First Two Weeks

As of this Thursday I will have officially been working at my internship for 2 weeks. :) It honestly feels like I have been here for months. I've learned SO much in these two weeks it has just blown my mind, and the learning shows no signs of slowing down. I LOVE it. There have obviously been some curve balls in the mix with new observations/life realizations I've come to after getting a glimpse behind the scenes of ministry, but overall it has been great. What have I been up to?? EVERYTHING. I've sat through many meetings with some big time people (President of Manhattan Christian College, GM of Lexus), had LOTS of conversations with people who have years of life experience and just picked their brains for wisdom/stories/advice, shadowed two different areas of ministry within the church and just started on my third today, met at least 200 people personally and actually remembered about a dozen of their names, moved in with my new host family who have been more than welcoming and have graciously opened up their doors/kitchen to me, and ran into some road blocks/emotional moments that life just throws at my in general.

I'm in a very big transitional place in my life right now and I have a feeling that by this time next year I will feel like I've grown into a brand new person. We focus on a lot of "self-awareness" in this internship so I am in the process of taking some personality tests, reading several books I've been given, and analyzing myself to see where/how I work best. I get along SO well with our Senior Pastor and that has been such an encouragement to me. I've noticed about myself that for every positive thought I have in my mind, I have 7 negative ones that force me to doubt everything about myself. (ie Do I have the right motives/Am I really a bad person/I'm selfish/Fat/etc, etc, etc!) So, it has been a constant struggle to keep my eyes on Christ and not let all those other things get in my way. It's interesting when you step into ministry, your accountability level SKYROCKETS and you are ALWAYS turned "on" to make sure you are keeping yourself in check. It is quite exhausting so I'm trying my hardest to just be real and open and gel the two better. I could honestly write a novel with all I've learned and what I have been up to since I started, so I won't go on much longer.

My areas of focus the first 8 week of my internship are: Follow our First Impressions Ministry (deal with all of our volunteers, ushers, greeters, communion prep, traffic controllers), Develop the "win" leaders of our Neighborhood Ministry (This will be a huge role I see myself filling and possibly blending in some pastoral care, or "counseling", into the mix), and spend 2 weeks following our Pastoral Care Ministry (counseling). LOOOOOTS OF LEARNING going on here.

The number one question I've been asked by each and every person I meet is, "So, are you dating anybody?" Ohhhh goodness, ya'll. It's like being "fresh meat" on campus all over again. The good news is, the father of the family I live with is a big black dude who is on the bomb squad for the Glendale Police Department and he straight up tells everyone to back off. :) Everyone knows who Tony is at the church and they all respect him tremendously, as do I, and so it is great to be living with a family who has got my back and can stand up for me. My priorities this year are focusing on my internship and growing in my relationship with God. I cannot even imagine throwing dating into the mix-- I think my brain would straight up explode. So, POPS, you don't have anything to worry about:)

LOOOVE you ALL and thank you SOOO much for your prayer and support!
Emily Jane:)