It was 6 years ago this week (give or take few days) that I got a call from the Mission Year recruiting department. "Hey Ashlee, just wanted to let you and Caleb know that you are accepted for Mission Year in the fall and we are excited to have you guys in Atlanta." Excitement, panic, joy-emotions filled my head and heart. We were really going to do it. We had decided that if they accepted us, we were headed to Atlanta. I called Caleb and we immediately began preparations (such great planners we are!).
p.s. (R)This was the picture I sent with my MY application. I guess I was REALLY enthusiastic (and liked hot pink?) Somehow, they still accepted us:) The other picture is our last night in our K-town apartment eating cereal out of anything we could find.
It all started during a spring break trip to Atlanta. We connected with the Mission Year married team who was living on Atlanta's Westside. They shared their hearts with us and told us about their year of serving. We got to meet Leroy Barber who came to their apartment, bought us pizza, and got me hooked on this idea of taking a year of my life (and my husband's life) to live intentionally, love Jesus, and love the people around me. Sounded simple, right?:). After MANY conversations, Caleb and I were sure that this was what we had been looking for. We knew we loved the City, we felt called to serve the poor, and we loved Jesus a lot. When else were we going to have the chance to give away all our stuff (for some reason I guess we weren't thinking we might actually NEED "stuff" when we got done with Mission Year), quit our jobs, and move to a new place to serve alongside people with similar hearts for ministry?
Our next call...this time it was Jeff Delp (one of our City Directors) telling us that he had found the house we were going to live in. "Excuse me, 1 house...for all three couples?" I guess they had decided to "try out" putting the married teams in one house. I am now more grateful for that call than I could describe. Our time of intentional community produced 4 of the most amazing friendships we have ever known.
And then there was the call to my parents..."Mom and Dad, as it would turn out, we love it here and really feel like God is calling us to stay in Atlanta." It only took one year for us to realize that this was home.
We now get to serve with Mission Year in the role of Mission Year married City Directors. We could not be more excited to see teams arrive this fall and watch them begin a journey that so deeply impacted the direction of our lives. Not everyone stays in the city and that is totally fine but no matter where you go after, life will be different. We are different because of a decision we made to take a year away from everything we knew and trust that God had a plan for us.
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