My first year of seminary has ended, and the next one is right around the corner (tomorrow actually). Time has flown by so quickly; I don't think I am anywhere ready for this new year. The month of August has been a month filled with me driving more than I have ever done before. I drove back and forth from my School to New York at least 2 times, drove to hike Anthony's nose with Visalia, and drove to retreat with NYCAC. Needless to say, I am extremely grateful for the Lord blessing me with a car when I needed it, and for the friends that taught me and blessed me with the car. Anyway, so after my Exegesis of Mark class, I went back home for a week and a half to relax and rest. It has become more evident to me that although going home to rest is nice and all, I really am at my laziest when I am home. The short break at home ended quickly as I drove back up to school to help out with Summer Bridge at my church.
Summer Bridge was basically a collaboration between CBCGB and ACCESS which is an after-
school program in Boston. They have a summer school program for their students, and towards the end of the summer, the students will spend one week doing VBS at BCEC, and then sent up to us at CBCGB for a week. We take the chance to bring the students that are normally stuck in Boston and might not usually have a chance to experience the suburbs, on different trips. During the mornings we would have activities with the students with the goal of teaching them the topic for the year. This year, we focused on the idea of 'taking risks.' We wanted to encourage the kids to step outside of their comfort zones and to take risks. My class in particular honed in on a smaller, sub-theme; "it's okay to make mistakes." We wanted to encourage the students with the fact that mistakes were okay, and sometimes can even end up being something amazing. My lesson in particular was to build a tower using different materials. Each team could only send one member at a time to obtain a material to build their tower with, and they could only add on to what was already being built by their team without taking away from it. This encouraged the risk taking factor to be creative and also take materials that might not seem helpful at first. This activity also tried to highlight the theme of friends and a team that was willing to support you, and build on your mistakes and work together with you through them. Besides teaching them in the morning, in the afternoon we would take them on trips to different locations to let them experience the suburbs. We brought them to different large parks and playgrounds, blueberry picking, mini-golfing, and even to a farm! Our group also had the once-in-7-year chance to see the eclipse happening. Summer Bridge was a good opportunity for me to serve with my church, but also to get to know the people at CBCGB better, as well as get to know the ministries that they serve in and care for. Participating in this was something that I had to struggle with for a while. During my spring semester, when I heard about this opportunity, I was excited and couldn't wait to serve. But as summer hit, and I was back home relaxing, I almost couldn't fight the temptation to just stay in New York instead of making the extra commute back and forth between Gordon and New York. My laziness and comfort almost won over my heart to serve, and the things I had previously committed to!!
After Summer Bridge ended, I drove back to New York to celebrate Visalia's graduation. I had a good
time spending the day with her family, celebrating the work and effort that she had put in over this past year. During the time back at home, we also climbed Anthony's Nose together; which I thought would be easy, but I guess I am really out of shape and have been eating more than I have been exercising. Towards the end of August we were both blessed with the opportunity to attend the English Ministry Retreat with NYCAC. Earlier in the summer, I had been blessed with the opportunity to go on a retreat with Visalia's church and meet her church family. Now, it seems like we switched spots, and she had the chance to go on one with my church family. The theme of this retreat was unity. Our church was aiming to spend the time drawing closer to the Lord as one body in Christ, and I believe that this retreat was definitely a great start. During the retreat we had the usual small group, sermon, and activities time, but I think the one thing that stood out the most was the prayer partners time. The core team for the retreat basically paired everyone up with someone they wouldn't normally get to talk with, and gave them 30 minutes to an hour to just share and pray for one another. At first I thought this would be a little awkward, but as we stepped into this time, the Holy Spirit undoubtedly moved powerfully in the hearts of the people there. Not only were we all willing to pray for one another and share, most groups went well over the time alotted, and just enjoyed the presence of a fellow brother/sister in Christ. I personally think that I was blessed by the opportunity to learn about the lives of my fellow brothers in Christ whom I wouldn't have normally approached on my own. I pray that NYCAC continues to move forward with this wave, and keep working towards encouraging one another and reaching out into the community.
A day after the retreat, I drove back up to Gordon Conwell and started prepping for my classes. During this short time of prep, many new fears started surfacing. The biggest ones were my fear for my finances and my fear for the ministry that was about to embark. Last year, by the grace of God, I was able to pull through the year after different issues that had appeared with my support raising through Overflow ministries. That ministry has truly blessed me throughout the time I had partnered with them, and I know that I would not be where I am now without them. This year, I have to figure out something else, because that organization just so happened to close. I guess I never really had to worry too much about finances before, but now the task seems so daunting. I was always someone who valued people over money, and so I never really placed much thought on my financial standing, until now; having to live by myself and buy my own groceries, etc. I know that, through all my life, God has only shown His provision day by day, year by year, and that He will continue to provide: so please pray for courage on my part, and faithfulness, to not just sit on my butt, but to use my time and resources wisely. My other fear is the ministry that I will soon be stepping into. I am excited to step into pastoral ministry, but it is all still very scary to me. Especially now that I have to be taking my first preaching classes. I was never really great at public speaking, and a big part of me knows that I am actually not good at speaking in front of people. Please keep me in your prayers, as I know this is something that I will overcome through practice, and that the Lord will be working through whatever I may have to speak in the future!!
Lots of prayers please, and thank you so much for all the support throughout my first year. Please feel free to hit me up with prayer requests as well, as I would love to be keeping you in my prayers as well!
