One Love- GW 08

Favorites.

Looking back on the fall.. some of my favorite things..


- We had a birthday party for some of the women at the Sewing ministry.. We brought a big pinata, the women all brought different parts of the meal.. which turned out to be a wonderful buffet of mòle, tostaditas, sopa, frijoles, pico de gallo, and of course massive amounts of Coke. The party started with Beckya nd I crawling up on to the roof of the Costura house to figure out how to hang the piñata.. haha.. both of us nearly fell down a few times but we made it!! It was hilarious seeing the women go crazy after an empty piñata. Its not often they get a chance to let loose and be care free! It was sooo much fun. After the battering of our piñata Becky tossed the bag of candy onto the crowd from the roof and they continued to go creeeaaaazyyy! It was such fun acting like a big dork with all the women. We started eating right there after and spent the afternoon chatting in the little house.

- The christmas party for the kids comedor had almost 250 kids show up. amazing. and so much fun.

- realizing that I actually like beans, rice, tortillas and I could legitimately eat it every single day.

-feeling the fire burn for social justice, and hearing God's voice in it.

This was our christmas party at kids comedor last saturday. The clowns came. They were Juan, Laura, Manuel and Elide and one more. It was such a blast and they did a great job. They are singing a song in this video about the birds that came to bring food to Elijah in the wilderness and when it gets to a certain part they make sure everyone gets really low. I was videoing and didn't realize that apparently I TOO needed to get down. You'll see it in the video. Funny stuff.

Feliz Navidad! Almost..

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this ministry experience this fall. Thank you to those of you who are supporting me through prayer, financial gifts, and love from afar! If you haven't given a financial support gift, and are interested let me know otherwise your prayers are just as important! It has been such a fall for growth and stretching. Between the dangers we have faced in Juarez, personal challenges, and an overall need to learn to trust God as well as my own self.. phew.. it has been an emotional workout! I praise God for each and every one of you and I hope he is moving in your lives as he has in mine!!

GOD MOVES IN EVERY MINUTE!


I was reading this book today.. the Eldest.. and there is a paragraph that struck me pretty crazily.. it talks about how we should live in the present, while learning from and remembering the past.. but not to dwell on the problems of the future.. because the future does not exist. Only this moment, and this minute. The next minute will soon be now, and then quickly the past. Thats not a word for word quote but its how the paragraph hit me. I have been learning to change my time and "worry" orientation. God tells us to not worry about the future, but to also dream big. I am learning that dreaming and worrying don't mix. It is one thing to be proactive in your dreams, and plans, but to worry about problems that don't yet exist? Not worth it. That "bad worryful future" doesn't exist. This is something that was a huge God moment for me. Who said God can't speak through science fiction novels filled with dragons and elves!! hahah..

Thanks be to Jesus for showing me how to live in the here and now. Teach me to trust the plans you have for me, to prosper me and give me a hope and a future (jeremiah.. woot).

Ministry Update!

Hello supporters!!

It is nearly december we are almost halfway done with our year! Here is an update for you:

Costura: Things at the costura are going very well. I am there two if not three days a week. Last week we had a sale for an IFM group that said they would be coming two weeks a year. Unfortunately most of their groups have cancelled until march because of the violence in Juarez. So what we thought would be an amazing blessing didn't pan out. But we did get to do this sale so thats a blessing. It was fun to be there and see all the women, hoping and praying that the group buys things. One woman came and had met Manuela three years ago when she was still pregnant with Caleb. We finally found Manuela and made her come to the sale.. she had been at the school still. She brought caleb, a sweet beautiful 3 year old, and their hug was something I couldn't have missed. Beautiful!!

Jenni's Comedor: Last week was stressful but a lot of fun for ME. There was a big group there from IFM (same one that I brought to the sale). It gave us some extra hands in the kitchen and children's ministry so I got to just spend time talking with community members. Thats really my favorite part of all of this. I've been thinking a lot about it and I think I am a lazy minister. All I want to do is sit and talk with people. I don't like doing children's curriculum, and I don't like being tied to certain schedules. If I could just be a wanderer and spend time with family and friends all day long I would do it. I guess its part of why I want to be here this year. I love working too, but how often do you get to just spend time with people. Presence ministry is what they call it and it has always been something I love.

