Disorientation

YAV orientation is alive and well in Stony Point, NY! Or, I should say disorientation, as the YAV staff  likes to call this week that prepares us to turn our lives upside down in an attempt to live out their tenets of living simply, in community, across cultures. About ninety YAVs are here including some the program's first international volunteers coming to serve in the United States, many from Korea. My departure from Wisconsin went smoothly, marked simultaneously with budding excitement and twelve hours of tears. I ached with feelings that I left my heart on Huntington Street and in the bottom bunk of the upstairs room in 2119, but slowly centered in on new spaces coming alive within myself.

Our days are filled with trainings, information, songs, worship, small group time, and some seriously good food! The conference center strongly believes in food sustainability and grows most of their vegetables on site, which yields some delectable fresh and healthy meals! We've also gotten to hear a lot from YAV Alumni (aka YAVAs) who are both our small group leaders and have shared their experiences and stories with the whole group during worship.

The trainings and the stories from the YAVAs all stress that this year will be an awakening: to the major challenges of our society and the exploitation of power worldwide. We've also talked a lot about our own power as volunteers. We have the power to take this time in our lives to do service for a year. We have power in the way people will view our education, our economic status, even the color of our skin. What will we do with this power?

Our music leader sermonized to us the first night, saying that we are called to do impossible things, and to fail at them, to mess up, and to make mistakes. This is genuine life. The messiness of relationships, of learning something new, of encountering new cultures. But in taking on the impossible and living in the mess, we embody and promote hope for the world. Hope motivates and sustains, but doesn't erase the hardships. This seems like a very authentic way to view the world, and one in which allows us to love each other better instead of becoming overprotective and freaking out that things are going wrong.

I'm struggling with expectations for this year. How much will I really make a difference? Is it possible? If I accept the messiness theory, am I giving up? I will continue to think about this paradox of accepting the mess of the world, but not just standing by and watching it progress in its misery. More to come, folks!

Ps. LOVE YOU ALL AT HOME!!!! MISSING YOU ALREADY!