The Start of a New Semester

So here I go again, a brand new semester, and I am going to make an effort to write here more often. I actually really miss it. Since I last wrote, I've done Christmas and New Years at home, come back to Ohio, taken a class on Emotional Intelligence, and jumped both feet in to this semester of classes and work.

Christmas was wonderful, full of time with friends and loved ones, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I got to reconnect with a few of my friends in Texas, Kevin and Amy were able to come up for Christmas and stay for three whole days, and Silas visited for New Years, and we made our regular New Years date at Fearings in Dallas.

I drove back with my Mom and George, both of whom make great travel companions. Other than getting stressed out by the rain and the dark the first night and stopping early, the drive was nice, and it was lovely to have Mom along to keep me company. George was glad to be back in his apartment where no other animals live.

I spent three weeks in a class on emotional intelligence, which was fascinating, but exhausting. It was a class where we spent a lot of time learning about ourselves and how we lead. I learned a lot about myself, but it was also a lot like counseling for three hours a day every day. I ended up taking several long naps over my J-term.

I also spent that time being the J-term sacristan, which was a nice way to ease back into my job. We had worship services each day, but they were very simple, and a lot of wonderful people helped to create and lead the worships. I still love planning and executing worship in any form, so doing it in this smaller way was lovely.

Then after a week off, I jumped into the semester full swing. It's almost hard to believe that I have only had two days of my regular spring classes. We began with a communion service, which I loved getting ready. There's something about the happy chaos of getting a large service set up and running that just makes me feel in my element. Read into that about me what you will. Then my I-group began planning our own week of worship services for the end of the month. Then I took a mile and a half walk with a couple of friends, ate lunch while I played fetch with George, and finally went to my first class.

I began my semester with a class called Hermenutics for Preaching, which I am excited to be in. We're learning about how a preacher goes about reading the Bible and telling a congregation how it applies to them today. Seems like an easy question, but it's deeper than it appears, and I think I'm going to learn a lot in that class.

Thursday introduced me to four more of my classes. Care of Souls will help me dive into pastoral care, something that is really important to my forming pastoral identity. Once again, there is so much I can learn from there. Then I went to New Testament 2, covering the New Testament after Acts, and it's going to be a tough class, but I think worthwhile. And the professor is fantastic. Next was Psalms, which I think will be fascinating. I have always loved the Psalms, but I think this class will help me to really engage with the poetry of them and be able to use them more in my future work. I finished the evening with Spanish. I'm excited to be back in Spanish this semester, and I'll be taking Spanish three.

Speaking of speaking languages I don't know well. This Monday, we're putting on our first Spanish/English bilingual morning prayer service, and I've been asked to be the Spanish leader! Apparently some people think I have a decent enough grasp of the language to read and lead at the same time.

Then comes this weekend (I know, half this blog is covering four days). Yesterday I spent a day doing worship planning and getting prepared for interviewing with internship supervisors. Oh yeah, in just over a month I should know where I'm going to be spending my next year. On the subject of internship I oscillate between terrified and excited, so I'm reading the applications from all the churches and being as organized as I can in an effort to remain more often on the excited side of things. I meet with supervisors at the end of the month, and I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to actually talk with the pastors and get a feel for them.

Then today I began my day teaching children about the fifth and sixth commandments of the big ten. You shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery. People say that you really know a subject when you can teach it to a child, and I have to say I definitely spent more time than before thinking on these two and how it might be best to teach them to 11 and 12 year olds. This was confirmation, and the class actually went really well, despite several giggles that ensued. I spent the afternoon getting ready for church tomorrow, which is going to be a bit more complex than normal. Tomorrow is the first time that I will preach the same sermon at three different services, so obviously I had to write a sermon, and because one of the pastors is out of town, I'll be doing everything for one of the services. One nice thing is that our motto there is basically "if you make mistakes, it's okay, worship will still happen and God still loves you"

Well, that's probably enough of an update for now. Thanks if you've stuck with my through this whole post! I'll keep you up to date about all I'm learning and doing, and next week I'll even tell you about one more class I'm enrolled in that doesn't meet until Monday!

Peace be with you all.

Has a week gone by already?

It feels like this whole week has been a catch up week. There are several times I've gotten up in the morning and said to myself, "what is due today? I guess I'll work on that." However, all told, it was another good week.

Monday was CPE day, which meant that I spent some time talking with various CPE supervisors from around here about what my experience this summer might be like. While I knew going in that I would not be at any of these sites, since I'm applying in Texas, it was really interesting to talk to the supervisors about what i would encounter in CPE and what my concerns and fears about it are. I've been working on my application, which includes a reasonably long essay, and I think I'll actually be able to get them in the mail on Monday. While I'm certain that I will have a difficult time doing CPE this summer, I also think it will be a wonderful experience and I'll be learning a lot. I'm glad I'll be going home where I have a lot of social support while I go though it.

I registered for classes for next semester this week, and I am excited about it. I will be taking a class about the life of a parish in my J-term, and then I will be taking a few interesting classes in the spring, including Intro to Worship. I'm looking forward to that because after I love worship and after I take it, I'll be able to take a larger part in worship services here. I also decided I'll be taking Spanish for Ministry next semester. I'm actually really excited about it, now that Greek has reminded me that I like languages. Given my past background in Spanish and how much comes back when I spend a little time with it, I'll probably be in Spanish 2. This will also give me a good footing for doing CPE in Texas, where I very well may meet people who speak Spanish as a first language. Hopefully this will help me connect better.

On Wednesday, I turned in my context assignment about Abiding Grace. I actually really enjoyed it and enjoyed going over everything the church has gone through in such a short time. I made a big poster-board with a map and demographics on it and it was interesting to see where the church was situated. I love that I've been a part of Abiding Grace, and it's nice to still have a home church back in Texas, especially since I still don't have one here.

On Thursday, I taught for the first time in my Teaching Adults class. I decided to teach about spirituality, and I led the class through a guided meditation to begin with. I love doing meditations, and I think I did this one really well. I still had a few things to work on in the whole lesson, but it was nice to begin to pracitce. Now I am trying to find a place to teach at later this semester (which is unfortunately only a few weeks) so that I can complete this class as a Teaching option. I think I've found a place at the church just down the street, so we'll see how that works out.

The other exciting thing this Thursday was putting together Ikea furniture. We had unloaded my car on Tuesday, and we wanted everything put together by Friday so our board of directors could use it. For the first while, there were several of us putting together the many chairs, but we did not finish, and I went back after common meal to finish off. I actually enjoyed the work, because it was quiet and didn't require much thinking. I finished all the chairs by 10 p.m., when the building closes, and I had the other girls put the room together the next morning. I loved how it turned out, and I am very excited that the room is coming together. I'm glad I've had a chance to be a part of it.

Yesterday I went thrift shopping with Lecia again, and managed to find several lovely things. I've been stocking up on sweaters, which are beginning to come in handy, and I'm loving going to thrift stores so that I can update my wardrobe without actually spending a ton of money.

My other exciting thing on Friday was going to see Alton Brown live. Silas had asked me if I'd like to go earlier in the week, and he bought me a ticket. It was a really fun and funny show, and I thoroughly enjoyed going. It was also a sweet gift from Silas, even though he could not go with me. I had a blast, and now I am excited about cooking for the next week - I'm going to be trying out something new.

Definitely a full week, but now it's only two weeks until I come home for Thanksgiving break!