Saturday Comedor: Que Frio! It has been cold here and most of the time we spend at the comedor is outside. It has been a blast though. I have really connected with some of the kids and helpers there. I thoroughly enjoy it and know that a good attitude goes a long way. I showed up a few weeks ago impatient and tired and realized that in order to be a good vessel for Christ I need to be well rested and take care of myself or I am cheating God out of a servant. Tough Lesson!

Studying: This has been a HUGE struggle for me. Trying to do this on top of everything else. I committed my Fridays to studying in order to get my work done for my school and it has been a frustration for sure. Late October I submitted my first question in hopes of writing my first paper by Christmas. My professor didn't approve it until two weeks ago. So my Fridays were a bit lax on the studying. Then it was thanksgiving and I spent that in the community.
This week will be my first full saturday studying since the beginning of November. Yikes!

Team stuff: Our team has interesting dynamics. We all connect but we have barely seen each other in recent weeks between hanging out with friends and family, to ministry schedules etc. It has been hard to connect and meet. Hopefully that will change in coming weeks. Otherwise though things are great. Our team is full of deep thinkers and when we ARE together we have incredible conversations about social justice. It has been a good experience for me in "question posing". That was a learning goal for me connected to school stuff.

Tons.

I can't describe the craziness that has occurred in the past few weeks. All I can say is that God is moving mightily, shaking up my life, teaching me how to love and live again. A fresh breeze has blown through my heart on a wave of hope. It has been adventure to dig deep to see that light in the midst of darkness. Sometimes Juarez feels like a parallel to my own heart some days. This veil of pessimism where light breaks through the cracks, and life exists when you look real hard. Not that my life is a catastrophe, thats not the case. But I have become a cynic, a pessimist and only see the problems. A good friend of mine has been teaching me to change my view, to reach for the good, to fight for the best and to soak up the sunlight as often as possible. What a relief.

Praise God for transformation of heart

Crazy life of an intern in Juarez.

What a wild ride so far. We have been living in El Paso instead of Juarez for a few weeks now and man has it sucked up my time! we spend at least two hours in the border line trying to get back 'home' after our ministry days, we don't have internet at the church which means another twenty minutes driving to the cafe with free wifi.. we love Kinley's House in El Paso. I promise this isn't me whining about it. The fact that I sound entitled to free internet and an easy life is not intended. That's not the intention, merely to point out that my posts will be less often until we can love on the church secretary a bit and acquire the network code :)

Ministry stuff has been going great! I am loving my work and the blessing of seeing the same group of women day after day. I am building some great deep frienships with women in the area. This weekend we are going to a Quincenera for one of the girls at the church Becky and I go to and we will be staying at Vero's house after. The next morning we work at the children's comedor so it will be a busy morning!! I can't believe it is already this far into November!

We had an amazing Halloween experience as a team. I suggested to the others that we do can-drive trick or treating, so we all dressed up nice and hilarious and went out in our neighborhood. We collected about a box and a half of canned food to bring over to some of the families we know in Juarez. What a blessing to give the food directly to families we know NEED the can of beans, salsa, or soup. And the smiles on their faces mean so much! Its a lot different giving it to a soup kitchen, or a food bank, you don't always know who's getting it on a personal level.

This week I went to the orthopedic doctor. I needed to get my shoulder checked out. I disclocated it really bad this summer and haven't had it checked out since I was in Oklahoma. They are making me get an MRI and the doc says surgery is probable. Pray for me that this will be an easy surgery and recovery. Its hard to not use an entire limb! I am grateful for relief though, I have been hurting a good amount recently.

Blessings!!

If you are interested in supporting me.. please email me at phyllischill@gmail.com! I am no where near my goal! I have about $250 pledged and need close to $4000. I would love to hear from you and share more about my experiences here in Juarez/El Paso with Greaterworks!!

Great Love.

I love this community. Thank you God for the blessing of getting to know the people of our community at site one, their abounding love that comes straight from you and nowhere else. We praise you for the protection and hope you give us in each hug, prayer, smile and piece of wisdom.

I feel like I am stuck in neutral.

