Reflections from Julie Burke, a volunteer from North Carolina

"My name is Julie Burke and my church just returned from NYC where we were working with Operation Exodus for the last week of July.

I have been a teacher for the last 20 years and I am the mother of 3, so I felt pretty confident that I would be able to handle whatever I needed to do on this mission trip. God sent me here to humble me into dependence on Him. Our pastor described the first couple of days like trying to take a sip from a fire hose. Learning names, walking kids across busy city streets and learning the schedule and procedures were very difficult. At the end of Monday and Tuesday I felt inadequate and discouraged.

Each night when we returned to the hostel our group would meet and talk about the day. Our focus those first two nights was on the fruits of the spirit. I prayed and asked God for peace. God showed up for me Wednesday morning through Ashley - the director. She gave me a quick word of encouragement before our field trip that day, and God's peace came over me. I realized that my adequacy was not what mattered here. God was at work despite my sense of failure, and He is more than adequate. I was able to do my job the rest of the week and leave the results to Him.

I left the week feeling tired, "hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair." I was able to understand that verse in a new, much more real way in NYC. We really do "have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

A few Awesome Effort Students

Each week, a student is awarded Awesome Effort from each classroom, here are only a few of our kids who have worked hard to earn Awesome Effort this summer!

Day Two: LOVE video from second week at Heights by Cornerstone Pres

Day 2: Love by Cornerstone Pres from Bobbi Jo Brooks on Vimeo.

Coming to an End

Bobbi Jo will have time to post more pictures from the summer once she is back in Atlanta, but for now, I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone who has helped to make this summer go so well. For all of the supporters, prayer teams at home, volunteers, associate staff, churches, youth groups, and more.... thank you for being so willing to serve.
We pray that your time in New York brought glory to God. We pray that you learned so much. We pray that seeds were planted or harvested. We pray that you experienced the kingdom of God like never before. And we pray you come again!

Currently, we've got Centralia Pres and Zion Pres at OE. They will be there until Saturday.. pray for them as they finish out their week and return home!

If you have stories you'd like to share about your time in NYC, we'd love to know! You can email any stories to stephanie.heaney@mtw.org.

Also.... check out the new MTW website for generation "y" http://goglobal.mtw.org You can also submit stories there as well.

Week 2 Theme: LOVE

Last week, we had two groups here serving with us from Briarwood Pres from Birmingham AL and Cornerstone Pres in Columbia, SC and it was our biggest group of volunteer mission teams EVER! We had a total of 68 people between the two groups and individuals who joined us! The Lord was faithful to us in many ways last week, including seeing a few kids come to know Christ, I hope to post these stories as soon as I can get the team members to write them up for me! Praise the Lord with me for those who came to know the Lord and also be praying for them as they grow in their faith!

The theme for last week was LOVE! Each groups teaching surrounding the topic of love and both did a great job! Thank you all for pouring your lives into our kids! I wanted to share with you the videos Cornerstone made. They introduced each day with a slideshow of images from the day, fun music and then also introduced the Praise time topic via a video. I will start with only posting day one's video. I will post the others in the coming days!

Day One Love by Cornerstone Pres from Bobbi Jo Brooks on Vimeo.

A few images from the first week of Summer Program

Jumping for joy :-) Summer program is back!









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More to come!

New Post coming soon I promise

Hi All,
I have been a bit behind on anything related to a computer since I arrived in NYC, so I promise an update with photos coming very soon!

Bobbi Jo

Global Missions Conference

The PCA Global Missions Conference is coming up and we would LOVE for you to join us!

Here's a blurb about it:
Join fellow believers from across the PCA in Chattanooga this November in a joyous celebration of hope hosted together by Mission to the World and Covenant College. Hear about the work of Christ in church planting, mercy ministry, medical outreach, student internships, arts in missions, and much more. Personally connect with others in the PCA as well as in the global church. Learn more about partnerships. Be challenged by ministry updates. Prayerfully explore your role and that of your church. Encourage others. Most of all, join in the worship of Christ—The Hope of Nations!

To sign up and get other helpful information regarding speakers, musicians, schedules, etc., you can go here https://www.signup4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=GLOB59E&OID=50

Hope to see you there!!!!

Update from Exodus!

