aware that the six of us going to Jerusalem were still awaiting our visas to be approved, and we received an email on Monday acknowledging that even after the visas had been approved it would be another 1-2 weeks until the visas arrived in Chicago at the consulate where we could get them in our passports. So I knew upon leaving home that I was going to be in Chicago a little longer than the original one-week orientation. We met as a group, as the other countries had or will, with the wonderful director of YAGM, Heidi, who did her best to assure us that they had plans for us to learn Arabic, start readings on our country's history/current events, and otherwise start our Global Mission experience. Yet, I left the meeting feeling a little more than bummed that, to be honest, we didn't know when the visas would be approved or if the wait would cause us to go home in the stead.

The days have been gently filled with presentations, so far on the Accompaniment Model (more on that in a later post) and Cross-cultural Competencies, time to socialize with our fellow YAGMS, both in small group settings, as a large group, and informally during our free evenings. The programming has been really great, not only in what we've had presented to us, but also in regards to the amount of stuff we have each day. Wednesday afternoon I went to sleep shortly after our evening chapel service, and Thursday (after our meeting as a Country group and discussing our current predicament and feelings about such) I decided to stay in and re-charge with some "alone time" both because there had been a lot of extroversion and also because the news about the visa had finally started to really bum me out.

Today, however, has been fabulously better than yesterday. Perhaps the best day ever. After breakfast and our morning devotions we found out that our visas have been processed!!! It was the *best* news ever, and when Heidi told us I felt all the emotions I hadn't felt the past few days flood me: excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, relief, and joy to name a few. I felt my eyes tear up; it was finally real. We're going. Soon.


Today has progressed pretty nicely since hearing the joyous news of our visa status. This afternoon I went with a good sized group to Grant Park, in the downtown area of Chicago, for a free dance music concert. There was supposed to be cajun dancing (perhaps there was and I didn't realize), but it seemed to be mostly waltzing (which looks awfully similar to polka--I can strike that off my bucket list!). We all graced (or humiliated) the dance floor with our presence; I danced with friends and a few nice and willing (and need I say patient) teachers. It was a blast!

I'll post more tomorrow or Sunday about some of the great things I've learned in presentations this week while at the YAGM orientation, but until then, may you have patience and peace-of-soul as you give control over to God.

Airports

[Note: This was written 17 Aug; sorry for the delay in posting!]

Flying. I have a love/hate/love relationship with it. I love the airports, the excuse to take long naps during flight, arriving in a new place, but the actual moving on a speeding bullet through the air isn't really my favorite thing in the world. Now you may be thinking to yourself, "Courtney, you're just scared! Suck it up, be a woman!" but, alas, it is something all together different. Something that makes me feel nauseous, irritable and fuzzy-headed: circulated air. No, no, I won't write an entire post on the ills of circulated air, I've said my piece.

I do love airports, though (for the most part). Before heading through security, my parents and I grabbed some breakfast in the airport and talked about some of our previous travels and the number of airports we've been through (16 for me; I consider those merit badges). There are some that I've really enjoyed (Philly is one of my favorites, even though everyone always seems to hate it, tied with Albany) and some that are less than desirable (Newark comes to mind; although any airport that charges for wifi is lame-o in my humble opinion). But even in the worst of conditions there is something magical about airports (seeing people from all walks of life and from all over the world; and I always manage to see a monk or nun in full habit--I feel safer flying with them). Seriously! I could write a poem about 'em! ...but I won't.

I've just arrived at Baltimore via Southwest, where I will have a few hours until my flight around 1:20 to Chicago Midway. Greeting my hungry eyes was an Au Bon Pain, one of my favorite little cafes (I'm fairly certain that it was an Au Bon Pain in Oxford when I studied there that hosted me quite a few times). The food at airports has to be my favorite, because you *could* eat healthy...but all the other options are so much tastier! No matter what, I always treat myself when travelling. A sandwich, a coffee, or maybe some Junior Mints (perfect to settle that slightly churning mid-air stomach). It's like a vacation... (I have yet to get one of the airport massages, but rest assured I feel that is in my future either on the way to Jerusalem or on the way back at the latest)

So there you have it, I managed to write an entire post on the first leg of my flight. Makes me hopeful that I'll be able to post a lot each week :) 

Please continue to hold all the YAGMs in prayer as we descend on Chicago like the flock of eager beavers we are, as well as my parents as they plan my coming home party ;)

Almost Gone

"You're not waiting for life to begin, you've begun it!"

      -My dental hygienist

In less than 24 hours I will be enroute to Chicago where I will have pre-departure orientation for a week before flying out to Tel Aviv.

Wow.


I've gone through a ton of emotions already and know that there are a few more yet to come. I'd appreciate your prayers as I travel these next few weeks, not only for me, but for my family as well (and, of course, my fellow YAGMs and all those awaiting our arrival in Jerusalem).

One emotion that has popped it's head up is that of frustration. We sent our visa applications and stuffs in at the end of May, but are still waiting for official approval to get the visas placed in our passports. Everyone is working super hard on our behalf, and I know things will get done...but it's not in my nature to not worry. Luckily, everything is out of my hands, so there really isn't much I can do. Actually, there isn't anything I can do. What this means is that our group will be staying in Chicago after our pre-departure orientation for 1-2 weeks while we await final approval and such. I've never spent time in Chicago (flown through and left) so perhaps I will have some time to explore "The Windy City".

All this to say, thank you for your prayers, please continue them! I'm excited to get to Jerusalem :)

Fundraising Update: WE DID IT!

It's been a crazy few weeks with a last minute fundraising rally, but we did it! Together we have raised over $4,000 for Young Adults in Global Mission, which will go towards my year of service in Jerusalem/West Bank. I can't thank you all enough for your support, not only monetarily but in prayer and vocal affirmation; it is a very humbling experience.

So,
       Thank you
                  Thank you
                                    Thank YOU!


I couldn't be doing this without you, and for that I am grateful. To God be the Glory!