We are no longer living at the house in Juarez indefinitely as far as the greaterworks year goes. For now we are staying at Grandview Church in El Paso in these weird bunk rooms they are letting us use. It is a little weird. I don't know how I really feel about it. I mean I say that because I feel so disconnected from Mexico. We only go for ministry and then we come back. It is this weird "visiting" type feeling. I already miss the feeling of living IN mexico. It is weird how quickly you can begin to feel at home somewhere. I miss our roach/mosquito house with the crazy high bunk bed, cracked windows, water that turned off atleast once a week, dogs hanging out on our porch, smells like pollution all the time house. It was home already. But not anymore. I hope I can start to make this feel like home too. I won't lie I am having a rough week regarding energy. There have been a lot of changes and a lot to process. I have needed a lot of alone time and a lot of reading nad escaping to not go insane. Thats how I handle things I guess. God is good though.. he is pulling and pulling on me to get closer to him, to depend on him and his hands to guide the way.

Due to unforeseen and currently unmentionable events...

I am in El Paso.. for the third day. Yikes..

I can't give a way too many details but I'll try to atleast explain the basics..

We have had some issues with security at our house in Juarez. Apparently people (including the bad ones) know we live there (15th year here.. a bit obvious), know we have access to a plethora of trucks, computers, money belongings, passports, and that we are American (thus easy gleaming white targets.. well I am anyway.. the others can pull off the brownness better..)

SO.. after a certain unpleasant even occurs.. which I will relate as soon as we decide what the limitations and necessities are of the situation.. we had to stay in el paso for a few days only to go back to get our house locks changed (keys were taken in said event) and to pick up personal items. Becky and I had been in El Paso after a relaxing day of studying in the midst of a movie when we got the call. "stay in El Paso.. we'll meet at the econolodge and figure it out from there"

SO here we are. Its Monday.. I would typically be headed to the Costura to work with Peggy, Lynn and the ladies today.. but it is not so.

Possibilities:
We might not live at the site one house anymore
We might move to another site OR into El Paso

Opinions:
I hate that we would have to move from site one on many selfish notes such as the fact that we just got settled, and it is walking distance to 3 out of 4 of my ministries
I do think it has been unsafe for us in the sense that people know we are there and that we "have" more than most, plus we don't have anywhere to pull our cars in so we have to park at the bottom of a hill and walk up.. not safe.
I don't like the idea of moving out of Juarez.. BUT I feel comfortable enough in El Paso now with the bus system that it wouldn't be horrendous to walk across and catch a bus (not the juarez buses.. thats not a good choice)

Anyway.. we'll see what happens.

La Costura ... Mondays at Women with Hope

Movement!

God is doing some great things in me this week. I am learning a lot about trusting him directly. God put some things on my heart this morning that I need to explore some more, but it put into context a lot of what has been going on in my life in and outside of my greaterworks experience. For a long time I have placed a second hand trust in God. I trust people who trust God, so I assume that means I trust God.. but to be honest.. I don't know if I've ever had bedrock faith in God. Its scary to be that intimate with such a loving God. Scary to be that open. So its an exploration for the future months. It was a huge move this morning to finally feel like I am at a place where I have no alternative. No friend to trust in the "stead" of Christ himself. I am here doing the work God has called me to. I am feeding the poor like he does, I am receiving his daily bread myself. God provides in amazing ways that I hadn't seen until this morning as the sun was rising over the barrio. Ahh.. so anyway I still have a lot to process and there will be more to come. But wholeness is rushing in, and a peace I've never felt before..

I posted some pics on my other blog...

www.agiggledivine.blogspot.com

The Beginning.

Tomorrow is a beginning for me. Other than one meeting with the orphanage director in the morning I am starting my weekly schedule that will last for the year.

Monday: Spend time with Peggy and the ladies doing Costura (sewing projects)
Tuesday: Help with the kids at the women's bible study (some of the same women), work on support letters.
Wednesday: Comedor (soup kitchen) with Hermana Jenny and the other interns, bring hermana jenny back to El Paso and run errands in the states
Thursday: Work at the Orphanage (hopefully), spend time at home or with community, Team time
Friday: Spend the day in El Paso working on school stuff at UTEP library,
Saturday: Morning Kids Comedor at La Puerta, Evening Youth time with Site 2 people.
Sunday: Sleep in, Church at La Puerta, Cleaning, Church at Maranata and Fellowship time.

Its a little less daunting when I spell it out like that rather than last post.. hahah.. sorry if it is redundant :)

Friday night Carlos invited us to a concert and we showed up not sure what to expect. It was awesome! It was a street concert near Site 2 and it was a Christian show. The guys from La Puerta and Carlos' brother plus another band played. It was so much fun to see life in youth and in a Christian setting. They did a bunch of crazy fun worship songs and there was some awesome dancing and playing, lots of jumping etc. I am going to post some pics and videos later this afternoon. Hurrah!

