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| The other day I went to the dentist. Usually there is nothing too exciting about going to the dentist but this trip to the dentist quickly became very interesting when I arrived at the dentist's office to find that this particular dentist did not speak English! See, when I made the appointment last week, I just looked for the closest dentist that was available on our particular dental insurance plan. When I did this, the closest dentist that appeared happened to be on located a few blocks from Emmaus in the Little Vietnam/Thailand/Cambodia section of Chicago. Luckily, the dentist's assistant spoke English well enough and I was able to get a check up and my teeth cleaned. It was interesting (and probably funny too) trying to explain to the dentist that I was only there for a check up, she kept asking me what hurt in my mouth and then looked very confused when I replied that in fact nothing hurt. The dentist was very nice though and the assistant was very patient and it was definately a learning experience for me. Yesterday I was able to attend a volunteer orientation at World Relief in Chicago. World Relief (http://www.worldrelief.org/) works with refugees from around the world and helps them to get established here in the States. Refugee/Immigration has definately become something that I have a passion for over the past few years. Ever since taking Dr. Cook's Contemporary World Missions course at Cedarville and having my world rocked during the Refugee weekend I have become more and more interested in the lives of refugees. It was great to have the opportunity yesterday to talk with someone from World Relief about what they do here in Chicago as well as about Refugee issues in general. Hopefully I will be able to start doing some work with World Relief in the Fall. Here are some interesting links about refugee issues: http://www.worldrelief.org/ World Relief www.unhcr.org/ United Nations High Commission on Refugees www.state.gov/g/prm U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration "The Art of Flight" is a facinating documentary on Sudenese Refugees. You can find it a Google Videos | | |
| Yes, the rumors are true, I joined Facebook! Lets be friends!
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| Life has been quite eventful since I last updated. Two weeks ago all of us in the Kaio Community at Emmaus went on a retreat in beautiful Dubuque, Iowa. We stayed at a pretty sweet looking monastery with real, actual monks! Monks that wake up to the sound of a gong at 3:30am (that part was not so cool). It was a very beneficial time to reflect on the year so far for us in Kaio and to just take alot of personal time to reflect, pray, and be with God. The thing that God kept teaching me during the retreat was that He simply loves me with no reservations. It is so easy to say that God loves all of us unconditionally but another thing all together to believe it at the core of who you are and for that to be the absolute basis of your life. The thing of it is, is that I know who I am. I know my secret thoughts, motives, and I know the things that are in my heart. To realize that God also knows all of this, in fact knows all my faults, all the things that I try to hide from everything else, and yet still loves me to the greatest extent is simply an amazing thought. I try so hard to make myself acceptable to God, if I just clean up my act, try a little harder, get my life together, then God would love me. But every time I start thinking like this, God tells me, "Look, you don't get it; I love you so much, that nothing will ever make me stop loving you." God's love for me then frees me up to live a life of freedom, allowing God to love me. I no longer have to be insecure about wondering if everyone else will love me, God loves me, and that is all that matters.
Two days after I got back from Iowa, my friend Joel flew into Chicago on his way back from India. It was great to see Joel again and hear about his travels in India; I didn't even mind the 5:00am arrival at the airport. A few hours after Joel arrived, my friend Jackie (Joel's fiance) also flew into Chicago. It was also great to see her again. These two are easily two of my favorite people so it was definitely a blessing to have both of them here on the same day. Later that day the three of us got to meet up with two other friends from Cedarville who just moved into my neighborhood in Chicago. The next day Joel, Jackie and I began our trip to a friend's wedding in New Hampshire. We left the first day for southern Ohio to pick up two other friends. The next day we drove out to New Hampshire. It was a 15 hour drive from Ohio but it was a fun road trip with some of my favorite people. It was my first time in New England and I have to say it was really beautiful. When we got to New Hampshire, we were reunited with a lot of other friends from Cedarville and it was great getting to see many people who I haven't seen this past year. The week that we were in New Hampshire was pretty much none stop fun which included a funny story of getting bounced from an arcade in Boston during the bachelor party thanks to Joel. The wedding really was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun as well. The next day we drove back to Ohio, said goodbye to our southern Ohio friends and then drove back to Chicago the following day. Joel, Jackie and I spent a final day in Chicago and then left for their airports at 3:00am Wednesday morning. After dropping off Joel and Jackie for their flights I drove back to Michigan to drop off my car. I am now relaxing here in Michigan enjoying my last day of vacation before I catch the train back to Chicago later this evening. Though maybe not exactly relaxing, this vacation was an amazing and encouraging time with friends.
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| An interesting week. I actually didn't have much on my schedule this week yet it feels like I ended up doing quite a bit. On Tuesday we had an all day Strategic Planning Meeting at Emmaus. Basically we spent the entire day looking at different facets of the ministry and reflecting on how we are doing in different areas, what we are doing well and where we need improvement. I would say that it was an important lesson learned in being honest and learning to communicate different opinions effectively. The bulk of my time on Wednesday and Thursday was spent studying Greek. On August 17 I have an entrance exam for school that I have to take covering everything that I should have learned in my two years of Greek study at school. So, basically I need to pass in order to come into the program and hit the ground running without losing any time and money. On Thursday I went out to Lawndale and ate dinner with Brittney who works here at Emmaus through the Mission Year program. It was cool to see their neighborhood and their ministry to the people in the community. On Friday I worked in the Emmaus House in the evening with Lindsay my fellow Kaio member. The highlight to my week was Saturday night when Lindsay and I went to see one of my favorite bands mewithoutYou. The band certainly didn't disappoint, it was an amazing concert. I woke up this morning pretty tired but made it to church. After church I went out to lunch with Larry, a former Emmaus Ministries Minister. I hadn't had the opportunity to hang out with Larry for a few weeks so it was cool to catch up on what is going on in each others lives. That was pretty much my week. Tomorrow I am leaving for Iowa for a few days for a Kaio retreat, I don't think I've ever been to Iowa so I hope that it will be a good time, at least it will be a change of scenery anyway.
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