Last tuesday, Catrina, Rick and I were picked up and taken to the Calvary Chapel Conference Center in Murrieta Hot Springs, California. We arrived just in time to put out stuff in our rooms and go to the training. Training lasted most of the day which was a little tiring but they made it fun.
On wednesday morning we went over some legistics and were given the information about the family that we would be working with. I was paired up with the Edwards Family. Connie is the mother and Steffi is the daughter. Steffi is a twenty-three year old woman with Cerebral Palsy. She is a wheelchair user but has almost typical upper body movement and speaks easily. I was also assigned to the children's program. We met with the program and I was placed with the 4-6 year olds. I was paired up with a little boy named Elisha who has autism. I was a little bit disappointed that I wasn't placed with a family affected with autism because that is where most of my experience is. But I was glad that I could work with Elisha in the children's program for three hours a day. I felt that God placed me with Steffi so that I could experience a part of disability that I was not familiar with.
Before the families arrived, all of the short term missionaries made signs for their families, welcoming them to the camp. The STMs stood on the side of the road with our signs while the cars drove up. The Edwards Family arrived pretty quickly.
I walked over to their car after they had parked and introduced myself. Connie put Steffi's wheelchair together and let Steffi go with me to where everyone was gathering. I found out that Steffi had been coming to this camp since she was a little girl and that she had her own group of friends that she hangs out with every year.
Steffi was feeling self conscious because she was having really bad allergies and her voice sounded different than usual. She told me about her favorite band, ApologetiX and how she's been wanting them to come to perform at family retreat for years!
The first day with Steffi went pretty well. It was a little hard for me to make conversation, as it is hard for me to make conversation with anyone that I have just met.
We spent our meals with her friends and their STMs instead of with her family. (Most of the families eat together with their STMs)It was interesting because I didn't get to spend too much time with her mom.
The second day was even more interesting because Steffi's voice had gotten worse and it was starting to go away. She felt even more self conscious.
To be continued.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Weekend
Hey everyone!
Sorry I haven't updated in a little while. We had our last class on saturday. It was a short day. They had a cake for us to celebrate finishing our class hours. On Sunday we went to Grace Community Church which John McArthur is the pastor of. They had a service about music because their music leader is leaving after 30 years of work there. After the service we went to their Disability Ministry where they sang a few songs (a few of the disabled people actually played the instruments and sang), had a message about Abraham and being patient, and had a snack. It was very interesting. This boy named Caleb came up to Catrina and I and he actually tried to sit on her lap. The people who work there came over and told him that he has to sit in his own seat. He kept wanting us to make noises with our hands. He really likes it a lot but the people who help out try to discourage it. After the disability ministry we went to the Getty Museum to look at some art. That was pretty fun but not as fun as when I go to museums with Ian. It's a lot more fun to look at art when you have another artist with you.
Today we weren't sure when we were going to be picked up to go to the beach. James came at about 9:00AM and I wasn't even ready yet so they had to wait for me. As they waited they played pool. We went to Santa Monica near the pier. It was pretty fun. There was a ton of traffic on the way back.
Tomorrow we get picked up at 7:00AM in order to go to Murrieta for the Family Retreat. We have to pack up everything from our dorm room before we go. I'm doing some laundry so that I can have some more clean clothes. Please pray for the family that I will be paired with and that I will have wisdom in helping them and that I will do a good job. I'm not sure if I will have internet where I'm going so this may be the last entry for a week.
Sorry I haven't updated in a little while. We had our last class on saturday. It was a short day. They had a cake for us to celebrate finishing our class hours. On Sunday we went to Grace Community Church which John McArthur is the pastor of. They had a service about music because their music leader is leaving after 30 years of work there. After the service we went to their Disability Ministry where they sang a few songs (a few of the disabled people actually played the instruments and sang), had a message about Abraham and being patient, and had a snack. It was very interesting. This boy named Caleb came up to Catrina and I and he actually tried to sit on her lap. The people who work there came over and told him that he has to sit in his own seat. He kept wanting us to make noises with our hands. He really likes it a lot but the people who help out try to discourage it. After the disability ministry we went to the Getty Museum to look at some art. That was pretty fun but not as fun as when I go to museums with Ian. It's a lot more fun to look at art when you have another artist with you.
Today we weren't sure when we were going to be picked up to go to the beach. James came at about 9:00AM and I wasn't even ready yet so they had to wait for me. As they waited they played pool. We went to Santa Monica near the pier. It was pretty fun. There was a ton of traffic on the way back.
Tomorrow we get picked up at 7:00AM in order to go to Murrieta for the Family Retreat. We have to pack up everything from our dorm room before we go. I'm doing some laundry so that I can have some more clean clothes. Please pray for the family that I will be paired with and that I will have wisdom in helping them and that I will do a good job. I'm not sure if I will have internet where I'm going so this may be the last entry for a week.