Update: Support Letters will be out this week! To those of you expecting one sorry it took so long!

We are trying to finalize our schedules. It has been such a whirlwind exploring the city, meeting new people, and finally feeling like I am starting to build some relationships in the community as well as renew old ones from my summer a few years ago.. This week becky and I are house sitting for Jim and Peggy, missionaries, couple who works down here. I am hoping to plug in with Peggy and the ministry they started called Broken Hearts. It works with women teaching them how to do embroidery and then Peggy, in conjunction with their home church and other contacts, sell the items giving the money back to the women. It is a neat ministry not just because it helps families, but because it offers an escape for some of these women. There is a house in our community that a family moved out of but they don't want to sell it yet so they are letting Jim and Peggy use it for the ministry. Almost all day Monday, Tuesday for bible study, and a few other times a week the house is open to anyone who wants to come in and sew. Women from the community can just come to hang out, or work on their pieces. Becky and I have been working with them during hte bible study to help with the kids so the women can attend the bible study. I am going to start spending my Monday's over at the house with the women, maybe learning to sew some, and helping Peggy with some of the organizational aspects of the ministry. I am excited to learn about how it works, and build relationships with some of these women. A lot of the women go to La Puerta for church on Sunday, and others join us at the comedor to either help cook or attend the service. Becky and I are also helping with a new Kid's Comedor (soup kitchen) at La Puerta on Sunday. So I'll be pretty invested here at Site One. I am also looking to spend some time at site five with the orphanage out there, but we keep missing the director. We are all also going to start working with Site 2 as they develop a youth group, and then hang out with them Sunday nights for soccer of course. Man when I type it all out like this it seems like a lot, but really it leaves a lot of time to relax, reflect and hang out in the community.

On another note I am really starting to feel comfortable in the city again. It took me a few days for culture shock to settle in and pass.. not entirely of course but its nice to feel like I have my bearings. My biggest problem has been learning the city and border routines enough to get around without other people. I am making it a priority to learn learn learn how to get around. I don't want to get lost and then panic.. especially since landmarks don't really help yet. Turn right at the micho.. or turn left at Del Rio.. there are a billion of those.. You know the glorieta? You know 16th of Sept Street? Where it turns into a backwards one way? OR the street where they built a new speed bump? hahah.. seriously.. It will happen soon enough.. I can get to Site 2, Site 5 (I think), Jim and Peggy's, the women's bible study, La Puerta, Juanita's in El Paso and back, to S-mart/Gonzalez/Laundromat.. WOOT.

Yucks.

Sorry I haven't posted much. Things have been pretty busy, then I got the stomach bug this weekend so I have been fighting off mama mexico. yuck. I am off to church now too so I'll post later but here is a link to where my pics will be on facebook:




http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065004&l=a4c9a&id=54600030

Bienvenidos a Juarez!

Hey guys! I am in a coffee shop in El Paso right now but we made it safely to Juarez the other day.. much to our sadness the phone/internet bill wasn't paid so our internet was down. We are here in El Paso taking care of some business things.. we should cross back into Mexico later this evening and head to a Mexican Fiesta for the 16th of September party at la Iglesia Maranata which is where I lived last time in Juarez. It has been great seeing everyone and reconnecting. i feel pretty vividly like the gringa but I am ok with it.. My roommates are awesome and I am excited for a great year! I will update more asap once we get internet up and working! Lata! Pictures coming soon!

Minneapolis... Trains Trains and oh geez.

I made it to training! I had a blast traveling all day on Saturday via train.. The first train was boring but I got a lot of reading done. The second was an absolute blast meeting lots of cool people and getting the chance to just hang out with people. I showed up in Minneapolis to see all sorts of people from my YW summer and we ofcourse had pizookie and then crashed. Sunday morning we went to an awesome church called Hope Community Church and then did Chipotle for lunch. Later that afternoon we went to training.. both Jono and Brenna are GW staff this summer too so it was nice having comrades to join with me.

SO far I am still super stoked. My teammates in Juarez are Mateo and Becky, both awesome and it should be a blast. I am so excited to get to Juarez and start living out loud. Actually I am not assuming that only starts in Mexico.. it has been a fun challenge getting to know people here and starting to take risks in relationships here. Well it is mighty late and I am ready for bed!!

