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MISSIONS
Jonalyn Denlinger
Hello my dear family and friends.
it is a sunny and gorgeous day here in Newcastle. it is definitely spring here. i worked until one today and then went for a two hour hike into the mountains with another volunteers dog to soak in the day. it was absolutely amazing. i am completely in love with the mountains (and it was nice to have a dog to walk with-- alas i wish sabi was as good on a leash as this dog is :)) tonight we are going to have a huge cookout at my house with all the volunteers minus kelley (the other mvser) who is with the rest of our unit in england and some friends of hers. tomorrow is easter. it doesnt quite feel like it, although the spring helps it to feel that way. holidays here just arent quite the same. my mom made me promise that i would spend every holiday at home next year :) thats a promise that i am not sure i will have a problem keeping. i am looking forward greatly to another easter in another country, to see how they experience it. i will be heading to mass tomorrow which will be great. mass has become a really enjoyable and challenging part of my time here. there's something about being with so many people in one place, not knowing anyone, but everyone being together. i have been here for seven months and two days. i cannot believe it. somedays it feels like i have been here for an eternity and i will be so ready for it to be over, and then there are days like today when i have to stop and say, wow, seven months have come and gone, and i have only five very busy months left. these past seven months have been an extremely challenging and rewarding seven months. i have had some really discouraging moments. times when ive wanted to throw my hands up in the air and say "will anything in this world ever change? will there always be pain and suffering and death and deceit and hurt and anger and hatred?". then there are days when i want to cry for joy, to see that there is hope and there is peace and there is restoration of relationships. these seven months have been a time of intense learning and intense searching. trying to find a purpose and a reason. trying to sort through where ive come from and where im going. working crazy many hours in a week. fighting bronchitis multiple times. struggling with a centre that is trying to figure out what it is and what it stands for. being ill for about a month and having to get blood tests (which all came back to say that i was extremely low in iron and overworked which i already knew :)) learning about a country that is so full of pain and hatred and yet struggling to find peace and restoration. making many new friends who have been my greatest enemies as well as my greatest inspiration. to say the least, i have been strengthened and stretched. i have been able to see the world through so many different lenses and this has given me so much to think about and so much to ponder. i often struggle to find words to even begin to describe what it has been like over here. it is not possible. no one can truly understand. except for those who are here with me-- those who i am walking beside and those who are walking beside me. and even then, we all see the world, northern ireland, newcastle, and greenhill through different eyes. these will be stories and experiences that will challenge me and that i will slowly begin to understand as the days weeks months and years unfold. these will be experiences that i will forever carry with me. i want to thank each of you for your thoughts and prayers and letters and emails. they mean so much to me. i have missed you dearly and wished that i could be more a part of your lives. it is strange to be here, and to hear of all the changes in everyone's lives and to realize how much i am missing out on. thank you for keeping me updated on your lives as you can. it means so much to me. i think of you all and pray for you often. i am sorry if this email has been one of open-endedness and seems to be rambling more than explanation. i do struggle greatly to try to explain what my life is like here. I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter weekend. Enjoy the snow or rain or sunshine wherever you are. Enjoy the time with family and friends. You are in my thoughts. Always. Hugs and love to you all, Jonalyn
Kristen Lapp
Greetings Ridgeview family,
Seattle Mennonite Voluntary Service is going great! I am continually being stretched in all that I do out here--whether it is the 37 mile hilly bike ride my co-workers took me on for our first staff meeting, the half-marathon training I've been doing, learning how to personal train ages 13-82 from many diverse backgrounds, maintaining good relationships with my eight fellow housemates, or my daily challenges in my Christian walk. I am loving my experience in Seattle!
As an introduction to the Seattle MVS house, I will explain a normal day in our house in Capital Hill. A normal morning begins as early as 4:30 a.m. and as late as 9 a.m. as eight MVSers stumble out of their beds and begin to get ready for work--some of us putting on dress pants, others scrubs, and for me good old warm-up pants, as we head to our separate work places. Some of us take the bus, walk, or bike as we encounter many normal Seattle “sights and sounds” along the way. This includes seeing coffee shops on every block, the continual rain as we thank whoever invented rain jackets and umbrellas, lots of diverse people who express themselves in many unique ways, or the natural beauty of downtown Lake Washington and Mount Rainier all in the same glance. We all work at least forty hour weeks with many of the MVSers working late hours to try to keep their non-profit organizations afloat. As we stroll back to the house, we have seven other individuals awaiting our arrival to tell our stories from the day. At around 6:30, we all sit around our huge lazy-susan dinner table as the cook for the night thanks God for the awesome opportunity that we have daily to serve him.
The evenings consist of various happenings that include going to the park and Bible study, house meetings, going to a coffee shop, going for a run, or volunteering for our fellow housemates' organizations. On the weekends we continually search for cheap ways to spend our time because of our meager $50 monthly stipend. Despite this, in my two and a half months in Seattle, I have done an incredible amount of things all for amazingly cheap prices—going to a Supersonics game, Washington Huskies football game, a Mariners game, a Seahawks game, an improv show, hiking at various places in the area, going for long bike rides, a Kanye West/Blue Scholars concert, and a free "Babel" (the movie) showing.
On Sundays we have loved visiting many different churches in the area as we are going to at least one church service, sometimes two, as there are just too many churches in the area that we want to visit. Overall, our jobs are places where we are continually try to learn from and serve others with the help of God. Our house is a place where we have created amazing relationships and community, and the nearby churches have given us inspiring messages to live by as we go about our days in the Seattle community. Needless to say, I have enjoyed the first two and a half months of my year term in Seattle and look forward to what God has in store for me throughout the rest of the time.
God Bless! Kristin Lapp
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