91短视频 senior Emma Nord, who was quoted in the article, had this to say: 鈥淚 love the rhythm of the labyrinth, kind of focusing on God and the design. Once you get to the center, you鈥檙e not done. You then walk back the way you came in.鈥�

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The 91短视频 community is sending out prayers to the people of Haiti and offering ways for the campus community to support relief efforts in the wake of a 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

“We have alumni and current students with connections in Haiti,” said Ken L. Nafziger, vice president for student life. “We want to support and encourage them, as well as provide ways for all students to feel empowered to do something in what can feel like a hopeless time.”

The community is invited to share thoughts and prayer concerns on the .

Collection baskets

91短视频 will set up collection baskets around campus for contributions to support Haiti relief efforts. Monies collected will benefit organizations such as , the relief, service and development agency with a long history in Haiti and with many 91短视频 connections.

Collection baskets will be located in the Student Life Suite (), Business Office (), and front reception desk at .

Group prayer vigil

For those who wish to participate in group prayer, there will be a prayer vigil for Haiti held in the Campus Center Greeting Hall at 10:30 a.m. immediately following University Chapel on Wed., Jan 20. It will be led by campus pastors and student pastoral assistants.

Respond during basketball games

91短视频’s next and games at home will provide another giving opportunity. Donations will be collected at half time of the games on (men’s game) Wed., Jan. 20 and (women’s game) Fri., Jan. 22 in Yoder Arena in the University Commons (see campus map).

Donations

Cash or checks for 91短视频’s Haiti response are welcome. Make checks out to ‘91短视频 Haiti response.’ Drop them in a collection spot on campus or mail them to 91短视频 Development Office, 1200 Park Road, Harrisonburg VA 22802. The full contribution will go to trusted partner agencies in Haiti.

Other opportunities across campus will be posted as they are determined. These may include conversations and learning opportunities about the country of Haiti, its economy and infrastructure, prayer, reflection, assembling of material resources and more. Student groups such as the Student Government Association and Young Peoples Christian Association will spearhead events.

You can view a short video by a Mennonite Central Committee worker in Haiti:

Questions about 91短视频’s response can be directed to the Student Life office at (540) 432-4135.

2009 Advent scriptures include the following:

• Week One – Luke 1:26-28
• Week Two – Matthew 1:18-25
• Week Three – Luke 1:39-56
• Week Four – Luke 2:1-19

The series began with a reflection by Dorothy Jean Weaver, professor of New Testament at the seminary.

"Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year in the Christian tradition, a beginning focused on the coming of Jesus into our world that calls for thoughtful preparation for this coming and for the second coming of Jesus," said Brian Martin Burkholder, 91短视频 campus pastor. "In these weeks leading up to Christmas day, we invite everyone into this season of thoughtful and spiritual preparation by using the Advent reflections provided from the 91短视频 and EMS campus community."

"Readers are invited this year to share their own personal reflections at the end of each day’s entry as well, building a sense of community among followers of Christ all over the world," Martin Burkholder added.

To automatically receive each devotional, go to emu.edu/blog/devotions/subscription.

On Tuesday nights, a small group of students gather on 91短视频’s hill to take part in “prayerfully sleeping” on the hill, which is a branch of peacekeepers. The group generally has a discussion about an issue related to a specific country or conflict with a focus on refugees.

“We take time to do something that isn’t comfortable to remember other people who aren’t in comfort,” first-year and co-leader Rebekah Enns said. There are three leaders altogether: sophomore Lucas Schrock-Hurst, first-year Taylor Weidman, and Enns.

She said the group does it because they desire to be intentional in the world and have a global focus. “It helps us remember that God’s call for our lives is to challenge the society that creates the need for refugees,” she said. “Shelter is something that a lot of people don’t have.”

They also have discussion topics such as “Listening and Conflict,” and sing songs like “My Soul Cries Out.”

The weekly event began as a program with Peace Fellowship, but due to a lack of student involvement and leadership, almost fell through for this semester. Weidman, Enns, and Schrock-Hurst came forward as leaders early last month, and organized the hill meetings.

First-year participant Austin Showalter appreciates the chance to get out of his comfort zone. “It’s kind of fun. It is good to put myself in a place that I’m not usually in,” he said. He sees one of the goals of the group as “raising awareness” about homelessness.

Prayerfully sleeping on the hill takes place every Tuesday night from around 11:30 p.m. until 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Believe it or not, they actually try to sleep for a good part of that time!

The group will continue to sleep outside for as long as they can, but when the weather gets really cold they will move into the discipleship center. An average of five to ten students attend per week.

Enns and the other leaders welcome any student to head up the hill on Tuesday nights to experience what sleeping in solidarity with the homeless is all about.

The simulated refugee tents are meant to create awareness and support for the people of Darfur, Sudan, a region in the western part of the country wracked by military conflict and genocide.

