Adjustments & New Things

Things are moving along in my internship, though not quite as quickly as I would like. Currently, I tend to be doing a whole lot of watching and waiting. And while it's been a good way to meet and get to know the congregation, I'm anxious to actually do some stuff on my own. In the meantime, I'll work on adjusting to some of the new things in my life, like ...

• juggling and keeping straight 9 new keys, 1 access card, and 1 access code
• living in a senior citizen condo community
• working at a church in a used-to-be-dangerous-but-not-as-dangerous-anymore neighborhood
• trying to get my Mac laptop to work, network, and print with all the PCs in the office
  

First Week of Internship Work

I survived the first week of my internship and this place is growing on me. The church is very different from the church I interned at this summer, so there's been an adjustment period. But I think that it'll be a good year.

I'll be doing a lot of pastoral care and have started to meet the older members of the congregation who are in the various nursing homes and assisted living centers around town. I've started attending the various committee and board meetings of the church (would the Presbyterian church function any other way?). I'll be assisting with the elementary youth group on Friday afternoons. I met the kids yesterday and had a blast with them. I'll be helping in worship every Sunday in some way. I'll be preaching 13 times over the next 11 months, including Christmas Eve, Easter sunrise and Pentecost. And I'll be helping with the various outreach ministries of the church, in particular with a reading/tutoring program.

And so, things have really begun ...

First Day of School

It’s the first day of classes at seminary today.

For the first time in my life, I am not heading back to school.

It’s weird.

A Time Full of Transitions

These last three weeks have been a blur.

I moved from my summer internship in small town Mississippi back to seminary in metro-Atlanta. I spent five days in Michigan so I could become a candidate and visit family. I came back to seminary to take ordination exams with my senior class. I spent a day and a half in Florida for a friend's wedding.

Now, I'm back at seminary. While the rest of the senior class is getting ready for their last year of seminary, I am packing to move to Florida for a year long internship. And doubts and questions abound. Did I make the right decision in deciding to do this internship and take an extra year to graduate from seminary? Will I like my placement? How do I handle all these transitions?