I wish I could show you a picture

I woke up in the shadow of Table Mountain this morning.  The weather in Cape Town is beautiful today.  I'm told it is warmer than usual for August.  It is quite sunny and the temperature has climbed from around 60 this morning to probably closer to 70 now.  Sadly, it is supposed to rain for the rest of the week after today, but I like rain.

My flights were relatively uneventful.  I was delayed out of Richmond, but Delta decided that half an hour was PLENTY of time to make an international connection in Detroit, so they didn't rebook me.  Let me just say that it is a good thing I am a runner, because the only way I made my flight to Amsterdam was by running through multiple terminals of the Detroit airport.  I showed up sweaty and out of breath, and the man sitting next to me did not look too happy about his seat assignment.  On the flight over to Amsterdam, I watched a fabulous selection of movies, including Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Bridesmaids, and Crazy Stupid Love. I was laughing out loud during Bridesmaids, (it's so funny, I couldn't help it!) and the man next to me was looking even LESS happy about sharing a row with me. Once in Amsterdam, I had a few hours to kill before my flight down to Cape Town.  I walked around the airport and read a bit of my book.  I had to make sure I didn't fall asleep, since I landed at midnight East Coast time and took off again 4 hours later.  It was cool to walk around and not hear any English.  One man started talking to me in what I assume was Dutch, and I very eloquently answered, "What?"  He says ,"Oh. Only English?  I'm sorry, I didn't know"  so I guess he thought I might be European or something, which I took as a compliment.  I do have a giant complaint about the Amsterdam airport:  they make you go through security at every gate!  That meant you had to start the boarding process 2 hours before your flight left by going through the gate security, where I had to dump out the water from my Nalgenes.  I was not at all happy about this, but it turned out to be a good thing since the place you waited in at the gate didn't have bathrooms.  I was actually happy to board the plane for once.  That system is really cruel to a woman with a small bladder.  On the 11.5 hour flight down to Cape Town, I slept for about 5 hours (but I woke up for all the meals of course) and watched another movie.

I was met at the airport by Jenny and Donna from HOPE Africa, as well as Holly, a YASCer from last year, and all of her housemates.  She was getting on the plane I just got off for her flight home!  It was so crazy for the HOPE staff to be saying goodbye to her and hello to me at exactly the same time.  Holly has been super helpful to me preparing for my time over here, and I am sure she will be missed around the office.

I am spending this first week in Cape Town to get to know some of the people in the HOPE office, which is the organization that helps fund and oversee the clinic where I will be working in Hawston.  I am staying in Holly's old room at Anhouse, the Anglican student house on the University of Cape Town's campus.  It is literally on the lower slopes of Table Mountain, so hence the view this morning.  Some of my new house mates told me last night that a zebra named Stripes often wanders into the back yard, but sadly my colleagues at HOPE said they were pulling my leg.  I'm hoping to be able to climb the mountain before I leave town this weekend, but if not, I will plan to return and climb it soon.

One thing I am super excited about:  there is lots of yogurt available in South Africa!  Yogurt is the one food I really can't live without, and they have it in abundance here, and in awesome flavors like guava!  It's going to be a good year.

So I am settling in well.  I can't wait to post my pictures of the last 2 days, but sadly it will have to wait until I figure out the internet connection on my own devices.  I am using a borrowed laptop for this afternoon.  Hopefully I'll have it all together by the end of the week, because believe me, when you see what it is like here you will be super jealous of me!

Love from the bottom of Africa, the end of the Earth!

Travel light

My bags are packed!  Actually, just one bag.  Why only one, you ask?  Great question!  Remember how I believe the purpose of this experience is service?  I want to be a part of the community where I will be living, and that means living like a local.  So, why would I want to bring a bunch of stuff from here?  I'm trying to go without a lot of baggage, both literally and figuratively.  I'm going to travel light!

Once I had my mind set on only taking one checked bag, it became sort of a challenge for me.  It was a good exercise in what it means to 'need' something.  I decided early on in the packing process that if I couldn't get everything I thought I needed into one suitcase, then it was because I was packing too much stuff.  This was a great philosophy, but it was slightly complicated by the fact that South Africa actually does have real seasons.  It's not like I'm going to Haiti, as several of my fellow YASCers are, where it will be hot all the time.  During the winter (that's right now), South Africa could have temperatures as low as the mid-40's at night.  While that's warmer than winter in Virginia, and it actually sounds pretty nice compared to the upper 90's we had here a month ago, it necessitates packing a jacket or two.  In the summer (that's December, January, and February), it might reach the 90's during the day.  So I had to pack some bulky stuff in addition to shorts and t-shirts.  But still, that's no excuse for checking two bags!

