Blessings:
- Getting the opportunity to be more present at school
- Having good conversations
Prayer Requests:
- Diligence to start working on my assignments early
- Wisdom on how to spend the rest of my time remaining up here
During the month of February, which was actually quite short, nothing really much happened. There was only two weeks where I had class up here at Gordon Conwell, so there wasn't really all that much to deal with. On top of only taking two classes, I realized that I actually got to spend a lot more time talking with people and just enjoying the community and fellowship. Last year, I wasn't able to spend as much time with the people on campus because I was working with Instacart and doing ministry at church, but with the lessened class load and the blessing of working in the mail-room, life has been very different. Because of this, I have been taking more time to reflect on what my role is for this year. The last two years have been a little different. The first year was me understanding my identity and being willing to learn from those around me. The second year was still me learning, but my identity as a student had solidified and I was also helping those who came in their first year. Now that I am in my third year, I realized I have been taking more time to care for those who are new and old, and building on past relationships that I have built up. On another note, even though this semester is supposed to be my most free semester, I have somehow ended up piling many different extra-curricular things into my schedule. On top of the two papers and mail-room work that I have at school, I have also set up a ping pong tournament, like last year, to help build community. This still doesn't seem that bad until I actually started working on one of my two papers. The paper is an Exegesis paper of Psalms 46:9-11, (Exegesis: Basically studying scripture and trying to extrapolate information from the text in the context that it was meant to be in) and it is probably the hardest paper I have had to write for seminary so far. The paper usually involves a 12 step process, and having just started it this week in complete confusion; it took me 8 hours just to finish the first 2 steps. Thankfully they were the most confusing steps that I had the least experience with, but that was definitely a process that I didn't expect to be so time consuming. Hopefully I will remain diligent and keep working hard on that paper ><.
Church
Blessings:
- Preached last week, and the Spirit was moving powerfully in the audience
- CHARIS is on chapter 4 of Holy Conversations, and people are slowly starting to have conversations with their conversation partners
- Opportunity to serve in CB Core and work alongside other passionate leaders
Prayer Requests:
- Continued Pastoral Search for youth pastor and Senior English Pastor
- CHARIS members continue to grow in discipleship and openness to what the Lord is prompting them with
- Faithfulness and consistency in my discipleship relationships
Church has been great and smooth. CHARIS has been moving forward with our study into Holy Conversations, and it is encouraging to see us going out and talking to people about our faith. I was also blessed with the opportunity to preach last week, which is always a humbling and learning experience. Every time I preach, I realize that God presses on my heart how much I myself need to reflect and am impacted by the things that I am sharing about in my sermon. It's funny because I'm preaching the sermon, hoping that the Holy Spirit convicts the people who hear it, but God swings it around and hits me first. The topic I preached on was targeted towards all of those who were children... which means all of us, because all of us are offspring of parents. God really pressed upon my heart how big of a deal this was for me, and how important this sermon was in realizing my understanding into bridging the gap between Christians children and their parents. Inter-generational ministry is something that weighs heavily in my heart, and this was a wonderful opportunity to learn and recognize the immensity of the problem that has been forged through years and years of miscommunication. During this time, I also have been blessed with the opportunity to serve in Cross Bridge Core team. It is, honestly, the first time I have served in a role that makes decisions for the whole English side of the church, and the experience has been super humbling and encouraging. Humbling to walk alongside those who have years of experience serving and loving their community, while continuing to pursue the Lord's will for the church. Encouraging to work alongside those who are passionate for the ministries that God has placed them in, and willingness to work alongside one another. Although I am blessed with the opportunity to lead and serve with them, I feel like I am just being blessed with the opportunity to learn from them and work through the different struggles with them.
Family/NYC Life
Blessings:
- Tried to help my brother with his resume
- Spent time with Visalia and Old Friends
Prayer Requests:
- Continued reminder that my first ministry is always to my family
- Discernment and wisdom on next steps in NYC
During the month of February, I was blessed again with the opportunity to head home for a whole week. This week was first filled with a fun little adventure with Visalia and a childhood friend to explore a new city. It was a nice chance to just get away from all the busyness of work and experience and different culture that we were not used to, and probably won't go back to. After that, I spent most of this break at home with my family instead of always going out every night. It was a nice time of just enjoying the presence of my family, while trying to be intentional about the relationships that I had there. Praise God that I was also able to go on a little date with Visalia and we went to eat at Ikinari steak house... and ... I know why God has placed me on this earth... it was to eat steak. But on another note, I am constantly reminded of the blessing that she has been in my life, and how much God has grown the both of us throughout the last two years. Prayers for many more years to come, and for wisdom on our future. In terms of moving back to NYC, that has been pretty much assumed, but now comes the fun part of applying for churches. God has been extremely gracious in blessing me with different people to introduce me to different places, so now... I just gotta trust that the Lord will open the door He wants me to go through, and close the ones He doesn't.
Final Comments
Blessings:
- A semester of reflection
- A semester of filled schedule
Prayer Requests:
- Fear of the unknown future to come
- Finishing Seminary well
- Finishing my time at CBCGB well
Like I have been saying, this is a very different semester than all the other ones I have had. Although I am supposedly more free, I have actually ended up packing on a bunch more things to do. Along with my school work and mail room work, I have also continued the 3 discipleships that I have at church and school, continued teaching Sunday School at church, serving with CMC youth core team, meeting with a conversation partner weekly, keeping up with my relationships in nyc, and keeping up with relationships here in Gordon. Surprisingly, my daily schedule has become jam packed with different activities or meet ups. On the one hand, it is slightly tiring to run from one place to another; but on the other hand, I realize that I have been really chill up here in MA, and this is the first semester where I get to actually be busy again. It seems like a nice preparation to go back to NYC. At the same time, I have been trying to build up new habits with my daily devotions as well as recognizing the importance of taking time to step away from all the busyness and just reflect on what the Lord has done and is doing in my life. As I prepare for the future to come, please continue to keep me in your prayers because... I wish I knew where I was going to or what I would be doing exactly, step by step... but that isn't as possible as I wish. Thank you all again for just taking the time to check up on how I am doing, and feel free to hit me up, I'd love to catch up with y'all!!
