A Whirlwind of a start....

Well....I made it through the first month of Internship and survived! I AM LOVING THIS! I am SOOOOOO happy that I have stuck all this out and am following my calling. It has not always been easy....nothing this major ever is, but I am so glad and honored to now be doing what I do...even if its just as a Intern for now.

So as many of you probably know, I have been assigned to Michigan to do my Internship. (Although the City of Dubuque doesn't know that since I just got a letter this week for Jury Duty!).

So here's a run down of my month:

Week 1 - I was on vacation. My Supervisor, Betsy was on vacation, so that meant that I was too. I spent the entire week driving all over the place- just exploring and getting to know the area. I went to Rockford, Stanton, Trufant, Sidney, and just getting lost in some smaller townships around town. My favorite destination, so far, was to a state park in Grand Haven where I got to swim in Lake Michigan. I was just in awe of the white sandy beaches that went on for miles and the clarity of all the lakes around here - STILL baffles me and is amazing! You can see down several feet and just watch the fish swimming by! The weather has been beautiful, but did just switch to being a bit warmer over the last week or so.

Week 2 - was my first week at the church. I, of course, actually spent most my time with my supervisor getting our calendars in sync, going over expectations and walking through the Internship Handbook. That first Sunday was a "bit" of a fiasco that I can laugh about now, but at the time wasn't very funny. Betsy had to run from her church to my church to lead worship for the "Service of Beginning" for me. We got to the Gospel reading and her sermon and she wasn't there. Granted the usual announcements at my church ran short, while hers ran long; yet we somehow ended up singing 3-4 hymns while waiting on her to arrive. All in all she DID finally arrive and I became an official Intern. I did go canoeing down the Flat River with one of my parishioners. A 3 hr float and little paddling. It was so amazing to watch the trout swim by and under our canoe! LOVED it!

Week 3 - was filled with meetings and going to Confirmation camp twice in one week. Betsy and I drove up together the first time and I went by myself later in the week. While the camp was pretty small (in comparison to some TX camps I've seen) it was quite beautiful. Although they DID pick the hottest week so far (since I've been here) to go- NOT like they really chose that, but needless to say, my stay the 2nd time was shorter than I would have liked.

Week 4 - was more meetings and working on my Learning Contract which are some goals I hope to achieve within the year. We also had a combines VBS for 3 days, but several days of prep time (for me- since I did a lot of painting) and designing at the church of the area and helped with set up things. It was a lot of work. All in all it was more practice for when I have to delegate and get stuff done someday. But I DO LOVE all the excitement around VBS and enjoyed being part of one again after several years of not being able to do one. I spent this past weekend in downtown Grand Rapids and went to the Gerald R Ford Presidential Museum. It was pretty awesome to sign the book for Betty Ford which will eventually end up in the Library of Congress- so I can NOW say that my signature IS (or will be) in the Library of Congress. It was an awesome museum and quite moving to see all the US history that Ford influenced. I went to spend this afternoon playing on the sandy beaches of Baldwin Lake here in town. I also led my first communion service, solo, today.

All in all, a great start to my Internship. It's amazing to believe that just 2 years ago this month I was just starting this journey! I definitely DON'T miss Summer Greek! I'll be doing my best to do a at least a monthly update. I'm looking forward to my friend and mentor Jill coming to visit next month. Peace and blessings to all reading.

Vicar Rosy

Ending the semester and starting a new adventure...

WOW! Hadn't realized it had been that long since my last post!!! So I have several updates!

First, I am single again! Martin and I broke up the beginning of April. I can't be too mad about it- but I guess if I tried hard enough I could! He did have a lot of religious convictions which he said wouldn't be an issue, but eventually, they were! When you combine that with him coming to the realization that I would be a Lutheran Pastor someday...it proved to be more than he could handle. I'm glad we ended it before things got too serious and I do wish him well.

The semester....heck this whole last year was by far the toughest! Seminary GOT VERY difficult! I turned into a hermit Fall semester, but once I got back into the swing of working out 3 days a week in the Spring, I seemed to be coping and doing better. I continued working on campus as a Front Desk receptionist and working the Faculty Secretary's office. It was fun! Once I turned in the "BIG" paper for Spring semester on the 4th Chapter of Jonah - I felt home free!!!! I did do better second semester than the first.

