Peace That Surpasses Understanding

I know that this is supposed to be my blog all about my middle school ministry and teaching adventures, but this topic has been heavy on my heart. I've been trying to write this blog for a while now actually.

It seems like I am constantly hearing about death. Sometimes it's a close friend, sometimes it's the mother of a close friend taken by cancer, and sometimes it's just people throwing the word around like it's nothing.

As I think through the past year, I have had more deaths of people that I have known than seems normal. I have had two friends whose moms have died from cancer. One friend's dad was shot by her jealous mom. One friend's mom just died from two heart attacks. A girl that is in my sorority but at a different school was just shot in the head over road rage and died later in the day. And last, and definitely hardest of all was the death of one of my high school best friends.

Each of these deaths brought about different thoughts and scared me and caused grief. With the deaths of friends' moms, I thought about if I was in their shoes. The oldest ones have to be strong for their younger siblings. The younger ones still completely needed their moms (and so do the older ones). They no longer have their Mom! And what if my mom died? That is a terrifying feeling. I talk to her all the time. She intercedes for me daily in prayer. She comes and takes me to lunch when I'm having a bad day or bad week. She knows how to make me feel special. She takes care of me! So what happens if all of that is gone?

When Julia died, I remember exactly where I was. It was during recruitment on a Saturday. We had finished earlier in the day and my parents came up to move me into my new big-girl apartment. Abby, one of my close friends for a long time, was with me. We had gone to dinner and were now at Target getting the essentials like peanut butter and bread and pasta and command strips. In the isle to get command strips Abby and I both received texts from friends asking us where we were. When we replied, they told us that Julia had died. She was gone. For a few seconds (read: a couple of weeks) Abby and I were just in shock. Then my mom came around the corner with the cart and I told her. Then came the tears. They flooded hot and fast down our cheeks.

My sweet, precious friend who loved Jesus and everyone more than anyone I've ever known was dead. I would never see her again. She was constantly giving her life away to others for the sake of Jesus. And she was 20 years old. She was my age! She could have done so many more amazing things and lead so many more people to Christ! I'm not as loving or as good of a Christian as her so why couldn't I have died instead? She'd be more beneficial on earth that me anyway. These were all thoughts going through my head for the next couple of weeks.

Abby and I went back to my apartment and made my bed and did every mindless activity we could. It didn't help. A few days later, Julia's funeral was to happen. I drove home, walked in the door, saw my mom and once again lost it. She came with me to Julia's funeral, but the thing is, it wasn't a funeral. It was literally a celebration of her life. More than that, it was a celebration of Jesus in her life. I attempted to sing praises between sobs and listened to people talk about how much they loved Julia. It was perfect. After, they showed videos of Julia being crazy and dancing around singing like she always was. Side note: Julia danced more than anyone I've ever met.

Each person at the celebration also got a business card with her name beautifully written on it and a date on the other side. This date was our assigned day to remember Julia and to pray for her family. My date was yesterday. I thought about Julia and her family. Her sisters. How they're doing. I tried to write and letter and couldn't formulate the words.

One of the things that I've been praying through trials of friends and family as well as these deaths is for peace that surpasses understanding. It's not immediate. It hasn't come like a wave. But as I reflect, I see it. Each day, I can tell that my soul is more at peace. Thank you Jesus.

Meanwhile, I've been having conversations with people and having truth spoken into my life by them. I've also had to speak truth to myself. I think that that is one of the most important lessons that people can learn: to speak truth to yourself. Randy Pope one time said, "Don't listen to your heart. Speak to it, and tell it the truth." So through this pain, I am reminded that God has a plan. That He is faithful. That is near to the broken-hearted. That He is in control. That He created us and knows us better than anyone. That He weeps with us. That He will always provide. That He speaks through others. That He is constantly molding us into who He wants us to be. That I am called to trust Him. And many other things. So through the grief, I am learning and growing.

Lord, mold me and use me for Your glory. And please come soon! I anxiously wait for your arrival.

Well, It's Here!

Hey y'all!

Yesterday was the last day of my internship. Where has the time gone? All ten weeks have absolutely flown by! Well... almost all ten. Some were easy and others were really hard.

When I started the internship, I had to create 3 ministry goals for the summer and 3 personal goals. I'm happy to announce that I accomplished all of them, this blog being one of them!

This summer has been a major summer of growth for me. I've learned so much more about myself and working with a staff. I've learned more about ministry. I've learned about my strengths and weaknesses. I've completed multiple large projects. Overall it's been a wonderful summer! But...

I've decided to keep my blog going. My major is Middle School Education for Math and Science and I'm starting my student teaching this fall. That means that I'll be in a classroom twice a week all day with middle school students. And I fully intend on continuing my ministry as a teacher. So the blog will be changing some. I won't be involved with a structured church ministry, but I will be ministering in a middle school, specifically with 6th grade science students.

So you can be praying for me! I'll update y'all as I begin and know more. I'm sure I'll have some funny stories to share and plenty of prayer requests for patience!

Speaking on Trust Apparently Requires Trust

Hey y'all!

I've talked before about the events that we have for middle schoolers on Wednesday nights called Summer Nights. Each of the staff members were asked to speak at one of those events this summer and last night was my night to speak.

Let me preface this with the fact that I love being on stage. I've done everything from ballet to violin to acting to oratorical recitals to even speaking at the Bricks my senior year of high school. Earlier this summer I emceed for Summer Nights and had a blast doing it! This was different.

We were asked to give our testimonies but also relate it to the theme of Despicable Me, Glorious God. I've also given my testimony more times than I can remember. For some reason this was hard. I decided to take the clip from Despicable Me where the girls have to jump from Vector's hovercraft/plane-type-thing to Gru's. They have to trust that he's going to catch them and that related pretty well to my life for the past few years. There have been so many times in the past year where I had to jump and just trust that the Lord was going to catch me.

I wrote my talk and went over it with my boss. Then yesterday, as I was going over the talk I became extremely anxious. My stomach felt like it was in knots and I felt sick. I was absolutely positive that I was going to get on stage and forget the entire thing and look like an idiot. Sometime later in the day (still before the talk) I realized, well of course when I'm talking about trusting in the Lord, God's going to make me act on it. Even my speech needed to be an example in and of itself of trusting God in everything and trusting that He's going to catch me every time.

Thank the Lord that He does catch us every time! The talk went very well, just in case you were worried, but it was nice to know that it wasn't because of anything that I did right. It was all because God is trustworthy and sufficient!

