Oh, The Places You'll Go

There has just been way too much. I don't even know where to begin, what to continue with, and what to end with.

Again God is showing himself to be fully in control of my life.

I am so content and pleased to be in Aurora with amazing community. I have laughed so hard I cried, and cried so hard that I can't help but laugh. Jon's silly faces, Sarah's sweet kindness, Malka's beautiful heart, and my weird personality all combine to create a mesh of disciples. Talking about Jesus all the time, laughing at the craziest things, driving around, taking the train back from Chicago at 1 in the morning, participating in Shabbat, talking with Jr. and Sr. highers and volunteers, discussing spiritual warfare, laughing with new people who have deep stories of life, singing to John Foreman, meeting new friends and mentors, Billy Graham and J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, watching movies, staying up as late as possible, praying, living life together. This is what I want in my life. This is what Jesus wants in my life. God, let this be my life.

Oh those Jesus videos:

Jesus isn't a rock. You're all sinners. You have no hope. What in the name of me is going on here?
John, you know what you did. I just can't repeat it because I'm Jesus.

And my new love: Flight of the Conchords. Thank you Jon.

A kiss is not a contract.
Albie the racist dragon.


And so I recognize that you, God, are more powerful and wonderful and all-knowing than I could ever imagine. Which is crazy, because I imagine you very very much all those things. Thank you for your outpouring of love in my life and in the lives of those around me. Thank you for growth in hard places and growth in easy places. Thank you for kicking our butts to go into a higher gear so we can know what it truly means to be disciples. Thank you for the places we go: physically, emotionally, spiritually. And may we continue to seek your face in all circumstances. May it not be hidden, but waiting in expectation. God, you are more than we could ever even think of needing. Show us what that means. Reveal your glory and power to us. Give us the strength to follow your heart to wherever it leads us. Teach us. Grow us. Live powerfully within us. We look to you for our next steps.

And so it is...






Jamie

change of plans

Dinner with Hartong's

Betsy, Amasa and Megan

Beautiful Jamie

Jason drawing Jesus- this man is amazing...Jesus and Jason I mean... :)



In Geneva, a quaint downtown

an old radio station building turned costume shop






Umm, there have been some massive change of plans and I am pretty sure they are good and from Gd. yay! We're going to use Jon and Sarah's free stand by tickets to fly home on Saturday and when the Hanes come to southern CA, they'll drive out Jamie's car. Totally crazy. But totally perfect. We played a joke on Kim, having Jon say that we weren't going to leave until Saturday, therefore we couldn't help out VBS cause we wouldn't be in SD until monday or tuesday... all in love of course :)

Last night we had an amazing dinner community and prayer worship time with Betsy and Jason and their family and friends. Can I reiterate this enough: Gd has me and Jamie here for a specific purpose and that purpose is getting more and more clear and big.

Having an extra three days is proving to be exhausting, but awesome. Every day we have met and spent time with friends of the Hanes and every night we've been up between 2-4 am. I won't lie, they have become our good friends and sleep has become a secondary concern. Entering a new community with common faith is radical and freeing. Inside jokes, such Jon's spiritual skepticism, his obsession with Jamie's pillow involving feet and lightening being a representation of the Holy Spirit. And speaking of lightening, it is incredible here! I have never, ever seen the sky rain and sparkle as I have the last few nights.

We are all ADD and almost never have a conversation without interruption. But its home. It's family. It is soo good. I am not even exhausted when I know I should be! We are busy planning our days with laughter and food. Our goal of eating "in" has not succeeded here. But Jon's bread making abilities, Sarah's wine laugh and Jamie's OCD over feet has entertained us for this long- the Mexican food here is not bad, I should add. The thrift stores are equally amazing! And for myself, I keep talking about poop, and not meaning to at all. It's this weird thing, I think Jon put it well saying, "Malka's world revolves around her butt" ...probably a little too gross for some people (sorry Charlotte :).

I enjoy it. And I hope that our stories and our presence in this place is acceptable to the community. Apparently we've left good impressions. But who knows, we have few more days here... lol.
in love-
-Malka

family

This time is ridiculously fabulous.
I got to share with the Jr and Senior high youth about my Jewish Christian-ness and they asked a lot of hard and deep questions. We have also met and hit it off with the Hanes' mentors Betsy and Jason. They are my mentor Kim and her husband Jeremy, only in Chicago. It is nice to know their are Gdly and cool people across the U.S. On Friday night we made Shabbat dinner, including Challah, Koogle, and Matzah ball soup. It was incredible.

We have developed so many inside jokes, it is rather ridiculous.

We have not slept. And I mean- not slept. at all. Having quite an adventure to and from Chicago, seeing my brother-in-law Dan, and meeting the Hanes' friends and faith family is refreshing.


There is much stress about school stuff and super inconvenient for me that I am out of the state. Knowing the fault lies with me, is frustrating and that has definitely hindered some of my own time here and attitude.
But thankfully I am with "family" here and that is good in itself.

-Malka

Community

Wow. This trip has meant so much to me. Between John Foreman, junior and senior highers, new friends, and old mentors, this time in Chicago has been so refreshing and just...good. Even though there has been little to no sleep (seriously), that just means that we have spending more time in community, in silliness, and with our Creator. As our new friend David would say: "The more time you spend sleeping, the less time you spend living." Which I don't necessarily agree with. But on this trip that is so true.

I have seen God work in mighty ways in my time in Chicago. There have been some hard times all around, but we have had each other to wrestle with (figuratively and literally). I am so thankful for all the talks and laughs and cries and freak outs and scary faces and craziness and frustrations and community. I have been terribly missing my community back home, but this trip is so much what I need right now.

