Dear Theophilus:: September 2003

My life be like ooh, ahh

by Frank Lee

I am not entirely sure what the song lyric above means. It kind of doesn't make any sense. But the West Philly missions team and I must have listened to this song by the Grits at least a hundred times, mostly because I kept hitting the repeat button on the van's cd player. But in a way I guess a lot of the things we did this summer didn't make any sense. Why would 8 adults give up a month of their lives to live and serve in West Philadelphia? Why would we spend our days teaching, hanging out and loving these kids, when we were generally vastly unqualified to do so? Why would we subject ourselves willingly to the strangest of all missions trips, the one in our own backyard? Could you even call our experience a missions trip? Well if you are looking for the answers to any of those questions you are reading the wrong article. All I know is that the month that I spent at Lighthouse was the best month of my life.

I had served in Teen Vision for the past 2 years. This past semester had been particularly difficult. Too many kids, not enough help. I felt like I had spent an entire semester yelling at kids to sit down, to be quiet, to stop touching each other inappropriately, to stop fighting, etc…. At no time did I feel like this ministry was benefiting anyone. I was just a babysitter. I am not a good babysitter. And so the one thing I was hoping for during Lighthouse was to have a smaller group of kids to work with on a more personal level. So as these things tend to go, Teen Vision ended up being the largest class by almost double of the other three. But in the end having thirty plus kids turned out to be a real blessing.

I would like to say that teaching the kids math, reading and the Bible everyday made a tremendous impact on their lives. I would like to say that my stimulating lectures on decimals, fractions and a free market economy were memorable. But somehow I doubt it. The one thing that did strike me this summer was how well versed most of the kids were in terms of the Gospel and theology in general. It was a tremendous blessing to see because at least the Bible lessons were being absorbed.

One of the things I am going to remember and hope is something the kids remember is that hanging out with the teachers can be fun. We took a few kids each night to the Penn bookstore to emphasize the importance of reading and learning. Plus going to the Penn bookstore is free and when you have to hang out with different kids every night, free equals great. These times allowed me to hang out and have a good time with them on a more personal level, which made having thirty plus kids in my class great because each night I spent time and got to know a different set of kids. Another favorite memory of the trip was our Teen Vision roller-skating trip. I know what you are thinking; roller-skating is lame and it should have died in the 80's like hair bands and neon, tie-dyed clothing. But that means that you have not experienced the "WOW" Friday night roller-skating Gospel jam. The kids had such an amazing time and God definitely works in ways that are unexpected.

There are so many other incredible things that happened to me during Lighthouse. Through the good times and bad, I came to realize how much I actually love these kids. The month exceeded all of my expectations. I have heard that people who go on short-term missions are blessed more than the people being ministered to. I have to say that definitely applies to me. One of the benefits of doing missions in your backyard is that you get to see the fruit of your labor. I know God is going to do amazing things in West Philadelphia and I am just glad that at least for one month I was able to be a part of his plan.

Lastly, I would like to give a shout-out to my fellow West Philly team members. Do people still use the phrase shout-out?

Pastor Dan - I would just like to thank you for doing such an amazing job with a thankless task. Leading a bunch of freaks like the 7 of us must not have been easy. But I think I saw God work daily through you to lead us where we needed to go. And I will remember the Indian leg wrestling.

Daniel - I don't know if you will ever read this, but I hope and pray you are doing okay in the army. You became almost like a little brother to me. Your love for the kids and unbelievable enthusiasm were much appreciated.

Asha - Your stunning athleticism was amazing. Your dominance in the intra-team basketball game will not be forgotten. I didn't know you at all before we started, but that is not the case anymore. I admire the fact that you were able to come into a totally unfamiliar situation and not only fit right in, but really be a blessing to the team and to Joy class.

Kathy - or Lauren or the Princess. No matter what you wanted to be called, your willingness to be made fun of was in a weird way a blessing to the rest of the team. It was amazing to see what an incredible job you did with Love class.

John - The Hulk. The reigning arm and Indian leg wrestling champion. "Kids. Kids. Kids." Thank you for taking so many quality pictures. It was always so fun to watch you interact with your class.

Amy - Your willingness to listen to all my complaining was truly a blessing to me. I know that Hope class was insanely crazy, but it was a joy to see how much of an impact you made with those kids.

Julia - My co-teacher. I cannot express enough gratitude towards you. I would not have been able to get through Lighthouse without your incredibly positive attitude. Though I will always be bitter that you made me stay up every night preparing the next day's Bible lesson, I know that without the planning, the lessons wouldn't have been nearly as good as they were. You were just simply the best co-teacher ever.