It Takes A Village
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Hello,
My name is Ellena Lehman and I am a college student at Hesston College in Kansas. Recently I have begun to understand the struggles of what it is like to be a documented immigrant with a student visa in the United States through a close friend I have seen help myself and others countless times over this school year and throughout her life. I realized it was time for me and my friends to step up and giver her that same kind of love she willingly shows us daily. Her name is Mariana Martinez, and she has a heart of gold, the wisdom of your grandmother, and someone who I see embody who God calls us to be daily. Mariana has many great attributes going for her and would like to continue on to finish her education, but she cannot get funding from the government or a job to pay for it. I believe that through God she has the power to do amazing things in her community and in this world. It takes a village to send someone to college. I invite you to read her story and consider joining her journey of faith by giving a gift of any amount to help her achieve her goals in higher education.
In 2009, Marina's family was called to plant a church in Harrisonburg, Virginia to minister with the growing Latino community in Harrisonburg. They soon learned to call Harrisonburg home and lived there as a family until the spring of 2017. Mariana decided to visit several colleges the previous fall, but when she visited Hesston College, the desire to attend was immediate. She deemed it as the school with the most solid theological program for her hopes and goals. Her missionary family, however, did not make substantial amounts of money, so it was unclear how she was ever going to afford college.
In January of 2017, her father’s religious-worker visa application was denied due to insufficient funds. During her last semester of high school, she watched her parents and sister depart less than two months before her graduation. Mariana returned to Honduras that summer, and through the grace of God, she and her sister were able to obtain student visas to attend college in the US.
It was Mariana's unwavering faith that allowed doors to open on her behalf.
This is what she has to say about her college experience and why she would like to continue her education:
"Hesston College has changed me for the better, peeling the scales off my eyes. It has cultivated my relationship with Jesus Christ in ways I never could have imagined, and it has given me a place to nurture my gifts and talents to better understand how to use them in this world. I discovered my spiritual arsenal, made up of love, peace, creativity, vulnerability, and reconciliation to fight the good fight and take hold of what truly matters: the eternal life to which we were called when we made our good confessions in the presence of many witnesses (I Timothy 6:12).
I made it through my family’s relocation and my transition to Hesston through faith in the Father who gave me a vision of a mission to a community where I can be simultaneously challenged and nurtured. EMU became my first choice when I learned that my passions and values compose a legitimate career. Not only that, but EMU has the most well-established program for restorative justice and peacebuilding that I know. It would prepare me to engage in community development that would reach out to youth in the Harrisonburg community and beyond in ways that I could not find at another institution.
I still feel the weight of my roots. I have neither been absorbed by the Honduran culture, nor have I been absorbed by the US culture to the absolute. I have maintained both in a way that most people consider impossible. I know the needs of my people in Honduras, but I know the needs of my people in the US more because I have lived similar experiences. My parents nurtured and encouraged me to cultivate my native roots at home, telling me and my siblings that in spite of the temptation to fully assimilate to one, we must learn to love our culture without rejecting the new one, and vice versa. This decision has allowed me to shape seemingly unfathomable fractions of my (still developing) identity. Although my family relocated to Harrisonburg when I was ten years old, I have witnessed and participated in the relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution that is true mission. I became what some Philadelphia church leaders call, an indigenous missionary, or “indigenary”. Often times the thought of a third-world country missionary in a first-world country is baffling, yet, I’ve encountered Jesus many times when I’ve ministered with people of all backgrounds in Washington D.C., Harrisonburg, and Philadelphia. From the first time that I interacted with marginalized communities in the US, my passion for justice has only increased. I want to empower and enable youth in those communities. Whether it’s through writing, art, music, sports, or a simple conversation over a cup of coffee, I know that creating disciples within young communities is vital to the healing of this world. My goal is to acquire my masters in Restorative Justice, and I believe that EMU's Center for Justice and Peace-building can equip me to comprehend tools needed for my calling to reconcile people groups."
If you wish to donate directly to the colleges on Mariana's behalf contact me for more information at [email redacted]!
