Things I miss:
-Watching the sunset alone and with friends, on an almost daily basis
-Star gazing in the middle of a grape vineyard
-The beach at midnight (especially the time the storm came in)
Indiana is so dull
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Sunday, October 24, 2004
So... I got my new cell phone today, woot! It makes me happy because now I'll actually be able to talk to people without my phone randomly shutting off after "hello".
Fall break was great... Thursday Mel, Jen, Thrasher and I went to White Castle and Creepy Jesus, had a really awesome convo in the car infront of Mansfield until 2 am, Friday I watched all three Lord of the Rings w/ Mel, April, Tina, and Tina's sister, and then Saturday I watched Beauty and the Beast and Princess Diaries (w/ the commentary), then Sunday I watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cinderella, Lion King, Pocohantas, and some CBS movie that was pretty good. So yeah, ten movies. And my scarf got a lot longer. Woot.
Oh, also on Friday I met Matt (the pastor of my church down here) at Panera to talk to him about.... [dun dun dun] THE BIG UPDATE, AS PROMISED!!!
Okay... so.... in high school I got involved with leading small groups for our middle school youth group, counseling summer camps, etc. I really realized that I had a passion for youth, especially middle schoolers. So I thought I wanted to be a youth pastor. But, then I realized I don't like public speaking. At all. My church at home has a woman named Jenny Fry (AMAZING woman, I might add) and she basically works with our youth pastors (yes, we have two) and does stuff for them like follow-up for new comers, youth group attendance, making the place look cool with candles, leading a small group, keeping everything organized, helping plan retreats, etc. I started to realize that this is what I would love to do - be really involved without having to preach. So, on Jimmy's suggestion (high school youth pastor) I double majored in Christian Ministries and Family Science. As I've gotten more into the Family Science major I'm now also thinking about some sort of counseling (family counseling, counseling in a school, marital counseling, I don't know).
In my mind I had always pictured myself going back home after graduating and working in my church there. But then my first year here at AU I took a class called Intro to Church Ministry (woot where I met Thrasher even though I didn't talk to her). We went on a weekend-long field trip to Chicago to learn about the different urban ministries in the area, and I loved it. I don't know if I loved the urban ministries themselves (ministries reaching out to prostitutes, drug addicts, etc) or just the city itself. Now, of course, I had been to Chicago a LOT but I had never seen that aspect, or at least hadn't paid attention to it. So then I really felt like God was calling me to a city somewhere, I just didn't know where. But I've always known that I could be happy living anywhere, it's not the geographical location that matters, it's the people you work and live with that matter. So ever since then I've been totally open to where God wants me - which is great! Also, here at AU for the Christian Ministry major you either have to do an internship at a church or take a class called The Community of Faith in an Urban Culture, which is a summer class. You spend a week here in Anderson doing book/lecture stuff, then a week in Chicago and a week in NYC (I think) learning about the different urban ministires. I decided last year that this was the option I was going to go with, and I am still really excited about it.
So, at this point, current passions:
-city
-youth
-counseling?
So, okay background info on my church down here. Last year I started going to Muncie Alliance Church. First, obviously, it's in Muncie, which for those who don't know is a good 30 minutes away from here. This is a very different type of church than good ole' FCOG back home. The congregation is probably 90% college students, and ones from everywhere around here (AU, Ball State, Taylor, Indiana Weslyan...) They have a coffee bar in the middle of the building where you can get free cups of coffee, cappucino, lattes, you can buy bags of coffee beans, etc. The pastor, Guy (yes I know earlier I said my pastor's name was Matt... I'm getting to that) sometimes wears jeans, the congregation wears jeans (some of them), etc. Very laid back, very postmodern (yet still very Christian). Anyway, This church (I think the denomination as a whole) is very into church planting. They started this thing called Vencinos downtown Indianapolis where it's basically a Christian coffee shop and people give their testimonies and stuff, basically to evangelize, again in a very postmodern setting (I think... that's the way I've understood the whole Vencino's thing). Anywho, recently MAC (the church) opened up a few new churches - one in a coffee shop in Huntington, one near Taylor, and one here in Anderson, called Mercy House (and Matt is the pastor). Since it's basically the same thing and a whole lot closer, a few weeks ago I started going to Mercy House.
