WEEK 5

This has been another incredibly long week. I pretty much am wondering if I will make it until spring break going at this pace. Yet God is good through it all, always faithful and ever present.

As for hours, here's a rough breakdown. 2 hours for worship team Sunday, 1/2 hour counseling, 2 hours sermon prep, 1 hour preaching Sun. night, 1 hour paperwork, 1 hour board meeting, 3 hours of youth room construction prep on Tues. night, 6 hours youth room construction with volunteers on Wed., 1.5 hours youth room painting with teens, .5 hours driving students, 1 hour counseling Friday night plus a youth staying the night in our suite with us. So... atleast 20 hours this week.

When I look at that number, it's no wonder I'm struggling so much in classes right now. I wish I could figure out balance a little more. I don't really have much in my life right now, if I'm really honest. I know this time period will pass... but then again, there are other major projects approaching at the church as well. It's just difficult to know where to stop. I mean, I've turned down doing some things, but I just want to do my job effectively because, first of all, it's ministry involving real people, and secondly, it really is my job. I know, though, that I'm NOT getting paid to put in 20 hours a week... that would come down to about $3 an hour. But I want to give those teens and the church everything I can give them. Anyway, enough about that. I have to finish this entry so I can do other homework that I'm so far behind in.

I started this week by having the adult and teen service on Sunday night. It went very well, and I was very affirmed by the adults of the congregation, most of whom were hearing me preach for the first time. Here's one particular conversation between me and a woman after service.

"You'll be an amazing pastor of a church someday!"

"Thank you."

"What are your plans?"

"I'm a Youth Ministries major; I want to continue to youth pastor, go on to seminary, and we'll see where God leads."

With a knowing, adamant look, "You'll be an amazing PASTOR of a CHURCH someday."

I know she meant it as a huge compliment, and I took it that way, but something inside of me wanted to raise up and say, "So... because you think I'm gifted I must be called to senior pastor because a gifted person wouldn't waste their time with teenagers???" hehe... I guess it's the Intro to Youth brain-washing coming out in me. Anyway, it was a nice warm-up for preaching this Sunday morning... which I'm really nervous about. I've been working on the outline pretty much all day, and I definitely still don't really feel equipped. The rest of the week was consumed with Monster Church. Between picking out paint, tearing out the closet, prepping to paint, teaching the youth to paint, and finishing up painting--it was a lot of time investment. I'm excited about the project--it's going very well. But it has been super draining. Here's some pics.

This is what it looked like after day one!

Wednesday night, I also tried to deal with my rebellious smokers whom I found out are only coming to church because one of them is on house arrest and can't do anything else. They were not very receptive, and I heard from one of my volunteers on the van that they were being crude and very intimidating to some of my younger girls. NOT COOL at all. So, I need to deal with them some more... There were other issues while they were there as well. I wish I knew a way to reach them, but I don't think they want to be reached. On a positive note, another girl came to me about wanting to be baptized, which is always exciting.

Friday night I was determined to be productive and get a lot of work done. I was doing fairly well until one of my high school girls called, in a panic, crying, asking if she could come over. By the time we'd talked through things, tears had ceased, and one of my suitemates bought her ice cream to cheer up, it was already almost eleven, so we called her parents to see if she could just stay the night. We ended up watching a good old chick flick with some other girls, and she fell asleep on the couch about 1:00 in the morning. This morning I ran her home. So much for being productive, but I was so glad she called and came over. She's had real struggles with depression and self-mutilation in the past, so the fact that she knew she needed to be with people and actually initiated a coping mechanism is really exciting. That's a peek into my week! Praise God I made it through!