I was recently asked to write an article for the upcoming edition (Spring 2024) of the Abbey Banner. The Abbey Banner is a magazine published three times a year by the monks of St. John’s Abbey. I’ve posted my article below.
As always, thank you for reading!
As I took the exit ramp off I-94, I caught my first glimpse of the Abbey Banner in months. My shoulders relaxed and my grip on the wheel became light. I’m home. If you’ve spent any length of time at Saint John’s, you know the feeling. I was coming back for my senior year of studies, and there wasn’t a worry on my mind. Most of my difficult coursework (including my capstone) had been finished the previous year and I already had a job lined up after graduation, thanks to a successful internship over the summer. Nothing to do now but cross my t’s, dot my i’s, and enjoy the ride.
Less than one month later and I was back to worrying about the future. I was trying to decide if I should apply for the Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC). I had always been impressed by past BVC volunteers and was very excited by the idea of a year of service work, but there were other factors to consider. What would my family think? What would my job prospects look like after a year of service? Did I have what it takes to live in a foreign country (and a monastery!) for an entire year? While I was mulling over these questions down by Lake Sag, I realized that fear was holding me back from applying. I thought back to when I decided to attend Saint John’s University in the first place. That had been a decision I was scared to make too. Right then, I resolved to place my trust in the people and place that had made the last 4 years so special. I was going to be a Benedictine Volunteer.
Fast forward to my first week of service in Kenya and my courage was tested again. This time, twice. One of our worksites for the year, St. Benedict’s Primary School, tossed Trenton (my partner) and I into our first teaching assignment with 7 minutes notice. I vividly remember looking at Trenton and saying, “People go to college for four years to study teaching and we’ve got less than 10 minutes to try and get ready for an entire day?!” I didn’t think there was any way that we could be successful with such little preparation. We started our first lesson by introducing ourselves and asking our students what they had learned the day before. It was a shaky start, but by about halfway through the lesson both Trenton and I had loosened up and found our groove. I finished that first class period feeling accomplished, knowing that the students had gotten something out of it. My experience teaching got me thinking… what else could I do if I didn’t allow fear to get in the way?
Two days later at St. Scholastica Hospital I started my first shift in the maternity ward. I was given a tour and then put on bed-making duty. Luckily, my mom (a nurse) showed me how to make a bed with ‘hospital corners’ while I was growing up. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about how my first day was going. I had learned a lot and done what I could to help the staff. Just then, a nurse came over and let me know that I would be doing the next check-in on all the new mothers. “Just ask them questions about their baby, how they’re feeling, if they’re drinking water, still bleeding, in pain, etc… You’ve got it!” I couldn’t believe it. There had to have been some kind of mistake; I’m no doctor. I decided that no matter how I felt, I needed to project confidence from the start. I didn’t want the mothers to be worried by the lack of knowledge or training that my uneasiness would project. I rehearsed my list of questions a couple times, took a deep breath, and said hello to the first mother of many. By the 4th or 5th mom I wasn’t nervous anymore; I was excited. Even though I was in a new setting, I was just meeting people and finding out how they felt. Once again, I saw that on the other side of fear was a chance for me to grow and find a new interest.
There have been many opportunities in the last 6 months to exercise courage when faced with a daunting task, but none so big as travelling to Tabgha, Israel for a 6-week stint of service. Tabgha has been a BVC site for a number of years but hadn’t had any volunteers since October. After going himself for several weeks, Brother Paul wanted to see the site opened back up and asked the volunteers if anyone was interested. I found myself drawn to going as long as I still got to come back to Kenya when it was all said and done! Now that I’m here, I can confidently say that the decision to come is one of the best I’ve made. I live in the exact spot where 5 loaves and 2 fish fed the crowd of thousands and this miracle of abundance is still alive today. Even though there is a limit to what I can do because of the war, I have made many connections, done lots of meaningful work, and experienced countless new things.
I would like to thank everyone who makes the Benedictine Volunteer Corps possible; Brother Paul, Logan Lintvedt, Saint John’s Abbey, the monasteries around the world that host us, and all the donors. The BVC has caused me to grow and change in ways that I never would have imagined. I have deepened my relationship with God and made many new friends. I have memories that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Lastly, I’ve realized the value in being outside of my comfort zone and being courageous in the face of fear.
From Tabgha,
Jacob Lipke