*If you happen to want to see the whole talk, I can send you the document.

Book Review: Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot

After I finished reading and blogging on Quest for Love by Elisabeth Elliot, I decided to read the book that precedes it. It's called Passion and Purity. When I finished, I wasn't quite sure whether or not I should write a book review on it. There's something about the book that's very personal. Elliot shares the story of how her and Jim met and then continued in their relationship. He basically told her that he was head-over-heals in love with her but that he couldn't date her because he was being called to be single.

Jim believed that at that point he was called to be single so that he could do missionary work that married men couldn't necessarily do. This is all great, but I would have been extremely frustrated if I was Elisabeth. He went on in that way for about 9 years. They had contact at some points more than at others. Ultimately they were both called to Ecuador individually to work with the Quichua Indians. 3 years later, Jim Elliot died.

Elisabeth Elliot's story was heart wrenching. I cannot imagine having something dangled in front of me that I've desired for so long, waiting for another long period of time to get it, and then have it ripped away from me.

I've said before that I sometimes wished that I could be a great spiritual leader/mentor, but then I see all of the trials that they go through. Though I know that there will be hard things that happen in this life, and I know that the Lord will be with me through them all, I hope that he never makes me go through something as difficult as what Elisabeth Elliot went through.

It was so refreshing to hear about her views on love though. Elliot is intent upon men being the ones to pursue women. When we're constantly bombarded in our culture about how women need to step up and take the initiative, it's nice to hear godly wisdom from ones who have gone before me. Women are supposed to be feminine and wait for men to pursue them like Christ pursues the church. I love that picture. Maybe because I'm a sappy, sentimental girl who has been planning my wedding since my oldest sisters were planning their weddings. (I was nine years old.) But the idea of a marriage being an earthly picture of the relationship that we have with the Father is so incredibly beautiful to me.

Grace-Midtown Blessing

Hey y'all! Last Sunday I was invited by some friends to join them for a service at Grace-Midtown church in Atlanta. I went once before, a couple of summers ago, but now they're in a new and bigger building. I love visiting other churches and experiencing their worship and sermons. I'm also very picky about sermons. I've grown up at Perimeter with incredible in-depth sermons studying the Word so I've been spoiled. Something I usually use to decide whether I like the sermon or not is if it's Gospel centered. If the pastor is opening his Bible and pointing us to the Word, it usually means that the sermon is going in a good direction. This service was great though! I loved every part of it.

The worship was very different than Perimeter. A lot of the songs that they played were very repetitive which allowed for us to really think about what we were singing and focus on worshiping instead of on the screens and reading the words. (It was so good that I ended up buying two of their CDs! They're on iTunes if you want to check them out. They're called Rising and Sounds Like Sunset.)

The sermon was also great. They're doing a series right now about what it means to be a disciple. The week I went, they were focusing on being a disciple by being a discipler and using Colossians 3. The pastor, Chris Moerman, started with a quote from The Great Omission by Dallas Willard. "Jesus told us, as Disciples, to make disciples. Not converts to Christianity, nor to some particular faith and practice." He also talked about the death that we all die to ourselves so that we can live for Christ. I've heard this many times before, but he reminded us that we can't resurrect ourselves. We have to simply die and trust that the Lord will resurrect us and make us new.

Paul also talks in Colossians about how he imitates Jesus, and we are supposed to imitate Paul. This points to passing that on through discipleship. He also lists 5 P words. (Pastors love alliteration.)

1. Presence - With a discipler, it's a spiritual impartation of wisdom instead of knowledge. We need someone who's real with us and knows our "junk". Jesus doesn't just say "listen to me", He says "follow me". In the great commission, it says "AS you go, make disciples." You're already going somewhere or going after something, so rub shoulders with the people on the same path as you.
2. Purpose - All of us are invited into the mission and called into it.
3. Power - The role of the disciples was never to just follow Jesus and applaud. It was to watch and imitate.
4. Process - God in His infinite wisdom and grace gives us time to grow in character and capacity instead of giving us everything at once. For example, the prodigal son was crushed by an inheritance that he wasn't ready to carry.
5. Pursuit - God loves all of His children but there's a special closeness in relationship for those that pursue Him. God hides things for us, not from us. He wants us to search them out.

And one last quote: "To whom did we allow sufficient access to our lives that they were able to 'imitate our lives as we imitated Christ?'" -Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture

I hope this was as encouraging to you as it was to me!

Book Review: Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp

Unlike the other books that I've blogged about so far, this one was a semi-difficult read. It was packed full of information and conviction.

As I began the book, I found myself thinking that it wouldn't apply to me. Tripp often addresses his reader as "pastor" which made me believe that I, as a lowly middle school ministry summer intern, was not who he was talking to. After all, I'm not even a full time staff member! I'm only here for the summer, and I have one of the lowest jobs on the totem pole. When it comes to pride in a certain status in a job, I have no right to have any at all! Well, I was completely wrong. Tripp is addressing every member of the church from the head pastor to the Sunday morning volunteer.

Tripp talks about the pride involved in being involved in a church ministry. He talks about a disconnect in the public and private lives of people in the church. He gives story after story of other people in the church who he's had council who have gone through these situations. These stories make it real. This book also helped me to realize that my pastors aren't perfect. Yes, that's cliche, but it's true! I have put David McNeely, Randy Pope, Steve Brown, and more on a pedestal for so long that I forgot that they're real people. They have families, and they sin. They go through hardships, maybe even more than normal people do. (Side note: I've always said that I could see myself marrying a pastor, but after reading some of the stories, that thought was terrifying to me! Not super relevant, but hey, that was my thought.)

As always with books, the author can say things better than I can, so here are some of my favorite quotes.

“If you aren’t daily admitting t yourself that you are a mess and in daily and rather desperate need for forgiving and transforming grace and if the evidence around has not caused you to abandon your confidence in your own righteousness, then you are going to give yourself to the work of convincing yourself that you are okay.”

“No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do.”

"One of the things that makes a sermon compelling is that the preacher is worshiping his way through his own sermon.”

“If you are not feeding your soul on the realities of the presence, promises, and provisions of Christ, you will ask the people, situations, and things around you to be the messiah they can never be.”

“He had his identity too attached to his opinions and ideas and felt that rejection of them was rejection of him.”

“Autonomous Christianity never works, because our spiritual life was designed by God to be a community project.”

