A month away from finishing Internship...

WOW! Seems like just yesterday that I just did the previous post! And I am already stressing about going back to classes, living in a dorm and having NOOO money. Kinda wish I was transitioning from here to my first call, but there's that little thing called "APPROVAL" that kinda has to happen first. So a quick recap since January then I'll talk more about approval... JAN Was a busy month. I though things would slow down after the holidays but then you start planning for the next season or the next event. In January, I attended my 2nd Youth gathering in Lansing. While I've been to a few it was nice engaging and speaking to other Pastoral leaders about their programs. We took 2 boys and they had a great time. At the end of the month, Betsy and I attended a Worship Symposium at Calvin College. It's theme was on the Psalms. They featured some of the most influential theological speakers such as NT Wright, Thomas Long and Walter Bruggemann just to name a few. It was a wonderful symposium and I learned alot about implementing Psalms in worship and preaching on the Psalms. I also did my first funeral by myself. It was a lady who was not a parishioner. I think more details are on my previous post, but if you really want to know, just ask. It was quite the adventure. FEB Began working on a church policy that protect children and youth. This church I've been at had never had one in place and since the Family ministry has been growing it seemed more important. Family ministry has been growing more and more. After our congregational meeting, it was decided the church needed to start fund raising and thinking about a new roof for the church. One of our confirmands, who attended the meeting, opted to do his confirmation project to help raise funds for the new roof. He comes from an extremely talented family and is very talented himself- so he sponsored an event called "Raise The Roof" and invited several other musicians he and his family knows to come perform. They take donations for the roof, sell food, collect cans. All the proceeds go toward the roof fund. It's been quite successful. It has now become a monthly event at the church. MAR In March I traveled to North Carolina to visit my family and attend a Via De Cristo Retreat. My sister,Myra flew in too. My brother and his family was not there because it was Spring break and they already had other plans. It was nice seeing my family, but it was sad seeing how much my grandmother had deteriorated and probably never seeing her alive again. But it was beautiful sitting with her, singing to her and just watching her smile as I came into her room. The Via De Cristo was beautiful. I learned so much more on a deep level about my faith, but most importantly, made some spiritual connections with a lot of beautiful people. I wish I could say more, but I want those reading this to experience it for yourself. It is different for everyone. But I promise you a worthwhile spiritual adventure. Spent all my time upon my return preparing for Holy Week. Really began focusing on preaching out of the pulpit. It was well received. APR Was a busy busy month. Holy Week was amazing, stressful and sad all at the same time. Sad for me because it was first time I felt that I was unable to worship myself during Holy Week. It just made me sad. All in all, all the services were great, but man, was I exhausted after! I crashed that following Monday and just didn't want to do anything...which was OK. Then I attended the second and final Internship Cluster retreat in Adrian, MI. It was awesome seeing my classmate Cristina again. We decided we've gotta spend more time together this next year and we've made a commitment to check up on each other. So looking forward to that- especially since I am in the beginning stages of registering for my final year of school. Mailed in all my registration stuff, so we'll see. But last year will definately be my toughest, most credit hrs, most stressful (with approval) and just graduating and transitioning to whatever comes next. The last weekend of the month- went home to TX. I received a scholarship from the Synod! YEAH! I spent 4 days in TX and stayed with Rox and Julie equally- as best I could while also attending Synod assembly and preached that Sunday at St. Luke's. My home congregation is not the same congregation but it was great to preach at home. It made me so sad to leave after spending time with a few friends and getting a chance to play with my God Daughter for the first time in a year- just made me so sad to realize how much I LOVE being with her. I truly miss my dear friends Julie and Rox too! I would not have made it this year without their support. They have had many a ear full about this year! I am hoping to be near all of them when all is said and done. MAY So here we are in May. One month away from being finished. This week I will be attending the Michigan Synod Assembly, putting the finishing touches on some policies for the church, doing final evaluations for Internship and a little grieving. I am truly going to miss being here and the people that I have grown to love. It has been an awesome ride! But I suppose if I never left, I could never move on and be finished....so what is next? Well, at the end of next month, I will be moving back to campus. I had thought I would be working on campus this Summer, but it turns out there may not be a slot for me. So don't know what I will be doing in July and August just yet. The new Intern is from Wartburg. Her name is Traci. I am sure she will be just as wonderfully welcomed as I was. At some point this summer I have to write my approval essay and that will go to the seminary and my candidacy committee. In September/October I will have an approval interview on campus with a committee of professors. Once that is complete, I will then have to wait till December for my candidacy committee approval interview. Once that is complete, then in the new year I will have my final semester of school along with LOTS of paperwork to the National office to prepare for the ELCA Draft for Region placement then Synod placement. Hopefully by then....I will have time to write some more, but for now, gotta get ready for bed since I need to be up preaching in a few hours. God bless all who is reading and remember God loves you!

Now half way through...

I can't believe it even as I have typed it. It has been an awesome 6 months so far...that's not to say that I haven't had my share of "pastoral issues", but the good news is that I have survived it all so far! So here are my highlights so far: * I began a Family Night- which was something that was desperately needed! This church has growing family presence and it was simply just needed. So far we have had 20+ people attending these events and it's something I have been real proud of. * We had the first Ecumenical service at my church. This was something they wanted as part of their visioning of their church in 2010, but didn't quite accompish. So I volunteered to coordinate and organize an Ecumenical Thanksgiving service. We had 6 pastors from the Greenville area come with their families. It was a beautiful accomplishment and a wonderful witness of Christians united to worship and praise God. * I wrote and developed my own Adult bible study class. I have always been intrigued by Christian symbols. So with the help of a book I purchased, I designed powerpoint slides and tied each week of symbols in with biblical text references and led discussion. It was A LOT of work. I don't think I realistically could do that as a full time Pastor of a church, but lesson learned. * I have assisted in one wedding and have done one funeral by myself. The funeral was the MOST scary thing as the person I was doing the funeral for was NOT a member and I never met her before she died. On top of that, the family flew the casket from South Dakota to Michigan for the funeral (which almost didn't arrive on time) and the family drove. So rather than meeting with the family in a traditional way prior to the funeral we had to do everything over the phone as they traveled. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience; one I will never forget. The funeral of course, with my Supervisor watching nearby, went very well and the family was very Thankful and generous. * My supervisor has been awesome to work with. We have weekly theological dialog and read books together. I am feeling more confident with my theological articulation and grow stronger in my faith each day. * It is amazing how much I have grown in such a short time. Everyday I am more humbled of my call and grow more in love with what I have been called to do. I have also learned to appreciate the great responsibility which comes from my call to ministry. Soon I will have to start making decisions about where I want to end up when I'm done with school. It still baffles me to say that NEXT year at this time, I will (God willing) be approved and ready to submit my final paperwork to the national office of the ELCA. I am still debating where I truly want to be- as far as a rural congregation verses a congregation in a larger community setting. I am learning to see the advantages and disadvantages of both. To be honest, when I made the decision to go into ministry, I kinda decided that I didn't think it would be fair to "restrict" God by adding my own requirements as to where I "want to be". So for now, I will continue to make it through this last half of my Internship, continue to grow and pray about whatever happens next. God has been so faithful to me through this whole experience, so I have no reason to start thinking that this next year will be nothing less than a wonderful time of discernment. I trust God. Peace and blessings to my followers...sorry its been so long since my last post. Vicar Rosy