It's been a couple of months since I've updated the blog....the summer has been slower as far as my workload with the students...but there's been a lot of busy and exciting things going on. The summer is winding down, and I am starting back to working with the middle school students next Tuesday, September 8th! Way excited about my new staff and the new school year and what God has in store!!!
I wanted to share some highlights for you...
-Summer Camp with my students was really neat and exciting! It was a roller coaster of ups and downs...but great overall. During the last 3 weeks, my students and I got to take art classes in visual arts and ceramics. I think it was really neat that God meet me in my desire to learn and explore more with art this summer...and he used the opportunity for me to get to do that with my students..yeah!
-The summer time for Servant Partners was for us to reflect, use tools, and ask close friends/peers/mentors to figure out what our spiritual gifts are. This was a very neat discerning process, and out of those spiritual gifts, we were trying to figure out what some long-term development plans could be....and then figured out what we could do for that within this 2nd year of the internship. 2 gifts that seem to be more of my key spiritual gifts are mercy (caring for others, empathizing, etc.) and governments (organizing, structures, etc.). I am currently finishing up my development plan and figuring out what I will be focusing on for my 2nd year. Some of my plans include learning more Spanish through meeting with a friend/neighbor and using my Spanish workbook, meeting with a mentor in the non-profit world to learn more about inner-city youth ministry, and long distance running...with an end goal of running the LA marathon in March 2010! :-D Quite exciting. Please be keeping all of those things in your prayers and follow up with me and help hold me accountable.
-Got to spend 1 week with my brother, Joel, up in Seattle. It was such a great time of rest, spending time with him, and enjoying some of the touristy sites up there! We went to the Boeing Plan in Everett, to the Underground Tour and Pikes Place Market in downtown Seattle, and whale watching up in Anacortes and got to see Orca whales in Canada (eh!). I really enjoy spending time with my family... and it was good to be fun and silly with Joel while there. We had some really great conversations and I loved it! And I almost left Seattle without some rain..but it did sprinkle on us on the drive to the airport...of course.
-My friends who have been going through some difficulty with physical illnesses have been doing well and progressing. Nick (brain injury while in S. Africa) is doing great! I met up with him for some dinner and hang out time and he's doing great. His arms are still a bit weak and need more strength, but he is going to physical theraphy, and should be back at CSUF in Spring 2010! Daniel (Hodgkin's Disease) has been doing good...the chemo has been helping to fight off the bad cells in his body. I was able to play frisbee with him a few weeks ago, and he's still been up and about, singing, dancing, and worshipping while at church! :) And Lisa (paralyzed from back in March) is doing better...her recovery is being a more slower one, but little things are improving for her through her physical therapy and through God! Thank for your prayers for these friends, and please continue to pray for them! :-D
And some things to be praying about please:
-Looking at the next 2 months, they are quite busy and full with some runs, Servant Partners meetings/retreats, and the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference in Cincinnati, Ohio (Oct. 21-25). I am really excited for all of these things. Please pray that I will continue to seek God during times of difficulty and give Him glory for the ways that He is moving in my life. :-D
-It's been 1 full year of the internship! Recently our SP team was reading in the book of Acts (book about the early church, after Jesus was crucified, and then Jesus' disciples were being persecuted for sharing their faith) about the early church and the community of taking care of needs and how beautiful that is! We want that not to just be something read about and see as neat, but we as a class want to have that lived out even more. We have grown so much as a class through ups and downs with personal lives, ministry projects, physical difficulties, and more...but God has continued to shape and mold us to loving and serving one another. Please pray that we continue to seek each other, to be vulnerable, and to meet each others' needs like the community of believers in Acts 2! :-D
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