Moving In, Orientations, and the First Day of Class

I just moved into my new apartment on Friday. It was the day that I was looking forward to and at the same time dreading for months. Most of summer had been a struggle to find and arrange affordable housing for the 3ish month long Fall semester of MATUL and an attempt to spend quality time with friends and family before starting school. All the anticipation that had built up since being accepted in the Spring had resulted in a combination of excitement, nervousness, and worries. But alas, it was here!

Driving down and moving in was a little bit hectic, as expected, but nonetheless good. I was surprised by how hot and humid LA was. It's been difficult to sleep at night with the heat and with the sound of fans, but I trust that I'll get used to it and the weather will eventually cool down too. It's pretty cozy with the 3 of us in a small one bedroom apartment, but it works. We have a functioning kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and I know that it's much more spacious than where we'll be living in a few months. The neighborhood we live in is predominantly Latino and Black and I obviously don't blend in too well, which is slightly uncomfortable to be honest because I've noticed that I get a lot of double takes when I'm walking around the neighborhood. But then I think of all the division that exists in where we choose to live based on ethnicity, class, wealth, etc. and it makes me sad that I feel so distant from people who are different from me, but at the same time, not all that different. We may have vastly different life stories, but in the end we're really not all that different. On the other hand, I love my new roommates. They're both really sweet girls and I know we're going to have a really great time living together this semester. (:

MATUL Cohort #4! We're the biggest one yet. 

Orientation took up most of the day on Saturday. Azusa Pacific's LA Regional Center is located in Koreatown and occupies a couple of floors in a tall office-y building. This is also where we'll be having our classes three days a week. Orientation consisted of an overview/introduction about the program, discussion of the different sites overseas, sharing from some of the students from the very first MATUL cohort that just returned a couple weeks ago, Q&A, etc. Throughout the course of the orientation, I experienced a bit of a roller coaster of emotions as I fluctuated between feeling overwhelmed by all the information and hearing of returnees' experiences & feeling assured that this is what God had called me to do because the program deals with issues of poverty that are near and dear to my heart. Yes, I am nervous about being uncomfortable, dealing with the weight of sharing a community's pain that results from extreme poverty, and being a foreigner and feeling vulnerable. But I am so, so looking forward to learning more about the theology of the poor and seeing how believers trust God for their daily provisions as well as learning how I can be used by God to help set people free.

Something that Dr.Viv Grigg, one of our professors and the director of MATUL, said during the orientation about the risks involved in living in these hard places really struck me. "At the end of the day, following Jesus is always risky." Dr. Grigg has lived in places such as Manila and Kolkata for years doing ministry among the poor. He is a gentle soul and has such a huge heart. I look forward to learning from him throughout MATUL.

After orientation was done for the day, we all headed to Grand Park via the Metro (I had no idea that LA had a metro system...did you?!). We got dinner from some food trucks and then hung out until the movie, "The Neverending Story," came on. It was really cool. (:

Watching a movie in Grand Park in front of City Hall w/ MATUL friends.

Today (Tuesday) we had a second part to our orientation on the APU campus in Azusa. We got to meet some professors, meet the president, talk about finances, etc. We got to hear about how MATUL was founded and how a very large donation helped to jumpstart the idea for a program similar to a Christian peace corps. The other professor who helped found the MATUL program and helped write most of the curriculum really challenged us in how we thought about MATUL. So often, education and higher academia is seen as something that is used for upward mobility, to better ourselves and to get higher pay in our careers. But MATUL is different. It's intended to challenge the way we think about about ourselves, our lives, and the world around us. It's not about getting the degree and the good job and moving to a suburb to live our comfortable lives. MATUL changes people radically and wherever they may end up, overseas or stateside, their paradigm on so many things is never the same again. In addition, he said we may ask ourselves the question, "If we do not see transformation, will we continue to choose faithfulness?"; Will we continue to do the work that we feel God has called us to? We'll be taking some of our courses with this professor once we're overseas and I'm excited to hear more of his thoughts.

First day of classes was tonight. It was really good, but very obvious that this is graduate level material. Also, I am not a big fan of night classes because I'm more of a morning person so it'll be another thing for me to adjust to. For 2 hours at the beginning of class, we went around and told our stories about what motivated us to choose MATUL. It was super good. Everyone has such diverse backgrounds and stories, but at the same time most of us had similar themes. Redemption. A desire to learn how to serve the poor. A desire to learn more about ourselves and how Jesus walked alongside the marginalized. And of course, the biggest commonality: obedience.  

Sunset. 

In all honesty, I was not looking forward to having to live in Los Angeles. From the handful of times that I've been in LA, I strongly disliked how crowded it is, how terrible the traffic is, and how overly "city-ish" it is for my tastes. But when I look at the sunset along the skyline or from the front steps of my new apartment, I am reminded of how God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is faithful in all circumstances and I just need to trust that there is so much to be learned and gained in this city.