91短视频 Campus Pastor Brian Martin Burkholder (right) talks with student Larisa Zehr and a Tents of Hope spokesman during set-up Tuesday morning.

Peace Fellowship and campus ministries are sponsoring the tents and action/response tables. 91短视频 students, faculty, staff and the broader community are invited to stop in and learn more about Darfar and paint messages of hope and support on a tent.

The tent will be set up and available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 7 and 8. Campus pastor Brian Martin Burkholder (phone 432-4196 or e-mail campusministries@emu.edu) is coordinating the event.

The “Tents of Hope” project is a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur.

The tents become “unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan,” according to the website, . The tents serve as “points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.”

Small community “Tents of Hope” activities are part of an effort leading up to a national event in Washington, D.C., November 7-9, 2008, where planners hope to draw significant attention to Darfur.

On Monday, June 2, Atyam told her powerful story of hate and desire for revenge changed to forgiveness toward those who devastated and traumatized her and many others.

SPI director Pat H. Martin introduces speaker Angelina Atyam from northern Uganda, citing “the testing her soul has gone through and finding the courage and grace to forgive others.” (Photo by Jim Bishop)

Atyam, 57, spoke at a “Frontiers in Peacebuilding” luncheon as part of the third session of the 2008 Summer Peacebuilding Institute at 91短视频. The 93 SPI participants from 35 countries were joined by many 91短视频 faculty and staff and community persons for the presentation.

Tens of Thousands Kidnapped

“Uganda is a beautiful country of 24 million people, but we have not enjoyed peace for many years,” she said. The east African country moved from a British colony to independence in 1962, but protracted civil war has spawned refugee camps and a special problem – young boys snatched from their homes to be trained to fill the ranks of rebel armies and young women to serve as sex slaves. Over the past 20 years, some 26,000 children have been documented as kidnapped and more than 6,000 others are unaccounted for.

In 1987, an anti-government group calling itself The Lord’s Resistance Army – “not the Lord that I serve,” Atyam noted – stormed St. Mary’s College, a boarding school for middle and high school students at night, taking close to 150 girl students hostage.

The assistant headmistress followed the rebels and pleaded repeatedly for their release. Eventually, the rebel leader agreed to let one group of 109 girls go and kept the remaining 30 girls. Atyam’s daughter, Charlotte, 14, was among the latter group.

Atyam was devastated by the situation. She recalled “seeing stoic men crying openly,” bemoaning the loss. Families who had lost a child banded together for support and prayer. During one prayer meeting, the group repeated the Lord’s prayer, and one line jumped out at Atyam – “and forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us.”

‘God was at work among us’

“I was convicted of the need to first deal with our feelings of hatred and to pray for forgiveness toward the rebels – we had put a curse on them. Praying for those who had wronged us became our sacrifice,” she said. “And we began to experience a lifting of our burdens. God was at work among us.”

The period of mourning and the commitment to fervent prayer prompted Atyam and others to form the Concerned Parents Association (CPA) to address the tragic issue of kidnapped children. The group’s motto – “Every child is my child.” The organization grew to include members – Christians, Muslims and non-believers – in seven districts across the country.

Atyam decided to visit the mother of the rebel leader who had taken her daughter as his wife. People were amazed at Angelina’s willingness to forgive the woman, her son and her tribe. “What do we gain by wishing the death of our enemies?” she asked. “God wants us to be forgiving, practical peacebuilders.”

Trauma Healing, Recovery

In the midst of the loss and great uncertainty, Mennonite Central Committee workers inquired what the organization could do to help. Atyam expressed gratitude that “MCC people came with offers of assistance but didn’t tell us what to do.”

The Concerned Parents Association invited MCC to work with them in focusing on trauma healing for parents and extended families of abducted children. Training sessions were held in the various districts with the aim of training persons who in turn would educate others in trauma recovery.

“We can’t do anything without also addressing the problem of AIDS and HIV-infection among the many displaced people,” Atyam told the audience. “We have many traumatized people who are unemployed, with nothing to do, and that creates its own problems.”

Twenty four of the 30 kidnapped children eventually were returned to their families, including Atyam’s daughter Charlotte. She came back, however, with two children she bore during her seven years and eight months in captivity.

While some criticized her for accepting back her daughter and grandchildren, Angelina could no more abandon these children than could her daughter. “These children sustained my daughter because they gave her love,” she said. “They are now my flesh and blood as well.”

What does Atyam desire most of all for her country?

‘Weapon of prayer’

“The priority is for God’s intervention in people’s lives,” she said. “We carry the weapon of prayer everywhere we go – even through checkpoints.”

