Here’s a picture of me holding my newly received anchor cross. I think the anchor symbol signifies the traveling you can expect as a missionary, but the sense of still remaining rooted—or anchored, if you will—in your sense of home and community.
I was smiling because the bishop put the cross over my head and it fell down [...]
Archive for July, 2008
on the web
Posted in God, missionary on July 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
the US-2 class of 2008-2010
Posted in God, missionary on July 27, 2008 | 4 Comments »
We may be little mustard seeds, but we are being sown and grown.
Today we begin what was already begun.
one week till commissioning
Posted in emotions, missionary on July 20, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Contrasting my “happy as a clam” post, training has not always produced fuzzy feelings in me. The hardest day was when we listened to a presentation from a former homeless man named Willie Baptist. He was impassioned, intelligent, and moving. After his presentation was over, he offered us all hugs instead of handshakes.
In the afternoon [...]
another Holocaust
Posted in God, emotions, missionary, money on July 16, 2008 | 11 Comments »
Perhaps my first controversial post.
We’ve spent three sessions of missionary training learning about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I’ll confess: I was ignorant of all this. I had no idea that, when Israel became a state in 1948, it was because it took land away from Palestinians, who were already living there. I had no idea [...]
happy as a clam
Posted in emotions, friendship, missionary, nature on July 12, 2008 | 3 Comments »
The other missionaries have become such great, entertaining friends. So has the Yogurtland shop. Training has been a whirlwind of learning, seeing, walking, and laughing. Tonight I saw my third sunset at the end of a pier on the Hudson River…and each has been consistently beautiful.
Here are some pictures taken on July 8. They had [...]
I left my heart in Harlem.
Posted in fly on the wall, food, missionary on July 11, 2008 | 4 Comments »
My opinion of New York City changes day by day…. It’s hard to form one opinion when the Manhattan burough alone can contain 5th Avenue and Times Square…as well as Harlem and Chinatown. This morning the 9 missionaries were sent out in groups to do community mapping of various parts of Manhattan. My group was [...]
letter to the editor of /Oprah/
Posted in friendship, writing on July 10, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Check out the August 2008 issue of O: The Oprah Magazine, and you’ll see that my letter to the editor got published! I had written to the magazine, criticizing them for inconsistency. They had a recent cover that urged readers to say bye-bye to feeling bad about their bodies…but also on that cover was a [...]
how I feel about the Big Apple
Posted in books, dork, fly on the wall, food, money, nature on July 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I do like some things about Manhattan. I know this is only my fifth visit to the city, so I shouldn’t form any definitive opinions quite yet…. But I have decided some things.
Here is what I like:
Yogurtland, with a dozen different flavors of frozen yogurt (including mango, New York cheesecake, and chocolate/vanilla), plus countless toppings [...]
Ruth S. Martindell
Posted in books, emotions, family on July 7, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Today is the three-year anniversary of my grandmother’s death on July 7, 2005. Grandmom and I shared a love of Gone with the Wind. I remember the first time I read it, in the summer of 2002, and how she and I e-mailed back and forth about it. At that time, I couldn’t understand that [...]
training day
Posted in food, missionary on July 6, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I’m in Greenwich Village again…or Manhattan…or New York City…for three weeks of job training. Some items on the schedule include:
visiting an American Indian museum
picnicking in Central Park
walking through a labyrinth as part of a spiritual/centering exercise
attending a Chinese United Methodist Church
mapping out neighborhoods (observing what goes on in those neighborhoods, and returning with what we’ve [...]