Here are a few excerpts from Operation Exodus' latest prayer letter:

"It has been an exciting school year at Exodus - Washington Heights and Inwood. Our amazing God has blessed us in ways we did not expect.
Wonderfully qualified teachers and other professionals, looking for a bit of a financial cushion, have joined our staff and their expertise has influenced our students and staff for the best.
Mentors are consistently coming every Saturday to give children the Good News and students are emotionally more stable and are reading the Bible.
One third grader read the whole Bible in one weekend and is already a little preacher to her family. “The stories are amazing,” she says.
Parents are more engaged. We shared with them that we did not have as much funding for the summer program as in the past (with the implication that we’d have to raise parent fees) and the news mobilized them to find ways to help raise money. They came up with the idea to do a raffle, provided the prize, sold the tickets and this past Friday, one of their friends won a dinner for four at Carmines to celebrate Mother’s Day. Exodus received $2,200 - that is a lot of money coming from the families we serve.
We are encouraged. On May 20, Exodus is hosting a fund-raising event at Dillon Gallery in Chelsea from 7-9pm. The idea is that Exodus friends will connect with our ministry and desire to help us bring down God’s kingdom in Washington Heights and Inwood through quality afterschool tutoring, mentoring and summer achievement programs."

"Please join us in prayer that Exodus after-school tutoring, mentoring and summer achievement programs will continue to support families like Eulalia’s. We are asking the Lord for $100,000 and we hope to get it at the event on May 20."

Please pray with us as we ask the Lord to provide in such an amazing way, and that Exodus will continue to grow and tell many of His wonderous love.

Bring in the Culture

I came across this great article titled, "Uptown in the Carribean". The article is a few years old so some parts of it may be a bit outdated, and it focuses mostly on the culture of food and entertainment, but I do recommend reading it. It paints a wonderful picture of the place you will be immersed in for a week from the smells of food to the domino games on the sidewalks! I was captivated by the imageries and descriptions and I could see the colors, smell the food, hear the rhythms of the musicians....

"When you emerge from the train, you'll find some big changes from wherever you got on: domino games dot the sidewalks; car stereos demonstrate the Doppler effect with reggaetón and bachata music; the price of plantains nose dives. And everything seems to be done a bit louder (and with a little more laughter)."

Read it!!!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/travel/28weekend.html?ex=1194408000&en=fe73ee9e5c5e9930&ei=5070&emc=eta1

THE SHOCK!

Your team will not be leaving the country this summer during their trip to New York, but that doesn't mean they won't experience culture shock. Many teams may not be used to "Big City" life, different smells, different people and personalities, being away from home, eating food that strays from their usual diet, etc. In order to give you the heads up on how to deal with the situation if it occurs on your team, please read the below information and read some from the suggested reading list from your Project Orientation Manual!

What are the typical phases of going through culture shock?

•Honeymoon: Everything is great, nothing is wrong, you’re having a wonderful time.
•Shock: There are so many differences that you don’t know how to deal with them. You didn’t think things would be like this.
•Negotiation: You learn to deal with the problems set before you and try to integrate them with your own opinions.
•Acceptance: You are able to live well in the environment with the differences you are experiencing.

What are some symptoms of culture shock?

1.Feeling very angry over minor inconveniences
2.Irritability
3.Withdrawal from people who are different from you
4.Extreme homesickness
5.Sudden intense feeling of loyalty to own culture
6.Overeating or loss of appetite
7.Boredom
8.A need for excessive sleep
9.Headaches
10.Upset stomach
11.Depression
12.Loss of ability to work effectively
13.Unexplainable crying
14.Relationship stress
15.Feeling sick much of the time

You will most likely not experience many of these symptoms in just a week's time. But be aware of these things. The stress of being away from home and in an unfamiliar place can open the door for conflict in the team (an article on conflict resolution can be found in the post from April 20, 2010).


There is a lot you can do to prepare your team for culture shock. Reading books and articles, watching films, documentaries, and movies, as well as keeping up with the local news will help you learn more about the people and culture you will be interacting with.

Remember to PRAY without ceasing!!! Pray for your team before you go, while you are there, and even in the days and weeks after your return. Team members may also deal with culture shock once they return home. There will be a debrief time while in New York to talk about the week, but you may wish to have a final debrief once home. A good idea to help the team process what happened is to have a time for them to share with others about their experience whether it is in Sunday school, church, youth group, or just with a small gathering of friends. This allows for the team to process, as well as a way to get more people interested for next year!

A Story

Exodus at Inwood had a Short Story Contest, and two of the kids wrote this captivating story!!!

"When I Accidentally Shrunk my Mom!"

It was a Sunday morning when I was doing laundry for my mom. At the laundry my mom told me to make sure all the clothes were in the washer. After making sure I went to sit down because it takes 45 minutes for clothes to wash. Later that day I went down with my mom to the basement to check on the clothes to put them in the dryer to dry. When my mom went to check in the washer to see if there were no more clothes my sister Nathalie who is 7 years old accidentally pushed the door behind my mom and shrinking her into a Barbie size doll. My little sister picked her up and started shaking her like a worm I was so nervous I called the shrinking company. They came 48 hours later telling us that she will be back to normal in 24 hours, but when I woke up the next day she was not average size she was 32 feet tall. Then I prayed so she can come back to normal. When I finished praying she tapped me on my arm and gave me a hug I was surprised she was back to her regular size. Two weeks later my uncle came over from Texas. He went to the basement to do his laundry and the same thing happened to him, oh no not again.

