Alumni

Why wouldn’t you do MVS? You get to live in a new city for a year or two. You’re not really paying for anything besides what you choose to. And, you get to take a break from whatever path you’re on and try something else. If it doesn’t end up being for you, then that’s fine and you can hop right back to where you were. But you might learn a lot about yourself along the way or find something new that you really love. I think that’s a risk worth taking.

We had time for learning and reflecting on important issues. Just as important, we got to know each other better, to form bonds and to make meaningful connections.

I chose MVS because I was excited about serving God in a new city that I get to explore every day.

Since being on the board, I have appreciated the ways in which mission is seen as accompaniment — of people across the world and in the United States— and all of the service opportunities. It’s not, “I’m going to serve you because I’m such a good person and you need my help.” But, it’s accompaniment, where we’re going to do this together. We’re going to figure it out. We’re probably gonna mess up sometimes, but that’s the way it works. That’s the way life works. And, that’s the way following Jesus works.

There’s always more to the story than you know, and we, as humans, long to care for each other and help where we can. Maria Skobtsova House is a wonderful opportunity for us to plug into that possibility.

Tucson is technically a border town. Our unit went on a border delegation trip with a Presbyterian mission called Frontera de Cristo. We went to Douglas, Arizona’s sister city, Agua Prieta, Sonora. We learned the reasons why people choose, or have to immigrate. It really expanded my knowledge on a complicated issue and I have more empathy for people who, for some of them, immigration isn’t a choice.

Service Adventure is a good way to explore your own faith apart from your parents, and kind of like, what they’ve built for you. It’s really good to explore that and make your faith your own instead of just being you living your parent’s faith.

MVS and my subsequent employment at RAICES not only gave me experience that helped me get a full scholarship, but it also made me a better student because I know why I’m there.

Something that I’ve learned a lot about is social justice and how to participate in that. Coming from a context of being a college student and hearing about all of these protests but not really being involved in any of them, it’s been really cool to learn more about that process and get involved and be able to make my voice heard in some of these actions.

When people are empowered to work in their contexts, that’s a big thing! It means that many people can read the Bible and learn hermeneutics and speak a language that their local communities can understand, and that the gospel can grow and people can develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, within the context that they know.