Are you convicted yet? I encourage you to read this book. You know that verse that talks about how The Word never comes away void? Well, I know it's talking about the Bible, but I think that it can apply to many books too, and this is one of them. I don't think you can read this book and come away the same. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing this to the Bible! The Bible is the infallible word of God and this is a book written by a flawed person.)

Book Review: A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

Hey y'all!

As my internship is coming to an end, I'm tying up some loose ends and finishing things up. Part of my job this summer was to read 3 books and then write something reflecting on my thoughts on the book and my take-aways.

This was the book that I got to choose, and I'm so glad that I did! I have gotten countless recommendations to read this book and so I finally did it. It always feels good when you can cross one of those off your list. One of the main reasons I chose the book though was because prayer is a hard topic to grasp and though I've been a Christian for a while now, I wanted to understand prayer more.

I'm a very structured person in that I like check lists (and checking things off that list), schedules, and clear steps. Prayer is none of this! It's more abstract, and I've had to learn that that's okay!

I'm sure that as I read I used up at least one pen underlining points that hit me hardest or that I wanted to remember the most. I can't say it any better than Miller did so I'll just give y'all some quotes:

"Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer."
"Learning to pray doesn't offer you a less busy life; it offers you a less busy heart."
"Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer."
"The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy."

And those are just from the first 30 pages! Miller exposes stories from his life and his family's life that are so raw and honest. It was a blessing to get a glimpse into the power of prayer and not only how prayers are answered through prayer but also how we are changed by the simple act of communicating with our Father. I often find myself wishing that I could be a great spiritual leader like Beth Moore or Paul Miller, but when I hear stories of the trials in their lives to make them better able to help others, I quickly back up and beg the Lord to keep me small. One of my favorite quotes about prayer says that when we pray for patience, God doesn't just give us patience. He gives us opportunities to be patient. It definitely makes me think twice before I pray for patience, self-control, or any other fruits of the spirit. But then I do it anyway.

Also, praying that God would reveal my sin. That's another scary prayer. What makes is okay is that I know that anything God puts in my life is for my good. Isn't it comforting to know that my Father is all knowing and never makes a mistake?!

I recently had a conversation with my boss about how he likes to poke holes in a mutual friend of ours and gently point out that that person isn't perfect. As I've been praying that God would reveal my sins to me, He's done just that. So I replied to my boss saying, "Please don't pour water in me because I know I have so many holes." But God is working in me. He's pointing out my holes and then slowly patching them as only He can. I'm being completely real with y'all and inviting you to know my heart so that maybe it will be an encouragement to you as well.

This book has changed my prayer life. It's freed me to pray with the randomness and boldness of a child. It's helping me to look for the greater picture that God is weaving in my life. I'm so thankful that life is a process and our eyes aren't opened all at once. The process creates a dependent relationship on the One who satisfies the longing of our souls.

Goldrush 2013

Hey y'all! 

**Note: I'm including some pictures from Goldrush, but they're not mine. I've gotten them from different students during the week, so enjoy!**

This past week I was blessed to be a part of Goldrush, but not in the way that I'm accustomed to. I have been a part of Goldrush for 7 years in the past as a student on the servant team. I feel like I've seen Goldrush from every angle now as I have been on design team (decorating everything), music team (leading worship every morning and night), drama team (doing a skit every night), cafe team (working the cafe), and now hospitality team (making small groups, rooming assignments, name tags, etc.). I've also now seen it from the perspective of a participating student as well as a staff member. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Goldrush is a student lead conference that Perimeter church has hosted for about 20 years. Middle school and high school aged students at Perimeter have the choice of being on servant team and then choosing which team they are on based on their individual talents: design, music, drama, speaking, tech, dance, set-up, hospitality, cafe, missions, prayer, emcee, and Goldrush News. All of these students have meetings once a month starting toward the beginning of the year and then as Goldrush gets closer, they have them once a week. Most teams meet more than that to accomplish everything they need to. Each student on servant team also gets to lead a small group at Goldrush along with one or two other leaders.

Does this sound crazy yet? Then Goldrush gets here and it's crazy! Outside churches sign up and bring their students as well and we usually have about 1,000 students in all! The students attend worship sessions with music, a speaker, a drama, and a dance every night. They also have devotions and worship every morning and then attend two sessions with speakers each day. After that, depending on the day, students will either have a free day (at Dave and Buster's or SkyZone) or go do missions (at different places like apartment complexes or food banks). 

Goldrush is a week of serving and learning more about God's love for us and how we should then live in response to that incredible love. At the end of the week we had many students come to know the Lord and even more who rededicated their lives to Him during our concert of prayer! Something I love about the concert of prayer is that as the students walk in, all of the staff from each church (that are attending Goldrush) line the doors that the students walk through and pray over them and read scripture over them. It was one of my favorite moments of all of Goldrush!

The last thing we have at Goldrush with all of the churches is a celebration where we simply worship our glorious God for who He is and what He's done for us. Then Perimeter decides to do something which is... trying? Testing of my patience? 

We have a lock-in for all Perimeter students at the church. At this massive church. You know how some people describe themselves as morning people or night people? I'm neither. I'm a sleep person. This might have been the time that I was leaning the most on the Lord during the week. I knew that there was absolutely no way that I could stay up for over 24 hours (from 5 AM Thursday to 7 AM Friday) without Him. The Lord provides though! I was placed at a certain point in the church to make sure that students weren't sneaking away to purple. For all you non-student-ministry people: girls are red+boys are blue=purple=bad. 

Too long to read the entire post? God is good. Always!

And to those of you who I know were praying for me the whole week? Thank you! The Lord listened to your prayers and used you!

Change Of Scenery

Hey y'all!

I don't know if I've explained this yet, but my internship is specifically set to be for ten weeks. Meaning, I'm paid for ten weeks. Well I couldn't wait to start my new "big girl job" at the beginning of the summer so I started as soon as I got home from school. That left me with a few weeks that I would be able to take off to do family vacation and anything else I wanted! Maybe visit friends in cool places with their internships? Or just take a break from my job?

Well all of the sudden, my boss realized that I had worked 7 weeks and had to work 3 specific weeks later on in the summer. 7+3=10 so no problem, right? Wrong. I had a week in between all of those weeks so the decision was whether to work for free or stay home bored all week (neither of which helped me to make money to save up for school). So... I decided to work at Camp All American (the camp that Perimeter hosts every summer).

Now, I've worked at that camp for the past two summers and thankfully they allowed me to come in for just a week this summer.

It was so much fun to see all of my old counselor friends and campers! They also placed me in Ozone which is the middle school part of camp. It was great since I've been used to hanging out with middle school aged students all summer! A very natural transition. 