TO BE CONTINUED…..

Conflict Resolution

Even Christians can fall prey to the work of the enemy! He loves to use every means possible to get to us, eat at us, tempt us, create conflict between us. If he can get just the tip of his finger on our efforts to expand the kingdom, he's doing what he loves - creating mayhem. Conflict among teams can cause damage unimaginable.

Please be advised that your team is not necessarily sheltered from conflict by the mere fact they are Christians. Conflict creeps in sometimes when we least expect it. Team Leader, you should always first try to help resolve the conflict as soon as you are aware of it.

A few ways of responding to conflict are:

(from "Guiding People Through Conflict" by Peacemaker ministries)

Overlook the offense- Many disputes can be resolved by quietly overlooking the offense and forgiving the offender. (Prov 12:16).

Reconciliation- Wrongs that are too serious to overlook should be resolved through loving confrontation or confession, which allows for reconciliation and forgiveness.

Mediation- When it is impossible to resolve a conflict one-on-one, bring a third party in (Matt. 18:16) and allow for a mediator to help. (If it is unable to be resolved, the team leader should talk with the MTW administrator on the field and figure out the best course of action).

Remember that we are all sinners, and in need of God's grace. Having been given grace by God, we should in turn give grace to others. Each day give him the glory, take the log out of your own eye first, seek restoration in conflict, pursue genuine peace and reconciliation. Seek to be a good steward of your time, and maintain a Christ-like love for those you may not completely get along with - for our Lord has loved us when we've least deserved it!

Even if conflict arises, God can use it for his great purposes! If resolved, it can allow for a witness of the church, restoration, team building and strength, the witness of God's power and love and forgiveness, and a way for non-believers to see the Gospel played out in a concrete way!

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 1 Cor. 10:13

One website that is extremely helpful in this area is http://www.peacemaker.net/. There, you can sign up to receive a free publication on biblical peacemaking.

Also, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis provides wonderful insight from Lewis about the ways the enemy likes to create conflict. There are excerpts from the book here: http://bama.ua.edu/~casey006/216/screwtape.html

Don't Know What to do on Your Day "Off"?

We will be posting resources along the way to help you plan for your day off as well as ideas for your time at Exodus, resolving conflict, how to cope with culture shock, local life in NYC, and more! Keep checking back for more inspiration, updates, guidelines, and helpful articles, links, and posts on ways to help prepare your teams for what they will experience in The Big Apple!

Check out these cool sites for ideas on what to do for your day off! Consult your Leader's manual, too for more ideas in addition to these!

Tenament Museum: One time an apartment building for 7000 immigrants, this building has been turned into a museum to take you back to 1863 and help you experience what it was like to live in an unfamiliar place and face the challenges that many feared. Each year 30,000 students visit the museum to learn about the city and immigration through the years. (Students $15, Adults $20) http://www.tenement.org/about.html

Times Square: There's always something going on in Times Square! This website will stay updated as the time of your team's arrival gets closer. Keep checking back to see what will be happening while you are in NYC! http://www.timessquare.com/

Botanical Gardens: Here's the link for New York's botanical gardens. Just beautiful! For groups of 15 or more, there are special discounts for adults! http://www.nybg.org/

Also, it doesn't hurt do some internet searching for coupons for discounts at popular attractions!

We'll be posting more as the months progress.

As always, contact us of you have ANY questions!!!!

Update on Spring Break Teams

The teams had a wonderful time in New York City visiting Operation Exodus! Here are a few great pictures from RUF @ Middle Tennessee University that they have shared with us! Looks like they really enjoyed their time at OE!

Teams are in NYC!

We are so excited that RUF @ MTSU and Graystone Pres are in NYC!!! So far it's been a good week for everyone. The two teams have been at both locations, Washington Heights and Inwood this week. We pray that their time there has been beneficial to the kids and Exodus!

Praying for safe travels for both groups as they go home. MTSU leaves Friday morning at 6 am!!! Graystone leaves Saturday.

Want to learn more about Exodus? Visit their website http://www.operationexodus.org/

You can now become a fan of MTW and Operation Exodus on Facebook!

Making Memories

Recently, Exodus took the kids to Central Park to go ice-skating! The kids had a blast and did exceptionally well, despite the adults being worried of the worst things that could happen. It was described as possibly one of the most fun events of the year!

