Alphabet Soup
IAP. SLS. MFL. Okay, so I truly made up that last acronym, but the other two are actual abbreviations that I have been using over the past month. The first is IAP or Independent Activities Period. The second, SLS, is Student Leader Summit. The third (the fictitious one) is March for Life. But why this scramble of letters? Why this not-so-tasty version of alphabet soup? Let me tell you...
Beginning January 9th, MIT began IAP, which is a fusion of a Winter Session, a time for epic amounts of research, and a hang out session if MIT ever did see one. Arriving on campus a few days after the commencement of IAP, I had the pleasure of experiencing MIT students when they actually have "free time." I got back to campus and without a moment to spare students were wanting to hang out with me, just talk, and go to Mass with me. I had the pleasure of spending time with students from Spanish House for more than just the 45 minute long Study Break they take once a week. Though, maybe for many other missionaries this may not be that exciting, but for a missionary at MIT getting to spend quality time with students is a huge blessing! The conversations I've had with students in the midst of this break have been phenomenal. I've gotten to build better relationships with them and with these more solid relationships I hope that they may continue to follow me as I follow Christ (as St. Paul says). I am excited to see what God will do with the time I get to spend with these students during IAP! Transformations are bound to happen!
After being back on campus for a little less than a week, Team MIT, Team BU (Boston University), and Team UConn (University of Connecticut) along with about 30 students piled on a bus in Storrs, CT, and drove down to Baltimore, MD, for a gathering of 1,200 missionaries and student missionaries in order to be inspired and equipped to fulfill Jesus's Great Commission at the Student Leader Summit. The weekend was filled with prayer, talks to inspire us, and sessions to give us tools to better our ability in reaching souls for Christ. At the moment, it all seems like a blur--the few hours of sleep, the thousands of faces, the number of new people met, the wise words of brilliant men, desires planted on my heart by our Lord, stories from my students, and just the amazing blessing of an opportunity to see how many of us there are seeking to answer Christ's call. Natalia, one of the students I invited to attend, could only afterwards describe the weekend as "Intense." Despite the intensity though, she is excited and ready to take what she gained from the Summit and apply it to campus! We'll soon be meeting up with these students to create a plan of action for MIT, because, just like in prayer, we cannot only take what the Lord gives us, but we must then go out and share it with others.
The Summit ended on Monday morning, finishing off with the highest form of Worship--the Holy Mass. After that we corralled our students and once more loaded onto the bus (driven by the most fabulous bus driver in the world Jeannine), we continued to migrate south this winter weekend to Washington DC for the March for Life (MFL, if you will). There we marched with 200,000 others to protect the sanctity of life. Though cold and wet, our students beautifully embraced the March. During speeches given by various leaders, they stood around listening and then discussing and debating the the methods to best reverse the decision of Roe v. Wade and how politicians might truly be fighting for life. Then, during the actual March, though surrounded by some rowdy high schoolers, who seemed to have lost the point of the March somewhere back on the Mall, our students rose to the occasion and recollected the importance of God's intervention and assistance in this March by singing Hymns and chanting prayers. I could not be prouder of our students decorum and their trust in the Lord! Finally, late Monday night, or rather early Tuesday morning, we arrived back at MIT, safely in our beds.
It has been a beautiful few weeks serving as a FOCUS Missionary for the Students of MIT! Christ has been doing so much in their lives and I am truly grateful! Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and know and trust that I am praying for you and your families!
To continue with the alphabet soup theme, as my student Rachel and I say: FTWTTTL. For the way, the truth, the life.
God bless and later days!
Ann
Beginning January 9th, MIT began IAP, which is a fusion of a Winter Session, a time for epic amounts of research, and a hang out session if MIT ever did see one. Arriving on campus a few days after the commencement of IAP, I had the pleasure of experiencing MIT students when they actually have "free time." I got back to campus and without a moment to spare students were wanting to hang out with me, just talk, and go to Mass with me. I had the pleasure of spending time with students from Spanish House for more than just the 45 minute long Study Break they take once a week. Though, maybe for many other missionaries this may not be that exciting, but for a missionary at MIT getting to spend quality time with students is a huge blessing! The conversations I've had with students in the midst of this break have been phenomenal. I've gotten to build better relationships with them and with these more solid relationships I hope that they may continue to follow me as I follow Christ (as St. Paul says). I am excited to see what God will do with the time I get to spend with these students during IAP! Transformations are bound to happen!
After being back on campus for a little less than a week, Team MIT, Team BU (Boston University), and Team UConn (University of Connecticut) along with about 30 students piled on a bus in Storrs, CT, and drove down to Baltimore, MD, for a gathering of 1,200 missionaries and student missionaries in order to be inspired and equipped to fulfill Jesus's Great Commission at the Student Leader Summit. The weekend was filled with prayer, talks to inspire us, and sessions to give us tools to better our ability in reaching souls for Christ. At the moment, it all seems like a blur--the few hours of sleep, the thousands of faces, the number of new people met, the wise words of brilliant men, desires planted on my heart by our Lord, stories from my students, and just the amazing blessing of an opportunity to see how many of us there are seeking to answer Christ's call. Natalia, one of the students I invited to attend, could only afterwards describe the weekend as "Intense." Despite the intensity though, she is excited and ready to take what she gained from the Summit and apply it to campus! We'll soon be meeting up with these students to create a plan of action for MIT, because, just like in prayer, we cannot only take what the Lord gives us, but we must then go out and share it with others. 
