Update

So most of you know that I am still waiting for my visa. I have turned in more papers and they tell me it will be a month more. That will be around Christmas time. Hmmm...will I ever get there? I'll write more on this soon. I've also decided that at the very least, I will post around the 15th of each month b/c that's when I have to send out my updates to my Young Adult Missionary Community.

More slaves today...

This is powerful!

Modern day slavery

Check out the video below...







"M&M Mars and Hershey Foods Corp. are not alone. Other companies whose chocolate is almost certainly tainted with child slavery include: ADM Cocoa, Ben & Jerry’s, Cadbury Ltd., Chocolates by Bernard Callebaut, Fowler’s Chocolate, Godiva, Guittard Chocolate Company, Kraft, Nestle, See’s Candies, The Chocolate Vault, and Toblerone. While most of these companies have issued condemnations of slavery, and expressed a great deal of moral outrage that it exists in the industry, they each have acknowledged that they use Ivory Coast cocoa and so have no grounds to ensure consumers that their products are slavery-free"

"There are in fact many chocolate companies who only use cocoa that has definitively not been produced with slave labor. Clif Bar, Cloud Nine, Dagoba Organic Chocolate, Denman Island Chocolate, Gardners Candies, Green and Black’s, Kailua Candy Company, Koppers Chocolate, L.A. Burdick Chocolates, Montezuma’s Chocolates, Newman’s Own Organics, Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company, Rapunzel Pure Organics, and The Endangered Species Chocolate Company"

"At present, no organic cocoa beans are coming from Ivory Coast, so organic chocolate is unlikely to be tainted by slavery."




I got the above info from: http://earthsave.org/newsletters/chocolate.htm





I've been doing a lot of reading on this and I've found similar info in many places. I don't think boycotting is the answer, there needs to be pressure put on these companies to do something about the situation. They are the ones with the money, money talks. I have read that due to an increase in public awareness, progress is starting to be made. So...we will see...

My soul moans for those suffering. How can I stop from being a part of that suffering. Everything I buy, eat, wear...it is so hard to avoid being a part of it without even realizing... And then how do I move on and work towards alleviating that suffering?

Update

Hey everyone. Below is an update I sent to my fellow Mission Interns and US-2's. It pretty much sums up my current situation(still waiting for my visa). It was written on 9/16/07.

So I don't really feel like I am a Mission Intern yet because I'm living in the same place and working p/t at the same place. What has been WONDERFUL is that I've been able to hang out with others in my program: David (Jerusalem and Nazareth), Lindsey K (Phillipines), Jamie (General Board of Church and Society in DC), Rebecca (Church World Service in DC), and Katy (Foundry UMC in DC). Yesterday, on my birthday :)(9-15-07), Alycia, Dakin and Sara came down from NYC and Jamie, Rebecca, Katy, Roger, a couple of my friends from work, Jamie's friend Jessie, and I went to the Anti-War protest. It was a perfect day for the protest, not too hot, not too chilly. And a perfect way to spend my birthday! I am grateful to be close to the DC ladies, Lindsey K and David, it has helped me to feel a little more like a mission intern and to feel connected to our communty. And it was so good to see Alycia, Dakin, and Sara. (Dakin and Sara are the regional directors for Latin America and the Carribean, for those of you who don't know) (Alycia is my Missionary in Residence of Young Adult Programs, MIRYAP for short)

Something else that I am very grateful for is that I've been able to see many of my high school friends that I've stayed close to over the years. These are the friends that we always say that we should hang out, but never get around to it b/c we get caught up in life. Work, kids, etc. Always excuses. But because I'm leaving...more effort has been made and I've gotten to spend quality time with some very dear friends. I should leave the country more often... In fact, I've had so much fun over the past month, that I don't know if I want to leave. HA. YEAH RIGHT! But it has been a good lesson in priority of relationships and community. For sure.

So, although it has been frustrating with my visa situation, I have been enjoying life and I feel very blessed to be where I am right now.

Here's a picture from the protest. In it are: Rebecca Yount, Alycia Capone, Jamie Michaels, Katy Wheat, and me. Rebecca, Jamie and Katy are US-2's serving in DC and Alycia, my MIRYAP.