Since it's a Christian camp, we have a Bible time scheduled into every day. For some reason, this always makes me nervous, and I was especially nervous the first day. I didn't get the material early enough to be able to prepare and since we all know that I'm a planner, that threw me off. I found myself completely having to lean on the Lord for every word that came out of my mouth which was both scary and comforting at the same time. I found myself saying things that I never would have thought of to say on my own, and every day the girls were becoming more engaged and asking more questions.

I was also very thankful though that it was the week of the 4th of July and I got a day off. Camp is completely exhausting and drains every ounce of energy from you. I found myself going to sleep around 7 each night when I got home! 

The 4th was a great break to spend with family! And I'll leave you with a shot of the king of selfies, my nephew, Christopher.

How cute is this kid?!

Crazy, Busy, Beautiful Life

Hey y'all! I realize that it's been almost a month since I posted last, but that's because life has been insanely busy (and when I fall behind on things it's a little overwhelming to think about catching up). So much has happened since I last blogged so I think I'll split it up into smaller segments so as not to overwhelm y'all (read: myself).

So remember when I made that massive Despicable Me themed background thing? Well, it was for an event that Jhi has six times during the summer called Summer Nights. It's held on Wednesday nights and we have a speaker, emcee, games, music, free ice cream from an ice cream truck, and lots of fun hang out time. For the last one that we had, I was able to be the emcee!

I came up with a few different games to play and had to do certain things like facilitate those games, introduce the speaker and band, and just be entertaining in general. As the students came in we played a game where I would call kids up, have them put their hand in a bag, pick out a jar, and whatever they picked, they had to eat. The best part was that it was all jars of baby food. This was not even the normal baby food like bananas or peas. It was things like ham and ham gravy or macaroni and beef in a jar. GROSS. Anyway, it was a HUGE success. The kids had a great time and of course so did I.

Then I had announcements and played two more games. Everything went so well and I loved getting to  interact with the students in a different way!

Then we had ice cream and played a hilarious game outside where the kids ended up covered in flour. Yes, I said flour. Oh the joys of working with a middle school ministry!

So far we've had three of these events and then took a break for Goldrush (which you'll hear lots about later). We have three more, but sadly I'll only be there for one more :( At that last one though, I'll be speaking! Prayers would be greatly appreciated! 

Hibachi, Target, and The Bachelorette

Hey y'all!

I've already told y'all how much I love food. I really believe that it is my love language. I love to make it, and I love to eat it. I like to eat it with friends or alone. I like to eat when I'm happy, sad, excited, mad, annoyed, etc. My current guilty/not-so-guilty pleasures include hummus and pita chips or green bell pepper, peanut butter and apple slices, and iced coffee. Let's be real though... I could also mention a million other things that I crave constantly.

Anyway, last night I got to hang out with two extremely entertaining Jhi girls. We went and got hibachi food at Kani House. YUM! I've been to hibachi places multiple times before but the jokes never fail to make me laugh. When the chef was cooking the eggs he pulled out a rubber chicken and made it squeak looking over the eggs. So terrible, but so funny! (I'm a terrible person.) Then he made the fried rice into a heart and made it beat which is one of my favorite parts. Then he spread it out everywhere to which I said, "You broke my heart!" I've never heard one of the hibachi chefs laugh so hard! It was definitely a boost for my confidence :) (And I have leftovers to eat today!! Yay!!)

Then, after stuffing ourselves so full that I thought I might die (dramatic much?) we headed to one of my favorite places! Target. Oh the time and money that I could spend in Target if I had it. We ended up in the movie section, and who knew that Target had such great DVD's for so cheap! I got Pride and Prejudice (the old one that's like 12 hours long), While You Were Sleeping, and Newsies for about $24! Oh so exciting. And that was me using self control.

Then we ventured back to my house to watch The Bachelorette! I'm not afraid to admit it. I love this show. There's something about hearing all of the drama but not having to be involved in it that's just wonderful. Also, I don't think it's a good idea at all, but it shows us what not to do in relationships, right?!

Anyway, we had a marvelous time and I love these girls! I'm sure there will be many more of these fun little parties/girl-dates. 

Y'all can pray for opportunities for me to serve these girls and wisdom to know how to best show them love.

Side note: A big group of us also went to see Monsters University yesterday afternoon and it was hilarious! I totally recommend it!

A Badly Needed Vacation and Precious Friends

This past week I was able to take a vacation which was marvelous. I went to Gulf Shores with my mom and dad. No, you didn't read that wrong. It was just my parents and me. This absolutely never happens as one of six kids. But it was fun! I've also been learning in my internship that I have a hard time stopping working. I never understood workaholics before but I'm realizing that I am one. It's hard to stop a project in the middle of it and pick it up later, so I usually just keep going. Needless to say, this vacation was exactly what I needed! I took lots of book expecting to have time to sit and bask in the sun while reading. Nope. But my time was filled with some great memories!

One of the things that my family enjoys most is food, so I was very excited to remember that there was a place called "Lamberts: Home of the Throwed Rolls" in Gulf Shores. I had eaten there once before and knew that I had to stop by this time as well. This place is incredible! You sit down, they immediately take your order, and they start bringing you food. I ordered chicken and dumplin's and sweet tea like a good southern girl. It came with creamed corn and a sweet potato. Yes, yes, yes. It just keeps getting better. Then they bring around tons of food and don't stop! Things like fried okra, fried potatoes and onions, black eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes (not a fan),  and rolls. Oh my, the rolls! They are life changing. And they quite literally throw them at you. And if you're across the room from the man throwing them (like I happened to be), he balls the roll up in his hands and pitches it to you! Pitches! (Side note: I've grown up with a dad and younger brother, so I know how to catch a ball. This was ridiculous though.) Sadly, I didn't catch it, but it fell on the booth right next to me and I snatched it up. (God made dirt and dirt don't hurt, right?) Then someone comes around with homemade apple butter and molasses. The apple butter was heavenly, but I wasn't brave enough to try the molasses. Maybe next time. Please just try to sympathize with how full I was at this point. I thought that someone might have to roll me out of there. (Get it? Roll? Throwed rolls? Terrible joke... Moving on...)

As I explained to my sister that night, "It's a great experience. It's one of those feelings that goes from great to horrible real fast." I had to get something to remember this occasion so I decided to start my Gamma Chi pin collection! (See some post in the future to find out what the heck a Gamma Chi is.)

