service adventure newsletter june2012

7/31/2019 Service Adventure Newsletter June2012

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Prayer Requests Pray for young adults who are preparing to bepart of Service

Adventure this fall. Pray for Brian & Anna Yoder Schlabach as they anticipate the birth of

their twins and makeplans for their future. Pray for Mike, Heidi, Ianand Ella McHugh asthey move to Goshen atthe end of their time inPhilippi.

Pray for Fred, Kelly &Mila Kilheffer who willend their time withService Adventure next

month. Pray for Hallie & AmosCable and theirdaughters as they prepare to move toPhilippi and serve as unitleaders.

Pray for the agenciesthat have partnered withService Adventure.

Pray for young adults

ending their Service Adventure assignmentsand transitioning to thenext part of theirjourney.

June 2012Service Adventure Updates

Unfortunately our participant numbers for the coming year havebeen very low. The Anchorage and Albuquerque units have agreedto take the year off so that we can have fuller households in the otherfive locations. Thank you to those locations for being willing to helpthe program out.

Over the past months, we have spent time introducing each of theService Adventure households. This month we are sharing some of the highlights of the year. The following is a variety of photos andsharing from the units. Thank you all for being a part of Service

Adventure this year and for sharing in the newsletter.Susan Nisly

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

June Birthdays7 Ben Reim, Philippi12 Fred Kilheffer, Anchorage20 Lori Hershberger Blair, MMN Staff 23 Delaney Wilson, Colorado Springs

July Birthdays3 Jack Younger, Raleigh6 Kirsten Estep, Colorado Springs20 Isaac Fox, Anchorage27 Carl Snyder, Anchorage


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Page 2 Service Adventure News

AnchorageLiz Schrag posted the following on her blog and the unit wanted to share

this with the rest of you.

How can we "Live 58"? This question was posed at an event I took the

unit to on Saturday for my learning component. The Salvation Army puton an event called "Impacting Poverty: The World and Anchorage." Thebasic schedule was watch the documentary 58:, make lunches, then deliverthem to people at the transit center (the bus station I go to twice a day).

I wanted to take my unit to this eventbecause my eyes have been openedthis year to what homelessness truly is and I feel like I've been given sometools to help make a difference. I washoping this event would open their

eyes a little bit and show them what Isee 5 days a week. I figured thedocumentary would just tell us what

we've heard at poverty awarenessthings like, "Don't give the beggars

money, take them out for a bite to eat instead." Or, "Don't be afraid totalk to these people, they may look dirty but they're people too."

This documentary was so so so much more than that. It showed extremepoverty around the world. We see this in the media every day, on adopt an

African child commercials and on natural disaster news footage. Every time I've seen footage like that I just think, "They're just using my emotions to try and get money out of me." But the way theseimpoverished people were portrayed on 58:, it really made me want to takeaction. These people NEED help. Also, in those commercials where they try to get people to make donations, they say, "YOU can change thischild's life. Just call now." In the documentary, they made it very clear that

we cannot make an impact on these people's lives without God. He can work through us, but if we don't have the faith, we will just be empty andour attempts to help will be in vain. Towards the end of the documentary,they showed what people in the church are doing right now to make adifference. It was definitely inspiring. They shared some statistics which,normally, are sad and make the whole subject seem impossible to doanything about. These stats show that:1. In the past thirty years, extreme poverty has been cut in half. In 1981,52% of the worlds population lived in extreme poverty (defined by theU.N. as living on less than $1.25 per day). But by 2006, that number was26%.2. Over the past eight years, the number of kids dying from measles hasdeclined by 78 percent.3. Twenty-two countries have cut their malaria rate in half in only sixyears.

Isaiah 58: 6-126 Is not this the kind of fasting

have chosen:to loose the chains of injusticeand untie the cords of the yoke

to set the oppressed freeand break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food withthe hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to cloththem,

and not to turn away from youown flesh and blood?8 Then your light will break fortlike the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;then your righteousness will gobefore you,

and the glory of the LORD wibe your rear guard.9 Then you will call, and theLORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he wsay: Here am I.