So, what happened on my first visit to Mercy House? Well, I'll tell you! Woot! Okay, so Stacy (roommate) and I are sitting there and Matt gets up and says they have a big announcement, possibly the biggest announcement this church (Mercy House) has had yet (granted this was it's 4th week). His announcement was that Mercy House, MAC, the one in Huntington, and the one by Taylor (I don't know what to call the group of churches so I'm gonna go with.... the GOC [group of churches, how original]) had been talking. They had gotten together and had been praying and have felt like God wants them (the GOC) to church plant. They want to plant a church in Las Vegas in 2006, Boston in 2006, Ireland in 2007, and Spain in 2008 (I think this is what he said). Right away when he said that something happened. I don't know how to explain it at all but I really felt like God was telling me "Boston." As the song says, His whispers are majestic and I believe this was one of those. Just thinking about it (then and now) make me so excited and it's such a new feeling, I really can't explain it.
So... Boston. The reason they are waiting until 2006 is because of a cycle they sort of have planned. They (the GOC) want to spend this year sending groups of people to Boston and Las Vegas (over Christmas break and spring break) to pray over the cities and seek where God wants the actual locations of these churches to be (probably in coffee houses). Also they want tos pend this year raising up 50 people within the GOC for each city. Then, next year they will do the same thing with Ireland, meanwhile, the 50 people for Boston and the 50 people for Las Vegas will be trained and will be meeting with each other, probably on a weekly basis. Then, off they go in 2006 to plant. And 2006 just happens to be the year I will graduate. The other cool thing about this is that they are going to provide stuff for us - they (the denomination) will find places for all 100 people to live and places for them to work before sending them to the cities, so no one will get there with no where to go.
So, I think now is a good time to quote Hanson - "I'm definately sure that I'm not sure." Basically, I'm sure that God wants me in Boston and I'm sure that I'm saying yes, but I'm definately not sure that I'm sure. Haha... okay.. there are a lot of things holding me back, things that I have questions about. It's about 13 hours from St. Joe (home), what will I do? Will I work outside of the church? If so, will that be some office of some sort or will it be an entry-level counseling-type thing (while in the meantime getting my masters so I can counsel), will it be in the church? If so what? Youth pastor and get over the public speaking thing? Some other position in the church? I really don't know. But that's okay. I was talking to my good friend Jenna about it (And Matt, too) and I think that those questions are what are confirming it for me. I told Jenna that if I did not have doubts and questions then I wouldn't need faith. If I didn't need faith, then would it really be from God?
So, basically, that's the big update. I told you it'd be long . So now I just need to be praying (and ask that you all be praying) for specifics, but I know they might not come until last minute, and that's okay. Whatever. It's in God's hands.
Peace to you all.
Fall break was great... Thursday Mel, Jen, Thrasher and I went to White Castle and Creepy Jesus, had a really awesome convo in the car infront of Mansfield until 2 am, Friday I watched all three Lord of the Rings w/ Mel, April, Tina, and Tina's sister, and then Saturday I watched Beauty and the Beast and Princess Diaries (w/ the commentary), then Sunday I watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cinderella, Lion King, Pocohantas, and some CBS movie that was pretty good. So yeah, ten movies. And my scarf got a lot longer. Woot.
Oh, also on Friday I met Matt (the pastor of my church down here) at Panera to talk to him about.... [dun dun dun] THE BIG UPDATE, AS PROMISED!!!