My best friend from high school, Kiley, also happened to be there at the same time doing a show called Jubilee! She goes to The University of Alabama (but we still love her) and is a musical theater major there. They have a program called SummerTide which is where students audition for a show and then take it to a theater in Gulf Shores. They do the show 6 days a week and have a musical theater camp in the mornings for kids that live in the area. I was able to go see her show once and it was adorable! There were 4 girls and 4 guys in the show. The whole show used songs that were about the state of Alabama or mentioned a county in Alabama. I also got to meet the other students in the show and they were great! Such a fun opportunity!

Kiley and I were able to hang out almost the entire time I was at the beach which was wonderful. I don't get to see this precious friend enough! She's one of those friends who I can not see for a long time and then as soon as we're back together, we start back just where we left off. I cannot even say how much of a blessing she has been in my life. Her life radiates with the love of the Lord. Needless to say, I am incredibly thankful for her! She also loves baking, crafting, and Netflix as much as I do so we always have something to do. Also, she loves coffee more than anyone I've ever met! So of course we had to make our own caramel frappes. Delicious!

I also found out that another friend was in Gulf Shores at the same time! They invited Kiley and I over to their house and we were able to hang out with their precious, hospitable family. And we played in the water! I can't remember the last time that I actually played in the water at the beach but it was great! (Only downer that I forgot about till this week: salt water in your eyes. The memories came flooding back of getting water in my eyes as a kid and running out of the water, eyes close, arms stretched out, screaming for my mom to give me a towel. Oh the pain.) I love that God perfectly planned for these friends to be at the beach at the same time as my family! Such a blessing.

Sorry that this wasn't actually about my internship at all. Oops!

God Knew When He Put Me Here: Crafts!

Hey y'all!

I could list a hundred reasons that God has placed me in this internship right off the top of my head, but this is one of my favorites. I love crafts. Everyone who knows me to any degree knows that. And the great thing is that God especially knows that! He created my mind. He knows how it works. He knows which areas He made me more talented (and which areas are better left to other people...) I also recently heard an incredible quote (I don't know who said it, sorry) that said something like "It's God that gives you the desire to do that which pleases Him." Beautiful quote, right? He has created me to love crafting and baking specifically and in turn, when I use those talents, it pleases the Lord. *shivers*

Anyway, my amazing internship has given me the opportunity to do both of these things so far (crafting and baking). The first opportunity started with our normal Tuesday Jhi meetings. We were working on planning the theme for our summer program called Jhi Summer Nights. One of the other interns came up with the idea of "Despicable Me, Glorious God". I could not have been more excited. Despicable Me is one of my all time favorite kids movies! I could quote it for days. "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" and "It was your cousins' idea! ... Whaaaaa???" being two of my favorites.

Different people were assigned to be in charge of different aspects of the program such as games, ice cream truck (so exciting, I know!), and tech. This was one of my first meetings with the staff so I assumed that I would just be helping other people with their jobs. To my surprise, I was assigned to be in charge of the decor for the program! My mind immediately began to race. I also have to take a moment to point out that my mom has always taught me to dream big on projects so I started to do just that. I dreamt BIG! I had no idea how much time, effort, and tears (yes, tears. Sometimes breakdowns are necessary) would go into this project.

My first thought: I want a minion version of me!

My second thought: EVERYONE needs a minion version of themselves!! (Note: I work on the Jhi staff with eight other people. EIGHT. That means nine minions, okay? Okay, glad that got cleared up.)

Never did the thought come into my head, "Oh Rachel, honey. You are biting off WAY more than you can chew. Why don't we think about this realistically and keep brainstorming." Nope. Another thing that everyone knows about me. I'm stubborn. I don't change my brilliant ideas easily.

So here began the project! I brainstormed with one of my brilliant, craft-minded sisters and we decided on a list of what I would need to create the project. I then visited my FAVORITE store: Hobby Lobby and went nuts. I bought paint, paint brushes, and NINE foam poster boards. I started by making a list (I LOVE lists) of characteristics to portray for each staff member and then did my first sketch on a random piece of paper. I thought, "Hmm, that's pretty cute. No way is that going to look very good full size though." I then sketched it out and went about painting it. Let me just tell you how excited I was when I finished! It was adorable. (Yes, I'm bragging. Just wait.)

This is my minion pre-cut out. Yes, it's a bow, side bangs, and a tutu :)

Then I had to make eight others which, like I said before, included tons of time, effort, and tears. Thankfully my precious mother was there to calm me down as I worked everyday after I got off work until I went to bed on those stupid... I mean...cute...minions. She helped me to cut them out which was a huge help and saved a lot of my sanity.

I then had the wonderful (read: dreadful, embarrassing, humbling) experience of going to Home Depot for the more functional part of the project. I approached an older man that worked there thinking that he would pity me and just go ahead and help me. He was great. We collected some wood (no idea the dimensions), 2 foam insulation boards (massive), a 2x4 (see, I'm not too helpless!), paint, and some angle things? I finally got back to the church, painted those dang boards, put the letters on, added the minions and was set to go. (Note: we still haven't figured out how to make the wooden stands we were going to create to work. Fail. Oh well, God provides!)

Here is the finished product! I didn't get any good pictures (really, this one is terrible), but I'll work on that later. Praise the Lord that I finished this massive product!

ALSO, I haven't forgotten the baking part. We had a staff BBQ and I volunteered to make a dessert. This thing was heavenly. It's a Chocolate Nutella Strawberry Cake (recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman). You're welcome! (Note: Next time I make it, and there WILL be a next time, I'll make it as a trifle. The strawberries were so heavy on the whipped cream that it eventually fell. :( No worries, it still tasted delicious!)

A Thoughtful Friend and a Book Review: Quest for Love by Elizabeth Elliot

The other day I came home from work and saw a package on my front porch. Since my brother just graduated from high school, I assumed that it was a present from him. What a nice surprise when I discovered that it was for me! It was a sweet note along with a book from one of my mom's best friends. The note said that she had been doing some spring cleaning and found that she had two copies of this book Quest for Love. My name came to her mind when she found the book and hoped that I would read it. (These days I'm doing as much reading as I possibly can since I don't have any reading to do for school so I was very excited to acquire a new book.) I love when God uses people in my life to suggest books, friends, restaurants, etc. It's such a powerful reminder that we are on His mind when He puts us on the minds of others.