So, what exactly did I pack?

This is my trusty suitcase.  I've had it at least since college, and I've taken it to Ecuador, Nicaragua, the Caribbean.  Most recently, my mom borrowed it to take it to Istanbul on vacation.  The sticker is my identifier - it says "Pi Beta Phi Supports the Generals".  Horray for alma mater and sorority shout-outs!

These are all the shoes I'm taking for a year, plus a pair of shower shoes and my lovely nursing Crocs (not pictured).

It just so happens that I already have scrubs in the color that Hawston Hospice uses!  Navy blue bottoms, white tops.  Classic and stylish (for a nursing uniform, anyway!)

Some warm gear for cold weather

I tossed in some scarves.  Never know when you might need a scarf for a little additional coverage, or for a little decoration.

A few button-down shirts

A few t-shirts.  I find I never have enough t-shirts.

Some clothes to run in.  Running is like breathing.  I HAVE to do it, wherever I am!

My personal pharmacy.  I'm bringing the largest bottle of Dramamine you can buy.  Anyone who has ever sat near me on a bus, plane, train, boat, or even a car on a windy road will tell you that this is a good idea.  (Sorry, Sean, for almost throwing up on you on that bus during orientation.  I warned you not to sit next to me.)

Toiletries.  I think I'll be able to get a lot of stuff I need there.  I'm only taking things that I think might be hard to find, or things that I prefer a certain brand.  Sunscreen is a good example of this.  I'm sure there is sunscreen in South Africa, but I am allergic to a lot of brands of sunscreen, so I'm bringing some of my trusty Neutrogena and Banana Boat.

Is it all going to fit??

It BETTER all fit!  I'm going to MAKE it fit!!

IT FITS!!

It fit so well, in fact, that I added a few sweaters I wasn't planning on bringing.  I feel that I should add a disclaimer that I did have to put my fleece jacket in my carry-on.  It just didn't scrunch down well.

I'm also bringing my cell phone, camera, and an iPad (instead of a computer), as well as a few paper-back books, a New Testament, and a Book of Common Prayer.  Any other reading material that I decide I need I plan to buy on the iPad. 

So, that is how I pack for a year.  I hope I didn't forget anything important.  Oh!  I better go throw in my passport...  just kidding!

My flight leaves Richmond at 12 noon tomorrow, Sunday, August 18.  I land in Cape Town on Monday, August 19, at 9:30 PM local time.  That's a 27.5 hour travel time.  Good thing I packed all that Dramamine! 

My next blog post will be from South Africa!  Until then, tootsiens (goodbye in Afrikaans)!

What I've been up to

What have I been doing with myself my last week before I leave? 

Yes, I went to the Outer Banks with Jacob for 4 nights, so we could have a little alone time before I go.  The next time I stand on a beach, it will be on another continent and a different ocean.  Today (August 14) is also our third anniversary!  We celebrated last night at our favorite restaurant in Richmond.  Jacob is very happy with his fried chicken and mac and cheese, some good old Southern cuisine:

I also have some pretty sad news.  Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my dog Goldielocks.  Sadly, Goldie had a malignant tumor that had to be removed.  Jacob and I opted not to run pathology on it, so we don't know if it has spread or if it is likely to return.  She is an old dog (probably at least 12), and we wouldn't want to put her through anything traumatic like chemo anyway, so we decided we didn't want to know what might happen in the future.  So, the tumor is gone, and we will pray that we never see it come back.  For now, Goldie is doing fine and enjoying the extra attention she has gotten because of her surgery.  When I say goodbye to her on Sunday, I'm going to assume it might be for the last time.  She'll be in good hands at home with her daddy, and hopefully she'll still be around next year when I get back.  But if not, I will know that she has been a very happy doggie for the last four years since we adopted her, and she has made me as happy as a mommy can be.  I love you Goldie!

I don't know!

Less than two weeks from today, I'll be on a plane to South Africa!  Good thing my visa finally came in the mail on Saturday!

I spent the weekend with my in-laws in Crozet, VA.  I'm going to miss them.  I'm also going to miss the Blue Ridge.  I know I'll have other (bigger) mountains in South Africa, but these are MY mountains.

