Hey everyone,
I was away for 10 days, 9 nights, on the InterVarsity Intern Trek. It was AMAZING (to say the least).
We spent part of the trip in Albuquerque, NM and part in Flagstaff, AZ. We did spiritual formation in the morning, which was focused on our relationship with God. We talked about Christ's invitation to abide with him, to "come and see"; about getting in the reflexive habit of confession and repentance; about becoming "Nathans" to our students, which includes speaking truth even when it may destroy our image; forming habits of gratitude in the midst of suffering; God's calling on our lives, and that we can rejoice over our gifts and abilities by giving glory to God; finally, we talked about spiritual authority--authority that comes directly from God through our intimate relationship with Him.
The time in NM we were trained by Doug Schaupp (author of Being White and I Once Was Lost) in evangelism. He was also in my van (we stayed in homes of people from the church, so Doug helped drop us off/ pick us up every night). On top of his AMAZING training in evangelism, he has an amazing story of how he became a writer and how he has grown in racial reconciliation and chapter development. It was so fun to get to know him and my lovely van mates better. They even took me out for my bday :D The Outreach event on UNM's campus was my first ever experience with contact evangelism. And, although I didn't lead anyone to Christ, I shared the gospel boldly and saw God answer my prayers IMMEDIATELY! (Hey Mark, how you doin'?! haha). Anyway, it was AMAZING! And over 10 people came to Christ that day, including a group of young kids led to faith by none other than Tom Allen (woot Van-Dad! He drove me and another intern from Riverside to New Mexico. We got to know our boss's boss's boss pretty well... haha).
In AZ we focused more specifically on our time of transition and cross-cultural relationships. The things on multi-ethnicity weren't anything I have not heard before (thanks to Erna and Kate for their amazing training, and certain friends as well. You all know who you are!). But it was still an AMAZING refresher, and it was cool to be there to experience with the other interns. I especially enjoyed hearing other people's journeys with multi-ethnicity and their own ethnic identity. I still find that I am hesitant to strongly identify as white... but I think I'm realizing that it is ok, so long as it is out of genuine difference and not simply a fear of being white or white guilt. Maybe it is time I took another look at Doug's book ;) We'll see :P
Anywho, as for the things on transition... a lot to process. My main take-away is that I need to cling to God and community during this time. I need to MAKE the time for God, to abide in Him, to dwell with Him, to trust and lean on Him, to rejoice in Him, delight in Him, be blessed by Him, be LOVED BY HIM! And, I need to make time to develop a healthy relationship with Brendan, to go deeper in community with S&D, and to continue building/developing friendships with people from Claremont as well as in Long Beach. However, I also need to be patient with myself. One thing they said was "You'll know when things are off balance when things are wrong/hard/difficult" basically, we can't always PLAN for transition to go well... but we can ADJUST along the way. We won't know we've lacked community (often) until we feel isolated/alone. We won't know we've lacked rest until we're pissed off and grumpy (if you're me, haha). So, time will tell :) Good thing God goes with me AND before me ;)
All in all, the trek was really good. I enjoyed it, it was challenging, and God definitely gave me some good things to chew on for the next year.
I've updated my prayer requests! Check em out!
