Strange Feeling...

I grew up in a public school system. Coming from this sort of setting I am used to my peers being from different faith backgrounds. Many of my friends from back home have views separate from mine. I have friends who are atheists, family members who are Buddhist, and a very good friend who is Jewish. Their religion, beliefs, and their customs do not change how I think of them in any way. Excluding the few kids in my youth group, all of my friends are Catholic.

Roberts Wesleyan likes to say that they accept people of all faith backgrounds here. However, I have not met many non-Christians that go to this school. During one of the first weeks of school one of my new friends said that they have never met a Jewish person. I was in shock, complete shock. I could not comprehend how she could live in this country, go to a public school, and never meet a Jewish person. I have noticed that many people here are quite open with their faith, others tend to shy away from it. 

I am not used to being around people who are so intense about their faith. In my group of friends I was always considered the "church girl". Although I am strong in my faith, being around the people here makes me feel a little out of place. It isn’t in anyway steering me away from being a Christian. I like to think that this school is strengthening it. However, even though it is towards the end of the first semester it still seems a little strange. 

Christmas is Coming...

Believe it or not, that time of the year is approaching quickly. It is just around the corner, a mere 49 days away. As everyone starts to prepare for Christmas this year I ask you all to remember this one question... What is Christmas? I am asking anyone who is reading this to watch this video before they start making wish-lists and going overboard at the mall.

As much as I would like to pretend that I don't, I know that I fall into that category of "x-mas shop-a-holic" After watching this video I thought back to last year and realized how much of what I bought really didn't mean all that much. The gift that mattered the most was the donation of my time to others. The season of advent is all about giving. But has anyone ever stopped to think about whether or not we are giving the right thing? The people at adventconspiracy.org did. And guess what... most of us are not giving the right thing.

And so the countdown begins... 49 days. Welcome to the season. But just ask yourself... is this the season of spending and shopping? Or is this the season of love and worship?

Not Sure What to Think...

For my First-Year-Seminar class we are asked to write small personal responses to certain topics. I found this one to be “interesting” for lack of a better word. The one thing that really bugs me about this topic is the way it was worded. I feel that many people who attended this school are very “anti- every other religion but theirs.”

The question was: Your new roommates, friends, and even your professors probably do not share your theological background. "How are you responding to those around you who come from different Christian traditions -- or who, in fact, may not be people of faith?" Does this statement mean that everyone who does not have a Christian faith has no faith at all?

I wasn’t sure so I guess I sort of ignored the fact it pissed me off and just wrote this:

I grew up in a public school system. Coming from this sort of setting I am used to my peers being from different faith backgrounds. Many of my friends from back home have views separate from mine. I have friends who are atheists, family members who are Buddhist, and a very good friend who is Jewish. Their religion, beliefs, and their customs do not change how I think of them in any way. Excluding the few kids in my youth group, all of my friends are Catholic.

Roberts Wesleyan likes to say that they accept people of all faith backgrounds here. However, I would love to meet a non-Christian that goes to this school. During one of the first weeks of school one of my new friends said that they have never met a Jewish person. I was in shock, complete shock. I could not comprehend how she could live in this country, go to a public school, and never meet a Jewish person.

I have noticed that many people here are quite open with their faith, others tend to shy away from it. I am not used to being around people who are so intense about their faith. In my group of friends I was always considered the church girl. Although I am strong in my faith, being around the people here, I feel a little out of place. It isn’t in anyway steering me away from being a Christian. In fact, I think it is making my faith even stronger then it was before.

Heart & Soul Service Project

Last Sunday was one of the first service projects that I took part in since being at school. It was a program that is run through the Heart and Soul Church (a church in inner-city Rochester). This program gets a group of people together and delivers bags of groceries to needy families in

homes surrounding the church. Along with giving the family groceries the group also offers word of prayer. Most of these families are not actually members of the church, but sometimes the visits once a month will eventually create a strong bond and these families may start going to the church.

I have never been involved in a service project quite like this before. Although I have compared this project to the Midnight Run on more then one occasion. I felt almost awkward walking up to people’s houses asking

them if they could use some grocerys. I know that they were on a list because they have presented the need, but it still felt odd.

This was the first time I have ever flat out asked a person “is there anything I can pray for you about?” that was a new experience for me. All but one of the five houses we went to said that they were okay and that they did not need any prayers for the day. Even though they said this, I still prayed for them.

I learned something new about myself. I never realized that I was such an observant person. I noticed small details about the house and even the person. None of those houses were in that great of condition yet many of them still had notices up that they had a security system inside. I don’t want to be judgmentally in anyway, but I am not entirely sure if there really was. I also noticed most of the houses had someone in them wearing a work shirt (Wegman’s, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, etc.).

I have not been doing as much work in the community as I thought I would be since I have been at school. Lately I have been tied up with midterms, essays galore, issues with friends (I will probably explain this in another journal entry) and obviously the new adjustment to college life in general. I hope to soon become a part of the service group called “In Jesus’ Name” that frequently goes out into inner-city Rochester to feed the less fortunate.

