Where One Chapter Ends, Another Begins

Dear friends and family,

            After four long and fun years at James Madison University, I have finished my degree with a Bachelors of Science in Biology!  I also received a minor in Anthropology and a concentration in Ecology and Environmental Biology.   My four years saw an ongoing research project with Dr. Bruce Wiggins (he and I are pictured right) in monitoring stream health quality through invertebrates (lots of little tiny bug larvae) after cattle have been fenced out and vegetation replanted around the water.  The summer before my senior year at JMU was spent at the same stream catching damselflies to look at their mating patterns.  Many of you know that throughout high school I was heavily involved in our theatre program, and during my time at JMU I stayed just as involved by working for our Preforming Arts Program backstage as a member of the Production Crew and a Stage Manager for Student Recitals.

School and life at JMU has kept me very busy these last four years, and now that I have graduated I plan on staying busy.  This past winter I applied to the Young Adults in Global Missions (YAGM) program through the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and have been asked to go serve in the United Kingdom as a missionary through the Time for God (TfG) volunteer organization.  I accepted the offer and a placement site in Manchester, England; I am ecstatic to go live a year among a new people who will soon become friends!  My time spent there will be filled with assisting with the current church congregation and helping to grow the larger parish where I will be living.

The model for Global Missions in the ELCA is one of accompaniment, or walking together in a solidarity that practices interdependence and mutuality.  While the UK might not seem like an obvious location for a missions program, with the frame of mind of accompaniment we can realize that you can accompany people anywhere and everywhere.  Jesus says in Matthew 25:40 “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” and this has always stuck with me to be supportive of everyone, especially those who seem as though they need or deserve it least.

This sort of journey cannot be undertaken alone.  I will continue to need the loving support and guidance that everyone has given me for the last four years at JMU.  YAGM supports their missionaries by backing us financially with $7,000 of the $11,000 needed to cover the cost of one volunteer for our year of service, and in return asks us to fundraise the remaining $4,000 on our own.  If you you would like to support me financially, send me an email at mycahlynne@msn.com for more information; if you have any questions or words of encouragement, I would love to hear them!

In God’s Peace,

Mycah