Commissioning

So I haven't written in awhile, partially because of laziness and partially because it's hard for me to put things into words.

I got commissioned on July 15, 2007 at St. Paul and St. Andrew's UMC in Manhattan. There were 9 US-2's and 8 Mission Interns (my program). Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar of the Greater New Jersey Conference gave the message and led the commissioning. He said "This is not about success, it is about faithfulness." This is something I've known, but as he said that the reality of the situation hit me hard. I am a missionary. Not the negative stereotype of imposing beliefs and customs onto "poor native savages", but as in living out my faith, putting that faith into action. Amazing. Love. Christ's unconditional love and Ubuntu forgiveness. Community. Connection. Peace and Social Justice. Walking with my neighbors as Christ intended. Being connected to the global community. Humility. I am finally going to be able to do what matters the most to me. And what God has called me to do which is why it matters to me.

One of the songs that we sung during that service is called "The Summons." I first heard that song at the Womens Retreat with Westminster UMC this past year. I was touched by the lyrics then but on this day, it meant even more.

Here is one of the verses. The rest are under the picture if you want to read them. The hymn came from the Iona Community which is an ecumenical community based on an island off of Scotland. So picture a Irish/Scotch type melody.

4. Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?
Wow.

Here's a picture of the commissioning:

Here's the rest of the lyrics:

The Summons by John L. Bell(I think)

1. Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

2. Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

3. Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

4. Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

5. Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

July 4th

So we went to a pier on the Hudson River in W. Greenwhich Village to watch the fireworks. Here's a few pictures that didn't turn out as well as I would've liked...





Christy, Christina and I...a little windblown...

Protest-please read

Today we went to the Church Center at the United Nations (CCUN). Our seminar was on globalization and more specifically sweatshops. We watched "The Corporation" which is a Michael Moore movie and I recommend it to everyone. It's very scary, the corporate world. It doesn't seem that we really live in a democratic, capitalistic society afterall, not that I thought we did in the first place, but it's worse than I thought it was.

But what I really want to talk about is that we participated in a protest with the "Justice Will Be Served!" campaign which is a coalition of the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, The Chinese Staff & Workers' Association, and 318 Workers Union. The protest was aiming to boycott and to inform people so that they will boycott the "Saigon Grill" here in Manhattan. What happened to lead up to this was that 36 delivery workers (delivery by bicycle) were unlawfully fired because they were organizing and planned to file a lawsuit. The owners demanded that the workers sign an illegal contract, stating that they had received minimum wage. They were actually receiving under $2.00 as low as $1.60 an hour. The workers, which included documented and undocumented, refused to lie.

The Saigon Grill's three locations earn more than $2 million per month. The workers would get paid under $2.00, while the legal minimum wage for NYC is approximately $4.85 for a job that earns tips. One worker said that he would get paid $120.00 for working a 75 hour week. On top of that, they would get fined for silly things like slamming a door on their way out (accidentally), taking sick leave, being late entering something into the computer. If the workers hurt themselves on the job, they had to pay their own medical bills. If they got robbed or beaten (common) while making a delivery, they had to pay not only their medical bills but the orders that got taken. Workers that spoke out against these conditions were automatically fired. They were verbally harassed by their supervisors and not allowed to call their families or eat. Some of these workers had been with Saigon Grill for 10+ years.

Why, you ask, would someone work in these conditions? They have to make money and they can't get a better job elsewhere because it would be similar conditions. Documented workers would be told that they could easily replaced with undocumented workers. The owners would threaten undocumented workers with calling INS. I was told that in New Jersey there are work conditions worse that this, where workers are working for nothing but tips!

These workers along with the orgs supporting them are fighting for justice. They are demanding that Saigon Grill immediately rehire all delivery worker and that they obey the labor law and pay workers their minimum wage and overtime pay, which was something else they weren't getting. This boycott has been going on for five months. A public press release was done. Members of the state legislator and others are aware of the situation but have not done anything to help. I did read however that a federal wage lawsuit has been filed.