Anyway, I immediately picked the book up to start reading it. I was hooked. I had never read a book by  Elizabeth Elliot before, though I had heard of her incredible story and God-given wisdom. I absolutely love her style of writing and her wisdom that bleeds through every page. She's also incredibly blunt, which I appreciate. This book is actually the sequel to another one of her books called Passion and Purity (which I hope to read soon). It contains letters that people have written to Elliot about their quests to find spouses and her responses to them. At the end of each chapter, she bullet points some key parts of the stories: things to imitate, things to avoid, and questions to think about.

When I began the book, all of the ideas presented sounded very archaic. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that I should have lived during the 50's. I love poodle skirts, can't wait to be a stay at home mom one day, love cooking, and feel very uncomfortable talking about inappropriate things. Therefore, this should not have been so strange to me. Elliot firmly believes in men pursuing women, men making the first move, God's will being the first thing thought of, etc. As the book went on, I found myself agreeing with most of the things she said, if not all.

I would definitely suggest this book to other people to read. It's not a self-help, "you will find your soul-mate after you read it", "single girls' Bible" kind of book. It's purely the story of how God has placed couples together when they sought his will and wisdom in their lives.

Missions Week: A Recap

Hey y'all! So last time, I just talked about the first three days of missions week. Now I am both happy and sad to say that the week is over. It has been incredibly exhausting but also wonderful and rewarding. I was able to create friendships with 7 great middle school girls and 19 interesting/entertaining middle school boys. (The fact that there were more boys on the trip was both shocking and encouraging. We are praying that they will continue to lead and serve as they grow up in the church.)

Day Four: We went for the last time to The Corners for Camp Outreach. We sang songs, played, and had a wonderful time. I decided that day that we should make masks out of paper plates (example pictured below) which turned out interesting... Some of the girls really enjoyed it and created beautiful butterflies, dogs, lions, etc. The boys mostly created monsters, scary pigs with bloody fangs, or angry birds. But whatever. They had a great time which is all that matters, right? Right.

Don't judge my butterfly too harshly! I was creating an example as fast as I could to help the kids! Grace people! Give me grace!

As always, after lunch we were able to just play with the kids and spend time with them. This precious girl went around and got pictures with everyone. I mean, how cute is she?? Both the kids and our Jhi students were incredibly sad that we had to leave, but thankfully some of them will be going back in a couple of weeks during Goldrush! (Goldrush is a completely student lead week-long retreat for middle school and high school students at Perimeter. Lots of other churches from around the US attend and we usually have about 1,000 students attend. You'll be hearing LOTS about this later. Oh, and that's another thing you can be praying for: the preparation for Goldrush!)

Day Five: Oh. My. Goodness. Today we took our Jhi students to White Water, the water park. We started the morning with devotions, like we did every other day this week. It was obvious, as I talked to three of the girls, that they were very effected by their experiences this week. Then we left for the park! I walked around with three of the girls which made for a perfect group. (Most rides are for 2 or 4 people.) We had a wonderful time, but I forgot how boy crazy middle school girls are! I don't know if there were 15 minutes together that we didn't talk about boys. They had code names, rankings, and loved to find them to ride rides. I was never like that, right...? Oh the things I'm learning. We arrived back at the church exhausted and I think everyone will get a great night's sleep tonight. Thanks for any prayers that y'all sent up for us!

ALSO: It was supposed to rain this entire week, and we had no plans for if it did. The Lord provided! A couple of the mornings it sprinkled a little bit, but it was just enough to keep the day cool. Then, today at White Water, at the exact time that we started heading to the vans to go home, it began to rain. Such a huge blessing!

Book Review: The Prodigal God by Tim Keller

Like I said in my post a little while ago, I was able to take a "God Day" two weeks ago, and in that time I read The Prodigal God by Tim Keller. Growing up in the church, I've heard people talk about this book for a long time so I put it on my "to read" list. Well, having the day specifically designed for me to spend time with the Lord and do things that I enjoy was the perfect time to pull that book out.

Thankfully, I've been incredibly blessed to grow up in a church focussed on teaching the gospel and not just "feel good" sermons. This includes the sermon on "The Prodigal Son" but not just the story of the first son. Our pastor includes the second son who, according to the book, is just as crucial to the parable as the first son. The parable is a story that Jesus told to the people surrounding him at the time which included the hated/sinful tax collectors as well as the religious leaders of the day who thought of themselves very highly.

The story goes that there was a father that had two sons. The younger son asked the father for his inheritance to be given to him early. This is the equivalent of the son wishing that his father was already dead so that he could have his money. He wanted the money, not his father. The father gave his son the money, and he spent all of it on extravagant living. Eventually the money ran out and the son was to the point that he was feeding pigs and longed for the food that they were getting. At that point, the son realized that his father treated his servants way better than this, so he devised a plan. He would go and beg his father to allow him to be a servant in his house. When he returned, before the son could even start to plead with his father, the father embraced him. He gave the son his finest rings and robe and threw a party for him.

This is when the older son comes into the story.

This son had worked for his father his entire life. He expected to receive everything after the father died, but since his brother came home, his inheritance would be severely diminished. Again. He was angry that his brother was being celebrated while he had been perfect his entire life and wasn't ever celebrated. He too had the attitude of using his father and not enjoying him. He wanted the money, not his father.

Back to the book. The younger brother represented the sinners and tax collectors while the older represented the religious leaders. Some of the things that Keller points out in his book were incredibly convicting. He wrote the book for people looking into Christianity, new Christians, and old/seasoned Christians. For each group there is something to learn.

Some of the most convicting parts were when Keller was talking about the older brother. I've realized that I am very much an older brother in that I am a rule follower and seek approval of my authorities all too often. I often live in fear of not being good enough even though I know in my head that I don't have to be "good enough". That's why Jesus came. Because I can't be good enough. But He was. Praise the Lord! 

If you have any time on your hands or are looking to pick up a book, please read this one! I'm praying that through what was revealed to me, that God will change me to be more like Him.

Love y'all!

Missions Week!

Hello all! This week Jhi is attempting something that we've never done before. In the past, Jhi has taken students on missions trips to such places as New York and Guatemala. After I graduated eighth grade, I was privileged to be able to go on the trip to Guatemala, and my mom was a chaperone. It was one of the best experiences in my life, and I constantly wish that I could go back. This year they decided to do a missions trip but stay in good old GA. This allowed the trip to be less expensive AND for the kids to see the poverty that is so close to them. We don't have to go to another country to be able to serve people in need.