In March, we did receive our Internship assignments. I was originally assigned to go to Wisconsin, but the congregational Pastor where I was assigned decided to leave a year early and go ahead and retire. So I was immediately assigned to where I am NOW. I will start work on Monday the 11th working as the Intern Pastor at Settlement Lutheran in Gowen, MI. I live in a nearby community and LOVE this area so far.

In April, I met my Supervisor who is Betsy Kamphius. She serves as full time Pastor at a nearby church and will be watching me from a distance - sort of. We talked about my schedule, my expectations, shared some goals, insights and issues. She has a great personality and likes to laugh so I know we will get along well. She is well respected within this community.

In May, as the semester came to an end, I decided I wanted to take some things back to TX to put in storage before I moved up to Michigan, so I went down to TX for 2 weeks and also had a little vacation time. Rox, Julie and her family and I all went camping at Rox's lake lot over Memorial Day weekend. Rox and I had an awesome time, but Julie did get sick and had to leave early. After the camping trip and for the remaining other times, I spent most of my time with Julie and my God daughter just doing some fun things in town; but I did see a few other friends too! We went to Lego land, the Dallas Zoo, Party Pottery Place among some other places. I had an awesome time, but it was a little sad realizing that it will probably be a LONG time before I get back to Texas.

In June, I returned to campus to work for the Maintenance department as their Summer Crew. I had forgotten how difficult manual labor truly is and how OLD I am getting. I dunno if I'll be doing that again! It was pretty brutal on my knees, back, arms.....just everything! I barely had enough energy after work everyday to get all my packing done; but obviously, I did get it done.

June 30th, I moved up here to Michigan where I will be for the next year. I am so excited about being here! This area is just stunningly beautiful. I spent this past week touring the area and checking out the sites. Earlier this week I went to Lake Michigan. The beaches are gorgeous and the waters are SOOO clear! I'll probably be going back there VERY soon, but there are so many lakes up here! The little community that my church sits in is mostly a farming community and my church is so beautiful. I'll be worshiping there in the morning.

I have managed to finish unpacking; just need to hang a few things so it feels like home. It's going to be a great year! Peace and blessings to all!

February 2011... the count down begins....

So how that J-Term is behind me, I have been focusing on doing better in my classes this semester, so far, I'm managing to stay ahead and focused. My Internship announcement is right around the corner. I was stressing about it at first but then came to the realization that it's not worth worrying about since it is out of hand and I can't control where I will end up! So as March 9th, Ash Wednesday, approaches, please continue to keep me in prayer. It will be one exciting day for me and my fellow Middlers!
Personally there has been quite a bit going on. I met someone. While it's difficult not to get excited about it too soon, we do have a lot of fun together and he is quite charming. He's very chivalrous and gentlemanly, which I find quite endearing. We have gone out a few times now and have been speaking to each other for a few weeks now. We have a lot of things in common and I'm excited to see where it will lead. His name is Martin. He's a bit older than me,although he doesn't look it! So we'll see where it goes...
I have gotten back into working out. I also started Tai-Chi which is very relaxing and helps clear my head. So I do that twice a week followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio, plus one more day of cardio. So back to 3 days a week has helped me feel more healthy.
I have also started teaching one of my classmates to drive. We drive twice a week. She's been doing pretty good so far, although parking is still an issue. It has made me pay more attention to my own driving! We've been having a lot of fun.
We just had our annual formal event last night. I dressed in a long formal and had a much better time than last year. Not as many people were there as last year, but the band was awesome. I never went to prom, but that's sure what this feels like- minus all the wine we drank!
So I guess that's about it for now. This month has gone by very fast. Only 3 more months till the end of the semester and I'll be off to start Internship. I await to see where I will be going and just pray for a great supervisor!
Love and Peace to all reading!

JTerm2011 Rural Ministry Paper

Hello everyone!
I know its been a long time since my last post. Needless to say, last semester was quite brutal...but I somehow made it through. I went back to Dallas area for Christmas break and worked with my former employer all during break, except on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, then started my J-Term. NOT much time for rest, but it was still nice to be at least in a warmer climate! I sincerely am saddened that I didn't get a real chance to spend a lot of quality time with some people, but hey...its just the way things are right now!
So this post is really about my JTerm project. I chose to work in Brenham, TX area working in Rural Ministry - something I hadn't done before. So below is my final paper and I will also attach several pics I took. Happy reading!

