Another Summer Adventure

Almost four years ago (June, 2013), I went on a missions trip to San Francisco. We spent a day and a half road tripping from Centralia to San Fran with many seat rotations and the inevitable staying on a church floor. When we arrived to the church we were staying at, we proceeded checking in for our week. The first thing I wondered about was where the older staff were. There were surely adult-adults around and our week wasn't going to be directed by these barely adult college students?

Well, those "barely adult college students" were indeed facilitating our week. They were the ones leading worship. They were coordinating meals for 3+ varying youth groups each week. They were speaking with the ministries we spent our week volunteering with. They dealt with budgets and they had put countless hours into preparing for the week we were going to talk about for a long time after.

Those four college students had chosen to spend their summer away from a typical summer job at home. They instead chose to spend their summer working with youth groups and helping to make a change in a community they weren't familiar with.

I am so so excited to let y'all know that this summer, I get to be one of those staff members! I have been hired as a Community Service Coordinator with YouthWorks. All I know about where I will be this summer is my training location (Pittsburgh, PA) for the first and last weeks. I will spend the summer leading ministry with my team, getting to know the various needs of my community and then working with various organizations to discover how these youth group volunteers can help them further their ministry.

I also get to put into action some of the things I have learned through DTS and SOW in this position as well as another part of my summer, being the Worship Leader for our team!

I am seriously anticipating this summer and all it will hold as my team and I move forward! It is a little bit intimidating. I look at the summer as one eleven week chunk and the two things I know as of now are I will be lacking sleep all summer and I get to go to Pennsylvania for the first time. I am sure even through too little sleep and messing up a few times in what I'm doing, big things are going to happen.

As always, prayers are greatly appreciated. With so many unknowns at this point, I have a lot of general prayer points, yet as we get closer to go time, I hope to update you with more specific prayers.

• Please pray for:
• YouthWorks recruitment team: they continue to fill empty positions throughout their various locations for the summer
• Pray for discernment as teams are pieced together and people are hired for this summer.
• My team and I: At this point, I have no idea who I get to work with this summer (but my extroverted self is pretty excited!). There is a lot of prep going into this summer between practicing worship songs, preparing our hearts to lead countless students this summer, and getting ready for a full summer with a rigorous schedule.
• Pray as we book travel, complete paperwork, and prep for what this summer holds!
• Students: Each week, approximately 60-80 students will arrive at each YouthWorks location around the US. They could be arriving for their first missions trip. They could be away from home for the first time. They will come from a variety of backgrounds.
• Pray for their hearts as they get ready, provision for finances, and peace of mind for their families.

Thank you so much for your support and prayer! If you would like more information about YouthWorks, here is their website where you can find FAQs and probably any questions you have may be answered. If you have any questions or prayer requests, let me know! Shoot me a message or comment or text or whatever!

Thank you all!

God bless and love from me,

Erin

Book Therapy?

Over the last few months since I got home from School of Worship, I have been a part of a group at church called FORM. "What is FORM?" Well, I am not sure of the best way to explain it. Basically, we meet on Thursday mornings and it is a practical look at and example of discipleship. We talk about a broad range of topics having to do with life. But we also go deeper than just talking about things. We have accountability to actually work toward changes. Having a mixed group of people to look at practical options is a unique opportunity for people my age. I am glad to be able to take advantage of it.

One of the recent assignments we had involved reading a book and writing a reflection. An easy enough thing to complete- until you start reading the book and it is one of the most challenging things you have read as a young adult. The assigned book, The Defining Decade, was written by Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist who seems passionate about helping twenty-somethings achieve their full potential before they turn around in their thirties and forties feeling as though they have wasted their lives. If you ask almost anyone I have come in contact with over the course of reading the book, I have probably recommended they read it (and I recommend you do, too!). Although Dr. Jay says clearly in the preface that she is writing for twenty-somethings, there are so many clues into the mind of that frustrating young adult you have to interact with.

As a twenty-something, this book felt like a taste of a therapy session. Dr. Jay's anecdotes weren't about me, but they hit home on a few occasions. From worrying I am never going to get out from where I am now and having no clear goal for where I want to make it one day to relationship "issues" and even fertility statistics and realistically how long you can wait to have kids.

Basically, this has turned into a book review- but I really would suggest everyone read this book. It encourages a -very needed- personal evaluation. Taking time to think about where you are, where you want to be, and realistically, how can you get there?

Through reading this book (as well as a lot of other factors), I have been challenged to think more about my life and give more thought to who I want to be- not just what I want to do in the near future. Thinking more futuristically gives more opportunity to actually make those dreams come true.

Since I know a lot of people won't go out and read this book, here is a link to Dr. Jay's TED Talk, which touches on many of the topics from the book. Seriously, take a few minutes and watch it!

As always, thank you for reading! :) Also, I have some super exciting things to tell y'all about so I will get those words entered into my computer and they will reach you!

If you have any prayer requests, let me know how I can be praying for you.

God bless and love from me,

Erin