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