I remember time and time again, as a senior in college, hearing college graduates talk about things they wished they would have known before graduation. One of those things that makes the list every single time is that making friends outside of school is tough. A lot tougher than one might think. For the first time in our lives, as a fresh out of school grad, we are faced with everything new. Well, for the most part. Some may move back home, while others move across country, while some even move to a whole new country altogether. Nonetheless, each of us is experiencing something new. For me, this was a move to a new state, new town, new job, new house, new church (which is also my job), and even a new time zone.
Needless to say, there have been some ups and downs since graduation. At the start of summer life was what I would call a "normal" summer. I went to work at Village Creek, the place that I have called my summer job of the past three summers, and just did my thing. I was able to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones. But in general this summer was the same old summer. Nothing to dramatically new other than a different job title. I remember thinking, "Wow, those college grads got it all wrong with making friends post grad! I've made lots of friends!"Then I remember that I am not really in a typical job setting yet. The challenging, real life, big kid job was still ahead of me, as well as a move across the country.
Now that I have been living in Colorado for a little over a month I wish I could eat my thoughts from just two months ago. Making friends has proven to be a challenge and reality. Don't get me wrong I love my housemates and the people I work with. However, you do need friends outside of both the work and house environment. For me, the people at the house also happen to be awesome people that I work with everyday. With all that being said, if there was one thing that I wish I would have known before graduation it would be that making friends outside of school is tough. But I wouldn't leave it at that.
It didn't hit me until this past weekend how much I truly miss Taylor University and the wonderful people that I was able to do life with. I miss being able to wander the rooms of Third Center Olson and stop in to chat with each of the girls. I miss wing worship and "ding winners." I miss chapel. I miss, oddly enough, my classes. I miss the awesome 12 CE majors that were able to conquer the massive P. Strat paper with me. I miss the fellowship. I miss my professors who not only cared about my academics but cared for me as an individual. So, again, if there was one thing that I wish I would have known before graduation it would be that you don't realize how difficult it is to find a Taylor equivalent community until you realize the impact that the Taylor community has had on your life. This includes the friendships that were made. To be quite honest, I have been more homesick for Taylor over the past 24 hours than I have ever been. I thought I missed Taylor when it was the last day of summer and I couldn't wait to get back to my home away from home the next day. But I was wrong. I miss Taylor now more than anything.
With that being said, Taylor University, thank you for setting my standards for a Christian community so high. Thank you for challenging me beyond what I thought possible. Thank you for the memories and laughter and tears. Thank you for a beyond exceptional education that prepared me to work and serve with excellence at my current job. Thank you for an education that is grounded in Scripture and in Christ. Even though, I may have the 'post grad blues' right now. I am incredibly thankful that God gave me the opportunity to attend Taylor University and to be involved not only in the lives of those at Taylor but also involved in the Upland community. It is because of Christ that I can do anything and for Christ that I can do everything.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
One month down!
It's hard to believe that tomorrow marks the one month anniversary since moving to Colorado. At times it seems like I've been here for a lifetime and at other times I definitely feel like I've been here for a month. In the last couple of weeks I have started attending Merge, a ministry for Young Adults. Here is what I wrote on Facebook after my first night of Merge: Tonight I did something that I don't do. Like. Ever. I went to a young adult ministry at Flatirons tonight called Merge. About 300-400, 18-26 year olds gathered together for community and fellowship. Being the introvert that I am I was terrified to go. However, I knew that if I didn't go the only young adults I will ever meet during my time at Flatirons will be the other interns. I love the other interns. They are awesome. But I knew that going to Merge would need to happen if I'm going to start to make friends. So after the dinner and speaker time we split into groups by age and from there into smaller groups of 6-8. I told myself that if I'm going to make friends I need to talk during the small group portion. And that is just what I did. There were moments throughout the night where I thought "What the crap am I doing?" Then peace settled in. I know that if friendships are something that I truly desire out of people then God is going to help me each step of the way to make friends. I'm so thankful that I was able to step out of my comfort zone tonight to talk in a small group to a group of complete strangers. The even cooler thing is that we didn't just talk surface level stuff we actually started talking about our struggles and fears and where we lack trust for God to come through. Tonight, I am feeling incredibly exhausted from all the people I have been around but I'm also feeling incredibly filled. Ready to pour out and into those around me. I'm feeling incredibly thankful for the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life that prompted me to speak with vulnerability to people that I didn't know.