Okay... so.... in high school I got involved with leading small groups for our middle school youth group, counseling summer camps, etc. I really realized that I had a passion for youth, especially middle schoolers. So I thought I wanted to be a youth pastor. But, then I realized I don't like public speaking. At all. My church at home has a woman named Jenny Fry (AMAZING woman, I might add) and she basically works with our youth pastors (yes, we have two) and does stuff for them like follow-up for new comers, youth group attendance, making the place look cool with candles, leading a small group, keeping everything organized, helping plan retreats, etc. I started to realize that this is what I would love to do - be really involved without having to preach. So, on Jimmy's suggestion (high school youth pastor) I double majored in Christian Ministries and Family Science. As I've gotten more into the Family Science major I'm now also thinking about some sort of counseling (family counseling, counseling in a school, marital counseling, I don't know).
In my mind I had always pictured myself going back home after graduating and working in my church there. But then my first year here at AU I took a class called Intro to Church Ministry (woot where I met Thrasher even though I didn't talk to her). We went on a weekend-long field trip to Chicago to learn about the different urban ministries in the area, and I loved it. I don't know if I loved the urban ministries themselves (ministries reaching out to prostitutes, drug addicts, etc) or just the city itself. Now, of course, I had been to Chicago a LOT but I had never seen that aspect, or at least hadn't paid attention to it. So then I really felt like God was calling me to a city somewhere, I just didn't know where. But I've always known that I could be happy living anywhere, it's not the geographical location that matters, it's the people you work and live with that matter. So ever since then I've been totally open to where God wants me - which is great! Also, here at AU for the Christian Ministry major you either have to do an internship at a church or take a class called The Community of Faith in an Urban Culture, which is a summer class. You spend a week here in Anderson doing book/lecture stuff, then a week in Chicago and a week in NYC (I think) learning about the different urban ministires. I decided last year that this was the option I was going to go with, and I am still really excited about it.
So, at this point, current passions:
-city
-youth
-counseling?
So, okay background info on my church down here. Last year I started going to Muncie Alliance Church. First, obviously, it's in Muncie, which for those who don't know is a good 30 minutes away from here. This is a very different type of church than good ole' FCOG back home. The congregation is probably 90% college students, and ones from everywhere around here (AU, Ball State, Taylor, Indiana Weslyan...) They have a coffee bar in the middle of the building where you can get free cups of coffee, cappucino, lattes, you can buy bags of coffee beans, etc. The pastor, Guy (yes I know earlier I said my pastor's name was Matt... I'm getting to that) sometimes wears jeans, the congregation wears jeans (some of them), etc. Very laid back, very postmodern (yet still very Christian). Anyway, This church (I think the denomination as a whole) is very into church planting. They started this thing called Vencinos downtown Indianapolis where it's basically a Christian coffee shop and people give their testimonies and stuff, basically to evangelize, again in a very postmodern setting (I think... that's the way I've understood the whole Vencino's thing). Anywho, recently MAC (the church) opened up a few new churches - one in a coffee shop in Huntington, one near Taylor, and one here in Anderson, called Mercy House (and Matt is the pastor). Since it's basically the same thing and a whole lot closer, a few weeks ago I started going to Mercy House.
So, what happened on my first visit to Mercy House? Well, I'll tell you! Woot! Okay, so Stacy (roommate) and I are sitting there and Matt gets up and says they have a big announcement, possibly the biggest announcement this church (Mercy House) has had yet (granted this was it's 4th week). His announcement was that Mercy House, MAC, the one in Huntington, and the one by Taylor (I don't know what to call the group of churches so I'm gonna go with.... the GOC [group of churches, how original]) had been talking. They had gotten together and had been praying and have felt like God wants them (the GOC) to church plant. They want to plant a church in Las Vegas in 2006, Boston in 2006, Ireland in 2007, and Spain in 2008 (I think this is what he said). Right away when he said that something happened. I don't know how to explain it at all but I really felt like God was telling me "Boston." As the song says, His whispers are majestic and I believe this was one of those. Just thinking about it (then and now) make me so excited and it's such a new feeling, I really can't explain it.