Jacob and me at a brewery in Nelson County, VA

The Geigers have a good view from their front yard!

As I get closer to my departure date, I've noticed that people have started to ask me more specific questions.  Ashley had the idea of an FAQ post for her blog, so I'm sort of stealing her idea.  Here are some of the questions I've been asked lately:

Question:  I know you're working for a hospice clinic.  What exactly does will you be doing day to day?  

Answer:  I don't really know.  My job title is the 'Home Care Coordinator and Support Group Facilitator'.  So likely I will be helping out with day to day patient care in their homes, and sitting in on support groups.  That's about as specific as I know.  I'll let you know more when I get there.

Q:  Where will you be living?  

A: 1 Church Street, Hawston.  I hear it is a 3 bedroom house next to the clinic where I will be working. 

Q:  Will you have roommates?

A:  I don't know!

Q:  What will your first few weeks look like, right when you get there?

A:  I don't know.  I'll be in Cape Town for a week before heading out to Hawston.  I don't really know what I'll be doing there, but I assume some sort of orientation.  I think I'll also have an orientation period at the clinic once I get there.

Q:  Will you be able to stay in touch with people at home?  

A:  I don't know, but I hope so!  Internet access is supposed to be relatively good in South Africa.  Does that mean I'll be able to skype with my husband every day?  I don't know!

Q:  What will you do in your free time?  

A:  I don't know, and I don't even know how much free time I'll have!  I don't really know what my work schedule will be like.  I assume it will be a 40 hour per week, day shift hours mostly, but that's just a guess.

Q:  Did you quit your job to do this program? 

A:  Yes, I quit my job.  

Q:  What will you do when  you get back?

A:  This is the biggest I don't know of all!  This year is going to change me, and I really believe that if I tried to tell you what I want to do when I get back, the answer will be totally different a year from now. 

Q:  What are you packing?  

A:  I don't know yet.  I'll write a blog post about this next week, once I've figured it out for myself.

Q:  What is your husband doing while you're gone?

A:  I don't know... sitting around missing me, obviously.  Also working, because one of us has to have a 'real' job.

Q:  Why do you answer 'I don't know' all the time?

A:  Because that's the way I want it!

I've started to develop an 'it is what it is' attitude about a lot of these details.  The way I see it, the most important part of my job in this program is to just be there and be available to the community in whatever way they feel is appropriate.  That means being in the moment and accepting things for what they are.  In my daily work, I will happily do whatever is most beneficial for the clinic.  I don't really need to know the specifics until I get there.  If my internet connection is slow, it's going to be slow, and knowing that ahead of time might help me prepare for the reality of it, but it's not going to make it go any faster!  I'm not sure exactly what I'll need to pack, but I'm pretty sure they have clothes and soap in South Africa, so I can get a lot of the things I'll need once I'm over there and have a better idea of exactly those things are.  According to some people who have had international experiences like this before, having as few expectations as possible is important.  There will be things that surprise me and amaze me and terrify me, and that will happen regardless of whether or not I have a picture in my head of how this experience 'should' go.  So, to all these questions, maybe instead of 'I don't know' I should say 'I'll let you know when I get there.'  Now you have an incentive to keep reading my blog!

When I'm Gone

Check it out:

18Aug13   12:15pm   Sunday
Air   Delta Air Lines        Flight# 4077   Class:U Seat:04-C

      From: Richmond Internationa 18Aug13   12:15pm   Sunday
      To:   Detroit Metro MI, USA 18Aug13   02:11pm   Sunday
      Meal: None Equip: CRJ-Canadair Regional Jet Status: Confirmed
      Stops: 0

18Aug13   04:00pm   Sunday

Air   Delta Air Lines        Flight# 252    Class:U Seat:33-G

      From: Detroit Metro MI, USA 18Aug13   04:00pm   Sunday
      To:   Amsterdam, Netherland 19Aug13   05:55am   Monday
      Meal:  Equip: Airbus A330 Jet Status: Confirmed
      Stops: 0

19Aug13   10:05am   Monday

Air   Delta Air Lines        Flight# 9599   Class:U Seat:26-F
      From: Amsterdam, Netherland 19Aug13   10:05am   Monday
      To:   Cape Town, South Afri 19Aug13   09:35pm   Monday
      Meal:  Equip: Boeing 777 Jet Status: Confirmed
      Stops: 0

I finished my final night of work at the hospital last week, so this week I've basically been sitting around contemplating the fact that I'm about to leave everyone I know for a year.  It's funny; since orientation, I haven't felt overwhelmed by what I'm doing.  Maybe a little anxious sometimes, but mostly in a good way.  I'm just excited to get over to Cape Town and get started!  My husband Jacob is doing really well with the fact that I'm about to leave him, or at least he was doing well until I started following him around singing "Cups" by Anna Kendrick.  'When I'm gone, when I'm gone, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone...' 

