Last Wednesday, Katie and I drove to Orlando to meet up with the campus ministers from the University of Central Florida. We got there around 4:30 PM and they immediately took us out on a tour of their campus, which is basically a city in itself. UCF has 60,000 students, and the Lutheran campus ministry there (LiveUCF, unless you're an official university employee, in which case it's referred to as "Live@UCF") just had some great news. They're officially a recognized student organization and they even have their own room on campus to hold their events! Woohoo! We really enjoyed getting to know the ministry leaders there (Billy, Laura, Megan, Tyler) and sharing some ideas with them. UCF is unique in that there are no churches within walking distance, so LiveUCF is going to hold church services on campus on Wednesday nights, complete with communion, which is a somewhat controversial practice due to the use of alcohol. They had to get special permission from the school to serve communion.
Although it was a work trip, they decided to let us have some fun as well... so they surprised us with a trip to Disney World! It was quite delightful. Thanks, everyone, for that wonderful surprise!
Friday I managed to get into a very minor car accident in Orlando. No worries, no one was hurt and my car is fine, but it was a little stressful. After we drove back to Tallahassee, it was time to relax for the weekend. I did my best to avoid work because I know Go Week is going to wear me out like nothing else ever has. I made some smoothies, read some books, went for a few walks, went to Liz's super fun baby shower, and generally just chilled. I did do a few work-y things, like writing my newsletter and reading the first part of the newest book we're going through, but other than that, I purposely did nothing.
On Monday, I went to the Children's Home Society again. This time, I was calling parents whose children have received services through the center to take a survey on those services. This is important because it can help improve the services offered to families through the center. Per the usual of calling people, as I have discovered previously with the cold calls to churches, I got a lot of voicemails and a few disconnected numbers. However, I did have the opportunity to conduct three surveys, and I hope that what I discovered will help CHS in the long run.
I also got to Skype with my best friend Jessie from back home in good ol' Iowa. I will admit I've been feeling a little homesick recently, but talking to her made me feel better. She's pretty good at that.
From the moment I got up today, there was no relaxing to be had. It started off with devotions with Pastor Jay and a meeting to discuss the craziness of this week. I then made edits to my newsletter and wrote out a list of people to send the newsletter to. Pastor Jay and I went to Sam's Club and got an obnoxious amount of food. University Lutheran is in charge of food for Go Week, and we expect to feed at least 250 people each meal for the next 3 days. As PJ says, it really gives you a perspective on the feeding of the 5,000. If we need two full flatbed carts at Sam's to feed 250, how much would you need for 5,000, plus women and children?
I had a short break after we unloaded Pastor Jay's truck bed full of food supplies, and then we headed out for the kick-off to Go Week at First Baptist Church downtown. First on the agenda was a leaders' meeting. Katie and I enjoyed meeting the other campus ministry leaders; I particularly enjoyed meeting Ria, a Chi Alpha International leader who happens to hail from Perry, Iowa. We bonded. Enough said.
We then had a catered meal from Chik Fil A as students volunteering for Go Week filed in. I was the "guardian of the salads" because they were only for those with food allergies or who are vegetarian, so we wanted to make sure no one else took them. After dinner, we had an inspiring worship service that really got us pepped up and ready to go. It was emphasized, as it should be, that Go Week is not about us. We're not on campus just to hang out. We're there to share the love of Christ and to be His hands and feet. We'll do that in many different ways -- helping students move in, showing them around the school, feeding them, playing games with them, partying with them at the FSU Luau Friday night -- but those ways all lead to the same goal: Jesus. It's important that we don't lose sight of our goal when we're weeping inside because it's 137 degrees out and we're carrying a bean bag chair up 3 flights of stairs. There is no complaining allowed, because this is not about us, it's about Him. (Although if it's 137 degrees outside, please drink some water before you die.)
After the worship service, we filed up to the front for a group picture, and then we went our separate ways, eager to see each other bright and early tomorrow morning to start spreading the love of Jesus. And this is where I'm going to go my separate way from you so I can get some sleep before that happens! (Looking at this post, I'm thinking I have a strange idea of "short and sweet." Hm.)
Here is the jackpot of pictures from the last 7 days. Disney, baby shower, flatbed cart and truck bed full of food. See you all later! Don't have high hopes if you need to contact me in the next few days!
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