My first week at Missio Dei
It is hard to believe that I have only been at this incredible place for less than a week. So much has happened it feels like I have been here longer. I am going to use my regular blog to keep all my friends and family posted on what God is doing in my life and where their support is going.
Friday night was spent in my driveway with no one but myself and my basketball; the same basketball that I received for Christmas at age 7 and now has nothing remaining on its’ smooth exterior resembling what one would recognize as a basketball and instead is completely black with rubber interior. I have spent a large portion of my life on that driveway with that basketball and that net (which I received the same Christmas). Everything makes sense when I am running around with that basketball talking to myself about whatever it is that is going inside me. I needed that a lot on the night before I took the biggest step of my life, so I was out there until about 12:30.
Saturday afternoon the infamous Semple mobile was packed with everything I had room to bring (the rest is stored away in the attic) and I saw Stockbridge for the last time in awhile. When we got to the office we immediately went into worship and the long process of goodbyes (that is a lot of siblings to hug). When the parents had all left we headed over to Pastor Mike’s to grill out and play with his family in the backyard.
Sunday morning we all headed to Christ Chapel @Sportstowne which will be my home church on the few occasions we are home. It is weird to be a part of any other church other than Stockbridge Assembly but the service was phenomenal and I know I will enjoy the times I get to be there.
From there we headed to the guys apartment to paint which we soon discovered was lacking in the area of air conditioning. It was crazy hot and we were all literally dripping with sweat. It has taken us most of the week to paint the entire apartment and then move all of our stuff in and assemble the bunk beds but it is finally ready, with the exception of air conditioning. I really feel like a missionary when I am in there. Thankfully, Pastor Mike has opened up his basement to us guys and I have come to find out that he has a pretty comfortable couch.
These first two weeks are what they are calling boot camp and I am definitely feeling it. We start everyday at the office at 7:30 in the morning with incredible prayer and worship that lasts for a couple hours. It is amazing to worship with people my age just as excited and passionate about God as I am. Then we have chapel, then small group, then more time of just being poured into.
I have to admit that I came into this pretty arrogantly. I had the expectation that I was here to stretch and not be stretched, that I would pray through breaking points with my fellow journeymen instead of having to be broken myself. I was a little surprised.
I am so used to being the “influencer” and not the “influencee” that at first I was at a loss as to what my role on this team was. I know that at school my job is to introduce everyone around me to the Love that I have found and at church it is to doing everything I can to get people around me closer acquainted with it. Here I don’t know what to do.
Every person on this team knows who they are and who their creator is. They know what passion looks like and how to live it out and I am humbled daily by how much I have to learn from them. I am not used to this at all, which is exactly why I am here. From what I have discovered by talking with them is that they feel exactly the same thing I do, so we are all in the same boat.
This week has been full of surprises; from finding out that we were going to spend the next three days on a Daniel’s fast (eating only fruit, veggies, nuts and water) to suddenly stopping what we were doing to leave the office and go to a mall to see how many lost people we could reach in a couple hours. The Daniels fast was a complete surprise though a welcome one (however I am not sure my stomach was very open to the idea, it is truly amazing how fast fruit moves through you) and the talking to strangers was exciting and-for me- largely uneventful. It is not that I am scared to talk to people but it feels so unnatural and like a bird stalking its’ prey. I am working on it though, and getting better. It is really hard not to compare myself to my fellow journeymen who are all doing an amazing job. I’m working on it.
And so it is Friday night and I am in Thomasville, Georgia in quite possibly the nicest house I have ever been in enjoying the rare internet access. We are here to do a Family Life Conference tomorrow. To be honest I don’t really know what that means, and no one in charge seems to like the idea of keeping us too informed about what is going on. They want to keep us on our toes. Speaking of the spontaneous, they woke us up at three in the morning yesterday for a prayer meeting after they told us we were having a day off. It was amazing and worth the lack of sleep.
Everything changes every day. I am in awe of what God plans to do with these 10 months. Today is only day five and I am already a different person than when I left.
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