So... Boston. The reason they are waiting until 2006 is because of a cycle they sort of have planned. They (the GOC) want to spend this year sending groups of people to Boston and Las Vegas (over Christmas break and spring break) to pray over the cities and seek where God wants the actual locations of these churches to be (probably in coffee houses). Also they want tos pend this year raising up 50 people within the GOC for each city. Then, next year they will do the same thing with Ireland, meanwhile, the 50 people for Boston and the 50 people for Las Vegas will be trained and will be meeting with each other, probably on a weekly basis. Then, off they go in 2006 to plant. And 2006 just happens to be the year I will graduate. The other cool thing about this is that they are going to provide stuff for us - they (the denomination) will find places for all 100 people to live and places for them to work before sending them to the cities, so no one will get there with no where to go.
So, I think now is a good time to quote Hanson - "I'm definately sure that I'm not sure." Basically, I'm sure that God wants me in Boston and I'm sure that I'm saying yes, but I'm definately not sure that I'm sure. Haha... okay.. there are a lot of things holding me back, things that I have questions about. It's about 13 hours from St. Joe (home), what will I do? Will I work outside of the church? If so, will that be some office of some sort or will it be an entry-level counseling-type thing (while in the meantime getting my masters so I can counsel), will it be in the church? If so what? Youth pastor and get over the public speaking thing? Some other position in the church? I really don't know. But that's okay. I was talking to my good friend Jenna about it (And Matt, too) and I think that those questions are what are confirming it for me. I told Jenna that if I did not have doubts and questions then I wouldn't need faith. If I didn't need faith, then would it really be from God?
So, basically, that's the big update. I told you it'd be long . So now I just need to be praying (and ask that you all be praying) for specifics, but I know they might not come until last minute, and that's okay. Whatever. It's in God's hands.
Peace to you all.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Not only am I going to Jamaica over Christmas break, but the lovely ladies of L'amifidel (Thrasher, Megs, and MelissaKae) convinced me to go to London with them over spring break. So... I'm currently jobless and I need:
$310 by November 1st
$250 by December 1st
$795 by January 17th
Monetary donations may be sent to:
Holly Frees
1100 East Fifth Street
Anderson, IN 46012
Checks and cash accepted, sorry, no credit cards.
Hehehe... anyway, more to come later on what God is currently doing in my life... for those of you who don't know yet, major stuff.
$310 by November 1st
$250 by December 1st
$795 by January 17th
Monetary donations may be sent to:
Holly Frees
1100 East Fifth Street
Anderson, IN 46012
Checks and cash accepted, sorry, no credit cards.
Hehehe... anyway, more to come later on what God is currently doing in my life... for those of you who don't know yet, major stuff.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
It's 2 am and I am on page 9 of a 12 page paper that is due in 11 hours, but I have class in 8 hours. I just want to quit and go to bed and do the rest in the morning but I probably would not be able to wake up early enough to do that, and all that's getting me through these last three pages are Holly Pschigoda's voice in my head saying, "giterdone". Holly, I love ya but you're really PISHING ME OFF!
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Friday, October 8, 2004
Okay so I won't be staying in those resorts, but I WILL be in Montego Bay over Christmas break... look how beautiful that is!! We had our first meeting for the Jamaica trip last night, and I'm so excited. We're doing a work camp inland but they said the group always gets to stay one night in a villa on Montego Bay with a semi-private beach. They said that sometimes the group chooses to each spend 60-65 dollars out of their pocket to stay a second night there, but since this is the 40th anneversary of Tri-S they're paying for it! So TWO NIGHTS in this beautiful bay.... In the middle of winter! WOOT!
Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Sunday, October 3, 2004
Saturday, October 2, 2004
It's 4:09pm. I woke up at 10:30 and what have I accomplished since then? I made cinnamon rolls from a can and took a shower and put all of our movies on the bookshelf. That's it. I have a whole big to do list of stuff for today but yeah way to go Holly. But I do wanna get some stuff done so I can go over to mkaes apartment where your butt looks like a mutt that got cut and is stuck in a rut... what?
Friday, October 1, 2004
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