If you do away with the yokoppression,

with the pointing finger andmalicious talk,10 and if you spend yourselves inbehalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of theoppressed,then your light will rise in thedarkness,

and your night will become likthe noonday.11 The LORD will guide youalways;

he will satisfy your needs in asun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame You will be like a well-wateredgarden,

like a spring whose waters nevfail.12 Your people will rebuild theancient ruins

and will raise up the age-oldfoundations;you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets withDwellings.


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You can find more of these stats at http://www.live58.org/resources/research-facts/

It is truly amazing what the church can do with God. The documentary also showed a public speakertalking about how simple it would be to end poverty. We, as a church, have been given billions and

billions of dollars by God. Do you know how much it would cost to end extreme poverty? $175 billion. This represents less than one percent of the combined income of the richest countries in the world. If we all work together, they are hoping to end poverty by the year 2035! How crazy is that?!? Anyways, if you have the chance to watch this documentary, please do. It is fantastic. Here is the link to watch thetrailer.

http://www.live58.org/thefilm/58/videos/#

After we watched the documentary, all 13 of us (yes it was a small group) made lunches consisting of a

sandwich, bag of chips, a soda, a Twinkie, and a pair of socks. When we handed out the lunches, the socksseemed to be the highlight of people's day! They literally took off their shoes and socks, and put on their new socks. I figure because it's break up season (all the snow is melting and it's super dirty outside) their socks feltpretty nasty. It was pretty cool going and giving lunchesto people I see every day. If I would have done this atthe beginning of the year, I would have felt awkwardgoing up to a person who looked homeless and justsaying, "Hey! Here's a free lunch." But that day, it was no big deal.

I guess where I'm going with all of this is that this event gave me hope. It showed me that the church isnot just sitting around waiting for God to change things; we are actively changing things through God.It's not perfect yet but it's getting closer. For me, as an individual, I am challenging myself to study Isaiah 58 in greater depth to have a better grasp of what God is calling me to do. I think that is the firststep I need to take to be able to "loose the chains of injustice to set the oppressed free to share my food with the hungryto provide the poor wanderer with shelter when I se e the naked, to clothethem.

If you want to learn more about 58:, their website is http://www.live58.org/
http://www.live58.org/resources/research-facts/http://www.live58.org/resources/research-facts/http://www.live58.org/resources/research-facts/http://www.live58.org/thefilm/58/videos/http://www.live58.org/thefilm/58/videos/http://www.live58.org/http://www.live58.org/http://www.live58.org/http://www.live58.org/thefilm/58/videos/http://www.live58.org/resources/research-facts/


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JohnstownComing into Service Adventure, I didnt really know what to expect except to serve in some way oranother and to work with children in some small capacity as my job preference for working at theretirement village didnt pan out. I was placed at Head Start & New Day

At Head Start I was basically a teachers aide- working with preschoolers age three to five. Ive never

really been a big kid person so going from really having no desire to work with children to working with kids all day five to seven days a week was interesting, a challenge and also an amazing experiencethat has taught me a lot- more than I can adequately put into words. So Ill try to give you a snapshot .Imagine teaching a child how to cut paper with a pairof scissors or a glue stick and then several months lateryou are watching them create a picture with scissorsand glue in hand and they are helping a friend withscissors and telling them oh, Miss Anita taught methis. This is how you hold it. as they moved theirfriends hand to hold the scissors correctly. Anita Garber

Albany The group came up with a song that they wrote for their end of year church service.

Unit Song (to the tune of Yellow Submarine) In a house in Albany Lived a group that came to be A family that volunteered In different places throughout the year

Chorus:We all learned how to cook, iron and clean Use a sewing machine, and drink lots of caffeine We all love our new home in AlbanyThe church of AMC and its community

Riding bikes every dayGave us legs of steel right away Once at work the people there Taught us love without compare

(Chorus)

Now we all will leave the state But with experience we appreciate Twill be hard to leave from here But we hope well reappear

(Chorus 2x)


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Colorado Springs The unit took a year-end trip to Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole WY. Here are a few photos from their trip.

Philippi

Highlights of the year:- Going to the beach with Johnstown andRaleigh- Various trips (Orville, Ohio; Goshen, Ind.;

Washington. D.C., etc.) - Processing a deer- Backpacking - Pranks (good and failed)- Learning components where we taught eachother new things like henna, paper lanterns,making paper- Making a fire pit in our backyard- Canoeing

service adventure newsletter june2012

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