A New Position: Academic Support Advisor

Starting next week, on July 1st, I will be moving offices to St. David’s Eastern Univeristy Campus!

This means, no more 15 minute bus ride or half an hour walk to work; it’s a train ride for me, and about an hour commute!  Besides for the commute, this also means a lot of exciting opportunities for continued relationships and ministry with students that I know and love (although, riding the train will bring it’s own excitement: time to read a book?).

Eastern in the City was in existence for the past three years to provide students in the heart of Philly an affordable, rigorous, and faith-integrated education. As this program closes, I will be moving to Eastern University’s Cushing Center for Counseling & Academic Support.  My first priority will be support Eastern in the City students who are making the transition to the new campus.  As my position develops I may also work with students in a program called EQUIP, or who are in a program called ACT 101.

It has been a privilege to explore our city and world alongside of Eastern in the City students for the past three years. From trips across the ocean, across Pennsylvania, and all over the city of Philadelphia— I’ve seen students grow and expand their minds, hearts,  faith, and understanding of the world. They’ve courageously stepped out of your comfort zones—through serving others, diving into new cultures, and engaging in difficult conversations in my office, in the classroom, or at a Community Gathering. I see change, growth, and hope in each student who walked through this program. Their stories inspire me, and their lives challenge me. I’ve been as much of a student as they have been the last three years; I am thankful for the opportunity they’ve given me to learn from and with them– and I’m glad it’s not over!

Now, 25 to 30 students will be Eastern in the City Alum, finishing their Bachelors degree at Eastern University’s main campus.  My work with students will focus on being an “Academic Support Advisor” for these students.  As they venture out onto a new path and new territory, I will venture with them.  Please keep us in your prayers.

My May Email Newsletter

“God is in the midst of the City; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.”
-Psalm 46:5

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

Last week Thursday, May 7th, Eastern in the City (EIC) had it’s official Closing Ceremony.  The event was bittersweet as we celebrated 31 students who successfully completed the program this year while we also mourned that the students’ seats weren’t going to filled by new students next Fall due to the closing of EIC.

Our students will remain the legacy of the Eastern in the City Program.  They are already changing the world around them and will continue to do so.  One of the many moving parts of the ceremony occurred when each student came forward to read their mission statements they had created during their time at Eastern in the City.  As they came forward to receive their certificates of completion they read their mission statements and future plans.  Below are a sampling of just three:

Fevan: My personal mission is to love, respect, worship while expressing the values of generosity, loyalty, and modesty for the poor and oppressed in the world. Upon completion of Eastern in the City I will pursue Nursing at Eastern University. The greatest lesson I’ve learned during my time at EIC is that we live in an unjust world.

Mr. Tim: My personal mission is to communicate, educate, and promote the Kingdom of God while expressing the values of compassion, faith, and respect with family issues, the justice system, and veterans administration. Upon completion of Eastern in the City I will attend Eastern University College of Arts and Sciences; my major will be theology and history.  The greatest lesson I’ve learned during my time at EIC is that I can accomplish my goals.

Nelson: My personal mission is to encourage, improve, and love while expressing the values of dependability, determination, and humility to the youth of Philadelphia. Upon completion of Eastern in the City I will attend Eastern University and will continue to pursue a degree in Entrepreneurial Studies. The greatest lesson I’ve learned during my time at EIC is that time management is an essential tool for success in school and in life.

I am excited to share with you that I will have the opportunity to continue to walk alongside these students as they pursue their missions in the coming year.  I’ve accepted a position with the CCO & Eastern University’s College of Arts & Sciences in the Student Development Office, beginning on July 1st.

I thank you for giving to this ministry that allows me to continue to provide support, advocacy, and mentorship to these students. As this ministry moves ahead, I continue to need financial support.  I am thankful for new supporters, who have helped maintain my total committed amount of monthly support at $990 (47% of my goal to raise $2,085 a month).   Please consider becoming a monthly supporter, or giving a one time donation.  This link will bring you directly to a place where you can donate online to my ministry.