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Past Two Days
Friends and Family,
I'm sorry that I was not able to post something about yesterday. The normal time that I write my posts was taken up yesterday because my roommates and I decided to go to Malibu for beach time and dinner. We had a great time! I read a few pages while laying on the beach and had some good conversations. We had dinner at a place called Dukes, which I guess is a pretty famous place. The food was amazing, but very expensive. One of our roommates was treating us to the meal. Everybody got seafood except for me. I had Chinese-style beef short ribs. It was amazing! When I got back I talked to Ian, watched some of the videos that were on my Special Needs Smart Pages DVD, read 1 Samuel 5, and went to bed.
God has been doing a tremendous work in my heart for disability ministry. I have been racking my brain with ideas about what I can do in my church to involve people with disabilities. It is a little bit different than starting a disability ministry in a typical church because mine is a house church. We have one room and one group. These are some of the ideas that I have come up with:
1) Partnering with Community Presbyterian Church of La Mirada to put on an event once every month or two for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
2)Partnering with Community Presbyterian Church of La Mirada to put on an event once every month or two for children with disabilities to provide a respite for the parents.
3) Creating a separate house church for adults with developmental disabilities to come to learn at their own level.
4) Creating a house church for families of children with disabilities to come while a group of volunteers minister to their children in a separate room.
5) Put together "Special Deliveries" to bring to hospitals or institutions in order to develop relationships and minister to them.
There are a lot of good resources here at Joni and Friends in order to start this up. I feel that God is seriously calling me to do something about this in my own church. I am planning to get ahold of some bible study materials that is meant to educate people on disabilities and how to minister to them. I am so excited for what God is doing and I hope that everything will be accepted well in my church. Please pray that they will accept this idea with open arms because it is desperately needed in our societies churches.
Also, I am uploading all of my photos onto my online photo album. You can see the album here. The reason why I can't post them here anymore is because it takes too long to upload them to this website and it drains my battery during class. Also, please continue to pray for next week as I will be coming alongside a family with disability to serve them and to develop relationships with them. I want to thank everyone again for providing this experience for me. I really feel that I am being changed.
I'm sorry that I was not able to post something about yesterday. The normal time that I write my posts was taken up yesterday because my roommates and I decided to go to Malibu for beach time and dinner. We had a great time! I read a few pages while laying on the beach and had some good conversations. We had dinner at a place called Dukes, which I guess is a pretty famous place. The food was amazing, but very expensive. One of our roommates was treating us to the meal. Everybody got seafood except for me. I had Chinese-style beef short ribs. It was amazing! When I got back I talked to Ian, watched some of the videos that were on my Special Needs Smart Pages DVD, read 1 Samuel 5, and went to bed.
God has been doing a tremendous work in my heart for disability ministry. I have been racking my brain with ideas about what I can do in my church to involve people with disabilities. It is a little bit different than starting a disability ministry in a typical church because mine is a house church. We have one room and one group. These are some of the ideas that I have come up with:
1) Partnering with Community Presbyterian Church of La Mirada to put on an event once every month or two for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
2)Partnering with Community Presbyterian Church of La Mirada to put on an event once every month or two for children with disabilities to provide a respite for the parents.
3) Creating a separate house church for adults with developmental disabilities to come to learn at their own level.
4) Creating a house church for families of children with disabilities to come while a group of volunteers minister to their children in a separate room.
5) Put together "Special Deliveries" to bring to hospitals or institutions in order to develop relationships and minister to them.
There are a lot of good resources here at Joni and Friends in order to start this up. I feel that God is seriously calling me to do something about this in my own church. I am planning to get ahold of some bible study materials that is meant to educate people on disabilities and how to minister to them. I am so excited for what God is doing and I hope that everything will be accepted well in my church. Please pray that they will accept this idea with open arms because it is desperately needed in our societies churches.
Also, I am uploading all of my photos onto my online photo album. You can see the album here. The reason why I can't post them here anymore is because it takes too long to upload them to this website and it drains my battery during class. Also, please continue to pray for next week as I will be coming alongside a family with disability to serve them and to develop relationships with them. I want to thank everyone again for providing this experience for me. I really feel that I am being changed.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Day 3 - The Second Day of Class
So last night when we got back to the drom I took two of my roommates, Le Anne, and Catrina to the Student Union Building to use the computers. Catrina ended up leaving soon after that but Le Anne stayed to work on her first response paper while I played a little bit of farm town :P. Le Anne and I made our way back to the dorm and decided that we were going to watch a movie. While Le Anne showered I built a makeshift couch out of pillows, blankets, and my sleeping bag. We watched Radio Flyer and then we both went to sleep. When my alarm went off this morning I was so tired that I put it on snooze. Eventually I got up, got ready, and the van picked us up at 8:00 AM.