Jon and Sarah have showed me so much of Jesus. In the way we all interact, in their friends, in their giving and loving nature. They have just abundantly blessed us in our stay. I will be sad to leave. They are some of the sweetest, funniest, cutest, most fantastic people of God that I know. I have missed them greatly--even more than I thought I had. And I am so glad to be goofy with them. They are still so much the same as they always were, and yet have made improvements and grown so much in faith, community, and God.

On Shabbat, there was an amazing thunder and lightning storm. We shared the peace that comes with resting in God's power. The lightning was so amazing. The rain was so good. God's might was so readily known. And our time with each other was relevant and true and raw and beautiful. The silliness of Jon's face mixed with the amazing and freeing conversation was so unique and good. There were times of immense seriousness and times of just crazy giggling and laughter.

Father, thank you for all your peace and grace in the midst of difficult times and good times and how they mesh so much. Jesus, your power and saving presence is so much alive in me and in community. You are the ultimate saving hope. Holy Spirit, thank you for making your presence known. Enter into us as we journey with you. Your breath is in us, and you know our hearts. Turn us more and more into your people, into who you are. Teach us to love.

And so it is...




Jamie

Finally Out of the Car

I really, really wanted to see Buffalo. This was my first sighting!



God's creation. So beautiful.





After many, many adventures we finally made it to Chicago!

It has been such a blessing to see Jon and Sara and to spend quality time with them and even meet new people who are so inspired as well as junior highers seeking and growing and wrestling with this whole Jesus thing. What it means to live it out. Man. We all need that in different ways.

Mt. Rushmore was really really cool, but I wish that it had been bigger (like the size of the whole mountain--but there I go with my expectations again. Things almost never turn out the way we expect). It was still a really cool place to be, and I was bummed that we weren't able to go see the Crazy Horse national monument because it was kind of pricey. (If anyone wants the history of Crazy Horse, ask Malka. She is way better at history than I am.)

I am so happy to not be sleeping in my car anymore! That was (and still will be) a part of the journey and adventure, but oh man. I really am learning more about what discomfort is and I am even finding a newer connection and heart for the homeless and the poor who either live in their cars or on the street.

Prayer has been so good.

There have been so many struggles and things to face on this trip, and so many beautiful, life-giving things on this trip as well. God has shown himself to be in control.

So God, thank you for all the blessings and teachings and even hard times. Thank you for support and encouragement and comfort. You are everything good and perfect, and we recognize your power in every situation. May all that happens be for your glory.

And so it is...

Chicago!

We made it!!
I slept until noon today (Chicago time) and I feel so rested, spiritually and physically. I get to see emotional, pastoral fruit and make Shabbat dinner for our friends. I am sitting in a Starbucks and I feel so relieved. I just feel like we are where we are supposed to be. It's a good feeling.


Mt. Rushmore was a little smaller than I thought it would be. We couldn't see Crazy Horse and Custer because it was too expensive- but I remembered the whole story- go History!
After a really long day and 1/2 full of adventure, we made it to our friends, Sarah and Jon Hane. We had more phone calls of friends in need of serious prayer and the Hanes as well are going through a desperate situation.

The night before we got to our destination, we were in the middle of the worst storm I have ever experienced. It felt like Gd's wrath on the road. Then we had to fill the car with oil and met a drug dealer/coyote in Minn. Oy vey. We made it though, praise Gd!
The Hanes have blessed us, in just a day. They have opened their home, their mentors, their lives to us and I am so grateful. They have wisdom, and they have a good sense of humor. I just love them so much! I

So it is that Gd meets us in the lower and better moments of life.
I miss our people a lot. I miss having internet all the time. I miss the time when I didn't have bug bites all over my body. And I miss my bed.
But you know what, Gd is faithful and secure. And I know that I am home wherever I go because of the people I am with (Jamie and the Hanes and extended faith family) and I know that Gd is good.

-Malka

Thank you Charlotte

Charlotte gave Jamie and I two books to start reading on this trip:
Jamie- Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
Me- Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen

While Jamie was writing what is written below, I was finishing reading the first chapter. It is so good. It has taken me a while to get through just the first part: Nouwen writes richly and thoughtfully.

I have never before thought of "private" as a good thing. But Nouwen illustrates that while loneliness is dangerous when it is presented as a depressive and narcissistic attitude. It is solitude and mystery that should be encouraged in the Believing walk and taught by Jesus' life. He mentioned marraige, but I didn't really get that part. What touched me was that community is not defined by how much information we give to our friends and family. Rather, it is about what we don't give to them. There should still be a sense of ownership of our personal lives. Yes, sharing life is SUPER important, but so is solitude. Jesus was a brilliant example of this. The most personal things and teachings he gave were to His disciples, and even then, we don't know every single about our Gd-man and neither did His best friends. It is Jesus that we must offer all those secrets to.

I have such a hard time accepting this. I am overwhelmingly open with my life. Maybe, and as Jamie said earlier, this trip is to teach me about being "alone" with my "sister"- in the most sensitive and perfect way. I don't like to hide things. And this isn't about hiding things. It is about living in community with Gd and through that, sharing the commonalities, as well as differences with our faith family. This doesn't look like anything I know. So maybe instead of just talking and talking about my struggles, I should take it in my prayer life and know that He is above it and will guide me through them. Maybe this looks like, instead of defining myself as an open person, I should define myself as a sensitive person. Maybe I should keep my heart (the believing part) inside and my hands (the following part) out in the open. There are different purposes. And there are different roles.

Oy vey...I don't know if that makes any sense. I hope it does though. I hope I really believe it too.

I was inspired to write this poem about faith and community:

unknown beauty creates creative community,
forewarned are the young that age restricts maturity,
hesitation amidst services above Jesus is unworthy,
so prepare for the narrow road in perfection of this beauty

-Malka