Living in New Haven

So I just moved to New Haven yesterday and there is a lot of work to do. I'm basically living in a "fixer-uper" second-story apartment of a house - having to repaint everything... However I am living with two other great girls and we are all in this together. We live in a low-income area of New Haven - however, close enough to town (and everything else) that I don't feel like I have to travel far to anything (except for the boarding schools which I will start to travel to later in September).

I am psyched to be here. Although it might be hard to sense God's "affirmation" with so much grunt work to get settled, I definitely sensed another "wave" of it today in church. I will mostly likely attend a non-denominational church in town with many other like-minded, missional people (including my roommates). Definitely the kind of community I need. In fact, on my seat at this evening's service was a flyer describing the different homegroups in the community that people can attend. Here is the description of the one I plan to go to:

"The group will be open to anyone, but will be particularly focused on helping people to process issues of life and calling that are related to return from past or preparation for future overseas work and service, particularly in the Muslim world. There will be a strong emphasis on personal sharing and on focused prayer for one another, as well as on worship and on biblically based discussion of practical life issues." (italics-mine).

(it is led by a couple with two young children who live two houses away, who have been missionaries for a time in Turkey)

Needless to say, I feel more confirmed to be in this setting, at this time, than any other season of my life (maybe an exaggeration, but it feels pretty real!).

That said, I also need prayer for perseverance - to get through the long and physically arduous process of settling in, as well as relationally settling into an unknown place. Even more, I pray for time to really pray and dedicate the year ahead to the Lord. I'm not sure exactly what I will face as a "boarding school minister" - but I trust that He has clearly led me to this point. So, while I continue to process South Africa and the West Bank, there is a lot of personal growth ahead, which is another main reason why I took this job, and another area for spiritual diligence.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to relaying messages here about God at work in community in New Haven, and also among boarding school students in New England.

For those that don't know where New Haven, Connecticut is (or Connecticut, for that matter), here are some helpful maps:)

Starburst Commercial

Another favorite commercial..

Tide-to-Go Superbowl Commercial, My Talking Stain Ad My Fav

Favorite commercials of my new FOCUS staff friends.

In the news...

I picked up a Newsweek yesterday morning in the Philadelphia airport as I was headed to Chicago and read perhaps the most honest and accurate description of what is actually going on in Jerusalem. Sometimes it is very hard to describe in facts and figures what is going on and how it affects people, and yet also to be sensitive at the same time.

Here are some bits and pieces of the article - however, I recommend picking it up. You can read the entire article here.

The article begins by describing the life of the man that recently delved his construction vehicle into innocent civilians in Jerusalem. Not too many months before, a similar event ensued. The first string of these recent incidents, which occurred in March, I remember hearing about from a student in the West Bank that night, that 8 Jews had been killed in Jerusalem at a seminary....

Sadly, I can understand why these happen.. why they are not random, and yet also why they are not organized (as much of the world thinks). These are normal men, sick of their situation, and desperate for positive outlets and opportunities.

While Palestinian "Jerusalemites" have a life better than their West Bank or Gaza fellow countrymen, things have quietly been getting worse:
"Since the summer of 1967, when East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel, the district has built close ties with both the Israeli economy and Palestinian culture. That combination has been a formula for relative stability, earning East Jerusalemites the trust of Israelis on the city's west side.
But in recent years Israel has dramatically altered the sector's landscape. In 2002, former prime minister Ariel Sharon began building a 460-mile barrier—in much of the city, a 20-foot-high concrete wall—that slices deep into Palestinian territory and divides neighbor from neighbor. A network of new access roads and checkpoints has further chopped the territory into a hodgepodge of Palestinian enclaves. Even as Israeli settlements proliferate in East Jerusalem, building permits for Palestinian homes are becoming a rarity."
As an Israeli rights lawyer said, "We're screwing them royally... We've cut them off from the West Bank without integrating them into Israel."


Another interesting fact is that while Israel reacts by targeting mosques and other Islamic centers as hotbeds for these kinds of "terrorists," they are undermining the very fabric of the majority of Palestinian life. One man interviewed in the article says that it is unsafe to go the mosque even three times a week, for fear of getting arrested. Unbeknownst to itself, Israel is playing a direct role in creating the kind of grassroots, radical Islamists that it fears...

Love's Redeeming Work Is Done

Love's redeeming work is done,

Fought the fight, the battle won.

Death in vain forbids Him rise;

Christ has opened paradise.

(Refrain)

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King;

Where, O death, is now thy sting?

Once He died our souls to save,

Where thy victory, O grave?

Soar we now where Christ has led,

Following our exalted Head;

Made like Him, like Him we rise,

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.

(an old hymn)

Level One Internship -

Strengths:

• grace-filled community of our leadership team and their attractive fellowship
• openness to what God would do with me (by God's grace) - I was desperate!
• constant attention given in prayer to what God was doing in the lives of the students
• strong teaching program (morning and evening talks from Colossians, small group bible studies on Exodus)
• good weather

Highlights:

• early-morning devotion given on FREEDOM
• Prayer Day (at Great Rock Bight)
• Hunt the Spy (there were some amazing disguises!)
• day-off with Caitlin and Audrey
• hearing students' testimonies
  

Having attended various FOCUS camps in Martha's Vineyard since Middle School, I had never attended an Internship One until this past July. This camp helps students delve further into the faith, learning the basics of "putting off the old self" and putting on the new. Students learn to articulate their faith and learn what it means to live as a Christian. All of the 55 students on this camp came from private schools from Boston to Richmond.

