Learn About Young Adults In Global Mission Participant James Hawk

Hello there! My name is James Hochbrueckner and next year I will be doing a service year with ELCA's Young Adults in Global Mission in Argentina and Uruguay. Though I am originally from sunny San Diego, I’ve spent the last couple of years at UC Davis completing my undergraduate degrees in Ecology and Philosophy. When I'm not studying, catching monarchs, or working as the peer minister at the Lutheran Episcopal Campus Ministry to UC Davis, I am often outside foraging along the Northern California coast, attending a variety of religious services, and making terrible puns. Though to be honest, I make puns whether I’m studying or not.  

What has driven me to do a YAGM year in Argentina and Uruguay is that I truly believe that when you learn about other people, you also learn more about yourself. Next year, I may be doing a variety of work ranging from helping teach kids English to working in a hospice center. This is already taxing and hard work and doing it in a new country,with different norms, and a language I am barely conversational in truthfully makes me a bit nervous. However, I know I can do it, and though I cannot expect to make an explicit and long lasting change, I know that at the very least when someone thinks of an American or a Lutheran, they will think of someone compassionate, genuine, and committed. I am truly so excited and grateful for this opportunity the ELCA provides and I intend to use it to the fullest. 

If you’d like to follow along my YAGM journey by receiving a monthly newsletter, please feel free to click this link and fill out this form!

If you feel moved to give, click here and select "James Hawk" under "my gift will support."