Chocolate Sink Hole . . . Sweet!

As Patrick has made quite obvious to us and now made public on the post, the other members of this blog have been noticeably absent. For me it comes down to not knowing what to say – not that there isn’t anything to say -but that there is just so much that it is easy to be blown away by the sheer power of God at work in our lives. There have been so many things that have just made this seem right - like the very fact that all 4 of us from Chicago were able to clear our schedules with 2 weeks notice to take off for San Francisco for 5 days is amazing in itself. Once we got there however, what an even bigger WOW. The amount of information we received was massive, but I’m tremendously grateful for it. I know I still have a lot of processing to do. However, if I tried to process everything we learned, heard, saw and shared – I would never begin writing. Sometimes, while we certainly need to be prepared, we also just need the faith that its time for us to act instead of living inside our head. So here’s what I’ve got so far to share: there are 6 of us going to the Philippines; 4 of us from Chicago and then Diane and Joanne – both of whom have had amazing adventures and experiences which brought them to San Francisco for the conference. I know that I look forward to sharing even more with all members of the GK Builders Corps USA and all those members who are already there. Specifically for me, these past few days with GK and ANCOP (Answering the Cry of the Poor) has truly been an affirmation of the sense of joy and peace I’ve had about this decision. My heart has been ignited with a passion for this program; what it strives to do; and to figure out what God has in mind as my place within it. The best starting point would probably be to use my assigned project as the base: My project uses my background in sociology to study one of the components of the GK process. GK has several different programs that have changed and developed as GK has grown and evolved. The programs work with the basic needs of food and shelter, but then also helps the community grow in education, health, self- government, self-sustainability and productivity all while helping them stay stewards of the environment. It’s pretty amazing when you think about the holistic structure of this program. And yet, individually, these programs would struggle more with maintaining a cohesive self-sustaining community without the aspect that I will be studying. Before and during living in a GK village and especially in dealing with the village governance, there is a Values Formation process. I have been assigned to do a comprehensive study of the Values Formation/Transformation process in 10 villages with different backgrounds to analyze the strength and weaknesses of the program. In addition to this evaluation I will help form a template from my research that can be used as the GK program expands globally. Heather, Patrick and Jonathan have been joking that my assignment is actually to save the world. I would like to think that all of us, each in our way has that very assignment from God already. I’ve heard it before, and I heard it again this week. When we ask God what He is doing about all the poverty, hurt and suffering in the world he reminds us that that is why he created us. Now is the time; Now is the hour to do our best in the service of our Lord – whatever our best may be. Till next time… God Bless. And for those who still remember this post's title - here's where its from: Paraphrased Quote from Saturday of the GK Summit: "Being a GK Advocate is like sinking in a hole; the more you get involved, the more you sink, but you enjoy sinking because its like sinking in a pool of chocolate & who wouldn't want to sink in a pool of chocolate?"