I wrote that post two weeks ago. Since then I have had the opportunity to go back to Merge and to go out to dinner after the Saturday night services with many other young adults. Slowly but surely I am starting to make friends and I'm feeling very confident that my efforts, that are stretching me out of my comfort zone, will not go to waste.
This past weekend I got to go the the Rockies game with one of my roommates, Anne. I had a great time getting to see a little bit of Denver and being in the baseball atmosphere. I love a good baseball game. Rockies won 15-2. There were also some awesome fireworks afterwards to end with a bang. Pun intended.
Later on that weekend I got to chat with one of my wonderful college roommates, Jenn, over Skype. It was so great getting to catch up with her. Ministry wise this weekend I served in the 3rd through 5th grade room. I got to lead a small group for both the 5:00pm and 6:45pm services. During the 6:45pm service I was even lead in the classroom. I have absolutely loved being able to lead small groups for the kids. I love being able to see them engaged with the Bible stories and excited about what they are learning. I also got to take lead of the explanation of the small group activity during the leader meetings. It was nice to be able to step into this role to begin building the trust and respect of the elementary team as well as being able to interact more with the leaders. For the Sunday services I helped lead the small group portion of the leader meetings and then attended service and a leader training meeting.
This past Monday we had one of our first "family dinners". The boys came over and cooked spaghetti and meatballs for us. We had a great time just sitting around the table fellowshipping with one another. There are always good laughs to be had when you get our group of interns together.
This week I started a focus in Student Ministries. This means that for the next two weeks I will spend 5-10 hours a week working with Student Ministries. Last night I got to attend Revolution, the high school youth group. I had a great time getting to sit in on a small group of freshman girls. Hearing about what is going on in their lives and being reminded of the drama that comes with high school and how awesome my youth leaders were and are for putting up with our oh so important drama. So if you were one of my youth leaders reading this. THANK YOU! Tonight I will get to attend Controlled Chaos, the junior high youth group. I've heard that there is a huge difference between what I experienced last night and what I will experience tonight. I'm excited to see how crazy and energetic this 6th-8th graders are.
Overall, I've really enjoyed my time at Flatirons so far. I have loved the work environment and the other interns. One of my favorite parts of the week other than the child interaction has been the all staff devos on Tuesday mornings. I love being able to listen to the ministry stories from other departments and spend time in prayer and worship through singing. I also love that it just starts my work day on Tuesday with an awesome start. I've enjoyed getting to learn more about the ins and outs of the elementary department in Summit Kids Ministry.
Prayer Requests:
I've been struggling to find a time of the day that I can devote to spending time in the Word. If I do it in the morning I'm not awake enough. If I do it after work I'm exhausted from a long day. So I guess that leads to praying for sleep. I've been having difficulty sleeping for a couple of nights now. Since being involved this week with student ministries it means I have some late nights which doesn't help because my start time in the morning stays the same. At the end of October I will be going on Merge's CO3 weekend retreat in Estes Park. I'd love prayer for all of the young adults who will be going as well as prayer that it would be an influential weekend for me to get to know more people and be able to spend some time enjoying the mountains and learning more about my walk with the Lord.
I wrote that post two weeks ago. Since then I have had the opportunity to go back to Merge and to go out to dinner after the Saturday night services with many other young adults. Slowly but surely I am starting to make friends and I'm feeling very confident that my efforts, that are stretching me out of my comfort zone, will not go to waste.