Anyway, my visa application has been sent off to the South African Embassy, and supposedly it only takes 5 days to process, so hopefully I'll have it back by the end of next week.  It was a little anxiety-provoking to stick your passport in an envelope and mail it, but the lady at the post office assures me that's what tracking numbers are for.  I've also finished all my routine appointments that I wanted to get done before I leave.  Even the dentist.  I HATE the dentist.  But I guess I have a really good excuse not to go back for a year!  Today I'm getting my travel immunizations.  I actually don't need much.  Just typhoid and possibly a Hepatitis A booster.  After today, all I'll have left to do is pack enjoy time with my family.

Speaking of family, here are some cute pictures of them!

THANK YOU!!

A GIANT thank you to all my supporters!  Because of all of you, I have reached (and exceeded) my fundraising goal!  You guys are awesome!

If you have been planning to make a donation and haven't yet done it, you should know that any money above the $10,000 I'm required to raise still goes to support the YASC program.  It actually costs the church about $24,000 to send me abroad for the year, so any additional contributions I receive will still be used exactly for the YASC program.  Also, I suggest you check out the other YASCers blogs.   Every one of these young men and women are my friends, and they are all doing amazing work.  If you would like to make a donation to one of them, please do so!  Their blogs have information on how you can do that, or you can email me and I will get you in touch.

Take off your shoes

I got to practice something new this week, something I had only tried once before.  The day after I got back from orientation, I got to 'preach' at my home parish, St. John's Richmond.  It wasn't too bad to do this at St. John's.  I have a friendly crowd there, because all the parishioners know me, and since I had just spent two weeks with the other YASCers, I had a lot to talk about.  This morning, I did the same thing at St. Peter's Parish in New Kent.  I was a lot more nervous about this one.  I am SOOOOOO not a public speaker, and having never been to St. Peter's before, I was worried about having to talk in front of all these strangers!  St. Peter's has been very generous to me, and I wanted to let them know how much I appreciate their support.  I was really surprised at what an awesome parish this is!  First of all, it's gorgeous!  I wish I had thought to get a picture inside, because it's all pine pew boxes, white walls, and stained glass.  My favorite sort of church architecture.  Also, Martha Custis Washington (George Washington's wife, for anyone who is not a history buff) worshiped here as a child.  The church building itself is the oldest in the Diocese of Virginia.  It beats St. John's building by almost 50 years.  (BUT the parish of St. John's existed for almost one hundred fifty years before our current church was built, so technically our worshiping body is older!)  What really struck me about St. Peter's, though, wasn't the gorgeous setting or the beautiful old building.  It was the awesome people there!  Paul, the rector, is just as friendly and welcoming as he could possibly be, and every parishioner I met was so excited about my work in Hawston that it made me even more excited to go!  St. Peter's is also sending a group of 17 youth to the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina next week.  I'm so excited for these kids to go on their mission trip.  They're going to do some great work, helping with home repairs, and more than that, they will get to be exposed to Cherokee culture.  I'm so jealous; I want to go!  Too bad I've got so much visa paperwork to occupy my time....

St. Peter's Parish, New Kent.  Notice the weather vane at the top!

Such a pretty church!  It's even better on the inside.  You can kick me for not taking a picture to share.

I'd like to share the remarks I made today at St. Peter's.  I would have done this a few weeks ago with my remarks from St. John's, but unfortunately I wrote them on the back of my train ticket on the way home from orientation, and it has disappeared into the formless void that is my very messy house.  Luckily, I was better prepared this time and typed up my notes.  Thanks to Julie for sharing the awesome poem/prayer at the end.  I've used it twice now and read it countless times.  I just love the first three lines, and I'm thinking of maybe framing this and putting it on my bedroom wall.  Enjoy!

