Mansion Meeting

Every week in the house we have a meeting and spend an hour focused on something spiritual and then discuss pertinent things pertaining to community living. We decided for this quarter to spend each week having one person share their testimony in the house; it has been so good. I love it because all of the girls have been really real about their experiences-not saying what sounds good or what people may want/expect to hear but what their experience has really been like. Also, last night...because our lives are actually incredibly busy and we don't get to stop and talk to people much, we decided to go around and listen to how everyone's quarter has been so far. I was so blessed by this. People were really real about what it's been like; some were rejoicing and some were in tears. I really enjoyed this time.

Chili & Cornbread

Tonight at the mansion we ate vegetarian chili and cornbread:) Sooo good. I love eating delicious food with my housemates.

Core

Core is a small group bible study that we (My co-leader and I) lead in the dorms on campus. Tonight we had a really good discussion. In John 6:44, 65 Jesus tells the crowds following him that "no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.." and "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." This brought about a discussion about the role of God in a person's salvation and our role in believing. What do YOU think?

Learning to live in community

I have a sense that this topic is gonna come up a lot in my conversation this year; and really, I don't care because that IS my experience this year. And not just a small part-a REALY REALLY big part. I am blessed to be a part of something that began a long long time ago...a vision, to allow people to live in community with one another relatively cheaply and learn the art of Christian love. Today we had what is called "The Home/Mansion Vision Party". It is where we get together for a couple hours and eat pizza and learn how these community houses came into existence. There is a lot of history behind it all and it makes me grateful to be a part of it. There has been a lot invested into creating an environment for believers to grow in love. If you're wondering what I mean, the fact is that you quickly find when you live with others that any selfish action you take effects the lives of everyone else you live with. When I don't put my hair in the trash in the community bathroom and you live in a house with 16 girls, a lot of hair piles up on the bathroom floor and sink. You have to take into consideration how every action effects others. When I don't take time to keep the house clean, everyone has to suffer as a result of it. When I eat all of our cheese in the house, no one else gets cheese for the week. When I talk all the time and don't listen, others don't get to be heard and don't feel loved. When I don't stop to be kind, others don't ever get to receive Christlike treatment, thus wondering if we actually try to be like Him or just pretend.

Environmentally Friendly

I'm sitting here in a coffee shop in Bellingham Washington, just two feet away from the bay that runs parallel to the city. I don't know where to throw my trash away because there are at least three different options for me to throw it in: compostable, non-compostable, recyclable.

Community

It's been two weeks since I've been here but it feels like so much longer! Something I am a big fan of so far is the sense of community here. I live in a ministry house with 16 girls and there is a guy's home with about 11 or 12 guys one house down from ours. I've been amazed at the level of service I've seen so far. Things stop being all about you in a place like this; they have to because otherwise the community would fall apart. Suddenly life, as it used to be centered around you, becomes about protecting the environment you live in with others and caring about the well-being of the people you live with. Community quickly makes you considerate of other people's needs and well-being. People include you in something they're doing, wash the dishes, they give you something they have, they help to explain something they know. I see how living in an environment like this helps develop in a person the character you wish to see in all people. I like community.

First Day

Remember your first day at your new job...first day of middle school, first day of camp, first day of your new sport. Today was my first day at something again. After living at home the past three years, living pretty comfortably...i've just been tossed into an internship program with 16 other girls all living in one house. It feels like being in the dorms all over again...girls everywhere, all the time. I'm not gonna lie...i wasn't used to it. My predominant feeling right now is OVERWHELMED! Like I've just been taken out of my comfort zone. These are all the experiences a new missionary faces on the field I'm sure times ten. What good training for future experiences...I feel like every journey I've been taken on so far is God teaching me what I need to know just so that I know but also to be ready to experience something else later on down the line. Adaptation and adjustment are never easy-God, thank you for stretching me...it's in my best interest for you to do so and you can never do anything but what is best for me.