Here are some pictures:

Oscar Romero

This is what we are about.
We are the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promises.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
It enables us to do something, and to do it well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

~~~from Prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero
Assasinated by the Salvadoran military in 1980 because he walked with the oppressed. The Salvadoran Military was funded by the U.S.

Amazing

I would like to thank everyone for the support and prayers while I am here in New York City. I cannot begin to put into words how amazing it is to be here with other people that have the same or similar passions that I do. Hearing people's stories and sharing my own, we all come from different walks in life, but we were all led here. This has and is going to be a completely transforming experience and I have never in my life felt so strongly that I am doing what I should be doing, without a single doubt in my mind, heart, or soul, this is where God wants me. It is both amazing and humbling.

On Sunday, June 17th Pastor Jenn and Pastor Dave at Westminster UMC commisioned me as a way of showing support from the church that I went to growing up and where I first learned what it meant to "serve" through my experiences on Volunteers In Mission trips. (my official commissioning is on July 15). Here's a picture of Jenn and I:



And here's a picture of Mom, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Sherry, and Gaggy (grandmother):

Finally

Well, I'm finally in New York. My life has been so busy up until now that it doesn't seem real that I'm actually here. We met as a group for the first time yesterday at dinner. There's 2 MIRYAP's(Missionary in Residence of Young Adult Programs-they are leading us), 9 Mission Interns(my program) and 8 US-2's(2 years in the U.S.) After dinner we got our schedules and although we do have down time, we are going to be very busy. My "down time" usually consists of being with a small group of people b/c I'm extroverted and get rejuventated by being around others. However, I may actually need my own down time during these three weeks.

Yesterday, as part of introductions, we picked a quote and explained while we liked it. I picked one by Mahatma Gandhi that means a lot to me because it describes my restlessness, my desire to not be sitting around dreaming and thinking about injustices in the world, but actually doing something about it. I feel that God has call me, has been calling me for a while and I can't ignore it anymore. The quote was: "Be the change you want to see in the world." And with that I will quote Mother Teresa: "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

Love and Wisdom

This is something that my friend Lisa emailed me:

"Love and wisdom without the good of use are nothing; they are mere ideal entities, which are only realized when they are employed in use....Therefore when love by means of wisdom is put to use, it actually exists, because it is realized in action. These three are exactly like end, cause and effect; the end is nothing unless by means of the cause it is realized in the effect."
True Christian Religion 387

What is the "Mission Intern" program?

So everyone is asking me what this program I'm doing is all about. So here goes...

The Mission Intern Program is a leadership development and social justice opportunity for young adults (20-30 years old) through the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

The three-year program is divided into a 16-month international work/study assignment and a 16-month action/education assignment in one's own country. It is an opportunity for young people to hear the prophetic voice of communities and individuals around the world who are working for systemic change and to apply that experiential learning to their home context. The program encourages participants to learn about and live out the transformative gospel of Jesus Christ while working as grassroots organizers and/or advocates in areas of conflict resolution, peace, education, environmental justice, economic development, indigenous rights, and women's and children's issues. (Both above and below description is from www.gbgm-umc.org)

The Mission Intern Goals are:

1) To commit to a ministry of presence, which supports marginalized communities working for peace and justice.

2) To learn through experience, the day-to-day effects of systemic oppression on local communities, both internationally and nationally.

3) To actively participate with local organizations working for social justice.
To learn to live the gospel of Christ by connecting with people who model creative social witness.

4) To enrich your faith by learning with others, interreligiously and ecumenically, experience the liberating power of God.

5) To bridge the experiences of different communities so as to better facilitate communication and cooperation between peoples seeking justice in a global context.

6) To witness in one's local church and community about new ways to envision mission as a global church.

7) To develop yourself as a leader, prepared to be a prophetic voice in society and committed to holding the church accountable to God's calling.

8) To form a covenant community of young adults committed to demonstrate through word and action the importance of Christian presence within and support of global movements for social change.

9) To engage in faith based action for justice and disciplined theological reflection in order to better integrate social justice into Christian faith and learn to live a new definition of mission.