If you have a fun memory from Exodus or story to tell, please let us know! We'd love to hear what the Lord has done in your life through Exodus or how your time there changed your perspective on ministry.

From someone that went in Summer 2007:

“I really had no expectations for this trip. The only thing I ask of the Lord to use me. I was open to what ever he chose for me to do. I never expected to be a volunteer for a tutor… The first few days I felt almost useless because I didn’t know the plan for the class and didn’t know to what extent I should participate in class…Today during craft time I spontaneously started sharing what God had done for me and gave them [the children] words of encouragement and comfort...My prayer is that they will take what little I shared with them and continue to build on it…I see their faces now and I pray I never forget what they look like. They will always be in my heart.”

Getting Ready!

Spring break teams will be in NYC in just over 2 weeks! We are so excited to see how the Lord will use these teams in the kids' lives and we pray they will be a blessing to the Exodus team! We can't wait to share news from the week on the blog!

While you are getting ready...

For both Spring and Summer teams, here are a few things you may want to include in your suitcase:

Bible
Notebook
Shoes you are comfortable walking in
Warmer clothes incase it gets cold at night or in the hostel (for Spring teams: pack for varying temperatures!)
Rain jacket
Ear plugs
Hand sanitizer
Camera
Flip-flops for the showers

These are just a few things to think about. More detailed lists are avaliable in the NYCOE Team Leader's manual. If you are going to the POT, you will receive a copy of the Team Leader's Manual there!

Transitions

Did you know...

...In NYC, middle school students must complete a high school application and some must take a high school placement test?

...The City of New York is closing 16 high schools in exchange for opening 13 smaller high schools?

Making the transition for any kid from middle school to high school is a huge step in growing up! But imagine if you had to face an application, a test, open houses, and school fairs before you ever even got there! Getting in to high school in NYC can sometimes be as rigorus as applying for college!

As Exodus prepares their middle schoolers for this big event, there is a huge need for prayer around the students. Grades at this point in their school careers will hugely impact their time in high school. Please pray that the tutors will know how to best help these students in preparing, and that the students will have the will, courage, and excitement to learn...Especially with decreasing the number of schools, and increasing the number of students in each school, this time is going to be tough.

Praise the Lord for...

...A comment on one student's report card said, "Has shown extraordinary improvement in her overall grades for second semester."
...One student at Inwood had two quizzes this week and acheived grades of 100 on both!
... One first grader has an extremely unstable home life and no adult leadership. His last report card was very heart breaking, but in class he is making small improvements every day and they are starting to add up! His addition skills are growing every day and his vocabulary is increasing also!

Tips for Preparing. Stories from Exodus.

You've been asked to lead a team to NYC for this summer! And you wonder where to start. You want details, answers, prayer, and... people! You have to stay on track with paperwork, support raising, meetings... the list goes on!

Here are a few tips on getting things started:

1.) Advertise the project: This could be through flyers, emails, phone calls, meetings, Facebook, etc.

2.) Get a core group of interested believers together. Share the details and pray about it.

3.) Once you get commitments, spend time getting to know your team! Have regular team meetings where you talk about details, and make a team Covenant. (You might also want to do some team building time outside your meetings where you get to know each other a little better and can share some great memories).

4.) Send out support letters. If you need ideas for what to write in your letters, we will be glad to give you some samples!

5.) Do some culture study. Check out these links:

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15070
http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part2/index.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/in-the-heights-chasing-broadway-dreams/preview-of-in-the-heights-chasing-broadway-dreams/761/

6.) Contact us if you have ANY questions. We are glad to help!


In Other News!

Heights

After School started at the heights on November 12th and everything got into place immediately. Most students re-enrolled immediately, a testimony to great communication between thearent coordinator and the parents. One change is the number of classes – the After School is running 10 classes, not 11. The 11th classroom is being used for HS students, as well as special events like the “readers’ café” and “awesome effort” prizes.

Ashley’s focus this year has been tutor quality, and she has put great training, systems, and evaluation into place. Two tutors have had to leave the Heights this year, but Ashley filled their places quickly, and the new tutors have stepped in prepared and able to deliver.

Inwood

A big praise for OE at Inwood is that one 5th grader has begun thriving after a long time of struggling in school with his teacher. He was struggling to learn his times tables and other areas. He wasn't doing his homework, or writing down assignments, but with the help of Chris and Jacelyn at OE, he is getting back on track! He is now completing homework and turning assignments in on time! His teacher is very impressed (although she never really gave him much of a chance before) and has sent his parent a letter praising him for his turnaround! Please pray for the heart of the teacher- that she would be kind and thoughtful and see that this child and his education are just as important as the other students.