We have arrived!!! Four other YAGMs, Sam, Caitlyn, Claire, and Michael, and myself arrived safely in London yesterday morning! We are currently waiting for the rest of our team to arrive in the next couple of weeks; the British consulate has been playing hide and go seek with their visas! After we arrived Caitlyn, Claire, and Michael were all picked up by their hosts and taken to their homes for the next year! As a group we were incredibly grateful for smooth travels as we made it to London without any trouble. Thank you for all of the prayers, notes, and messages...We appreciate more than you know!
Sam and I have settled in to our stay in northern London, our temporary home for the next week and a half. So, now that we have caught up on some of our sleep and my ankles have returned to their normal size I finally have a moment to reflect on the whirlwind of the last two weeks.
Sunday, August 12th
The Sunday before I left for Chicago I was lucky enough to speak and attend at St. John's Lutheran Church in Springfield. This was a new worshipping experience; St. John's has a drive-in worship service at the Melody Theater. My mom and I took our lawn chairs and sat in the warm summer sunlight and listened to Pastor Pollock preach. One of my favorite parts of the service was right after I spoke, instead of clapping, they honked their car horns! It was quite the time!
After the second St. John's service, my mom and I hustled back to First Lutheran to attend the second half of my final service at home. I am so incredibly blessed to be supported by both St. John's and First Lutheran and cannot thank them enough for everything they have done for me!
Now, for those of you who know me, you know that surprises aren't really my thing (and yes I realize that is something I am going to have to get over this year); but, I was brought to tears when my two best friends walked into First's fellowship hall and informed me that the third was on her way. My sneaky mother and friends had planned a lovely afternoon of lunch and relaxing, which was enough to ease my anxiety, if just for awhile. Saying "goodbye" is never easy...I tried to convince myself it was just a "see you later," this proved to be just as difficult.
Wednesday, August 15th
After weighing and re-weighing my bags and convincing my mother that I did not, if fact, need to bring anymore scarves, my bags were packed. My parents and I enjoyed our last breakfast together at Bob's and we were off to the airport. I was so proud of my mother who managed to keep it together until the security lines at Port Columbus. We hugged and she blessed me just like her Vacation Bible School kids and I was off.
It is difficult to describe the range of emotions that I went through that Wednesday. I was sad to leave my home, family, and friends; but, I was thrilled to be reunited with 56 other people who were feeling similar, if not the same, excitements, fears and anxieties. Plus, the YAGMs are a diverse, thoughtful, musical, loud, and crazy bunch, so we were never short on laughter.
Orientation
Our time in Chicago was probably one of the most draining weeks of my life. Now, there wasn't a lot of physical activity, although we did play our fair share of soccer, ultimate, and even started practicing our gymnastics for Rio 2016; but, our conversations and dialogues were long and intensive. I am not going to lie, I honestly thought that by going to orientation, a lot of my anxieties would be calmed and my questions would be answered. In true YAGM style...this was NOT the case. Each day I walked out of our sessions more with more questions about God and my place and purpose in this world. I walked out more confused. The real kicker...the anxiety and fears that I had were merely heightened. And yet, I was able to remain calm and collected with the help and support of the other YAGMs and wonderful Alum team and Short-term Recruiters (STRs).
Our last night together (Tuesday, the 21st) proved to be an emotional one. At our closing worship, as a group, we affirmed our Baptism and walked through the Baptismal Fount while singing "Wade in the Water." This was enough to get your emotions flowing (yes, pun intended). All of the staff did a wonderful job leading the service and our fearless leader the ever-glowing, eight and a half month pregnant Heidi Torgerson-Martinez delivered a thoughtful, inspiring, and down-right tear-jerking sermon. She said exactly what I needed to hear...that while this year wasn't going to be easy we needed to rest assure that God was always with us.
Then came the "Anointing of Hands for Service." Being the little hoarder of sentimental objects, I kept the bulletin and I am going to share this part of the service with you.
Each of you has been called by God and sent by the church to serve the world God loves. The discipleship to which you have been called is a manifestation of the new life you were given in the waters of Holy Baptism. Sometimes, the call will seem impossible. But through Christ, the one who has set you free from the bondage to sin and death, all things are possible. Teresa of Avila wrote:
Christ has nobody on earth but yours;
no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world;
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good;
Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.
Today, your hands will be anointed for the work to which you have been called in the world God loves. As a baptized disciple of Christ, you have been called to take up you cross and follow Jesus. Just as in the baptismal rite you were marked with the cross of Christ forever, so today you hands will be marked by the cross.
These words were enough to send me over the edge, and the tears started flowing. I was overwhelmed by the thought that my hands would be doing the work of God. So at points during the songs of anointment, "Take O Take Me" and "Will You Let Me Be Your Servant" I had a difficult time singing.
The whole service was a reminder of the call I heard over a year ago while serving in Lesotho and it brought peace and joy to my heart. We were sent out with a South African song called "Hamba Nathi" which had proved to be a favorite throughout the week. While dancing we were able to share God's Peace with one another, one last final good-bye as a large group.
Now, our last night wasn't all tears. After the service we had our Open-Mic, where each country group was required to put together a song, dance, or skit as a remembrance of our time together. The UK rocked the show with a rendition of "Britain's Got Talent," where the two final acts were the Spice Girls and the Harry Potter Puppet Show. There were also some intermittent acts and Sam and I decided to sing "Trouble" by Ray Lamontange...yes, you heard correctly. I voluntarily got up in front of about 75 people and sang. Shocking...this experience really is changing me!
Wednesday brought more painful goodbyes...but in all honesty very few tears were shed. I think a lot of us were pretty dehydrated from the night before. I was able to keep my emotions in check up until we began loading our shuttle for the airport. The South Africa, Madagascar, and Hungary groups came to see us off and we were able to join in one final prayer together! There were hugs, blessings, and words of well wishes all around as we all crammed into the van with our bags, backpacks, and guitars in tow.
Ok, so this has been a long entry and I haven't even made it to England yet. I will blog about our travels and the rest of the week on Sunday! Stay well friends, and pray that Sam and I don't get too lost as we venture out into London tomorrow! Toodle-hoo
God is good! GIG! Life is Good! LIG!
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