This past weekend I got to go the the Rockies game with one of my roommates, Anne. I had a great time getting to see a little bit of Denver and being in the baseball atmosphere. I love a good baseball game. Rockies won 15-2. There were also some awesome fireworks afterwards to end with a bang. Pun intended.
Later on that weekend I got to chat with one of my wonderful college roommates, Jenn, over Skype. It was so great getting to catch up with her. Ministry wise this weekend I served in the 3rd through 5th grade room. I got to lead a small group for both the 5:00pm and 6:45pm services. During the 6:45pm service I was even lead in the classroom. I have absolutely loved being able to lead small groups for the kids. I love being able to see them engaged with the Bible stories and excited about what they are learning. I also got to take lead of the explanation of the small group activity during the leader meetings. It was nice to be able to step into this role to begin building the trust and respect of the elementary team as well as being able to interact more with the leaders. For the Sunday services I helped lead the small group portion of the leader meetings and then attended service and a leader training meeting.
This past Monday we had one of our first "family dinners". The boys came over and cooked spaghetti and meatballs for us. We had a great time just sitting around the table fellowshipping with one another. There are always good laughs to be had when you get our group of interns together.
This week I started a focus in Student Ministries. This means that for the next two weeks I will spend 5-10 hours a week working with Student Ministries. Last night I got to attend Revolution, the high school youth group. I had a great time getting to sit in on a small group of freshman girls. Hearing about what is going on in their lives and being reminded of the drama that comes with high school and how awesome my youth leaders were and are for putting up with our oh so important drama. So if you were one of my youth leaders reading this. THANK YOU! Tonight I will get to attend Controlled Chaos, the junior high youth group. I've heard that there is a huge difference between what I experienced last night and what I will experience tonight. I'm excited to see how crazy and energetic this 6th-8th graders are.
Overall, I've really enjoyed my time at Flatirons so far. I have loved the work environment and the other interns. One of my favorite parts of the week other than the child interaction has been the all staff devos on Tuesday mornings. I love being able to listen to the ministry stories from other departments and spend time in prayer and worship through singing. I also love that it just starts my work day on Tuesday with an awesome start. I've enjoyed getting to learn more about the ins and outs of the elementary department in Summit Kids Ministry.
Prayer Requests:
I've been struggling to find a time of the day that I can devote to spending time in the Word. If I do it in the morning I'm not awake enough. If I do it after work I'm exhausted from a long day. So I guess that leads to praying for sleep. I've been having difficulty sleeping for a couple of nights now. Since being involved this week with student ministries it means I have some late nights which doesn't help because my start time in the morning stays the same. At the end of October I will be going on Merge's CO3 weekend retreat in Estes Park. I'd love prayer for all of the young adults who will be going as well as prayer that it would be an influential weekend for me to get to know more people and be able to spend some time enjoying the mountains and learning more about my walk with the Lord.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Week One; Done
It's hard to believe that week one is already behind me! I survived! Here are some highlights from the past week.
-All staff devos. Super cool. The whole staff gathers every Tuesday morning to tell ministry stories from the past week. After a while of stories one staff member shares a devo and then we sing some worship songs and then take up prayer requests and end our time in prayer. It's such a cool time for all of us to come together and fellowship with one another.
-On Saturday I started my first weekend in Summit Kid's Ministry. I started off by attending the Leadership meeting for all CM staff and then headed to the volunteer leader meeting for the babies hub. After that I went to the 5:00pm service and then came back to serve in the 11-14 month classroom. Yes, they separate their nursery by months. It blows my mind! But I got to play with toddlers and feed them goldfish and clean a wet diaper. It was fun. Nothing new during that hour however.