This Friday, May 15th, we are having an orientation to introduce students from Eastern in the City to the Main Campus Student Services.  Please pray for the EIC students as they begin their transition into a new community and onto a new campus.

The verse quoted at the top of this email was written on the front cover of our programs at the Closing Ceremony.  It’s a reminder that while our undergraduate program will not remain in the city of Philadelphia, God is still at work here and will not be moved.  Join me in praying and supporting students who have thrived against the odds of the urban setting, and who God is using to make an impact in this world.

Peace & blessings,
Alaina

(sent May 13th)

P.S. The Pictures to the left are from our closing ceremony!  Click on the link to see more.  Also, I apologize for the weird font change… I don’t know why it won’t let me change it!

Isaiah 58

This morning I attended a training for Mercy Ministry as part of being a deacon-in-training at my church.  We started out the session by reading Isaiah 58:6-12 and it struck me as incredibly powerful… so I just wanted to share it:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness ^[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Jubilee Conference

For the past few months I’ve been academically advising about thirteen students– giving me the opportunity to talk with them about their hopes and dreams for their future (as well as their current academic status, what classes to take next year, and more…).   Next weekend I’m going to the CCO’s Jubilee Conference with a group of five students where we will be exploring what it means to take your whole life (including your academics) and give it to God.  What does it mean to chose a career path and calling that is focused on serving God?

Here’s a link to the conference if you want to check it out: www.jubileeconference.com

A few students wrote essays describing their experiences at Jubilee before, and earned scholarships to attend again this year.  Here are some excerpts:

“To be shaped into a wonderful creation, free from pride, ready to work the field and show God’s love is enough for me. I am no longer consumed with a desire to be rich with material things for myself. I now want to acquired for the use of helping someone else. It was because of my attendance at Jubilee last year which led me to go on a mission trip last summer. I would have never done that before. I am convinced the conference will continue to take  me places to serve, because of the magnitude of their mission.  I believe the jubilee Conference will continue to help me evolve into a wise master, an authentic leader, and an agent of social change.” -Martina

“Another way this conference will help me pursue my destiny is that I would like to start my own non-profit organization. My purpose is to engage inner city youth by learning about culture. My plan is to teach them about culture by taking them to museums to learn about different culture as well as learning how to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe the Jubilee conference will give me the knowledge to pursue my goals. The conference will help me reach out to youth that wrestle with the pressures of life. When I first attended the Jubilee conference I was able to take all the information that I learned back to my youth ministry at my church as well as my school and community.” -Ulyses

In my conversations with students I am reminded of how many questions living a life focused on faith brings up.   God has a ways of taking our thoughts, plans, and dreams and doing some pretty crazy things.   In Hebrews 11 we are reminded that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (verse 1). Often times it seems I don’t have a clue what God is up to, but I’m reminded that that is what faith is about.  I’m excited for what God has in store for my students and myself next week.

Heading back to the Caribbean

It’s true! On February 28th myself, ten students, and two other faculty members (and a spouse!) will be heading to Puerto Rico. Since January 14th we’ve been meeting weekly in class (Heritage of the Caribbean is our course title), learning about the history of the Caribbean, and most recently the history of Puerto Rico. This past Wednesday we had a great discussion about how the the history of Colonialism has impacted Puerto Rico’s culture… Puerto Rico was owned by the Spanish since Christopher Columbus claimed it in 1493, and was won by the US in 1898 in the Spanish American War. Since that time, PR has been owned by the United States– although overtime that has evolved into meaning different things. Our talks in class regarding these issues have been a deep reminder of how much history influences the way we understand our world today.

We are reading the following books for the class:

When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeraldo Santiago

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

Both are memoirs that have to do with the authors relationship to the country they grew up in and how their identity has developed in the midst of a place filled with tension with tourism, race relations, and more. A couple students in the class have Caribbean backgrounds which has definitely enriched our discussions.