Rural Ministry in Washington, Burton and Fayette Co. TX
JTerm 2011 Project for R. Rivera

Rural ministry is often defined as a small town church setting where financial issues are prevalent, mission outreach is a foreign subject and churches whose main objective is to “stay open”; thereby making some smaller churches being more about self preservation rather than doing the mission of Christ to spread the Good News of Christ salvation for us all. Having just spent three weeks working in several rural congregations in Washington and Fayette counties in Brenham, TX area, I can say my eyes have been opened to the reality of what we are being trained to do as leaders of the church. Smaller churches are a living heartbeat in these smaller communities who are grasping to hold on to their historical identities. Holding onto a generational loyalty of the core foundations of our Lutheran faith, while being driven, many cases to do whatever to necessary to do just that!
My rural ministry project was to observe and hopefully learn some challenges in rural ministry that are unique or different from a large church setting. There are 2 strong points I learned, #1 – Rural Ministry is first and foremost about people. In my opinion, larger churches tend to get so “caught up” in the “business” side of running the church that they often fall short of forgetting the people they serve and who they should be serving for! Smaller churches have an “edge” on being part of each parishioner’s lives, largely because most parishioners are involved in many facets of the ministry. While this seems to “wear out” members in large congregations, smaller congregations see it as a lifeline- an ordinary part of their lives; often being so dedicated to church simply because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. #2 – Amongst the challenges of most rural ministry is the notion that there is no sense of mission in its congregations. While two of the congregations I worked in do need work in this area (and the these Pastors are committing to work on this), the Shared Lutheran Ministry (SLM) I worked in for one week is thriving and doing well in this area.
The SLM is a combined ministry of 4 ELCA Lutheran churches in Fayette County. In SLM, there are a lot of things each respective community is doing right to foster a great sense of mission and outreach in their communities; some of these things include two major community efforts that I toured this week, one is called “Second Chance”, the other “A.M.E.N.” just to name a few. “A.M.E.N” stands for Area Ministerial Emergency Need. Second Chance is basically a “good will type store” operated by 2-3 paid personnel, but primarily run by volunteers from 12 area churches (including SLM) in the La Grange area. All donations come from the surrounding communities; while the funds received all are used to fund humanitarian efforts in the area. Each of the churches rotate on a volunteer schedule to assist in running the establishment and each church has one representative who sits on a Board in making decisions about how funds are spent. Most of the funds are used to fund the first organization “A.M.E.N”.
“A.M.E.N” started originally as a local Food Pantry. The organization has grown in 10 years to now also function as a means for emergency financial need for people within their communities. Pastor Lee, Director of A.M.E.N., said, “The people who run this city understands the need for this service, so they do everything and anything to help us. It is a blessing for many people in our community”. No church in the area receives money back from any of these programs. It ALL goes back into the community thereby creating a great sense of community outreach and keeping the congregations focused on their “Christian calling”.
I spent some time learning about some of the major issues of rural ministry. I had an opportunity to speak to a C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocate) case worker, a social worker, a family practice lawyer and other Pastors in the area. All agreed that some major issues include: 1) generational vs. situational poverty, 2) Lack of education in smaller communities and 3) lack of city/community support and programs for extreme rural community needs.
Several sources described poverty as a major issue. I had never thought severe poverty would be a major issue in smaller communities, but it does exist. Pastor Lee of A.M.E.N said “generational poverty is more prevalent because many people in smaller communities have lived with limited resources from one generation to another; so much so that they simply “do not know any better””. Due to lack of education, many do not know how to cook simple things like pinto beans. He shared in our interview that many times when his staff is leaving for the day, that they check the grounds for food that has been thrown away, because many times they find perishable food thrown in the ditches simply because some of the people they help do not know how to cook them! (This is why his organization now offers basic cooking lessons!) Conversely, situational poverty is quite different. This occurs from some emergency situation that arises in which people do not properly or appropriately plan for; like losing a job. Many people in their communities would rather go hungry than ask for help because of their pride. This is a rising issue and at the heart of what A.M.E.N. seeks to remedy.