The Summit ended on Monday morning, finishing off with the highest form of Worship--the Holy Mass. After that we corralled our students and once more loaded onto the bus (driven by the most fabulous bus driver in the world Jeannine), we continued to migrate south this winter weekend to Washington DC for the March for Life (MFL, if you will). There we marched with 200,000 others to protect the sanctity of life. Though cold and wet, our students beautifully embraced the March. During speeches given by various leaders, they stood around listening and then discussing and debating the the methods to best reverse the decision of Roe v. Wade and how politicians might truly be fighting for life. Then, during the actual March, though surrounded by some rowdy high schoolers, who seemed to have lost the point of the March somewhere back on the Mall, our students rose to the occasion and recollected the importance of God's intervention and assistance in this March by singing Hymns and chanting prayers. I could not be prouder of our students decorum and their trust in the Lord! Finally, late Monday night, or rather early Tuesday morning, we arrived back at MIT, safely in our beds. It has been a beautiful few weeks serving as a FOCUS Missionary for the Students of MIT! Christ has been doing so much in their lives and I am truly grateful! Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and know and trust that I am praying for you and your families!
To continue with the alphabet soup theme, as my student Rachel and I say: FTWTTTL. For the way, the truth, the life.
God bless and later days!
Ann
I straight up stopped reading this post because I died almost. MFL. Okay I will begin again. Yes.
ReplyDeleteYou are goofy, my brother!
DeleteAnn, you're a sweet girl and I know you mean well. But I honest to goodness cannot keep my mouth shut about this. Listen to my plea. Have you ever considered how the March for Life can actually be harmful to life? Say, for example, the people that actually create it? Please take nose out of a really book and learn some actual compassion from OTHER women.
ReplyDeleteRoe v. Wade is a blessing for all women... Most abortions are done for women who are MARRIED and ALREADY have children. Though your leaders of male ostensibly-sexless wizards (who are tricking you into keeping their thousand-year-old era of patriarchy in place) tell you otherwise. Seriously. I don't expect to change your mind but I have to try. These types of ideas are DISASTROUS for women. Women need to have control of their uteruses and the government needs to stay out of it. Otherwise, women have no say about when they have children, how their employed, how much money they can make, what they can do with their lives. It's a lot more complicated than, "every sperm is sacred." Seriously. Think about it.
Actually, most abortions are done for women who are unmarried: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/US-Abortion-Patients.pdf
DeleteAnd if I am understanding the information correctly, about 39% have no children previously (a larger group than all women with more than 2 children, and much larger than the women with only 1 child). But feel free to peruse the information yourself.
I would also like to suggest that it is difficult to generalize abortions in the way that you do. How can we know the mindsets of the women who were having the abortion? How can we say why they choose to end a life? All life is precious because all life comes from God. It's as simple as that.
And if we starting promoting this culture of "if you get pregnant and you don't want to be or can't be, you can just get an abortion!", what will this lead to? Perhaps right now, we do not think this way. But what happens when are daughters grow up? What happens when they are faced with a choice, and choose to have sex because they can fix it later if they get pregnant somehow?
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe women in the future will be able to make smarter choices than we do. Maybe they won't have to abort their children. Maybe they will learn. But to leave the world in the state it is today? That is cruel on our part.
We all have a choice, and I choose to support life.
By the way Ann, FTWT^3L :)
Chelsea, thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and jot down your thoughts. (Though it did take me a moment or two to figure out who indeed you were, but luckily a moment of brilliance struck me when I remembered you telling me about how sometimes you went by your name backwards! I may have just revealed your secret to the world...Sorry!)
DeleteFirst and foremost, I'd like to apologize for my delay in response--things have been quite hectic around here, but I don't wish to minimize the importance of your commentary. It's important for all of us to continue to engage in debate and conversation so that we may all strive to come to know the truth.
Second, I beg to differ in your opinion that Roe v. Wade is a blessing. Rather than granting women freedom, it binds them. It diminishes the gift of motherhood, and the gift of a child. Though, said child might not always have come from the best of circumstances--previously in conversations we've had, you mentioned a variety of unwanted pregnancies and scenarios--the life of that child is still a gift. Killing the child and divorcing themselves of their intrinsic right to motherhood, so many women who have chosen to have abortions have been devastated by Post-Traumatic Stress. If this is indeed freeing and liberating, why do these women become enslaved to feelings of devastation and despair?
Third, women do have rights. We should be guaranteed most of the things you have laid out--equal wages, employment rights, suffrage. At the same time though, you can't deny women and men are different and so they play a different role in society, in the work place, in the Church. You're going to shoot a film a lot different than any man does. Yes, the Church hierarchy is a lot of men, but women play just as an important role in the Body of Christ, the Family of God, the Church. It might not be that apparent, but when we turn to so many of the female Saints we see how they have changed the course of history. Powerful and bold women as they were they still remained and acted within the hierarchy of the Church. After all this is the Church founded by Jesus Christ himself and despite the insanity, the chaos, the strife within, the attacks from outside some how it has survive for 2000 years. I don't think any man-made institution has stood the sands of time quite as well. That might be saying something.
Again, Chelsea, I'd like to thank you for your concerns and your passion. I'd rather have a discussion with someone who is heated and passionate than someone who is lukewarm and indifferent. If you have passion, that means you care. If you care, that means you are longing for something. Perhaps truth and freedom? Thank you again for your comment and I look forward to continuing this discussion with you via any media or forum or maybe even next time I'm in your neck of the woods!
Later days!
Ann