Acquina Cliffs

Crazy morning (getting ready for a game)

Great Rock Bight

Hunt the Spy - A brillant game in which leaders disguise themselves around Edgartown and must be found by students. I'm the "pregnant woman" in the center.

Hanging out on the lodge porch

PURPLE CABIN!!

Sunset Reflections (students take Bible and journal and pan out along beach..)

While watching students' lives transform cannot compare to much else, the most profound memory from this camp included the gentle, solid leanings of the Lord to go on staff with this organization. I'd never seriously considered it before this camp, but found myself enjoying my fellowship with the staff so much, connecting with the students' need for the Gospel, and realizing how this "job" right before me matched beautifully with this season in life.

All that to say, at the end of this month, I will be moving to New Haven, Connecticut and will serve in FOCUS' boarding school ministry. I will be raising support, helping lead fellowship meetings at a couple boarding schools during the month, make connections with faculty and staff at these schools, and building relationships at a church that my other two roommates attend in the city.

Rob, my new boss, and his son Andrew

Michelle, a student at Hotchkiss in CT, and Jen, going on staff in Boston area

Anne, far right, is a student at Deerfield in Mass. She memorized the entire book of Colossians!!

Sarah (far left) is a student at Emma Willard in NY - i'll be connecting with her!

Liz (the one with the hat), my new roommate! and Audrey, going on staff in NYC

Another settlement

Upon arriving in the West Bank this past year in October, I realized how detrimental Israeli's settlements were to the peace process. It is as if Canada made towns in the United States and singlehandedly controlled them. In essence, Israel is currently cutting up the West Bank (part of Palestine) up like swiss cheese. And the entire international community turns a blind eye. And the media does not report it.

Here is an article I ran across today from Associated Press:

By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jul 24, 6:46 AM ET

JERUSALEM - "A key committee has approved construction of the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank in a decade, an Israeli official said Thursday. The news infuriated Palestinians, who said the decision could cripple peace efforts.

The only hurdle that remains is Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who plans to approve the Maskiot settlement within weeks, the official said. Barak had signaled to the national planning committee that it should authorize the plan, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the Defense Ministry did not officially announce the settlement would be built in the Jordan Valley Rift, an arid north-south strip that forms Israel's eastern flank with Jordan.

Asked why Israel was moving ahead with the politically charged plan, the official said that it has been in the pipeline for years.

Israel originally announced in 2006 that it would build Maskiot, then froze the plan after international outcry. But earlier this year, nine Israeli families settled in mobile homes at the site, which Palestinians claim as part of a future state.

Settlers say around two dozen more families are waiting to join them.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of undermining U.S.-backed peace talks.

"This is destroying the process of a two-state solution," Erekat said. "I hope the Americans will make the Israelis revoke the decision. I think they can make the Israelis do this."

The U.S. Embassy had no comment. But on her last visit to the region in June, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said settlement building "has the potential to harm the negotiations."

When talks renewed last year after a seven-year breakdown, Israel promised not to establish new settlements in the West Bank. The two sides set a goal of reaching a final peace accord by the end of the year, but have since scaled back their ambitions, in part because disputes over Israeli settlement have impeded progress on peacemaking.

Palestinians want the final deal to outline the formation of a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Israel captured those territories in the 1967 Mideast war.

Asked to comment on the revival of the plan to build Maskiot, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said, "Israel will stand by its commitments," and noted that Barak has not yet given final approval for the construction.

He would not elaborate. But Israel historically has interpreted its commitments on halting settlement expansion differently from the rest of the international community.

The Maskiot community is made up of settlers Israel evacuated from Gaza when it left the territory three years ago. When it withdrew from Gaza, Israel promised not to relocate evacuated settlers to the West Bank.

Earlier this year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas briefly called off peace talks over continued Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has sharply criticized the building, saying it hampers peace efforts, but the U.S. has not penalized Israel.

Maskiot had decades ago been established as a military base, and four years ago a religious school was set up there. But no one had lived at the site until February.

Many Israeli settlements have been established in precisely that manner, beginning as military points that are gradually converted into fledgling communities that gradually grow.

Like many settlers, those at Maskiot are Orthodox Jews who believe God gave the West Bank — the biblical heartland Israelis often call Judea and Samaria — to the Jewish people."

A friend's commentary on the recent violence in Jerusalem

"Many of you have probably seen the latest news of violence in Jerusalem: a Palestinian living in Israel attacked a bus while driving a bulldozer killing several people. What a tragedy. Immediately this was declared the latest act of Palestinian terrorism. This man, however despicable the act, was not a terrorist and did not belong to any terrorist organizations. The Israelis responded with calls to cut off this man's whole neighborhood from Israel with the infamous wall. This is to affectively isolate and withdraw the citizenship of everyone in his whole town. Furthermore, his home, which houses 22 people (!) is scheduled to be demolished. What a tragedy.

In the US it would be as if a school shooting was done by a black student from a poor inner-city neighborhood and then the US government demolishing this student's family's home and then calling for his whole black neighborhood to be punished by removing their citizenship and booting them out of the country. This is collective punishment and this is racism. Inflicting pain on others does not do away with our own pain and it does not provide security. Let us pray for both the victims of this attack as well as for the family of the attacker."

BBC does a good job in covering the story. Please read the story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7490212.stm: