Hi all you wonderful people!
I can't believe it's already time to write again. The past few months have been a blur, despite the major life changes.
A quick update on finances: At the end of November, I had $3,890 in my support account, but Emily tells me I've had several checks come in lately. So, thank you, all of you, for your prayers and pledges.
Sometimes I think about how comforting it would be to have every dollar pledged so that I wouldn't have to be troubled with finances. But, in reading Community and Growth by Jean Vanier, I was reminded that part of being in ministry among the poor is that we all have to depend on God for our needs. How fair would it be for Word Made Flesh staff to have all of our needs – present and future – met already, while our friends are hoping for this day's provisions?
So I thank you for your continued support and prayers, not only for me, but for those who need them more.
Can you believe that Christmas has come and gone already? At the time I'm writing this, I'm still looking forward to going home and having time with lots of family.
I remember four Christmases ago. Just after my first semester of college, I went home to Illinois, ready to relax and catch up on sleep. I was somewhat distracted and self-important. Yes, that's right, I've been five hours away from home, studying my behind off and staying up until 4 in the morning many nights a week. I seemed to have forgotten that my family members' lives had gone on without my presence. My aunt and uncle had just had a baby girl. Bailey. It was Christmas Eve and almost time for the evening church service. I was holding little Bailey and thinking about how Mary must have felt to hold a tiny baby in her arms, and with his little body, the hope of the world.
Next week I will return to Illinois. I will celebrate Christmas with my family members, whose lives have gone on despite my move to Omaha. I will hopefully not be quite so self-important. I will enjoy 4-year-old Bailey's laughter and singing and games (Duck Duck Goose? “You be the baby and I'll be the grandma”?). And hopefully I will remember the mystery and wonder that made Christmas so special to begin with.
I want to tell you a little bit of what has gone on in the past month. The Omaha community has welcomed Shane Claiborne and Sarah Lance to our Beggars Society meetings (the audio – plus video for Shane – is available on our website <http://wordmadeflesh.com/learn/beggarssociety.html> and is definitely worth checking out.) Sarah, who is the WMF Kolkata (Calcutta) field director, was here for a few days for retreat with the rest of the Kolkata team – Kristin, who also lives in Kolkata; Beth, who's heading over January 19; and Melinda, who is the distributor for Sari Bari in the United States. Sari Bari is the awesome business initiative these women started to offer women enslaved in the sex industry a way out. They take old saris (the traditional dress of Indian women) and layer them into blankets. You really ought to listen to Sarah's talk. She shares about her friends' journey to exodus. It's lovely.
My friend Paul visited. He is helping to develop some computer programs that will make WMF run more efficiently. Paul is the kind of person who is not only a blessing to his friends, but to his friends' friends. And now that my co-workers think he's cool, I may be cooler by association. Woohoo! J
Chris Heuertz, our executive director, has been involved in several writing projects, some of which I have been able to help read over. One of them is for Christianity Today, but I'm not sure which issue. It's so exciting to get our message out there, and Chris has so many stories he can share. I am incredibly blessed to sit at a table with him every Wednesday for staff meeting, not to mention the other dozen or so people in this office I respect so much. It's funny that just one year ago I was sitting in Byrum Hall, in awe of what this man was saying, and this year I'm developing a friendship with him in the very community that seemed (and is!) so remarkable.
I started to write more here about the people who are so much a part of my life now, but I quickly realized that there just isn't room to mention everyone in the office. So, let me start by telling you about the two with whom I work most closely.
Daphne, the director of advocacy and my boss (though she hates to be called that – supervisor?), is just amazing. She handles so many things that come into the advocacy department. I hope that I am helping her to shoulder some of these tasks. But more than being the go-to gal for all things advocacy, she is a wonderful friend to us all. She is kind and empathetic. She is loving and sincere. She has a relationship with the Father that brings us all into intimacy with Him.
Jara is the other leg of the A-Team (that's Advocacy Team). Jara will be transitioning from Servant Team Coordinator to Advocacy Coordinator. So, right now she is helping plan the four-month programs other people go on. I'm not sure what her future role will look like – only that she has many talents to offer. Outside the office, Jara is the person who so often initiates together time. When I first moved, Jara was calling me to go to Target or find a place to read together. She's been so key in making me feel at home. Some of my most favorite nights in Omaha have been on Jara's couch with her and Daphne, talking and laughing.
It's hard not to keep writing. I would love to continue to share with you, but another time, I suppose. Thanks to all of you who have written or called. I wish I could spend quality time with you all. I wish I could give you a tour of the WMF office and my apartment and Omaha. I wish I could sit with you on a couch, talking and laughing.
May peace and love be yours.
Love,
Mandy
We must not seek the child Jesus
in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs.
We must seek him among the undernourished children
who have gone to bed tonight with nothing to eat,
among the poor newsboys
who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.
Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love, page 179, December 24, 1979