21st
Chicago - Samuel Lee (7/19/10)
Apologies for not having updated in forever and a day. (Isn’t that a Taylor Swift song or something?) Summer project is officially much more than halfway over with less than three weeks to go. Why is it that after the halfway mark, time races much more rapidly to the end than it did while going up the hill? Anxieties about everything I need to do after returning home have begun popping up. The somewhat dream-like bubble of my experience here so far has long been pricked. __________ -More than anything, these past two weeks were spent in “survival mode.” In other words, I just wanted to get through the week of ministry one day at a time. Heck, each morning was a difficult battle to simply stay awake. (During times like these, I really began to appreciate long prayers, if you know what I mean, ha.) I guess all of this is to say that these past two weeks were unremarkable, in the sense that I did not experience any explosive revelations or surprising convictions. This was a bit difficult to accept, since I naturally set very high expectations for my time here in Chicago, (selfishly?) hoping to have my world rocked as much and as often as possible. In fact, I was afraid there would not be anything worth writing about for this update. But that is fine, because I need to be more in tune with God’s presence every moment and must submit my personal growth to him, rather than trying to squeeze every bit of “usefulness” out of this experience by my own effort. -Two weeks ago, our team spent the week helping out at kid’s computer camp. What? Scavenger hunts, Windows Movie Maker, and Bible lessons were all part of the mix. There isn’t much else to say. Last week, we volunteered at Salvation Army - a drug rehabilitation center, not the thrift store. Most people think of the thrift stores or sweet old folks ringing the bell in front of Walmart during the holidays when they hear “Salvation Army” but there really is more to the organization. Variety was the name of the game last week: driving around serving soup to the hungry from the back of a truck, baking hundreds of goods for a bake sale, washing walls all day, you name it. -Last weekend (not this past one) I spent a lot of time alone around the city, which was quite good for my soul. I’ve been around people constantly so much that the first few moments alone walking to the “L” station felt strange, almost forbidden. I went downtown to read at the Harold Washington Library, got a sandwich at a Cuban coffeehouse, chatted with a homeless man who used to sell insurance, walked up and down the Magnificent Mile, and tried to strike up conversations with random people walking down the street. And my sanity level was replenished through it all. -The staff all left last week, leaving all of us to head up the project. Each of us received leadership roles, each person being crucial to the success of the rest of project. I was assigned…drum roll…ministry site and housing coordinator! For the first, I act as the liason between ministry site supervisors and our team, which means I call ministry sites, lead weekly team captain meetings, and report any concerns. For housing, I fetch the mail from the post office each day, make sure our hallways and facilities are in good condition, and report all housing concerns (we’ve been forced to take cold showers three days this past week) to housing people. Very behind-the-scenes stuff. In all honesty, at first I secretly desired to be appointed a more visible or bigwig position. But then I remembered the list of personal goals I had outlined at the beginning of project (leadership development not being one of them) and realized that being given a “weightier” role may have taken away space and time to pursue my original goals. See, it all works out. -Funny, I haven’t felt so conscious about my race until these past two weeks. This summer, we’ve been learning a lot about racial reconciliation, but I never felt like the discussions completely applied to me as a minority, since I’ve never felt marginalized as an Asian. There have been comments made here and there at previous ministry sites - all from children though, which is completely understandable. Examples: At one of the sites, one of the girls came up to me and pulled her eyes back, making them squinty. Just today, a girl came up to me and said “konichiwa!” You can’t really blame young children for this. However, last week at Salvation Army, I received comments from adults, which is a bit less acceptable to me. I introduced myself as “Sam” to one of the kitchen staff, but he said back to me “No, really. What’s your kung-fu name?!” I kind of laughed it off, and the supervisor told him that was a racist comment. To which he replied, “But he really looks like Bruce Lee!” Again, I laughed it off, telling him I get that a lot. During the week, he made similar comments, but I knew I wasn’t in the place to put him in his place. A final incident: Yesterday I traveled down really far South, and a woman approached me and mumbled something to me three times. It took me a while to realize she was asking me, “Are you a China man?” I guess that goes to show how isolated and racially divided many of these communities really are. Next week, my ministry team is finally going to the Chinese church. I wonder how that’s going to play out. __________ My wonderful ministry team at the “beach.” It is still my belief that it ain’t a beach unless there’s an ocean. // Take a step back //Update #4 - Libraries and Leadership
Some thoughts //
That’s about it. I have more stories to tell, but they’d be neater to hear than to read. Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of books, and there’s this one I really want to finish, so no more time on silly internet for me!
Samuel
