There are a few new additions to the right of my blog posts.
The first thing you'll see is a map of where I am at the moment. I want to keep you updated because we will be traveling quite a bit in the next few weeks.
Further down the page, you'll see a link for the Global Service Newsletters. So far I have only received the one for August, but as I receive more, I will post them.
Spoiler alert: Daniel and I are in this newsletter quite a few times! We hope to write for it a few times over the next year. The link is also here: Global Service August 2015 Newsletter
Next, you'll see a form where you can sign up for email updates. You should do it! Because if you've read this blog post, there's a good chance you'll want to read the more interesting ones. And this way, you'll know the minute I've posted one!
Lastly, you will see an option to change this blog into a different language. This is for all of my lovely missionaries who are learning new languages, along with making it easier for people whose first language might not be English.
I'm looking to make this blog accessible and open to anyone who wants to read it, so let me know if there is anything else I can add.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Monday, August 3, 2015
Why Malaysia?
I've gotten a lot questions lately. They usually follow some comment I make about moving to Southeast Asia for the next year. So here are a few of them and here are my somewhat vague answers...
So, why Malaysia?
Well, to answer "why Malaysia," we need to ask a few more questions before that.
Why are you moving at all?
I'm in seminary and it is my third year as a Lutheran student. In our third year (or sometimes our fourth), the Lutherans are sent out to do an internship for a year. It is used as a learning experience so that we are able bring those experiences back to seminary for a year and mull them around in community, or go directly into a parish and use those experiences to be better pastors. We, of course, aren't able to learn everything we need to know, but as we walk alongside a congregation who has a lot of experience forming, nurturing, and teaching future church leaders, we are hopefully a little more prepared for parish ministry.
Why did you choose Malaysia?
I didn't choose Malaysia, to be quite honest. No one gets to "choose" their internship. There is a lot of planning, discerning, and praying that happens before anyone is assigned to an internship site. We have a director for internship who works with our paperwork and his colleagues in order to place us in the best place for our specific needs and learning goals. All of my Lutheran colleagues at Southern Seminary were given assignments within the United States- some of them in the Southeast and some of them as far away as California.
What's so special about you?
Nothing. There is certainly nothing special about me. I prayerfully decided (with Daniel) to apply for a different internship program that is run by the Global Mission division of the ELCA. The application process started a few months before the domestic internship process and was a little more extensive. There was probably ten times the amount of paperwork and an interview in Chicago with the Director of Global Mission. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into at the time, but I knew I wanted to take the opportunity of internship to experience Church in a (very) different context.
Will you be doing missionary work? Working in an orphanage and building houses?
Not exactly. Actually, not at all. My internship will be very similar to all of my other colleagues' internships. I will be working in a Lutheran church with a supervising pastor. I'll have all of the usual duties: preaching, teaching, counseling, and visiting. I'm sure there will be some opportunities in which we might be able to go visit places outside of the city, but that is not what I will be doing regularly.
But seriously, why Malaysia?
God is calling me to Malaysia for many reasons. The first one being (I think), is that it isn't going to be easy. The other reasons will reveal themselves over the next year (or several). But I believe God is at work in this unique opportunity and I could not be more excited about it.
So, why Malaysia?
Well, to answer "why Malaysia," we need to ask a few more questions before that.
Why are you moving at all?
I'm in seminary and it is my third year as a Lutheran student. In our third year (or sometimes our fourth), the Lutherans are sent out to do an internship for a year. It is used as a learning experience so that we are able bring those experiences back to seminary for a year and mull them around in community, or go directly into a parish and use those experiences to be better pastors. We, of course, aren't able to learn everything we need to know, but as we walk alongside a congregation who has a lot of experience forming, nurturing, and teaching future church leaders, we are hopefully a little more prepared for parish ministry.
Why did you choose Malaysia?
I didn't choose Malaysia, to be quite honest. No one gets to "choose" their internship. There is a lot of planning, discerning, and praying that happens before anyone is assigned to an internship site. We have a director for internship who works with our paperwork and his colleagues in order to place us in the best place for our specific needs and learning goals. All of my Lutheran colleagues at Southern Seminary were given assignments within the United States- some of them in the Southeast and some of them as far away as California.
