Milal Agape through Zoom… is that possible??
7/25
Today was our last Saturday Class Agape meeting. It wasn’t different from any other day, knowing that we were going to pick up where we left off in a month, but something about it weighed heavy on my heart. Out of my 15 years of serving, this semester is a semester I will remember for a long time.
It was a first of many things. Washington Milal has three campuses and we had never met together to plan other than meeting within our individual campus. This semester was different. We had never closed Milal this abruptly, and we didn’t know if it was possible or even worth it to start a Milal class online. We took a break from Milal for a month after closing and finally decided to give it a chance, but we needed more than one person to think of an idea. Here come the firsts:
- The campus leaders met every Wednesday night to prepare and share ideas to do a one-hour Milal class every Saturday. Prior to this year, I had naturally assumed that our age, cultural, language barriers, and time conflicts would never allow us to be on the same page or have similar issues. But through this meeting and collaborating with volunteers, we did so many new things that we would have never thought up on our own.
- Virginia Milal volunteers wrote and mailed letters to their partners. It was fun to see our partners opening the letters personally written from a friend and sharing that experience through our video calls.
- We did a joint Zoom meeting at the end of every month and held a dancing contest. We learned that cohosts can take turns spotlighting a specific participant so they get a turn to be the center of attention.
- We dropped off reward bags to the winners of the Zoom games.
- Rockville Milal played Pictionary using the Zoom whiteboard.
- We shared old photos, laughed, and praised together even if we couldn’t be there in person.
Of course, there were Saturdays that weren’t so easy. We would have a range of participants come into zoom; some days 30 participants, some days 6. Despite preparation and anticipation, we would run into sound issues or a member would get frustrated with something and leave the meeting. There were days when our partners asked us when we will meet in person again, and we couldn’t give a clear answer. What was supposed to be a temporary fix of an hour Zoom meeting became the new normal. As much as we tried to meet everyone’s needs, it was very difficult to make Zoom accessible and equitable for all our friends at Milal.
I left this last meeting bittersweet. I was so grateful for every participant that took their time to be together virtually. We laughed through our mistakes and body worship. It’s such a small thing we did, but with the assurance that God was leading us, I am satisfied if even one person was touched by this meeting. God is so powerful in the way he brings people together amid hard times.
September is going to be here so soon and we are planning to make our meetings better than the previous, which is honestly even more of a challenge than the first time around. But with God’s mercy and wisdom, we can do all things. May the glory of Christ be clearly seen in all we do!
글쓴이: Jenny Shin (버지니아 사랑의교실 주임교사)
