New Church, New Small Group, New Friends

The last week or so hasn't been the most exciting here at The Dream Project. Lots of busy work. Trying to catch up with contacts that Julie has made over the summer. I've also done a bit of organizing the office... it's looking MUCH better! I'll post more pics soon, but I want to get some things hung so you can see the final product =)

I did have an appointment with our Accountant last week. I'm supposed to be learning Quickbooks but TDP has the 2007 version and our Accountant has 2010, so I'm praying that Techsoup will come though on this one for me. Techsoup is a website for non-profits. Companies donate software and you just pay an admin fee... pretty cool!

Since moving to Michigan I've been attending Genesis the Church. Last week they kicked off a new Small Group series called Portrait of a Disciple. So I joined a new Small Group and went last Wednesday for the first time. About 10 or so ladies showed up and it's a mix of singles and married women, with and without kids. I'm a creature of habit and had gotten so used to my Small Group in Wheaton that was 20 something singles so I wasn't really sure how I was gonna feel about this new group. I'm happy to say though that I had a really good time and the mix is actually quite nice. The best thing is that this weekend The Women of Genesis went on a retreat. I would say the group was about 35 and it was really nice to meet so many of the women I go to church with. It was really funny too seeing the mom's out of there element. On the way up my car stopped at Jimmie John's and Niki  (mother of 4) got a cookie and said something about how nice it was to have a cookie in front of her and not have anyone ask when she was gonna eat it and if they could have some. Maybe you had to be there but I thought it was funny =) The retreat was great and I'm so thankful for the ladies that I was able to meet but it hit me while I was there that in October of last year I went on the Connect (20 something group at Harvest Bible Chapel) fall retreat not knowing anyone. That is where I met some of the amazing ladies I spent the last year hanging out with. It's just weird to think how little we know of God's plans for us.

Oh one other thing about this series last Saturday at 8pm I got a call from one of the pastors at Genesis asking if I would be willing to share some of my journey over the last year the next morning in church. Yeah. Of course I did it but that kind of stuff sure does make me nervous, but I figure God has given me this story of course I'm gonna share it. It was a Q & A that was supposed to last about 3 minutes so it's a lot of info in a little time but here are my note:

How did you get here?
A few years back a coworker and I started talking about working with the Peace Corps. I started the application process but could never bring myself to finish it because of the details. In February 2009 I got laid off from my job and four days later my Peace Corps application was submitted. I made it though the first few rounds but they could never place me. I really wanted to go with PC bc they pay for everything and even pay you a monthly stipend so it's not that I was against missions I just didn't want to have to raise support. By August of that year God had changed my heart toward the idea of raising support and I applied to International Ministries. It was strange though they almost couldn't understand that I would be willing to go anywhere so long as there were children, so I was waiting to be placed and I think they were waiting for me to pick a location. In January I applied to International Teams and heard about TDP for the first time. I met with Julie and the Garlands to talk about the Ministry. Shortly after my return from that trip I was accepted to International Ministries and The Peace Corps. I decided that I would continue to pursue all my options until God closed the doors. I was one question away from completing my TDP application when I got an email saying that TDP was going through a transition. I waited to hear what that meant and went on with International Ministries to be place in Bolivia. I declined from the Peace Corps feeling that God was leading me a different direction. Sent an email to the Missionary in Bolivia saying what next and because I couldn't stop thinking about the Orphans in Mozambique I emailed Julie to see what was happening and to ask her if they were accepting applications. Julie wrote me back immediately asking me to send her my application and I didn't hear back from the Bolivian Missionary for a month. A week or so later I got a call from Julie asking if I would be willing to work in the office here in the US. After a few trips up here, prayer and the blessings of those around me I accepted the position here in Royal Oak.
How did you know that was the right choice to make?
Throughout the last 2 years God has had me on this really strange journey of highs and lows but through it all as I look back the thing that I see is growth. So even though I would have never imagined myself living in my parents basement in Royal Oak, Michigan, I'm here bc I feel as thought it where the Lord wants me and I have Peace about it.

Given that this is not the normal path of a college graduate? Why?
About a year before I got laid off it hit me that all I was doing was making rich people richer. At this time I was also volunteering with Campus Life and my work there is what got me through the day. Volunteering with them helped me to discover who God created me to be, I learned things about myself that I never would have in my 9-5. That is when I started thinking about the Peace Corps, because 5 or 10 hours a week just didn't feel like enough. I wanted to be able to serve 24-7.

In closing I came across this verse in my Small Group study this week:
Luke 18:14b For everyone who exhalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

The last few years have been very humbling for me, but I hung this on my wall in the office as a reminder for this next 'chapter' in my life.

Well congrats if you made it though such a long post! Feel free to leave a comment, don't be shy I'm curious to find out who is actually reading this =)