After growing up on a farm in rural southern Ontario (mostly), spending 3 years in Labrador (that’s way-northern Canada for all y’all residing in the lower 48) with my family on an Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) term, attending Rockway Mennonite Collegiate high school, spending a year in Montreal working in a refugee centre with MCC Quebec’s Harmonie program, I find myself still within the Mennonite world. I am in my third year at Goshen College where I am a Bible/Religion major, with minors in Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies, and Women’s Studies. I am also the Canadian representative for AMIGOS, Mennonite World Conference’s global Anabaptist young adult network… and fellow biker Jesse is my brother… if the name and facial features didn’t give it away already...

As the plans and preparations for BMAsia intensify I find my own excitement growing–––I can’t seem to stop talking about what it might mean to be a young adult in a global Anabaptist church which is constantly growing, changing, being re-shaped in new ways, I’ve dabbled in intentional Christian community living, wind (and rain) in my face make me come alive, and I love immersing myself in the lives and ways of new peoples, allowing these moments of intercultural engagement to teach me how different we are, even as we share so much in common. BMAsia promises to weave together these threads of my own passions to create a transformative experience.

Our vision for BMAsia is perhaps most exciting because it not only grows out of the momentum of passionate young adults and conversations coming together in North America, but also because it allows us to tap into the vision and dreams of a broader global Anabaptist community. The conversations surrounding BMUSA this past summer were invigorating, and provide us with valuable impetus as we embark on the Southeast Asian leg of this ongoing journey. As an Amigos representative, BMAsia will allow me to continue my task of connecting Canadian and North American Anabaptist young adults to their sisters and brothers on the other side of the globe. Learning to understand the cultural context, the struggles, the joys, the mundane and the exceptional which shape the Anabaptist communities of southeast Asia will assist us in creating a more comprehensive picture of what it means to be global Anabaptists. 

I’m looking forward to riding these rough roads and new terrain, gulping in breathtaking landscapes, meeting Christians who live in predominantly Buddhist or Communist nations, experiencing the lives of Anabaptists who have never known the middle-class life that is mine. I’m looking forward to building relationships, to eating with my newfound brothers and sisters, to beginning the building of bridges. I’m looking forward to raising money for AMIGOS and Mennonite World Conference Assembly 2009 in Paraguay, so more young adults are able to engage and build intercultural Christian community together. And I’m looking forward to returning home and sharing these many stories and experiences with my sending communities in North America, sharing these budding relationships, and in this way continuing the realisation of a more global Anabaptist church community. Please join us on the journey!