The kids arrived Monday morning excited as well as the staff. I was put in charge of check-in (as you can see below) and got to meet everyone first! It's always funny to see the different ways the kids react to their parents saying goodbye: hugging, eye-rolling, ignoring, etc. Anyway, after a short training and devotions, we loaded the vans and headed to The Corners. The Corners is a trailer park kind of area, but we are partnering with a ministry called Corners Outreach. During the school year, they have tutoring after school everyday and a camp on Saturdays. During the summer though, they have a camp for Kindergarten-5th graders. Then 6th-8th graders who live in The Corners are allowed to be counselors. They have the camp for about 9 weeks during the summer and many other churches partner with them to help put the camp on. Obviously Jhi is helping this week. One of their main purposes in having this camp is so that the kids will not learn all of the progress that they've made over the school year in math and reading. It is proven that if students can't read by the 3rd grade that they are SEVEN times more likely to be incarcerated or be involved in prostitution. That's why we have the Reading station that I mention later, just in case you were wondering.

We arrived at The Corners and as soon as we got out of the vans, we were greeted with loud camp songs. All of the kids, led by Mr. Terry, were singing and dancing to songs at the top of their lungs, and we were able to join them! The kids were then split into three groups: Kindergarten and 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and 4th and 5th. Each group went to one of our four stations: Reading, Crafts, Games, and Gospel Sharing. Okay fine, they went to three and one of the stations was open (which gave an awesome break to each of us at a different time). I am in charge of the Crafts station because of other projects I've been doing for Jhi so far, but it's been fun! The first day we had birdhouses that were almost like a 3D puzzle that they could color and then put together. We all ate lunch and then played some random games until it was time to go. Then we packed up and headed back to the church. We had a quick debrief with our students, planned for the next day, had a staff meeting, and then went home! Yay! I was exhausted so I definitely had no problems falling asleep.

Day two was very similar to the first except that we started with doughnuts for the other girl intern's birthday! Side note: her name is Rachel also. It makes for some very confusing conversations. Anyway, back to the kids. The kids signed in, met, blah blah blah. With the kids that day we decided to use foam crosses, crumple up small squares of tissue paper, and glue them on in a pattern. Some kids took a painstakingly long amount of time while others *cough: the boys: cough, cough* sped through the craft. Thankfully, I had thought ahead and printed out some coloring sheets just in case that happened. The rest of the day went on without a hitch. I feel like the kids had a better handle on how things went and were able to really engage with the other kids. Repeat the first day's activities when we left The Corners. 

Day three was great as well. It was supposed to rain and all it did was sprinkle a little bit! Praise the Lord! Crafts today consisted of using scrapbook paper to make cards for the kids' parents. They enjoyed it for a while, but it quickly turned into origami (which I was totally okay with). I made so many airplanes and cranes! The picture below shows how much fun we've been having. We were playing freeze tag but in order to unfreeze someone, you were supposed to jump over them. I was tagged, so I bent down for someone to jump over me. This is what happened instead. These kids are precious. Each of us on staff as well as our Jhi students have created some incredible relationships with these kids and I hope that Jhi can do this again next year!

Prayer Requests: 

It's supposed to rain for the next two days so PLEASE pray that it doesn't! And if it does, that we'll make the most of it anyway :)

Prayers are always needed for servants' hearts and joyful spirits!

Friday we're taking our Jhi students to White Water so you can pray for safety through that as well as anything else that you can possibly think of.

"God Day"

Once a month we have something called a "God Day". I was told that we were just supposed to do things that we enjoyed and spend time with God which sounds wonderful. Well, it was. I slept in (because I REALLY enjoy that) and then got up and went on a run at a cute park near my house. They have a really nice trail with multiple different paths which kept the run interesting. I really do enjoy running, but I was also using an interval training app on my phone which pushed me pretty hard so at times I felt like cussing... Oops! Probably not exactly the best thing when you're supposed to be spending time with God. BUT, the weather was incredible and the trails were beautiful so I did appreciate that! 

Then I treated myself to lunch at Chick-fil-a. It was perfect! I knew that I wanted a salad because I had already had the asian salad and loved it. I decided to go with the Grilled Market salad, and it was SO good! The granola, nuts, and zesty apple cider vinaigrette was absolutely amazing and just what I was craving. Isn't that the best feeling? When you're craving something, but you don't know what it is, and then you get it! Yum. I've already gone back and gotten another one. And now I'm hungry again.

Anyway, back to God Day. I got ready and went to Barnes and Noble. That is seriously one of my favorite places to go whether it's to study, meet and friend to talk, or just sit and read with a yummy drink of course! (My go to drinks right now are Starbucks instant caramel iced coffee or their passion iced tea lemonade. Mmmmmm.) I was able to sit for hours and work on some books that I've been wanting to read. Specifically: Prodigal God by Tim Keller. (Book review coming soon!) I also got to spend some time in the Word and journal for a while. It was so nice and relaxing (except when different groups of teenagers would come and talk loudly around me at which point I wanted to yell "WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS AND DO THEY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?!" but I suppressed my inner old person and put in head phones.) 

I ended my day with some incredible finds from Trader Joe's: hummus, pita chips, and dark chocolate with caramel and black sea salt. So yummy! I also got to babysit two precious children that are right up there with my nieces and nephews on the list of kids that I love to babysit. Seriously, adorable. The family has a baby and after feeding her, she just fell asleep in my arms  while I watched Psych. Perfect end to the night.

This day encompassed some of my absolute favorite things in life. Sleep, exercise, food, reading, spending time with the Lord, and babies. Almost the perfect day!

*Did anyone else notice how much I talked about food in this post? Not sorry that I love food!

Week 3 Already?!

Hey y'all! I cannot believe that I have already finished 1/5th of my internship! I thought that it would be a struggle to get up early in the morning and go to work all day, but I absolutely love it. Well, maybe not the getting up early part. But I do love the structure that having a full time job brings.

I'm all about structure as my past roommates could probably tell you. (Sorry Dev, Emily, and Alex!) I like to have everything in its place. And what do I do when I have a lot to think about or am stressed? I clean. And organize. And reorganize. It doesn't matter what it is: drawers, closets, craft stuff, bookshelves, everything. It somehow calms me. And there were even a couple of times this past year that I would have so much to think about that I would clean all of my 1/4th of the room and then move on to other people's areas. Oops! Sorry again, roomies!

