An e-newsletter for Young Adults
May 2006
Congratulations to All SoulCircle Graduates!

It’s that season again, with the end of another school year, when everything seems to be in transition. We congratulate those of you who have finished another academic year successfully, and send a shout out to those who continue in your jobs, looking forward to a great summer season. We also want to welcome all high school graduates to the ranks of Young Adulthood and to our SoulCircle! We hope this will be a place where you feel welcome to express your views, be in touch with friends, old and new, and get informed about church stuff that interests you.

Of special note in this issue: We’re launching our new Blogspot - www.soulcircleonline.net - a place for conversation amongst yourselves, where we hope you’ll stop in to chat now and then. Look here to connect with others in the church who want to talk about questions and issues of faith, and for links to other sites of interest. You can also post your contact info., so friends can find you out there in the big, wide world. Check out the site and let us know what you’ve been up to, how you’ve been growing in faith and serving God’s world, and what you think is important.
God's blessings on your journey!

Your fearless leaders,
Dena and Janelle
So, let's look at what's coming up for Young Adults.
Reminder: The Pacific Southwest District Young Adult Ministries program provides partial scholarships for many of these events. If you are interested in attending an event and are needing financial assistance, give us a call.

Young Adult Conference 2006
Young Adult Conference 2006 will be May 26-28, 2006, at Camp Swatara in Bethel, Pa. The theme this year is "Transformed" based on Romans 12:1-8. In The Message, Romans 12:2 reads, "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out." Travel scholarships are available at youthministries@pswdcob.org.
Register at www.brethren.org/genbd/yya/yac.htm. Cost is $100 May 1 to May 25 and $110 May 26.


Tijuana Young Adult Workcamp
The 2006 Young Adult Workcamp organized by our national office will be held in Tijuana, Mexico - conveniently close for many of us PSWDers! But you'll have to book it back from YAC if you want to do both! Dates are May 29-June 5. Cost is $350. There is a limit of 15 campers and registration is honored on a first come, first serve basis, so register now at www.brethren.org!
Located near the US/Mexico border, Tijuana bears the scars of severe poverty and environmental degradation. In our work with Bittersweet Ministries, we will build and paint homes, distribute food to people living in the landfills, and help with children's programs at the day care center. Come ready to face the harsh reality of the world we live in today.


Sr. High/Young Adult Workcamp at Pine Ridge Reservation
Dates: June 11-17; Cost: $325; 24 spaces left! Kyle, a small town located on the Pine Ridge Reservation, is the home of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation. Wedged between the beautiful Black Hills and wilderness area of the Badlands in Southwestern South Dakota, the reservation lies in one of the poorest counties in the U.S. Plagued with widespread poverty, substance abuse, and internal tribal conflict, the Kyle community attempts to live according to many of the traditional Lakota ways. Our home base for the week will be the Little Wound High School and our work for the week could include some heavy construction, roofing, painting, cleaning at the school, as well as miscellaneous work projects on some of the homes in the community. There will be a concentrated effort to learn as much as we can about the Lakota culture and history as we work and serve in this unique community. We also hope to establish some relationships with the youth in the community by sharing sports recreation, arts and crafts, and work time. Bring an open mind about immersing yourself in a different culture and learning from them as well as sharing your gifts and values. Click here to register!


Crawdad Camp 2006
Crawdad Camp is back and it's available to people of all ages now! When? June 23-30, 2006. Where? West Clear Creek, Arizona. What will I do there? Experience one of Arizona’s most pristine wilderness areas, work with Christians who love God’s creation, help restore what humans have messed up, learn about God’s love for nature, worship in a magnificent natural cathedral, visit petroglyphs of ancient Americans, fellowship with all ages, learn more about native species, refresh your body and soul, and hike yourself into better shape. How much will it cost? Only $90 (not including transportation costs) Camp activities will include daily Bible study and devotional time, talks given by guest biologists and of course, crawdad catching. Primitive camping, including sleeping in tents and cooking outdoors, allows campers to experience God's creation firsthand.
For more information and to register, visit the link at www.pswdcob.org or contact Dena Gilbert (YouthMinistries@pswdcob.org) or Jim Walters (walters@ispwest.com).


Young Adult Camp 2006
Young Adult Camp is scheduled this year for August 4-6 at Camp Peaceful Pines. For more information, contact Dena Gilbert at YouthMinistries@pswdcob.org, 909-392-4055.