My name is Ellena Lehman and I am a college student at Hesston College in Kansas. Recently I have begun to understand the struggles of what it is like to be a documented immigrant with a student visa in the United States through a close friend I have seen help myself and others countless times over this school year and throughout her life. I realized it was time for me and my friends to step up and giver her that same kind of love she willingly shows us daily. Her name is Mariana Martinez, and she has a heart of gold, the wisdom of your grandmother, and someone who I see embody who God calls us to be daily. Mariana has many great attributes going for her and would like to continue on to finish her education, but she cannot get funding from the government or a job to pay for it. I believe that through God she has the power to do amazing things in her community and in this world. It takes a village to send someone to college. I invite you to read her story and consider joining her journey of faith by giving a gift of any amount to help her achieve her goals in higher education.
In 2009, Marina's family was called to plant a church in Harrisonburg, Virginia to minister with the growing Latino community in Harrisonburg. They soon learned to call Harrisonburg home and lived there as a family until the spring of 2017. Mariana decided to visit several colleges the previous fall, but when she visited Hesston College, the desire to attend was immediate. She deemed it as the school with the most solid theological program for her hopes and goals. Her missionary family, however, did not make substantial amounts of money, so it was unclear how she was ever going to afford college.
In January of 2017, her father’s religious-worker visa application was denied due to insufficient funds. During her last semester of high school, she watched her parents and sister depart less than two months before her graduation. Mariana returned to Honduras that summer, and through the grace of God, she and her sister were able to obtain student visas to attend college in the US.
It was Mariana's unwavering faith that allowed doors to open on her behalf.
This is what she has to say about her college experience and why she would like to continue her education:
"Hesston College has changed me for the better, peeling the scales off my eyes. It has cultivated my relationship with Jesus Christ in ways I never could have imagined, and it has given me a place to nurture my gifts and talents to better understand how to use them in this world. I discovered my spiritual arsenal, made up of love, peace, creativity, vulnerability, and reconciliation to fight the good fight and take hold of what truly matters: the eternal life to which we were called when we made our good confessions in the presence of many witnesses (I Timothy 6:12).
I made it through my family’s relocation and my transition to Hesston through faith in the Father who gave me a vision of a mission to a community where I can be simultaneously challenged and nurtured. EMU became my first choice when I learned that my passions and values compose a legitimate career. Not only that, but EMU has the most well-established program for restorative justice and peacebuilding that I know. It would prepare me to engage in community development that would reach out to youth in the Harrisonburg community and beyond in ways that I could not find at another institution.
I still feel the weight of my roots. I have neither been absorbed by the Honduran culture, nor have I been absorbed by the US culture to the absolute. I have maintained both in a way that most people consider impossible. I know the needs of my people in Honduras, but I know the needs of my people in the US more because I have lived similar experiences. My parents nurtured and encouraged me to cultivate my native roots at home, telling me and my siblings that in spite of the temptation to fully assimilate to one, we must learn to love our culture without rejecting the new one, and vice versa. This decision has allowed me to shape seemingly unfathomable fractions of my (still developing) identity. Although my family relocated to Harrisonburg when I was ten years old, I have witnessed and participated in the relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution that is true mission. I became what some Philadelphia church leaders call, an indigenous missionary, or “indigenary”. Often times the thought of a third-world country missionary in a first-world country is baffling, yet, I’ve encountered Jesus many times when I’ve ministered with people of all backgrounds in Washington D.C., Harrisonburg, and Philadelphia. From the first time that I interacted with marginalized communities in the US, my passion for justice has only increased. I want to empower and enable youth in those communities. Whether it’s through writing, art, music, sports, or a simple conversation over a cup of coffee, I know that creating disciples within young communities is vital to the healing of this world. My goal is to acquire my masters in Restorative Justice, and I believe that EMU's Center for Justice and Peace-building can equip me to comprehend tools needed for my calling to reconcile people groups."
If you wish to donate directly to the colleges on Mariana's behalf contact me for more information at [email redacted]!
Organizer
Ellena Lehman
Organizer
York, PA