The social worker I spoke with said that the primary problem for majority of her clients is lack of education. In smaller communities, there is simply no drive to see a need for education. It is not viewed as something that is important; this concept is often generational. Many of her clients never finish high school and young people are having children at an alarming rate which is causing more court cases for children being abused, abandoned or neglected; (which I also had an opportunity to see in a court setting) many just ends up being put in state or city run homes. This could potentially be avoided if smaller communities would foster an urgent need of care for this demographic. It is my opinion that there should be a shift from this repetitive behavior in order for there to be improvements in these smaller communities. So where does the church play a part in this? The social worker shared that churches could help by offering their facilities to offer parenting classes, after school tutoring programming and resources for poverty stricken families. Some congregations are unwilling to open their churches to a demographic that stereotypically could change the way their church is viewed (a self-preservation mentality issue). However, in some cases, the issue is not that they do not want to help, it is a matter of the church’s’ location in proximity to the major part of its community. They cannot help where they are located! Many of the small churches are in extreme rural locations from its surrounding main city, thus preventing people who need the help to be able to get to their respective locations. Perhaps if some communities would work together for transportation this could be an issue that could be solved.
The final major issue is the lack of city or community support. Smaller communities seem more interested in their own growth rather than assisting and helping the people in their own communities. Some small communities just don’t offer or don’t have the resources to put together support for their own communities. If smaller churches could play an active role in their communities and strive to reach out to the people in their own communities, then perhaps a change could occur. This is difficult because in most cases, smaller churches lack the resources for dramatic change; but with some small steps to get involved in community efforts, perhaps a change can occur.
The churches I worked in, while I found some unique issues that are more prevalent in smaller churches; they do suffer from the similar issues that are found in the larger churches. These issues include but are not limited to a decline in membership, financial issues and lack of stable continuing education for its members. All the churches I visited are trying to do “some kind” of parish educational programming. Some were more successful than others. Rehburg’s church was more advanced in their educational programming than the others, due to more regular attendance, strong parental involvement and a combined confirmation class ministry (grouping with 4-5 other Lutheran churches). I believe their efforts are showing what can happen when educational programming is a priority, in that it was the one of the only churches I spent time in, in which their attendance is growing. In fact, this congregation was recognized in their Synod for having the most significant growth last year! Their successful programming I believe is largely due to the enthusiasm and creative teaching style of their Pastor. This is not to say that the other church’s Pastors are not working as hard, but it does show the significant difference that parental involvement and driven parishioners who understand the importance of continuing education can make in a small congregation’s growth.
At the heart of all the churches I worked in was worship. In all the churches, many committee were not formed, however, music and worship seems to be most active. SLM has a strong worship and music team in place. They work tirelessly in planning worship and selected all the hymns to be used collaboratively, being careful to review which organist would be available and not afraid to step away from traditional music and liturgy to best keep the interest of their respective congregations. While each congregation does try to introduce new music, most seem set on basic standard liturgy, possibly afraid to do too much change at one time! Trying to change something they have done for years and years is a challenge in ANY congregation. All the churches I visited do have a strong music and worship committees in place, some more organized than others. It is my opinion that a church which does not exercise some willingness for occasional changes in their worship experience may lead to a stagnant worship experience for younger congregants who are thirsty for a change which can breathe new life in their worship experience and the congregants.
When I started this project, I had no idea what to expect and I truly had no idea what rural ministry was really about. I suppose I had not thought about where poverty in our communities truly lies. I had not seen how important social and economic issues in these rural towns can play such a huge factor in a small churches existence. As a future leader of the church, I hope to be an advocate for change in rural ministry mentality while also catering to the delicate needs of a smaller church in a small community. There is no doubt that rural ministry is here to stay, there are some loyal dedicated congregants in Texas who will tell you that they will do whatever is necessary to survive. I hope to stand for change in rural ministry that will serve the greater church and further the mission of Christ for many years to come. Thank you to all the churches that assisted me in this project and especially the Pastors and staff for their willingness to share and work with me. I hope this experience was beneficial for each of you as it was for me. Many blessings on your continued ministries!