Brethren Volunteer Service
Just out of high school or college and not quite sure which road to take next? Looking to spend some time serving your brothers and sisters and grow spiritually and professionally at the same time? Check out Brethren Volunteer Service! Our own Beth Merrill from Sacramento just completed orientation and is starting her project in Belfast, Northern Ireland! The next available orientations are July 30-August 18, 2006 at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. (application due June 18) and Sept. 24-Oct. 13, same location (application due Aug. 13). So check it out on the BVS website: http://brethren.org/genbd/bvs/index.htm . Or contact Janelle in the District Office (909-392-4054, PubManager@pswdcob.org), who's just finished her 3rd year of BVS! She'll love to answer your questions!
SoulStories: Young Leaders Sharing the Journey

Glimpses of the Galapagos
Irene Beltran, a student at the University of La Verne, shares some impressions from her recent trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Dear Family and Friends,

I write to you today, very sun burnt and extremely amazed at the beauty this world has to offer. I just returned from a six-day trip to the Galapagos. WOW! There are no words to describe how amazing this trip was. I can never do it justice, I can't tell you what it feels like to wake up in the morning on a boat to the clearest teal waters I have ever seen or to swim in them.

Let me start off by saying that the islands were nothing like I thought they would be, they were very desert like, not very much vegetation growing here, there were lots of cacti. It was very humid and warm.

I crawled through a lava tunnel on my first day and visited gigantic land turtles. These creatures are incredible, I was less than two inches from them (we were not allowed to touch any animals, but we could get as close to them as they would let us, which was practically touching). Then we sailed the ocean. The boat was a little rocky, good thing I had bought some motion sickness medicine - it came in handy.

We snorkeled a lot on the trip. I could not believe all the creatures that we saw. I was literately swimming less than a foot from a shark! It was incredible! We swam with sea turtles and many fishes. We saw manta rays, urchins, sea stars, one of my friends saw an octopus, but mostly we saw fish and sea lions.

We saw the most incredible sunsets, I cried one night just in awe, I could not believe how lucky I was to have experienced such beautiful things. The sunrises were gorgeous too; yes I said sunrises I got up at 6 o'clock every morning - rare I know - but worth it. When we left the boat, I was very sad, because the time just flew right by and I could not believe that it was time to leave the boat.

Not that many people live on the islands. There are only four islands which can be populated - all the other ones are pretty much for tourist trips, nothing but trails, flora and fauna. Santa Cruz is one of the most populated islands but there is a lot of poverty. The water is absolutely not drinkable, even after boiled it is not good. People live in brick houses, about seven to a house in very poor conditions, just like in any other poor Latin American country.

A couple of the girls and I had the opportunity to meet an ex-BCA (Brethren Colleges Abroad) staff member, Emily, who lives on the island of Santa Cruz. She and her husband, who owns a fishing boat business in the islands, have started an organization called ICE, and she works with the schools on the islands because they are very poor in resources. It is very sad; it's a lot like any other school system in Latin America like I've said, but the hard part about this whole thing is how many tourists come to these islands, and have absolutely no clue about what lies on the other side of paradise. It was an incredible experience, let me tell you.

There are two girls with our group from Peace College in North Carolina, and their college has adopted the school that we visited, k-7th, and the girls were so excited to see it. Emily is currently trying to get other colleges and organizations to help out, apparently she knows Kirsten Ogden who is a professor at ULV, she is on the executive board for ICE. Anyway, she is also trying to get other organizations including the UN to help out the people that live on the islands, because their medical system is terrible too.

The Galapagos has absolutely no health care system or disease control programs; something like 20% of the population is infected with AIDS. There is no education on protection or prevention. I was shocked to hear this percentage; I think it might even be higher.

I'm sorry to be ending on this kind of a note, but I feel very privileged to have seen the reality of this place - not only the beautiful paradise that is on the surface - because like we all know there is always more to what the eye can see. I think getting to know a little bit about the people that live on the island made my trip here that much more impact, because like my dad always says, the ugly things are real too, there is no denying it, right?

Ciao,
Irene

Update on Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq

Since our last update, three of the four CPT members held hostage in Iraq have been released. The fourth, Tom Fox, was found dead. Read more about this at http://www.cpt.org/archives/2006/mar06/0037.html

The following reflection is from James Loney, written upon his return to Canada.

From the Tomb: An Easter Reflection by James Loney


CPTnet, 19 April 2006 ~ www.cpt.org

IRAQ/TORONTO: "From the Tomb," an Easter reflection by James Loney

[Note: Loney's reflection appeared in the 15 April 2006 edition of the Toronto Star.]

"Very early, on the first day of the week, just after sunrise they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb?" Mark 16: 2-3

For 118 days we lay in a tomb -- Norman Kember, Harmeet Sooden and me. Tom Fox too, for 104 days, until he was murdered in the early morning hours of March 9.

Our tomb was a 10-ft.-by-10-ft. room. How I came to hate every single detail of it: the paint-peeling walls; the dim light filtered through stained bedsheet "curtains"; the pebble-speckle pattern of the floor tiles; the never-ending hours and days of sitting, sleeping, three-times-a-day eating, handcuffed and chained except when let free to go to the bathroom.

We were sealed into this tomb on Nov. 26, 2005. It happened in a finger-snap, just as we were leaving the headquarters of the Muslim Scholars Association, where we had been meeting with their human rights officer. A white, economy-size car pulled in front of us and forced us to stop. Four men with guns stormed our van with military precision.