When we arrived we had breakfast. I ate cereal and a bagel. The speaker for today was Kathy McReynolds. Many of you may know that this was the professor of my class last semester called The Theology of Suffering and Disability. Her topic that she was to cover was Theology of Disability and Bioethics! All to be covered in 5 hours! She covered a lot of interesting points about the problem of evil which is something that is a very difficult topic. I dealt with these questions when they were brought up in my Theology of Suffering and Disability class at Biola, but I am just realizing that I still don't have too much of a grasp on it right now. She also briefly went over the topic of Bioethics which was interesting but very complicated. I would need to hear more about it to fully understand. I am looking forward to finishing reading Joni's book How to be a Christian in a Brave New World. It goes over many of the issues that are brought about in the topic of Bioethics such as baby cloning, designer babies, etc.
The classes are tough to get through since they are about 5 hours long (including breaks) but the information that I am learning is amazing and crucial. Dinner is in about an hour and I can't wait to see what we are going to be eating! Lunch was amazing! We had a choice of beef or turkey meat loaf with potatoes, and cucumber and tomato salad. The company that they chose to feed us is great! Soo delicious! I'm also excited to see what fun will be going on in the dorm room tonight. Instead of pillows and blankets to make a couch we're going to use mattresses. That will be way more comfortable to watch a movie. I hope everyone is enjoying my updates. I'll write again tomorrow.
When we arrived we had breakfast. I ate cereal and a bagel. The speaker for today was Kathy McReynolds. Many of you may know that this was the professor of my class last semester called The Theology of Suffering and Disability. Her topic that she was to cover was Theology of Disability and Bioethics! All to be covered in 5 hours! She covered a lot of interesting points about the problem of evil which is something that is a very difficult topic. I dealt with these questions when they were brought up in my Theology of Suffering and Disability class at Biola, but I am just realizing that I still don't have too much of a grasp on it right now. She also briefly went over the topic of Bioethics which was interesting but very complicated. I would need to hear more about it to fully understand. I am looking forward to finishing reading Joni's book How to be a Christian in a Brave New World. It goes over many of the issues that are brought about in the topic of Bioethics such as baby cloning, designer babies, etc.
The classes are tough to get through since they are about 5 hours long (including breaks) but the information that I am learning is amazing and crucial. Dinner is in about an hour and I can't wait to see what we are going to be eating! Lunch was amazing! We had a choice of beef or turkey meat loaf with potatoes, and cucumber and tomato salad. The company that they chose to feed us is great! Soo delicious! I'm also excited to see what fun will be going on in the dorm room tonight. Instead of pillows and blankets to make a couch we're going to use mattresses. That will be way more comfortable to watch a movie. I hope everyone is enjoying my updates. I'll write again tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Day 2 - Official First Day of Class
Hey everybody! I hope you are all enjoying my updates! Last night after I wrote my blog I went back to the dorm, talked to Ian for a little while, read the first chapter of Joni's book How to be a Christian in a Brave New World, and read my Bible. I slept pretty well but I need to get used to my bed because I think that I almost fell off! I felt sorry for my neighbor because I accidentally hit the wall a few times during the night!
This morning I woke up at 6:45 AM in order to get ready and be picked up at 8:00 AM by the van. We had a quick breakfast and started class at 9:00 AM. Module one was an overview of disability. A man named Michael J. Hoggatt came and spoke about some basic information about disabiility, such as the different kinds of disability, assumptions about disability, social constructs, the churches role, and the history of disability. The part that stuck out to me the most was the part of about the history of disability. I was shocked when we saw a video about an institution called Willowbrook during the 1970s. The residents were majorly mistreated and it was heartbreaking to watch the video that portrayed this.
After Michael spoke James Rene came up and told us about some of Joni and Friend's global ministries.
Overall it was a tough day to get through because the class lasted from 9AM- 4PM. We had 3 breaks, including a lunch break. Tonight I plan to go back and do some more reading, talking to Ian, hanging out with my roommates, and hopefully having some fun. It'll be an intense week!
This morning I woke up at 6:45 AM in order to get ready and be picked up at 8:00 AM by the van. We had a quick breakfast and started class at 9:00 AM. Module one was an overview of disability. A man named Michael J. Hoggatt came and spoke about some basic information about disabiility, such as the different kinds of disability, assumptions about disability, social constructs, the churches role, and the history of disability. The part that stuck out to me the most was the part of about the history of disability. I was shocked when we saw a video about an institution called Willowbrook during the 1970s. The residents were majorly mistreated and it was heartbreaking to watch the video that portrayed this.
After Michael spoke James Rene came up and told us about some of Joni and Friend's global ministries.
Overall it was a tough day to get through because the class lasted from 9AM- 4PM. We had 3 breaks, including a lunch break. Tonight I plan to go back and do some more reading, talking to Ian, hanging out with my roommates, and hopefully having some fun. It'll be an intense week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