Remarks for St. Peter's Parish, July 14, 2013

I am a missionary.  On August 18 (I just got my final date on Friday), I will be moving to Hawston, South Africa.  The program I’m a part of is called the Young Adult Service Corps.  It’s sponsored by the Episcopal Church, and it allows young adults age 21-30 to go overseas for a year to do missions.  Is there anyone else here today who is a missionary?  If so, please raise your hand.  All the members of the youth mission trip, you’re missionaries.  Are your hands up?  How about the rest of you?  How many of you are Episcopalians?  Please raise your hand.  Guess what?  Everyone with their hands up is a missionary.  The actual legal name of the Episcopal Church is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church.  Missionary society.  So if you’re a member of the Episcopal Church, congratulations, you’re a missionary by default, whether you want to claim the title or not. 

So, what does it mean to be a missionary?  I didn’t grow up in the Episcopal Church.  I was a Baptist.  Being a Baptist meant that, in elementary school, I went to Girls Auxiliary on Wednesday nights, where you talked about all the Baptist missionaries all over the world who are busy converting the people to the Southern Baptist Church.  Because that’s what it means to be a missionary, right?  You convert the heathens.  You might do some other things too, like paint a house or host a reading camp, but really it’s all about the souls you’re saving.  That’s one view of missions, that actually has some historical accuracy, even within our own church, but I see some flaws in this definition of missions.

On the other end of the spectrum from the soul-saving missionary is the Good Samaritan.  When I was in college, I went on a service trip to Nicaragua.  My group worked with local college students in a rural community.  We worked on water systems and sanitation projects.  It was very practical work.  Here is a family who has no running water, so let’s get it to them.  There is a lot of value in this type of service work, but is it missions, or aid work?  My sister works for an NGO that sends her all over the world to oversee development projects.  She does great work, but she will be the first to tell you that she’s definitely not a missionary.  Was the Good Samaritan a missionary?  He was a heathen, and the man in the ditch was a Jew.  The Samaritan definitely helped the Jew.  Does that make him a missionary by his actions, or is he just a good person?

What really defines missions to an Episcopalian?  Is it the work you do, or your motive behind doing it?  Is it the fact that you’re a Christian who’s engaged in aid work?  Or is it something else entirely?  Remember, we’re all missionaries.  If you’re uncomfortable with that title, I don’t think you’re alone.  I’m pretty uncomfortable with it myself.  It comes with some expectations of what you should be doing and how you should act.  But I really don’t think that’s fair.  There are as many types of missions as there are missionaries. 

I am so excited about your youth trip next week.  When I was in middle and high school, I went on youth mission trips.  They were the highlight of my summer.  They were what first got me interested in missions.  I’m also really excited about what you’re doing when you go.  I love that you’re not going half way around the world, or even half way around the country.  You’re going to North Carolina.  That’s pretty much our own back yard, and it sounds like there’s a great need there.  The fact that you’ll be in Cherokee means that you’re going to be living in another culture, at least to some extent.  This is a really exciting mission!

Let me tell you about some of the other missionaries of the Episcopal Church.  I met many of them a few weeks ago.  When you decide to join the Young Adult Service Corps (YASC), or when older adults decide to go on a mission, you get to go to a two-week training session with all the other missionaries who are about to be sent out.  At this year’s training, we had 26 soon-to-be missionaries.  22 of them were young adults like me, and four were older adult missionaries.  We’re still trying to come up with a name for older adult missionaries, by the way.  The leading suggestion right now is Young At Heart Adult Service Corps, so we would have YASC and YAHSC.  Anyway, the other 25 missionaries were really amazing people.  Sean Brown is a 21 year old from Hawaii who is going to Japan to work at the Asia Rural Institute, which specializes in sustainable agriculture.  Dan Tootle is a grandfather from Maryland.  He is spending a year of his retirement in Haiti, helping the Episcopal school system reorganize their curriculum.  Will Pendleton would be a junior in college next year, but he is taking the year off to move to Cuba, where he is establishing a relationship between the Anglican Church there and his home diocese of New Hampshire.  Ashley Cameron is the other missionary from Virginia.  She is going to the Northern Philippines to work with a microfinance organization that gives loans to locals who want to start small businesses.  I am a nurse.  I am going to Hawston, South Africa, which is a small town about an hour and a half from Cape Town.  I’ll be working with a hospice clinic as a home care giver, and I’ll also be facilitating support groups.  So you can see, the missionaries of the Episcopal Church are really diverse in age, skills, and interests. 