They went first for our driver and translator, pulled them from the front seats. One of the men jumped into the driver's seat while the others opened the passenger door and, with guns pointed at our heads, took control of the vehicle -- and our lives.

They didn't say a word. They didn't have to. We knew what the score was: co-operate or die.

With that act of violence, we all fell into a pit -- captor and captive and rescuer. A trap had been sprung and there seemed to be no way out unless a price was paid.

The captors wanted money to fund their war against the occupation of Iraq. If ransom was negotiated, it would be young American soldiers who paid. If ransom was denied -- the policy of both the Canadian government and Christian Peacemaker Teams, the organization I work for -- it would be one or all of us hostages who paid. If an attempt was made to rescue us by force, it would be a soldier or a captor or one of us that paid.

Even if our captors decided to just let us go, clearly the best possible scenario, there was still the cost of losing face, something I sensed they were not prepared to do. In the end, it was Tom who paid.

Bleak as they were, I did have options. I could have risked everything in an attempt to escape. I could have stripped off my clothes, refused to eat, told them "release me or kill me" -- either way I will not co-operate with your captivity or your plans for ransom. But the truth was, my desire to live, to be free, was stronger than my principles. I did not want to pay. So I smiled for them, ate their food, held out my hands for handcuffing, accommodated them in a thousand and one ways.

While the prospect of ransom repulsed me, and I resolved never to ask for it (my greatest fear was that I would be tortured into pleading for it), I cooperated in the secret hope that it might be the key that opened the door.

I was a prisoner of my own moral cowardice. "Dear God," I prayed, "Let this bitter cup pass me by. Let our freedom be restored with the least amount of suffering possible." Days piled into weeks, and weeks piled into months.

On March 23, at about 7:30 in the morning, our tombstone was rolled way: not by angels garbed in heavenly robes, but by a unit of British Special Forces in full battle gear. There were the sounds of boots on concrete, the door being smashed open, gunfire, voices in English shouting, "Get down! Stay away from the door!" Then a roomful of commotion, soldiers telling us "You're free, it's okay, it's over." And hands, shaking with excitement, cutting us free with a bolt-cutter.

They led us past the smashed-glass threshold of our tomb and out. Out into blue! Beautiful all sky blue! Fresh flowing air and a palm tree and good morning sunlight! They led us through a smiling gauntlet of soldiers and, with a big step up and a big hatch down, we were entombed again.

This tomb was a bland desert-camouflage colour. It was squat, constructed of impregnable steel, moved on a rolling tread of metal plates. The passenger section was dark and cramped and crammed with carefully tooled metal shapes (each with an exact purpose) and little signs that told you things like what to do in the event of a rollover. A young soldier named Rob kept watch through a tiny slit of super thick plate glass. Through it, you could see a small, distorted rectangle of the world outside.

The armoured personnel carrier in motion was excruciatingly loud. The roar and staccato-grind of it pounded in my bones. It brought us to a helicopter armed with a fixed, heavy-calibre machine gun, and the helicopter brought us to the Green Zone -- the sprawling, blast-wall lock-down that houses the offices of the fledgling Iraqi government and the occupying forces of Britain and the United States.

Yes, we went from one tomb to another.

I am learning many things from my captivity, and have a universe of things to be grateful for. Among them is a new and deep appreciation for the women and men who wear the uniform of military service. I likely would not be writing this today if it were not for them. Thus, I am confronted with a great paradox. I, the Christian pacifist peacemaker, am alive, am free because of the very institutions I believe are contrary to Christian teaching.

Christ teaches us to love our enemies, do good to those who harm us, pray for those who persecute us. He calls us to accept suffering before we inflict injury. He calls us to pick up the cross and to lay down the sword.

We will most certainly fail in this call. I did. And I'll fail again. This does not change Christ's teaching that violence itself is the tomb, violence is the dead-end. Peace won through the barrel of a gun might be a victory but it is not peace. Our captors had guns and they ruled over us. Our rescuers had bigger guns and ruled over the captors. We were freed, but the rule of the gun stayed. The stone across the tomb of violence has not been rolled away.

I'm learning that there are many kinds of prisons and many kinds of tombs. Prisons of the mind, the heart, the body. Tombs of despair, fear, confusion. Tombs within tombs and prisons within prisons.

There are no easy answers. We must all find our way through a broken world, struggling with the paradox of call and failure. My captivity and rescue have helped me to catch a glimpse of how powerful the force of resurrection is. Christ, that tomb-busting suffering servant Son of God, seeks us wherever we are, reaches for us in whatever darkness we inhabit.

May we reach for each other with that same persistence. The tomb is not the final word.
Hey, if you've got questions, we've got answers! Give us a holler:
Dena's digits: 909-392-4055, YouthMinistries@pswdcob.org
Janelle's: 909-392-4054, PubManager@pswdcob.org

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