-On Sunday, Summit hosted the Leader Palooza to show our appreciation for the 500+ volunteers and their families. I spent all morning loading up pick up trucks and unloading pick up trucks to bring the supplies to the local park. One of the bigger tasks I had of the day was constructing a balloon arch. It was pretty sweet, although a little frustrating at first because the helium wasn't working. It turned out pretty awesome as seen in the picture below. At the end of the day I was exhausted but the event was super successful and the leaders were very appreciative of the event.
-Yesterday I started with the elementary team. I will be with them for the next month before I rotate to a new area in Summit. I'm excited for what this month will hold as I continue to grasp what a day in the life of a Summit intern will look like.
-As interns, each month we are responsible for reading one book as a group. Every Wednesday morning we gather and discuss the reading that was assigned. We are currently reading Deep and Wide: Creating Churches that Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley. I have really enjoyed this book so far. One of the things that is discussed in the book is Grace and Truth and how most of the churches out there today are not that welcoming to people who have never attended church before and live lives that are in desperate need of grace and truth. I have really enjoyed reading this book because it is helping me to better understand why Flatirons does what they do. I'm learning that in all churches alike there is always going to be a difficulty between people because we are all sinful and broken and in need of Jesus. I'm looking forward to seeing how God is going to move during this year at Flatirons and looking forward to seeing God's grace and truth revealed to his people.
-Another new part added to my life, as if moving 14 hours from home and starting a new job and a new state wasn't enough, I decided to join a gym. Luckily for me it only costs me $5 a month! WHAT A DEAL!?!?! All of my housemates are also a part of the gym so we try to go together when our schedule allows us. I love being able to add this part into my schedule. When I leave work at 5 I don't have to do homework so I actually have time to spend an hour at the gym every day.
-We also got internet at our house this week. To celebrate we watched Mean Girls on Netflix. We also took a celebratory picture of all of us together in the house at the same time!
Prayer Requests
-Continued growth in relationships with my housemates and other interns
-The ability to be a sponge and take in everything that I am experiencing
-Making a consistent time in my day to spend in God's word
-Begin to make friendships with people who are outside of the intern world
-All staff devos. Super cool. The whole staff gathers every Tuesday morning to tell ministry stories from the past week. After a while of stories one staff member shares a devo and then we sing some worship songs and then take up prayer requests and end our time in prayer. It's such a cool time for all of us to come together and fellowship with one another.
-On Saturday I started my first weekend in Summit Kid's Ministry. I started off by attending the Leadership meeting for all CM staff and then headed to the volunteer leader meeting for the babies hub. After that I went to the 5:00pm service and then came back to serve in the 11-14 month classroom. Yes, they separate their nursery by months. It blows my mind! But I got to play with toddlers and feed them goldfish and clean a wet diaper. It was fun. Nothing new during that hour however.
-On Sunday, Summit hosted the Leader Palooza to show our appreciation for the 500+ volunteers and their families. I spent all morning loading up pick up trucks and unloading pick up trucks to bring the supplies to the local park. One of the bigger tasks I had of the day was constructing a balloon arch. It was pretty sweet, although a little frustrating at first because the helium wasn't working. It turned out pretty awesome as seen in the picture below. At the end of the day I was exhausted but the event was super successful and the leaders were very appreciative of the event.
-Yesterday I started with the elementary team. I will be with them for the next month before I rotate to a new area in Summit. I'm excited for what this month will hold as I continue to grasp what a day in the life of a Summit intern will look like.
-As interns, each month we are responsible for reading one book as a group. Every Wednesday morning we gather and discuss the reading that was assigned. We are currently reading Deep and Wide: Creating Churches that Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley. I have really enjoyed this book so far. One of the things that is discussed in the book is Grace and Truth and how most of the churches out there today are not that welcoming to people who have never attended church before and live lives that are in desperate need of grace and truth. I have really enjoyed reading this book because it is helping me to better understand why Flatirons does what they do. I'm learning that in all churches alike there is always going to be a difficulty between people because we are all sinful and broken and in need of Jesus. I'm looking forward to seeing how God is going to move during this year at Flatirons and looking forward to seeing God's grace and truth revealed to his people.