Persons from Community Mennonite Church pray for Angelina Atyam and for the people of Uganda after she spoke in the Sunday worship service there June 1. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

In 1998, Atyam received a human rights award from the United Nations for her work on behalf of thousands of kidnapped children in Uganda. Following her time at 91短视频, she will travel to the UN and also meet with government officials in Washington, D.C., speaking on behalf of abducted children. Her connections are being coordinated by MCC’s New York and Washington offices.

She is one of about 20 people from 14 countries whom MCC sponsored to attend SPI 2008.

During her time at SPI, Atyam also spoke at local churches – Shalom, Community Mennonite, New Beginnings, Park View Mennonite and Charlottesville Mennonite Church.

91短视频 senior Lisa N. King of Harrisonburg led a “prayer of remembrance” and lit a candle at the close of the chapel service Wednesday, Apr. 16, the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings that left 33 people dead and more wounded.

Students, faculty and staff left the auditorium in silence as the chimes on the roof of Lehman Auditorium tolled for one minute.

Some students wore Hokie shirts or sweatshirts as a symbol of solidarity for the many people affected by the tragedy on the Blacksburg, Va., campus.

On Sept. 1, 2004, terrorists linked to the Chechen independence struggle took more than 1,200 people hostage in a school in the town of Beslan. Shootings and bombings on the final day of the standoff left 186 children among the casualties.

Fairweather, the administrative assistant for the masters in counseling program at 91短视频, created a homemade basket from dyed reeds, complete with a grapevine handle, as she prayed for the many people directly affected by the horrific event.

Russian Counselors Come to 91短视频

Three years later, she was able to give this symbol of her care to a delegation of Russians during a week long visit in Harrisonburg to learn about ways to address psychological trauma on a community-wide level.

Fairweather gave her basket to the group at the close of an interchange with faculty members of the master of arts in counseling program Wednesday, Dec. 19. It will be given to a mother in Beslan whose daughter was killed at the school.

Brenda Fairweather presents her homemade “prayer basket” to the Russian delegation (l. to r.): Naida Vagabova, Vladimir Rud, Fatima Berezova, Liudmila Domashenko and Grigory Yarygin (at right) of St. Petersburg, representing the Open World Leadership Center. Photo by Jim Bishop

“It was an incredible experience to meet these wonderful people and to sit in their meeting with my 91短视频 colleagues,” Fairweather said. “They were visibly moved by this gesture.”

All four delegation members – Liudmila Nikolayevna Domashenko, Fatima Aleksandrovna Berezova, Naida Muratovna Vagabova, and Vladimir Nikolayevich Rud – are mental health professionals, some of whom worked with survivors of the three-day Beslan school hostage crisis, one of the most horrific terrorist incidents in recent history. All work with children or young people in Russia.

Asked what has impressed him most in his brief time in the community, Vladimir Rud said through an interpreter. “The people we’ve met. They are open and caring. It has been interesting to hear about practical techniques and methods used in mental health treatment here.”

“I appreciated the opportunity to stay with local families,” said Liudmila Domashenko. “I realized how quickly language barriers can be overcome in these kind of settings.”

Visiting Counselors Attend STAR

During the week, the delegation attended sessions in 91短视频’s STAR (Seminars on Trauma Awareness and Resilience) program, met with faculty in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and conferred with mental health specialists at Rockingham Memorial Hospital.

“We were asked by the National Peace Foundation, organizers of the Open World Program, to give this Russian delegation broad exposure to the work being done by the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding on community mental health issues,” said Amy Potter, a CJP administrator and organizer of the local visit.

From 91短视频, the group headed to in Akron, Pa., to learn more about how the Amish community responded to the school shooting on Oct. 6, 2006, in which five Amish girls were killed.

The sponsor of this visit, the Open World Leadership Center, is housed at the Library of Congress. Founded in 1999 by the U.S. Congress, the Open World Program has brought more than 10,500 people from Russia, Lithuania, the Ukraine and Uzbekistan to sites in all 50 states.

Delegates range from mayors to journalists, from nonprofit directors to small-business owners, from political activists to high-court judges.

A prayer “tent” will be erected on the front campus near Northlawn Residence Hall, and persons are invited to pray in half-hour time blocks from midnight to midnight. Passersby will be invited to offer their own prayers and to tie prayer flags around the vigil site.

Nicholas Stoddard, a Peace Fellowship co-leader, said this Thursday was chosen for its proximity to both the UN’s International Day of Peace and the concurrent International Day of Prayer for Peace on Sept. 21. The event also coincides with a two-week prayer vigil, Sept. 16-30, coordinated by Christian Peace Witness for Iraq (CPWI), an ecumenical organization with ties to the Sojourners community based in Washington, D.C.

“As a faith-based community, we hope to raise our prayers for the Iraqi people and coalition soldiers while also issuing a public plea for a withdrawal of troops and a shift of budget resources to provide for humanitarian assistance,” Stoddard said. “We hope the vigil makes it clear: we oppose this war because of our deep-rooted faith and belief that God