the beginning

hello dear readers! welcome to the beginning of my blog, as well as the beginning of my adventure into the next year of my life.

i write to you from my dorm room at the university of chicago, as i am preparing for my time abroad. i am spending the week in chicago with 49 other yagms (young adults in global mission) for orientation. we spend our days at LSTC (Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago) in discussion, song, worship, and fellowship. we have sessions and small groups each day on ways to prepare us spiritually and realistically. overall, it is quite enjoyable spending time with the other yagms, but also a bit of a roller coaster to begin to comprehend all that we will experience in just one week.

a little background about what i will be up to for the year...

i am spending my year volunteering through young adults in global mission with the ELCA. the program is intended for young adults, such as myself, ages 19-29. this year there are volunteers in slovakia, hungary, the uk, south africa, malaysia, jerusalem/west bank, argentina, uruguay, and mexico. placements range from working in the church, education, to social justice. i will be teaching english to seminarians at Sabah Theological Seminary in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. i will be living with one other yagm in an apartment at the seminary. there are six yagms total in Malaysia; we will all be in close proximity. four others are teaching kindergarten, and one is working at an orphanage. on sundays, when we are not teaching, we will attend one of the local English speaking churches, and help lead a boys and girls brigade.

our departure date is wednesday (for almost all the yagms!). we are flying from chicago, to los angeles, to singapore, to kk (short for kota kinabalu). the time is 13 hours ahead, so we will arrive in malaysia on friday-- one week from today! the expectation is growing as we discuss what cultural rules will catch us by surprise, what it means to walk in accompaniment, or how we will share our own views on faith, politics, and calls.

prayers for safety, confidence, and solidarity. more soon to come...