The structured part of me also loves routines. I have the same routine every morning and every night. I've been in the bad habit of watching Netflix (specifically Psych right now) until late at night because let's be honest, it's way to easy to press the "next episode" button. Anyway, recently I've been trying to keep myself from looking at any time of screen (tv, laptop, or iPad) for at least an hour before I go to bed. I'm using that time to get in my fun/personal reading (instead of reading for work), get ready for bed, do devotions, etc. This allows me to slow down at the end of my day as well as make sure that I'm working through my personal reading list.

Quick side note: I just finished reading Emma by Jane Austin and loved it. Of course, I knew that I would because I love all of the movies and loved Pride and Prejudice. Part of me wants to read through all of Jane Austin's books in a row, but the other part wants to spread them out and read some other books. Do y'all have any good suggestions?

Now for the getting up early part. Am I scatterbrained or what?! I have a rough time waking up, like most people, and was in the habit of pressing the snooze button multiple times. One of the main problems with that though, was that I would forget how many times I had pressed snooze. It would be the fifth time I was pressing it (with 5 minute intervals) and think it was only the third time. I was then rushing around trying to get ready which just starts of my day wrong. I decided that that needed to change and ideally I would say that I bought a Jawbone UP bracelet, but sadly I did not. (I've been craving that bracelet ever since my favorite blogger did a review on it.) But, I did go with a cheaper option. I found an app on my phone called SleepBot and it's been so helpful! I set my alarm to go off at 7:00 AM and press "Going to sleep...". Then I place my phone on the bed next to me and go to sleep. Through the night it tracks my movement (and even records noises during the night if you want it to. How cool if you talk during your sleep!). Then, in the morning, it wakes me up when I'm at the most shallow part of my REM cycle and within 30 minutes before my alarm. So when I set my alarm for 7:00 AM, it will wake me up between 6:30 and 7:00 AM. The first morning I tried it, I heard the alarm and went to press snooze (as a terrible habit). Before I hit the button though, I realized that I was awake and didn't need it! I've been using it for 9 days now and it really does work! I can also go back through my log and see each day individually (with a graph of my movement, sound recordings, duration of sleep, sleep time, wake time, a star rating of how well I slept, and notes of what I dreamed of which can be pretty funny), or I can see a trend of every day in a month and how I'm doing with my sleep. I've set a goal in the app of sleeping at least 8 hours every night and it lets me know if I have a sleep debt and the average amount I sleep every night. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I love all of these stats! This app is for an android phone, but there are tons for iPhones as well. Let me know if you try one and how it goes!

Final note: I really enjoy getting comments and feedback because then I feel like I'm talking to people instead of just myself :) Also, I'm always looking for book suggestions or blog topic suggestions! So ask questions about my internship or life or anything, and you'll be helping me out!

Book Review: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

A lot of my internship includes learning whether it's about ministry, myself, or the great God I serve. Part of my job includes reading three books and writing a small paper on what I thought about it and what I learned and this was my first book.

It's call The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni. It's not necessarily a Christian book, but I think that it was very beneficial to read. Lencioni described the five dysfunctions through telling a story of a company. They had an extremely dysfunctional executive board that did not work together well. That same company decided to bring in a woman named Kathryn to help them become a team and be more competitive in their market. I have to say that this was much easier to read than if Lencioni had simply written about the dysfunctions and how to fix them. I found myself engaged in the story and able to identify with some of the team members. It also helped me to picture what these dysfunctions looked like on our staff and how I could be a better teammate. 

The five dysfunctions include:

1. Absence of Trust which leads to Invulnerability

2. Fear of Conflict which leads to Artificial Harmony

3. Lack of Commitment which leads to Ambiguity

4. Avoidance of Accountability which leads to Low Standards

5. Inattention to Results which leads to Status and Ego

Kathryn was definitely my favorite character. She had so much wisdom throughout the entire process of creating a team. Lencioni let us in on her past as well that helped her to gain that wisdom. She was a volleyball player, a teacher, a mom, and a business woman. All of her different experiences allowed her insight into different situations and gave her the authority to speak into the teammates' lives. She also employed incredible restraint when in meetings. She allowed the teammates to fight things out when necessary. I envy her ability to restrain herself when leading meetings. I struggle with that because 1) I like to control things and 2) I like to talk. I'm working on it though, and hopefully this summer I will learn and grow a lot!

The way that Lencioni explains everything is so easy to follow and I really enjoyed it. Our whole staff is reading it together and we will have a meeting to discuss it, so I'm excited to see what other people thought as well. 

Good morning! I've created this blog because so many people have asked about my internship, and this seemed like the best way to keep everyone updated. I am working this summer as the Jhi intern at Perimeter Church in Johns Creek. Jhi is the middle school ministry here which goes perfectly with my major (middle school education). I guess first I'll start with some background info:

I've gone to Perimeter for my entire life and in middle school always attended the Jhi programs. Through those programs I became extremely close with the staff and loved everyone there so when I went to high school I didn't want to leave them. I ended up staying involved with Jhi as a volunteer for their Friday night program called the Bricks (where students can come and hang out with their friends, get food/drinks from the cafe, climb a rock wall, play games, etc.) and leading different discipleship groups. Through this God showed me my passion for middle schoolers and I was able to decide that I wanted to be a middle school teacher. Now fast forward to about two months ago...

I've kept up with the Jhi staff, but it's gone through quite a few changes in the past two years that I've been at UGA. Anyway, I got a call saying that the staff was considering me to be the summer intern, but I needed to send in an application with my resume and have an interview. This was completely a God thing because until that moment I had been planning on staying in Athens and taking classes. Instead, I sent in that application and the process was starting! Long story short, I had my interview when I was home one weekend, loved the staff, and was offered the job that same day! This incredible blessing was just placed in my lap.

I'm already finishing up my second week out of ten being the intern and I love it. I love the staff that I get to work with, wearing actual clothes rather than norts (nike shorts) and t-shirts, and doing anything that they need me to do. I'm mostly doing very intern-ish jobs such as typing, stapling, running errands, etc. but I love it. I'm learning more about myself and the way that I work best and I can't wait to see how the summer goes!

One of the first jobs I was given was to create 3 personal and 3 ministry goals for myself for this summer and one of the goals was to keep a blog and update it twice a week, so y'all can hold me to it! Please let me know if there are any questions I can answer as I'm not the most creative person, and I'm definitely NOT naturally a writer. I'm working on it though!

Prayer Requests:
1. That God would lead me toward the students that He wants me to create relationships with.
2. That I would have a servant's heart even through the mundane tasks.
3. That my heart would be malleable so that God can do great things through me this summer.