So, if missions isn’t really about what you’re doing, what is it about?  As Episcopal missionaries, we’re not called to save the world.  We’re just called to live out our Baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ in all people, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.  Our Gospel reading today told us who our neighbor is.  Everyone is our neighbor.  So if you want to be a good missionary, I suggest you start with the person next to you.  Missions doesn’t have to mean going around the world to do something amazing, it’s about being intentionally present in all your relationships.  My boss David, the ‘head missionary’, says that the mission of the church is Christ’s mission, and Christ’s mission is to restore all people to a right relationship with God.  I think what David means by this is that, when you’re out on a mission, it is more important to BE than to DO.  This is really hard for me, and I suspect it may be hard for some of you, too.  It’s part of our culture as Americans to want to see results from your work, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it is all too easy to let the doing get in the way of being in relationships with those around us.  The home repairs that your youth will be doing on their mission next week is really important, and it’s going to make a huge difference in the lives of the people they are helping.  But even more than that, your youth are going to get to spend time with the people they’re helping.  They’re going to form relationships.  THIS is what the Church does.  We make relationships with each other, and in doing so we help each other grow closer to God. 

Like I said before, I’m so excited that you’re going to be exposed to a different culture.  Really, what you’re doing on your mission trip is not very different than what I will be doing on mine.  We’re all going to live and work in a culture different from our own.  The biggest difference is that I have the benefit of two weeks of cross-culture competency training, and you don’t.  So, let me try to distill a whole two-week course into one sentence.  One of our instructors told us this, and it really stuck with me.  When you go out to do mission, you should take off your shoes.  Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.  Remember that God has been at work in Cherokee, just like He’s been at work in Hawston, long before we will get there, and He’ll be there long after we’ve gone.  We’re not going out to save people who desperately need our help, we’re going out to be with our brothers and sisters.  Everyone I met at orientation who had been a missionary before said the same thing:  they were impacted by their experience way more than the people they were serving.  I can’t wait to go to South Africa.  I can’t wait to swim in the waters of the whale coast.  I can’t wait to try some cape malay cuisine.  I can’t wait to drive on the roads there (on the left side of the road, possibly in a stick shift.  Please pray for me.)  But what I’m saying is that it is my privilege to go on this mission.  I am the one who is getting the benefit, and the same is true for you on your trip next week.  Challenge yourselves to step out of your comfort zone.  Start some conversations with the people you’re going to serve.  Learn about their lives.  Make relationships.  That’s why you’re going.

When I talk to the people around me in my every-day life, I’ve realized I talk a lot about being in love.  I’m in love with my husband, Jacob.  I’m awfully lucky to be married to a man who is letting his wife leave him to go halfway around the world for a year just because I feel like I’m called to.  I fell in love with the other missionaries I met at orientation.  I wish you could meet all of them.  They’re a pretty charismatic and energetic group, and they’re going to do awesome work.  You should be proud of the group that is representing our church abroad.  They’re very easy to fall in love with.  I talk a lot about being in love with the Virginia.  This is my home.  I was born here, I’ve lived here nearly all my life, and no matter where I go, I think I’ll always come back here. It’s my place, and Virginians are my people.  I really like to be in love, and I’m in love with lots of other things, like my dog, my best friend, I even talk about being in love with cupcakes.  My favorite Christmas movie of all time is Love Actually.  Not only is it hilarious, but it has a great message.  Love actually IS all around.  All you have to do is recognize it.

I’m really not a very ‘religious’ person.  I said before the title missionary makes me uncomfortable because of the expectations attached to it.  When I told my coworkers at the hospital where I work now about what I am doing next year, I never used the word missionary.  I’ve gotten a little more used to the churchy language that surrounds missions, but really it’s just not my style, and I think that’s OK.  For me, God is most real in this love I’m talking about.  Mother Teresa said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”  I think to me, these small things are our missions - mine in South Africa, yours to North Carolina, St. Paul’s to Rome 2,000 years ago.  The small things are the mission, and the great love is God.  I want to challenge you to find something new to fall in love with.   Those of you going on the mission trip, fall in love with someone you meet or the town you’re visiting.  Those of you staying here, maybe try to fall more in love with something or someone you already love.

When I was at training, I was talking to one of the other missionaries about this ‘falling in love’ language I use.  She shared one of her favorite poems with me, by Fr. Pedro Arrupe.  I’d like to close by reading this as a prayer. 

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

Amen.