What's so special about you?
Nothing. There is certainly nothing special about me. I prayerfully decided (with Daniel) to apply for a different internship program that is run by the Global Mission division of the ELCA. The application process started a few months before the domestic internship process and was a little more extensive. There was probably ten times the amount of paperwork and an interview in Chicago with the Director of Global Mission. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into at the time, but I knew I wanted to take the opportunity of internship to experience Church in a (very) different context.
Will you be doing missionary work? Working in an orphanage and building houses?
Not exactly. Actually, not at all. My internship will be very similar to all of my other colleagues' internships. I will be working in a Lutheran church with a supervising pastor. I'll have all of the usual duties: preaching, teaching, counseling, and visiting. I'm sure there will be some opportunities in which we might be able to go visit places outside of the city, but that is not what I will be doing regularly.
But seriously, why Malaysia?
God is calling me to Malaysia for many reasons. The first one being (I think), is that it isn't going to be easy. The other reasons will reveal themselves over the next year (or several). But I believe God is at work in this unique opportunity and I could not be more excited about it.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Next Adventures
Daniel and I are trying hard to keep everyone informed about what is happening in our very busy lives. But every once and a while, we will rattle off the next six adventures as if they are just obstacles on the way to the next moment in our lives. Please trust me when I say that they are not. The truth is that when people ask, "so what are you doing next?" or "where are you headed?" I automatically (sometimes falsely) assume that they do not want to hear all of the places we are going in the next three weeks. But maybe they do, maybe they really do care about our crazy lives and the roller coaster that we have only just begun.
So that's what this post is about. If you really do care about the craziness that is happening in the next few weeks - here it is.
So that's what this post is about. If you really do care about the craziness that is happening in the next few weeks - here it is.
Daniel and I JUST left (two weeks for me, one week for him) internship training with the Global Missions division of the ELCA. It was a blast, and we learned a lot about the "beautiful secret" things that the ELCA is doing through Global Missions. If you're interested in these secret or unknown things, just ask me because I have gotten really geeked out about it. We just started a program that focuses on educating women, there's an international leadership program, and there are people all over the world doing really incredible things (like starting a Lutheran church in South Sudan in the midst of a civil war).
All this to say, Daniel and I are officially a "missionary couple!!" It sounds so crazy because I don't consider what we are doing next year "mission" work, but it is a pretty humbling title to carry around. Especially among the other beautiful people who hold that title in this church.
Right now we are heading to Columbus, OH, where my parents have so graciously kept Cooper for two weeks. (Thanks Mama and Daddy!!) We will pick him up, love on my parents for about twelve hours, then head back "home" to Durham, NC. Daniel has one more heartbreaking week of internship down there. On August 2nd, we will say, "goodbye for now" to our beautiful church family there. It will be one of the hardest goodbyes thus far.
From there, we will have about a week to pack up all of Daniel's things (and my remaining things) and move them down to our storage unit in South Carolina. We are excited and sad to say "goodbye" and "see you later" to a lot of our great friends at the seminary that weekend. We are at least very thankful for the opportunity to see some people and get some hugs before we depart for the year.
Then we work our way back up north to Lincolnton, NC, where we will spend a day with our sisters and visit with Grandma before making the trek up to the mountains of Banner Elk, NC.
After almost a week of wedding week preparation and vacation in our big family rental house in Banner Elk, 150 of our closest friends will join us for the celebration of Holy Communion and our wedding. Obviously, that is the event that many people are most excited for. But I can honestly say that I am just glad that I will finally be married to my best friend.
After the wedding, we will drive back up to Columbus, spend a week with my parents (honeymooning a bit), then start our very long journey (24 hours of plane-riding) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!
We want to make sure people who care know where we are and where we are going so that they can keep in touch and continue to hold us in prayer. So thank you, for everything you have done in our lives and all of the support you continue to give us.
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