Holiday Life Update

Advent blessings, my friends and family!

I apologize for the delay in sending my second life update email. My instinct was to send one out in the fall with an update on how I was doing in Washington, D.C., but I did not want to clog up everyone’s email inboxes with too many life updates. In hindsight, I think it would have been appropriate to send out a fall update and so I apologize. However, this email is quite long and should fill you in on all of my happenings. I plan on sending out the next update when I am sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer (God willing) in early March.

Something you should know is that:

Shortly after I contacted you all last time, I started shaving my head and so I am now bald by choice. My hair had been thinning rather quickly over these past couple of years and so I made what my doctor has deemed “the virtuous decision.” I have gotten great feedback being bald thus far so hopefully you all feel the same way when each of you see me.

The coolest experience(s) I had in D.C. is:  

In early September, World Vision held its annual day of prayer. The featured speaker was Ebrahim Rasool, Ambassador from South Africa to the United States. He was an anti-apartheid activist who was involved in interreligious political mobilization. He led South Africa’s Muslim community in working with Hindus and Christians to fight against their country’s then-unjust government system. His emphasis in addressing us was on how each religion can maintain its own orthodoxy (where he says postmodernism has failed) while also finding areas of common ground with other faith traditions to advocate for the Common Good. Afterwards, the other interns and I had an opportunity to engage with him informally in conversation for around 40 minutes, which really reflects the passion he has for investing in the next generation of social justice advocates. To read my notes from his speech, you can visit my blog (linked at the bottom of the page).

Only a day later, thanks to a kind woman in our office named Daisy, we interns received free tickets for an advanced screening of the Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon (now available on DVD!), that was sponsored by Oxfam and Sojourners.

It is really a wonderful story that is appropriate for all age groups, I highly recommend it. After the screening, another intern and myself ran into Rev. Jim Wallis, Sojourners’ CEO, and had the opportunity to speak with him for a few minutes. He is such a kind man and gave the both of us a giant hug before we parted ways.  Rev. Wallis is one of my role-models and so this was a really memorable experience. The evening also provided a wonderful night out of us interns to enjoy each other’s company.

My fellow interns and I at the pre-screening of the Good Lie.

My internship with World Vision was:

A very amazing and impactful experience. The people at WV really do walk the walk when it comes to international development. It was an incredible environment to be in for three months and I grew greatly as a person from my time there.

I worked on the Advocacy Team’s Child Protection group under two supervisors who gave me meaningful assignments that allowed me to learn much about U.S. government foreign aid, international anti-trafficking programs as well as corporate transparency for Multi-National Corporations.  They very intentionally designed a curriculum that was challenging, but crafted to give me professional skills that I did not previously have. They really made an incredible investment in me as a person and I feel encouraged that the work I did will add to their efforts in the New Year.

Spiritually, I have been:

Incredibly blessed. I had the opportunity to attend a free-lecture by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston (who is a member of Pope Francis’ core group of Bishops whose task it is to advise him on reforming the Roman curia) at the Newseum this past September on the new Pope’s evangelistic emphases. He addressed many different topics, but one story he told that reflects his passion for immigration reform has remained with me (funny enough, the story went viral a couple of months after the lecture). A non-English speaking immigrant man he was talking to had said that his wife recently called him from overseas and was upset about not receiving any money from him (who lived in the U.S. for the purpose of working to send home checks to his family). The man was very confused and troubled because he told then-father O’Malley that he had been mailing home every check he had and was living a very austere life in the U.S. so that most of his income could go to his family. O’Malley asked the man where he had been mailing the checks and so the man pointed at a large object across the street: a giant trashcan. The poor soul had been depositing most of his monthly check into what he thought had been a post-office box and his wife was receiving nothing in the mail no matter how many times she kept checking. The Cardinal says that this story reflects an important group of people who the American Church should be intentionally ministering to and advocating for.

In D.C., I attended Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church and was so incredibly blessed by that parish community. Before Mass, I attended adult Sunday school classes to learn more about the Syriac Christian tradition and made many friends in the process. The Mass itself was absolutely beautiful to participate in. When it ended, everyone in the Church would gather in the Social Hall and I made many more friends through those times as well. More than a few OLOL parishioners are reading this email so thank you, God bless you and see you soon. Before I departed from D.C., I received a blessing for my Peace Corps service in Morocco from Bishop Gregory Mansour, who leads the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn.

Where am I now?:

Before returning home to California, I visited my Great-Aunts Margaret and Theresa in Rhode Island. It was a blessing to see them again as well as some of my maternal cousins.  It was very sentimental staying in that house again because every generation of my mother’s family has lived there for some duration since my great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from the Portuguese Azores. My grandparents even lived there with my mother when she was little before they all moved to California after World War II. They had an absolutely beautiful picture of my grandmother and her unforgettable smile that brought me to tears since she is no longer with us. I was very close with my maternal grandparents and so it is always a blessing to be back in their old neighborhood.

I will be home in San Jose for one month before departing for Morocco. I hope that this will give our family some much-needed together time because we will not be reunited again until June or July this summer most likely.

Our staging for Peace Corps in January 12 in Philadelphia and then we will be shuttled over to JFK airport in NYC for a direct flight to Casablanca.

What you should know:

Service is supposed to be the “hardest thing I will ever do,” says Peace Corps and so your constant encouragement and prayers are appreciated. It would mean a lot to me to hear back from some of you since it has been a while since we last talked. My Skype is  evenstevenhoward and please do not hesitate to schedule a time to talk.  The holidays are busy for everyone, but I could probably use the encouragement around February because I expect to be a bit homesick then.

I also have a blog I will try and update more frequently than I send these emails out. You can access it at stevenhowardsjourney.blogspot.com


I also understand that some relatives receiving this email live near elderly relatives of ours who do not have access to this technology so I encourage you to share my updates with them as well because I know they are unable to get out very much.

In the meantime

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help any of you out if you are going through a difficult time.

God bless you all, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!