Despite the title of this post it has nothing to do with March Madness basketball and everything to do with the madness that March brought in my life.
March started with a 5 day trip to Colorado. I had been counting down the days for this trip since I purchased the plane tickets in December. Yes, I purchased them 3 months in advance. I was excited. Anyways, in the days before the trip I was preparing my fundraising materials, filling up my calendar with coffee dates, dinner plans, lunch plans, housing arrangements and so forth. I was so excited to be back in one of the places where God helped me discover who I was in him and to be with the people who helped me along the way.
When I arrived I was instantly welcomed into the Veve household and was able to fill Lara in on the happenings of the past 7 months since moving away from CO. Conversation soon went from catching up to simply talking life and what God has been doing and sharing some of the struggles of fundraising and being back in Wheaton and missing CO. On the Tuesday of my trip I had the chance to spend all day at Flatirons. Sat in on team meetings, went to lunch with several Kids Ministry staff, had dinner with Lara, and then packed my bags to head north to spend a night with my cousin before heading home the next day. That was when the rush of emotions from the past 4 days caught up to me. I found myself driving north on I-25 towards Mead with tears flowing strong. Over the course of the 7 months I had been in Wheaton I knew I missed CO but I didn't quite know exactly what I missed. But in the span of 4 days I was able to pinpoint exactly what it was. I missed the friends. But not only the friends I missed the vulnerability that I had with these friends. They had seen me at my worst and at my best during my year of interning and after leaving they still welcomed me in with open arms 7 months later. Now many of them have committed to financially support me as I head out for Peru. I miss that community.
Now this is where the madness of March begins. During my time in CO I was able to realize the lack of community in my life. Not just any type of community though. I lack the community amongst my peers. People my age who I can do life with. Emphasis added to people my age. I have plenty of community with people older than me and younger than me but nothing with people my age. The longing and desire continued to grow.
A week after returning home I was sitting at church in my church membership interview when I was asked the question, "Is there anything that Glen Ellyn Bible Church can do better?" That's when I said it. I said, "GEBC does not have opportunities for young adults and college age students to come together for community." I then also emphasized that I didn't know the solution and that I was not the one to take it on because of my commitment to fundraising and the fact that I will be leaving in less than a year for Peru.
Late March just before Easter I had the opportunity to head to Village Creek Bible Camp for some prayer and reflection on what the next year would hold. Obviously I brought this whole lack of community to God in prayer and asked that he would put other young adults in my path to do life with. Like brick to the face God was like, "Alison, you say you want this but you aren't doing anything about it. DO SOMETHING!" At first I thought, God how can I do something when I don't know where to do something. Clearly the community can't be at Glen Ellyn Bible Church so where I am going to find it! Then there was silence. As if God was saying, "think harder."
I left camp feeling slightly defeated because I was hoping to have an answer to this whole lack of community thing. I continued to pray about it. Then I got to thinking. "What I am going to do for community once women's Bible study finishes for the summer? I could join a small group. But then I can't visit small groups to present about Peru. So that's not an option. I wonder if there is anyone doing college ministry this summer. I wonder if I could help lead that... Wait. No there's no one." This whole train of thought brought me to this. I am supposed to be that person. I am supposed to be that person who welcomes in the college and young adults into my home for community. I have the space. I have the time. I need to community and if I need it someone else needs it as well. I'm excited for this vision that God has planted in me. I don't know exactly what it will look like yet. But I do know that this summer my basement apartment will be open and available to the college and young adults of Glen Ellyn Bible Church as well as their friends. I don't have details yet. But they will come. I'm excited to see what God makes of this summer and the community that will form because I am following his call to open my doors to the college and young adults in the Glen Ellyn and Wheaton area. With that, if you are a young adult or college student looking for something do this summer please contact me. I'd love to hear from you and see what ideas you have on what this community could look like. If you are not a young adult or college student please pray with me. Pray that the people who need this will come. If you know of a college student or young adult who needs this send their names to me. I want to reach out to them and invite them.
