The Week in Review

This week went well, but seemed to be pretty busy. Wednesday, I went to a young adult event that was being put on by another Lutheran church in DC. It was a fun gathering with some very nice people and great conversation. Thursday, I rented a U-Haul to move some donated furniture to my house for the youth room in my basement. I survived driving a U-Haul in DC and now I think I could drive a U-Haul anywhere! Friday, I went to Virginia to meet up with some friends from seminary that are also on internship. It was great to discuss internship with each other and to see familiar people. Saturday, the youth served their monthly meal to the men at our shelter. We went shopping for the ingredients, prepared the meal of tacos, and enjoyed the meal with the men. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and service. Today, I preached for the second time today at Internship. If you would like to read the sermon you can find it on my other blog, Preaching Bytes. The day was finished off with lunch, my post-church nap, and a bit of relaxing!

Sign Language

I have always wanted to learn sign language. I even have a few books about it, but I have never actually been able to learn it. Today, I was reminded of my desire to know sign language. A young man came to the church today. He was deaf, so we had to communicate by writing on a piece of paper. It made me so sad that I could not communicate with him in sign language. He was lost, out of money, and his SmartTrip for the metro was out of money. I pointed him to the bus stop and gave him $5.00. He ended our written conversation by writing, "God Bless You and Thank You!" I left sad, wishing I knew sign language. I also left wondering if I had just given in to someone who really was not deaf, who was not lost, and who was going to use my $5.00 on something other than fare for the Metro. So, I am trusting in God and not leaning on my own understanding. He was lost, but now is found. He was without Metro fare, but now he has some. He was deaf, but now has been heard.

Food Pantry

St. Paul's has a food pantry that is open twice a month on Saturday mornings. I was not busy this Saturday, so I thought I would check it out! There were about six volunteers that were there to help coordinate the food pantry. We moved all the food out to tables and then the clients came down in groups of three to "shop" the food pantry. As they entered the pantry we walked them through each station letting the know how much they could take from each table. We served nearly 45 families. The people that came to the food pantry were mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandpas, grandmas, children, Hispanic, Caucasian, old, young, and the list goes on and on. It was certainly a blessing to be able to provide food to God's people. We were able to give from the abundance we have been given from God to those who live in scarcity. Indeed, this was God's work, our hands!

Kids Do The Cutest Things

As many of you probably know, I love children. I love the things that children say and do. Often I think I will remember these little things, but I do not have enough memory space. So, maybe if I blog about it I will remember it.

Last Sunday during worship I was distributing bread during communion. Since I have only helped with communion twice, I am still trying to figure out which kids take communion and which ones do not. This little girl came forward with her arms crossed across her body signaling to me that she did not take communion. I gave her a blessing saying, "May the Lord bless and keep you each and every day of your life. Amen." She wrapped her little arms around my legs and gave me a hug. She was so thankful for the words of blessing that had been spoken to her.

In Matthew 18:3-4, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." May we all be as thankful as children!

Sunday!

This Sunday was my first time preaching at St. Paul's. Overall, I think it went really well and I heard a lot of great feedback from the congregation. If you would like to read my sermon, feel free to check it out at Preaching Bytes.

After church I headed to pick up Elizabeth and then we headed to Haymarket, VA. Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church meets in the firehouse in Haymarket, VA. Today was a very special day for this congregation as they welcomed Pastor Mark as their new pastor. It was a great day to celebrate with Mark and some of the seminary community.

Then Elizabeth and I headed out for supper. We stopped at Anita's, which serves "New Mexico Style" Mexican food. It was very tasty and a wonderful time to catch up with a great friend.

I headed home only to be lead on a scenic route that I was certain would take me much longer than the roads I had taken on my way to VA. However, it was quicker and had much less traffic and I only took about three wrong turns. The GPS is on my good side at the end of this day!

I was pretty exhausted when I got home and as I was coming into the house I accidentally pressed the "panic" button on my home security system. I frantically called the number to report a false alarm. After identifying myself and providing them with my password they told me they would cancel the alarm. Thinking that this meant that it was all taken care of I put my pajamas on and called my mom to chat about the day. As I was doing that I saw bright flashing lights out my window. It was a DC police officer. So, I left the house to go talk to him. He asked for my drivers license to prove that I lived there. I brought him my ID and his response was, "You are from South Dakota! How do I know you live here?" I had no idea how to prove that I lived here. Then I remember that I had a paycheck from the church with my address. Hooray! I proved that I lived there and then another police officer arrived. Holy Buckets! They sat outside my house for another fifteen minutes or so, which made me a bit nervous. The moral of this story is that I feel safe and secure with my home security system. I can barely prove that I live in my house, so no one else should be able to!

Here's to an exciting and exhausting Sunday!

My 1st Week!

So I now have my first full week of internship under my belt and I have a few updates for y'all!

1. I don't feel like I live in Washington, DC. I feel more like I live in a suburb, because there is nothing in my area that screams DC.

2.I find myself looking up a lot. As I walk around this city my eyes are always drawn upward. I think it is because I cannot see the horizon, so I scope out the large buildings that prevent me from seeing the horizon.

3. I am dependent on the Internet. I still do not have Internet at my house, so I am only able to use it at work. It is almost as if I get bored at home, because of the lack of Internet in my life. I have resorted to watching movies. Hopefully the Internet will be working by next week.


4. Hairspray has the ability to aid in killing a wasp. This bugger was in my house last week and I didn't know how to kill him. My mom graciously searched the Internet for a solution. Sorry, little wasp. RIP.

5. I wore my clerical collar to church on Sunday. This is my third time ever wearing it and my first time wearing it in DC.

6. I ate at Comet Ping Pong on Sunday. They have great pizza and ping pong tables for entertainment. It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

All in all, I think the first week went well. Now, back to working on my sermon for this Sunday.

Welcome to DC!

Well, I made it here safely on July 23rd. My mom made the trek across the country with me and helped me get settled into my new house. While we were traveling we played a game to find a license plate from every state. We found all but 5 states: Hawaii; New Hampshire; Alabama; Wyoming, and Rhode Island. In DC my mom and I went to Target, Safeway, CVS, Politics and Prose, Bread and Chocolate, Chipotle, The Cheesecake Factory, and to Lucky Nails (for my mom's first pedicure).

Mom headed out on Wednesday, July 28th and I started working at the church. I am mostly settled into my office and my house, but it is all taking some getting used to. It is crazy to have a 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom house in Washington, DC all to myself. At the church my office is kind of off the beaten path, but that means it is pretty quiet. I even have my own bathroom in my office!

After being at the church for two days I took off with part of the youth for a retreat in Deep Creek Lake, MD. It was a fantastic trip with some really wonderful young people. We spent time on the lake and the youth even talked me into going tubing, which made every muscle in my body hurt for several days. I also got a nice sunburn to go along with the body aches. On the way home, the girls in my vehicle wanted to stop at a gas station. So, I took them to Sheetz for their very first Sheetz experience. It was really funny to watch them be so excited over a gas station, but all I could do was remember my first time at Sheetz!

My hope is to keep this blog going throughout the year to keep y'all informed of my adventures. So, more to come...