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.