For the week we are in Puerto Rico we will be visiting a church and learning about their ministry, staying and serving at a Christian Camp, visiting the University of Puerto Rico and learning about life on campus there, spending a day in Old San Juan learning about history, visiting the Taino Indian Museum to learn about what life was like before Columbus came to the Island, visiting El Yenque rainforest, and taking a trip at night on the Phosphorescent Bay. I’m excited to see how this trip is used in student’s lives, as well as my own! We will have a lot to learn about Puerto Rican culture…. both on the Island, and here in the United States. When we get back we’ll spend a lot of time debriefing our trip, but also learning about Puerto Rican communities in our own city of Philadelphia.

Here are the course objectives from my syllabus (to give an idea of what we are doing):

• Study the ancient and current history of the Caribbean, including European, African, and American influences

• Explore the basic beliefs, worship rituals, and philosophies particular to faith communities within the Caribbean region, as well as specifically in Puerto Rico.

• Discover artistic expression in Puerto Rico

• Consider strategies of community development and responses to poverty and other social problems

• Practice cross-cultural skills through an immersion experience

• Critically develop an understanding of worldview differences of the geographic region, including social structures, faith, and values.

• Analyze and synthesis understanding of a particular social, political, or economic issue within a Caribbean community abroad or in the United States, related to area of interest or study (major area of academic pursuit)

• Creatively present to a public audience the personal and/or social impact of the Caribbean region

More stories, updates, and pictures to follow… I’m pretty sure about that

New Semester, New Pictures Posted, and a New President…

It’s true- lots of new things are going on lately. I haven’t posted on this blog in a long time, but am hoping to get back on “my game” when it comes to this! I just posted a bunch of new pictures from the last couple months– mostly involving life around EIC, and Inauguration Day.

A lot has been going on these last few weeks– there was definitely an excitement on campus on Inauguration Day, when Barack Obama became the 44th President… and first African American President. We all gathered (with pizza) to watch the inauguration in the middle of the day and share in the historic moment together. It was amazing to watch a nation of people (well, actually,  the entire world), recognize that something significant was taking place regardless of their political beliefs.  I was thankful to be share in the moment with my students and the community at the School for Social Change.

So, a lot of new things are happening– and with new things comes a lot of uncertainty about what will happen.  Some students had a rough semester last Fall… and I am hopeful alongside them that this semester will be better.  Life is full of a lot of challenges and questions.  I was reminded, recently, of a passage of scripture from Isaiah that says, “Forget the former things;  do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” (43:18-19).  My prayer for this semester is that we can embrace new things– and look for the ways that God is making a way for his people in the midst of a broken world.

(written on January 28th, but not posted for some reason .

Home from Haiti

I arrived back home from Haiti on Wednesday evening.  If you want to read some about our experiences, you can check out the Diaspora of Hope Blog.  This blog chronicles three trips that Buildabridge International coordinated– to Haiti, Guatemala, and Kenya.

I have a million thoughts and things to share; and will be writing more about them soon.  I felt incredibly privileged to be able to be a part of the lives of the people I meant in Haiti for such a brief period of time.  The hospitality that Haitians welcomed us with was overwhelming.  We ended up spending a lot of our time working with Kids at St. Vincents School, which is a home for handicapped and orphaned children.  We taught art classes in drama, visual arts, music, and dance… culminating in a final celebration at the end of the week.

Here is a picture of some of the kids, and of our team with all the kids on our final celebration day:

More reflections to come.

Let justice and praise become my embrace

This song, From the Inside Out by Hillsong United struck me this morning in church:

A thousand times I’ve failed, Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again, Still I’m caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
My heart and my soul, I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out.

I am going to Haiti on Friday. Well, technically I’m flying to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night and heading to Haiti on Saturday morning; but that’s just all details. I’ve been going going going so much lately at Eastern in the City, with events my house community has been hosting, and with things at church that I haven’t really taken the time to prepare for my trip to Haiti. Yesterday I started doing some packing and started taking my malaria medicine! I also started reading a book about Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains, which tells the story of his work in bringing healthcare to Haitians and some of the neediest places on the planet. Needless to say, as I prepare to go to Haiti I am asking all sorts of questions and preparing for my heart to be broken by the immense poverty I’m sure to witness (can you really prepare for that? I’m going to say no. I hope you can’t.).

