After another day of my solo explorations, Katie arrived on Wednesday. It was great to meet my fellow campus missionary! (If you'd like to meet her too, check out her blog: http://keboltwood.wordpress.com/) I can already tell we are going to work wonderfully together. We are opposites in many ways, but we both love Jesus, and that's the important thing! We can't wait to get into our ministry endeavors. We already got to eat lunch with our new friend Caroline on Thursday. She gave us all the insider details on FSU.
Both Katie's grandma ("Omi") and my mom were here this past weekend. We spent some time getting to know each other, Katie and Omi painted her room and got it all set up, and then there was the Fourth of July. My mom and I had the opportunity to eat lunch at the house of someone in the University Lutheran congregation, and we had such fun. We stayed for a couple of hours afterwards just chatting. Later that evening, Katie, Omi, my mom and I, plus Pastor Jay & Liz, went out to Tom Brown Park. It was a lovely celebration of our country's independence, with tasty food, good conversation, some fun bands, and fireworks. There were also pony rides, but sadly, my mother said no to riding a pony.
On Saturday, my mom and I did some tourist-y things. In the morning we went to the Downtown Marketplace, which is a quaint farmer's market-style event in downtown Tallahassee. I had the most delicious popsicle made out of fresh strawberries. Then we traveled to Thomasville, GA (about 40 minutes away). It has a downtown area with unique shops and art galleries. We bought some prints from a gallery and I found some cute gifts for friends at some of the shops. After Thomasville came Havana, FL (about 20 minutes out of Tally). Havana is famous for antiques, which are always interesting. It's also a historic site.
Sunday, of course, was Installation Day for Katie and me! It was a very meaningful experience. We said "I will, and I ask God to help me" a lot. The questions were good too, but the answer we gave- it really brings into perspective that this isn't about us or our qualifications or strengths, it's about what God will do through us.
After a delightful lunch at a place called Newk's, my mom and I settled into one of our favorite activities... watching NCIS. We were exhausted after being in the heat on Saturday. That evening we went to see a movie with Katie and Omi.
On Monday, before my mom had to fly back to Iowa, we got in some more tourist-y stuff. We visited the Florida State Capitol, which is like no capitol you've ever seen. I associate capitols with domes, but here, only the old capitol building has a dome. The new capitol looks like a big skyscraper. At first we thought that was odd, but when we went to the top floor, we began to wish there was something like this in Iowa. The view was incredible. I'll include a picture at the end. We also visited the Florida History Museum.
I drove my mom to the airport, and by the time I got back, Omi had left as well. Katie and I were sad, but we were also eager to start our work, which began straightaway Tuesday morning. We had a devotion with Pastor Jay and then a meeting about this year in general. It was an overload of information: dates, times, places, quarters, goals. Katie and I were a bit overwhelmed, but it was great to see an overview of what this year will be like. We were also given our first assignment: to apply for part-time jobs. It's considered a part of our ministry to get a part-time job in a student-rich environment in order to build relationships. We have both applied to a few places and are waiting to hear back. Hopefully I'll have news by my next blog!
To prepare for our missionary year, both Katie and I had to read the "Strengthsfinder" book by Tom Rath and take the survey associated with it. The survey details your five strengths. Mine are: Connectedness (I see the links between all things), Belief (I have certain unchanging values that give me purpose), Input (I have a craving to know more -- and I like to read, sound familiar, anyone?), Futuristic (I am inspired by the future and what could be), and Learner (I have a great desire to learn and to constantly improve). We discussed our strengths at our meeting, and I discovered that Pastor Jay and I share some strengths, while Katie and I are completely different. We should all complement each other quite nicely.
This morning, we once again started out with a devotion, and then Pastor Jay gave us our second assignment: to people-watch on campus to get a feel for what Tallahassee, and especially its students, are like. It was interesting to say the least, although I didn't have nearly as cool of an experience as Katie. She was able to have a half-hour conversation with someone and witness to them about Christ! I was so excited to hear about it afterwards. We are already making a difference here.
This evening was Vespers, which, as Pastor Jay says, is not actually Vespers. It starts out with a dinner and turns into a casual Bible study. Tonight we took a look at Psalm 145:1-10, which is a passage I really enjoy. You should all check it out! Afterwards, Katie, Caroline and I did a Dollar Tree run, and now I'm here, writing this post. Shocker, right? I've included some pictures at the end again. The first is from Sunday's installation (and no, Dad, it did not hurt.) The second is me with a beautiful Crape Myrtle tree grabbing the Spanish Moss that hangs off of every single tree that exists in Tallahassee, I'm fairly certain. The third is me with the view from the top of the Capitol. Incredible, isn't it? That's all for me. I hope you are all blessed on this day the Lord has made!
nice sum up! :)
ReplyDelete