Here I sit and reflect on this past week of training. I arrived in Chicago on Wed. Aug 8, along with 52 other volunteers gearing up for our big adventure. I was extremely anxious driving the 2 hours to LSTC campus, unsure of what to expect, how the reunion will pan out and ultimately, hesitant about the idea of packing up and leaving. It was also unusual for me personally for the fact that I am not departing the U.S. straight from here as many of the other volunteers are. Rather, I am flying out on Monday, Aug 31st due to my supervisor's maternity leave and the church's preparation for my arrival. So unlike the others, I arrived with one small suitcase and one backpack...no tears in my eyes from saying my goodbyes to my family but still the anticipation of learning and discovering new ideas and lessons concerning our upcoming year.

The mission of YAGM/Global Missions is accompaniment. We discussed the idea of a "missionary" and what that title means to each of us. Many negative words were thrown out among the group, words that many people probably stll associate with missionaries and their work in other places. This program, YAGM, believes in the accompaniment model, the idea of walking along side people and accompanying them in their lives and tasks. I just love the idea of accompanyment because it brings a "you give, I give, you receive, I receive" feel. Another point was made that God is there, wherever we go. He is there before we get there and continues to be there while and after we leave. It was a nice reminder that yes, we are going to foreign places, but there is a constant in that God is already there.

I want to share a poem that was read throughout the week here in Chicago...

Passover Remembered...

Pack nothing
Bring only your determination to serve
and your willingnessto be free.

Don't wait for the bread to rise.
Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing,
be ready to move at a moment's notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind —
fear, silence, submission.
Only surrender to the need of the time —
to love justice and walk humbly with your God.

Do not take time to explain to the neighbours.
Tell only a few trusted friends and family members.
Then begin quickly,before you have time
to sink back into the old slavery.

Set out in the dark.
I will send fire to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire and I will be with you in the cloud.

You will learn to eat new food
and find refuge in new places.
I will give you dreams in the desert
to guide you safely to that place you have not yet seen.

The stories you tell one another around the fires in the dark
will make you strong and wise.

Outsiders will attack you,and some follow you
and at times you will get weary and turn on each other
from fear and fatigue and blind forgetfulness.

You have been preparing for this
for hundreds of years.

I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way
and to learn my ways more deeply.

Some of you will be so changed by weathers and wanderings
that even your closest friends will have to learn your features
as though for the first time.

Some of you will not change at all.
Some will be abandonedby your dearest loves
and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth
and feel abandoned by you.

Some will find new friendships in unlikely faces
and old friends as faithful and true
as the pillar of God's flame.

Sing songs as you go,
and hold close together.
You may at times grow confused
and lose your way.

Continue to call each other by the names I've given you
to help remember who you are.
You will get where you are going
by remembering who you are.
Touch each other
and keep telling the stories.

Make maps as you go
remembering the way back from before you were born.
So you will be only the first of many waves
of deliverance on these desert seas.
It is the first of many beginnings —
your Paschaltide.

Remain true to this mystery
Pass on the whole story.
Do not go back.
I am with you now and I am waiting for you.

- Alla Bozarth-Campbell

This poem shows every side, aspect and angle of my fears, excitement, joy and worry as I get ready to leave for this year. It is a comfort to think, as the last line of the poem states, "I am with you now and I am waiting for you." This reiterates the idea that God is there before we arrive and stays once we have left. He is everywhere.

People are all finishing their packing for tomorrow...and I sit with my little carry-on sized bag. I am sad that I will not be leaving with them; leaving with the excitement surrounding the YAGM group..but I am very glad to have the opportunity to spend time with my family. Now I wait and prepare.

ARD