Goodnight y'all!

B&N

Went to Barnes and Noble today.. looking for nothing and finding far too much. I spent about four hours perusing books, deciding to buy one book a journal and pilates cards. I bought this awesome book called Mexican Lives that is sort of a documentary like book recording interviews of Mexicans since the sixties just talking about their everyday lives, views, and hopes from all different areas and regions. I got sucked in to that book for a good hour and decided it would be a good train book. So at this point I am in the midst of:

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren
Irresistable Revolution by Shaine Claiborne
Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Mathew Sleeth, MD
Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Mexican Lives by Judith Adler Hellman

I finished Irresistable Revolution over the Texas trip and the wedding so I could give it to my sister. Thought she would like it since she is out in Phillie where most of it was happening anyway. Turns out The Well has been working in Love park too so they probably have met a lot of the people working with the Simple Way.

So I am reading and packing, trying to relax a bit before heading out on Saturday. I'll be on a train from Detroit to Minneapolis! with plenty of time to finish the books I haven't yet. I just hope I can take my bags on the train.. hahah.. ehem. No but seriously.

Thanks!

I want to thank everyone who is supporting me while I am in Juarez. I appreciate the support as does Greaterworks. If you aren't already supporting me and you are interested in making a one time donation, or repeat donation.. there is a donation button in the right column that will help you do that online. You can also send donation checks to Greaterworks at the address below:

Greaterworks
3530 E 28th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406

My goal is $3950 by January. This will go towards housing, transportation, training, food, and stipend costs. My participation in the internship is not contingent on raising the support, but this donation will go towards the Greaterworks program and allow them to do more in these communities. I will be partnering with organizations in the Juarez community, and intentionally building and strengthening relationships. Greaterworks partners with Youthworks to provide year long relationships in the communities. It allows Youthworks to be more than a hit and run missions organization.

Thanks again!! I love you all!

Lista?

It is Tuesday. On Friday my latest adventure begins. I am heading to my internship. I leave for Minneapolis on Saturday via train from Ann Arbor. I will end up in Minneapolis Saturday night and training will start on Saturday. I have no idea how I will be getting from Minneapolis to my internship but I am not worried, it's in their hands. My internship is with Greaterworks, and I am placed at the Juarez site for at least the next nine months. It is another piece of my RPP for my Master's at School for International training. I don't know precisely what I will be doing there but the best I can describe it is community development, volunteer hours, relational ministry, intentional simple living etc.

I am excited/nervous to head back to Juarez. The last time I was there I loved it, the community, the experience but it was tainted by some bad experiences and awkward endings. I am ready to face that and hopefully move past that. I am extremely excited to see Eileen and to be back in Mexico. I don't know what it is about that experience. I love the dirt, the raw love and reality. It's not a bubble, or a comfortable life padded with expense, rules and happy smiles. Life is authentic, real, painful, but extremely full of life.

Ready, set, grow. Today I wonder what God has in store. A lot of people are saying, you should stay there, you should live there, why not just stay and graduate from there, would you live there forever? and much more. I don't have an answer for them. God is working in me and doing some crazy things. I am craving authenticity, true loving relationships, screw the politics faith, simplicity and hope that I can be a follower and not a comfy Christian. I think I have finally hit my adolescence when it comes to my need for independence from my parents. I feel like an idiot when I want to say such cliche things like.. I can do what I want, you can't make me, leave me alone, let me live my own life, its MY life!, stop taking control! etc. A lot of my friends know this struggle has been a long time coming, and its nothing personal.. I am just so jaded.

I have become jaded with comfort. I want to be bold, adventurous, I want to love til it hurts, and share it with real people. I don't want to live cushioned by privilege, catered to by institutions. Working in a corporate NGO feels the same as working for a big corp. Neither sound appealing. People ask me what I want to do, and I don't have an answer. I want to learn how to truly live, love, and be content before I figure out what vocation. I don't want to be defined by WHAT I do, but how I live. Right now I am not happy with how I live. God has been working on my heart so much to teach me how to live simply, contently, and hopefully.

My goals:

1) Take risks for relationships. It should hurt when I leave.
2) Be content, be simple. Fight my consumerism!
3) Seek God in every minute, don't just pencil it in.
4) Journal, Reflect, Talk.
5) Ask questions, learn.
6) Be present, be open to change.