Boston Begins

“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.”

~ Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O ~ 

A week ago you would have found me frantically adding and crossing off things from my to-do lists, perhaps simultaneously, packing, saying goodbye to friends, and staying up till the wee hours of the morning trying to finish Emily's latest gift to me: a "do it yourself" kit for a guitar song binder (I now successfully have 115 classics, not-so-classics, and hit singles in one place. Amazing!) After saying farewell to North Aurora, and after an 18 hour trip overnight through several states, my mom, brother, and I made it safely to Boston. We got settled in, toured the downtown area, saw Jon's future alma mater, and then got to Boston College on Sunday to begin orientation.

Orientation these next two weeks is with not only the 13 volunteers in Rostro de Cristo, but also 26 Jesuit Volunteer Corps members, making the grand total of 39 excited, questioning, anxious young adults here at BC. Yesterday's orientation day was mostly about the families. There were parents, siblings, girlfriends/boyfriends, and grandparents alike all joining for the lunch, info session, mass, and dinner. It was after dinner that I had to say goodbye to my mom, my brother, and Laura Bohler (who surprised my mom and showed up!) which was of course sad but I'm SO glad they got to come out and experience this with me. And with my brother being a future Bostonian, he knew all the cool places to show me!

So far orientation has been great. If the high temperature in the rooms at night is the biggest complaint, I'd say I'm in good shape. Not to mention I need to get used to that anyway. The people are wonderful, and I've gotten to meet some great volunteers and staff both. SPEAKING of meeting people, I have quickly found this world to be far too small. Not only do many individuals (former Jesuit Volunteers mainly) know of Creighton graduates and friends of mine that are doing service abroad, but someone doing the Rostro program with me graduated FROM MARMION ACADEMY. Mind. Blown. His name is Chase and he grew up in Batavia. And on top of that, I've had 3 people bring up the Call Me Maybe parody video that we made this past semester...on their own, just becuase I mentioned Creighton University. Surreal.

Over these two weeks we will be having community builders, hearing guest speakers, training sessions, and reflection time to prepare for our departure next Friday. It is kind of strange with the JVC/RdC combo in the sense that we are much more "in the dark" than them. JVC places volunteers in 6 different countries around the world, and, unlike us, they know the country their going to, who their living with, and what work they will be doing. We just know the country. But supposedly we will know which of the two houses - El Arbolito or Mt. Sinai - we will be in and therefore who we'll be living with. I can't wait.

Today our talks were about "call, mission, and identity". The quote at the top was one that the speaker ended with, and it resonated with me so much. In this time, when I have just said goodbye to loved ones, don't know exactly what I'll be doing down there, etc., it is very easy for me to question the decision. "Will my work even be effective?" "How much influence could I really have on the communities of Ecuador?" But I know that I have to trust. I am very much in an uncertain place, but the more I let go of that result-focused attitude, the more I can focus on the individual, and the virtue of the actions. It won't come easy, but I'll work at it. Thanks, Thomas Merton.

So here I am, day 2 of orientation, and I look forward to tomorrow. Another day to grow with these people around me--people in similar places in their lives--and another day to learn and to laugh.

Here's to "the reality of personal relationship"

Mike