The World Bank has this to say about Haiti:

In 2008, Haiti has been hit by a series of shocks: soaring world prices for food and fuel, followed by four tropical storms or hurricanes since August 18. The rising cost of living has caused great hardship and triggered a social and political crisis, as violent protests erupted and the Senate voted out Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis and his Government. The storms have killed several hundred people and created a humanitarian emergency, with around 850,000 (a tenth of the population) needing assistance. Floods have seriously damaged infrastructure and crops, contributing to shortages, fueling further inflation, and possibly bringing about economic contraction.

My heart and soul does cry out already in thinking about the pain and brokenness that the World Bank is describing. So, today in church, singing the words above reminded me that God is in control of all things. Including what I’m sure to see and experience in Haiti. And, while that’s hard for me to understand– I deeply believe it’s true and that I’m sure to discover more of who God is through the people I meet while I am in Haiti. The situation in Haiti, when one reads the news reports, seems relatively hopeless. The first week I am in Haiti I will be working with a team called Diaspora of Hope. This the Diaspora of Hope Blog that contains the curriculum and concepts of what our team will be doing while we are there (there is also a team going to Guatemala and Kenya). Our team in Haiti consists of four Americans and five Haitians– we’ll be working together to implement an arts based program that teaches art. The curriculum says: “Art-making helps build hope and helps meet universal needs of love, affirmation, meaningful productivity, purpose, and belonging.” As we work with this team to help children experience hope in a place that is struggling so much; I am already overwhelmed by how much God will teach us all.

So, I hope that my heart can love well while I am in Haiti, and that I can truly let “justice and praise become my embrace to love [Christ] from the inside out”. I have a feeling Haiti will teach me a lot. I’m going for a number of reasons– to help with this project, to learn more about one of the toughest places in our world, and to connect with people and places that I can return to with college students. I strongly believe it’s important for people to have experiences where they learn about the struggles and joys of people all around our world. I am excited to see how this trip impacts my ministry when I return and share stories with my students and look to the future. While I am thinking ahead– I also hope to just love others well while I am in Haiti, as well as receive their love and hospitality too.

Please pray for us!! Pray for our team, for me, for the Haitians we’ll be meeting, and the Episcopal Church where we’ll be staying. I’ll try to keep you updated with what’s up- but our email access will be pretty limited. We’ll see what happens

Happy Birthday to You…

So, last Friday was my co-worker’s birthday– but she missed her party! These are some EIC students and my other co-worker, Wes, singing her a song (I’m videoing). This video captures some EIC love, so I thought I’d share with you! That’s all. I love these guys a lot.

Psalms & Songs

Lately I’ve been reading the Psalms. I’ve been feeling incredibly impatient at times lately– with people, with institutions, myself, and overall with how broken the world is today. When I read the Psalms I am reminded the world has been broken for a very very long time; and that people have been longing for God for a long time. My impatience is nothing new; and my prayer is that I can turn it into longing for Christ. Not to be cheesy, but in the midst of the last couple weeks where my sense of impatience has heightened; I’ve certainly seen glimpses of God that continue to give me hope.

One glimpse was in a student, recently at the Masquerade event I posted about below. Brenda wrote a song and sang it for us at the event after sharing some of her own personal struggles. I’m going to copy and paste the words in here for you– it reminds me of a Psalm. Praising God & longing for him to come and heal the brokenness at the same time.

Lord, you are everything I want
You are everything I need
At times when left alone
You were always there with me

Through the sorrows and the pain
When the sun refused to shine
Gently into my ears
Told me that all will be all right

When depression weighed me down
When thoughts ran through my mind
Many times I asked myself
Will I truely live my life

As I look around and see
See tears in peoples eyes
When will you come
And mend these broken hearts

Chorus:

Lord you’re all that I want
You’re more than just a friend
As I sit around and think
I think of you again and again (2x)

As I look around and see
Lives are being changed
Infants being born
Many lives are taken away

Death awaited me
Many times I cannot say
But by your grace
I’m standing here today

Brenda says she’s not sure if she’s done writing this song yet; but that she guesses she is for now. Her voice is powerful, and so are her words.