-Another new part added to my life, as if moving 14 hours from home and starting a new job and a new state wasn't enough, I decided to join a gym. Luckily for me it only costs me $5 a month! WHAT A DEAL!?!?! All of my housemates are also a part of the gym so we try to go together when our schedule allows us. I love being able to add this part into my schedule. When I leave work at 5 I don't have to do homework so I actually have time to spend an hour at the gym every day.
-We also got internet at our house this week. To celebrate we watched Mean Girls on Netflix. We also took a celebratory picture of all of us together in the house at the same time!
Prayer Requests
-Continued growth in relationships with my housemates and other interns
-The ability to be a sponge and take in everything that I am experiencing
-Making a consistent time in my day to spend in God's word
-Begin to make friendships with people who are outside of the intern world
Monday, September 1, 2014
#AlisonGoesWest
Hey Supporters and Prayer Warriors,
I'm happy to announce that I am all settled into my house in Lafayette, CO. I moved in on Thursday and hit up Bed Bath and Beyond and the local King Soopers grocery store to get the first round of food to cook for myself.
However, before moving in mom and I arrived at my cousin Aaron and Jess' place in Frederick to spend the night. It's so nice knowing that I have family close by to visit when I need a little taste of home. We spent some time with them and then on Thursday Aaron joined us to pick up my house key from the church. Once at the church we started peeking into classrooms to see what this church looks like as I had never placed foot into Flatirons before Thursday. We were walking around and Justin the 3rd-5th grade director stops us and gives us a tour of the place. Needless to say I got very excited and very overwhelmed at the same time. I got to meet a few of the other children's ministry staff as well. It will be nice to go into the office tomorrow and know a few of the faces.
After getting a tour of the church we headed to the house where Aaron got to work unloading my car. I'm pretty sure I only brought one thing down the stairs to my room. Kudos to Aaron for his abilities to carry boxes downstairs. After getting all of my belongings into my room we said goodbye to Aaron and then the madness of figuring out where everything went and what I needed to purchase began. A few emotions let loose as I was overwhelmed but by the end of the day I felt comfortable enough to leave everything where it was for dinner with mom, Aaron and Jess. I spent another night at Aaron's as I had to take mom to the airport on Friday.
After a tearful drive home from the airport I headed back into my house and finished unpacking. By the end of Friday I would say that this place felt like home. My decorations were hanging on the walls and everything was put away.
On Saturday I spent most of the day at the house with my housemates. Lindsey, Ana, and I went to Lucky Pies, a pizza place, for lunch and then headed back to the house. Ana's sister and friend came over later and I chilled with them. We had many laughs and I enjoyed getting to know more people.
On Sunday morning my other two housemates, Anne and Melissa, and I went to Proper Grounds, a local coffee shop, before heading to Flatirons for my first ever service. I really loved the service. The sermon was taught by the executive pastor, Scott, based on Philippians 4. The sermon was perfect for what I was feeling. He talked about casting our anxieties on the Lord and ultimately that we have anxiety because we have fear. It was a great reminder that God is the one in control and that I need to cast my anxieties on Him. I start my first day of work tomorrow. I'm ready to dive in and learn the in's and out's of the children's ministry at Flatirons.
Below are some pictures of the house as well as our neighbors goat that we have named Jedidiah.
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| The view of mountains from my front yard! |
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| Jedidiah the Goat! |
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| My very own room! |
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| My desk |
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| The Downstairs living room. |
I would greatly appreciate prayer for the following things this week:
- Unity amongst the interns
-Unity amongst my housemates
-Building of new friendships that are grounded in Christ
-Strength to ask for help when I need, (I'm not good at doing this)
If you would like to send me mail my address is:
290 N 120th St
Lafayette, CO 80026
Thanks so much!
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