Orientation at Stony Point was, for me, a mountaintop experience. The worship was incredible--so full of life. We sang songs of praise from all over the word, we danced, we cried.
The YAV program did a great job of perparing us for the year to come. We heard touching (and troubling) from former YAVS, we analyzed our personalities, we talked about ¨the man¨ and how we are a part of 'him' ...whether we like to admit it or not. The message that reverberated with me most, however, was that of 'self-care'. In a nutshell, it´s the idea of putting on your oxygen mask first, and then aiding those around you. It is instinct to save the child next to you--to put their mask on first... That mentality manifests itself, in my life at least, by over-committing myself, rarely saying 'no', and putting my needs last. That is if, in fact, I have even taken the time to identify what it i that I need to nourish my spirit, so that in turn I can be of greatest service. Reflecting on it now, the song ¨Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me¨ comes to mind. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. We reflected on ways that we ¨fill our cup¨ mentally, physically, spiritually, and we tried to boil that down to three words. Mine were stretch, create, pray.
I am including pictures of Antigua in this orientation blurb, because our first three days in Guatemala were an extended orientation. It is simply beautiful here. Julia put it best--As we were walking down a cobblestone, colorful street the first afternoon she said, ¨My heart is literally exploding right now.¨ It is, however, pretty easy to forget that you´re in a developing country in Antigua--we even caught ourselves brushing our teeth with tapwater a time or two. But I do appreciate the ´transition time´that was built into the program, as i got to know my fellow YAVers better and Marcia, our coodinator and PCUSA mission co-worker. It was nice, I must admit, to be a tourist for a few days and try to capture some of the beauty that is surrounding me in photo-form.
The YAV program did a great job of perparing us for the year to come. We heard touching (and troubling) from former YAVS, we analyzed our personalities, we talked about ¨the man¨ and how we are a part of 'him' ...whether we like to admit it or not. The message that reverberated with me most, however, was that of 'self-care'. In a nutshell, it´s the idea of putting on your oxygen mask first, and then aiding those around you. It is instinct to save the child next to you--to put their mask on first... That mentality manifests itself, in my life at least, by over-committing myself, rarely saying 'no', and putting my needs last. That is if, in fact, I have even taken the time to identify what it i that I need to nourish my spirit, so that in turn I can be of greatest service. Reflecting on it now, the song ¨Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me¨ comes to mind. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. We reflected on ways that we ¨fill our cup¨ mentally, physically, spiritually, and we tried to boil that down to three words. Mine were stretch, create, pray.
I am including pictures of Antigua in this orientation blurb, because our first three days in Guatemala were an extended orientation. It is simply beautiful here. Julia put it best--As we were walking down a cobblestone, colorful street the first afternoon she said, ¨My heart is literally exploding right now.¨ It is, however, pretty easy to forget that you´re in a developing country in Antigua--we even caught ourselves brushing our teeth with tapwater a time or two. But I do appreciate the ´transition time´that was built into the program, as i got to know my fellow YAVers better and Marcia, our coodinator and PCUSA mission co-worker. It was nice, I must admit, to be a tourist for a few days and try to capture some of the beauty that is surrounding me in photo-form.
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| This is "Agua" .. The volcano south of Antigua--dormant, but a very helpful compass |
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