My Letter to my Church

Since I have been at school I have tried to stay in touch with people from back home; including the congregation I have been a part of for the past eighteen years...

Last week sometime my minister from my home church asked me to write a paragraph that talked about how growing up in that church led me towards ministry. She said that it would tie into her sermon really well.

I started writing it in the mind set that I would only be writing a paragraph. It ended up being longer then both her and I expected. When I told her it was about a page she said she may end up just taking bits and pieces and paraphrasing it. I didn't have a problem with this...

About an hour after I emailed to her, I got a call. She said that there was only one thing she had a problem with; she wasn't sure she would be able to read it without crying. She had then told me how she loved it and she was planning on reading it "as is".

"This church has always been my second home. I was always a Sunday school go-er. Even though I wasn’t too thrilled to be dragged to church on Sunday mornings by my mother (in fact, I hated it). Along with this I was also an avid middle school youth group attendee. Although church was not “my thing” yet, I liked being a part of it all. Something changed my freshmen year of high school. This transformation began for me on the first day of confirmation when I began to learn about all the things I never paid attention to in Sunday school (funny how I ended up to be a Sunday school teacher huh?). When I started going to full church services I started to feel a part of the community our church holds.

I have never considered myself confident enough to get up and speak in front of a large group. Well, all of you changed that for me the first time I was liturgist. I thought I was terrible up there, but everyone came up to me afterwards and told me that I did great. Thank you for giving me this confidence. From the first mission trip I took part in to Abbeville Louisiana all the way to the most recent trip to Ecuador, this congregation has stood by me, stood by everyone. You all thanked me, and prayed for me. Thank you for keeping me going. You have entrusted so much in me, to teach you children, to serve you communion, and to serve others with along side you. I feel that all of that trust you gave to me created my most powerful trusts in God. Thank you for everything.

Part of me thought that I shouldn’t go there, that I couldn’t have possibly been called into ministry at such a young age. The following day, I heard this for the first time “I think divinity school my be somewhere in your future.” I smiled, laughed, and sort of shrugged and said something nonchalant like “Haha I’m not sure.” Shortly there after I got more and more questions and statements similar to the first. To be perfectly honest I am not quite sure why I never gave an honest response. It may have been because I am scared of disappointment. Not only in myself, but I was afraid to disappoint all of you.

God has put me on a longer path; I am first majoring in Education, because I feel as I was called to teach. And although I am not taking the direct path to ministry, I know that this congregation is here for me. After all, you are my second family. And if it wasn’t for you, I know I would not be where I am today."

Sunday morning (afternoon) when I woke up:

-Missed call and voicemail from my gramma at 8:24

-Missed call and voicemail from my mom's cell at 11:16

-Missed call and voicemail from home (a.k.a mom) at 12:12

They were very curious why I did not tell them not to go to church, because my grandmother almost didn't. My mom also told me how many people from the congregation that the letter affected. It feels weird not being there to be able to talk to them and to tell them all these things myself, but I am glad my words got to them in another way...

I Got In!!

I am very excited because last week I went to the first mandatory meeting for the mission trip to Mexico in February. Oh how I miss mandatory meetings (not really). This Wednesday will be the second meeting where the participants, all nine of us, will be bringing a letter that we wrote to send to family members and friends. In these letters we will be asking for money, some like to refer to them as donations to make it sound better. I am going to try to send a copy of this letter to my home church to see if anyone from my congregation would like to donate anything. I say this, but at the same time I feel weird asking because that congregation has supported me so much in the past and I feel strange asking for their support for a non-"that church" sponsored trip (if that made sense to anyone).

Anyways... I also put up a small decorated box (that is very pretty) in the kitchen on my floor. There are 22 girls that live on my floor so that kitchen gets quite a few people going in and out of it often. They all seem to be excited for me and were up for donating their daily spare change to the cause. I appreciate all of the donations I have gotten from them so far. And hopefully the donations I haven't gotten yet...haha. Every penny counts :)

Oh yeah... I almost forgot.

(please read in a cute baby voice)

Mommy... I love you, I am going to Mexico. Call me after you read this :)

The Next Many Years of my Life...

My mom finds it amusing how much of my life I have planned out. It isn’t that I have my life planned out year-by-year or anything; it is more of multiple years grouped together. After, graduation I plan on joined the Peace Corps (click here to read more!). Once my 27-month life changing experience is over I will hopefully begin my teaching career. A goal in my life is to someday teach back at my high school. However, I would enjoy starting out teaching somewhere down south. I have visited the south numerous times and that is somewhere I could definitely see myself living. If you know me well, you clearly know why I am saying this. And many people have expressed to me that it isn’t very difficult to get a teaching job down south with a New York state education.

Eventually…I am going to seminary. I was called into ministry, but I know He has other things in planned for my life before I get to that point. I want to go to Yale Seminary in New Haven, Connecticut. When I become a minister I would love to find a church near my hometown.

I realize that these are kind of different and spread out goals but this will basically be my life. Obviously, there is much wiggle room for certain things. You know, things like marriage, children, and the whole starting a family thing. But I do truly want to raise my children close to the area I was raised.