While I have not started my mission in Boston, I have officially started my term as a YAV with PC(USA).
All of the YAVs serving for the 2013-2014 year have descended upon a Presbyterian conference center in Stony Point, NY. There are 60ish (I don't have the patience to count all the names on the list) of us that will be serving this upcoming year, a handful of YAV alumni, and another handful of YAV staff- all totaling 80+ people at this one place, focused on service, for a week. Its a very powerful thing.
Days are jam packed with scheduled group time, lectures, worship, meals, and discussions.
*Just as a side note, my introvert core is struggling to just get through these first 24 hours with little me time with just me, myself, and I. I have 5 more days to go. Prayers are welcome. :-)*
I have learned a lot but I'm also very positive that I have missed some golden nuggets due to my weary state of post-lunch haze. By evening worship my eyes are pink and I likely have a glazed look on my face. Said look is not from boredom or any unpleasantness; rather it comes from mental exhaustion thinking about what all of this means in different contexts.
Today's theme was "critical cultural competency" and multi-faith/inter-faith relations. Some discussions felt more like philosophy class rather than mission training. It was heavy, intense, real.
Then there was small group. Small group is a blast. I would venture to say I have the best small group in the whole program. Our fearless leader, Luke, has an odd and borderline obsessive love for manatees. His sign for us to come circle around is this manatee face that can't really be described, only experienced. We get weird looks from the other groups but we take pride in our ability to circle around without verbal cues. We are a tight Herd of Manatees. We seem to all get along and the group dynamic is very open and group time is actually refreshing to me which is somewhat rare for me.
At some point during this week I will post about the Stony Point gardens, pigs, and composting. Yes, there are gardens and pigs. This is my kind of place.
Peace be with you.
Today's theme was "critical cultural competency" and multi-faith/inter-faith relations. Some discussions felt more like philosophy class rather than mission training. It was heavy, intense, real.
Then there was small group. Small group is a blast. I would venture to say I have the best small group in the whole program. Our fearless leader, Luke, has an odd and borderline obsessive love for manatees. His sign for us to come circle around is this manatee face that can't really be described, only experienced. We get weird looks from the other groups but we take pride in our ability to circle around without verbal cues. We are a tight Herd of Manatees. We seem to all get along and the group dynamic is very open and group time is actually refreshing to me which is somewhat rare for me.
At some point during this week I will post about the Stony Point gardens, pigs, and composting. Yes, there are gardens and pigs. This is my kind of place.
Peace be with you.
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