I started my internship at Presentation Convent on May 3rd, well that's when I flew to Aberdeen. I didn't really start until May 5th because my aunt who is also my boss didn't get here until the 4th late at night. I completed one of the 3 main things I needed to do while I was here. I planned and directed a 2 day retreat for high school girls. It was a challenge, but I made it through and everyone said I did a good job and it turned out well, which brings me to things I have learned during my internship thus far...(this is only some..there's a lot)
1. Be flexible. (I already knew this..it was just confirmed)
2. I was blessed with the "Cadillac" Peer Ministry team(as my Aunt calls it) back home and I won't have that everywhere I go.
3. Living in the same building where you work is pretty sweet. No expenses for commuting and you can wake up a few minutes before you should be in the office. Oh, and if you forget something, you can just go up and get it!
4. Living in the same building where you work can be pretty bad. The people who live here and that you work with see you all the time and you are with them all of the time so things can get a little tense.
5. Socialization with people my age is important. I am with these Nuns all of the time and there's n young adult groups because it is summer so I have been having to find ways to keep myself going. I found an adorable coffee shop in town that I like to go to, but of course getting drinks there costs money, so I try to go there as little as possible.
6. You are going to disagree with people. Sometimes it's better to just go with it.
7. It is frustrating when you do something as part of your job and then someone goes and changes it completely. I guess I can't get mad though..I still get paid.
8. Wheel of Fortune is awesome...and Sister Josita and I need to go on the show and play together because we are awesome at it!
9. Don't do laundry after 9pm if someone is staying in the room by the Laundry Room.
10. If you get scolded for things every day or every other day, shrug it off and learn from it (how I learned #9) and move on. Laugh about it if you can if it isn't too serious.
11. You are going to get in trouble if you are 20 and living in a convent with people who are no younger than 50. Accept it...move on.
12. Thank you letters are a must for almost everything.
So these are just a few things...
Next week I am headed to Iowa for a camp for hispanic middle school girls...They come on Monday and leave on Friday I think and I am driving the whole 8 or so hours by myself with a van full of supplies on Saturday (Mom Don't freak Out...it's okay!). Pray for me and everyone working the camp. Pray that we also make it there safe because there's a lot of water covering the roads that would make it easier to get there!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Be Faithful. Listen. Pray.
My prayers today started with Isaiah 6:3-8, (Verse 8 is one I got from one of my favorite missionaries I know, so thanks!). Listening. Key to prayer. Listening. No matter how loud you yell, "HERE I AM, SEND ME!", if you don't listen to God's voice, we won't know where he is calling us.
I opened my Bible next and got to Sirach 6:5-17 which is a passage I have read many times before and I have notes written next to it, but none of that matter today when I was praying with it. Some things that stuck out to me were these words:
One word that I loved and thought was very important is "faithful". You can't just act like or be their friend for a week, you need to be there for each other and the retreatants after the weekly bowling trips, parties, and random hang outs fade. You need to be there for them once school starts and they are faced with struggles, hardships, and also great moments. You need to be a faithful friend.
I really like what I learned from some missionaries not too long ago and guess what?...we are ALL called to be missionaries!...so back to what I learned. While you are in ministry, be friends, be brothers and sisters to each other. As Peer Ministers, as Missionaries, we are called to minister to these people and to each other and I have seen a lot of relationships ruined with people because they tried to act on being in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship which effects their ministry. I learned that if this is what you think is right, God will open that door once your ministry is over in that place. We need to first learn how to be good brothers and sisters to each other and be out of ministry together before we can think about a dating relationship with those people.
Brotherhood.
Sisterhood.
I am not saying don't be friends with the opposite sex, but have a brotherhood or sisterhood as your main support. I saw how important and amazing that was on my NET interview retreat where there were these beautiful, Holy, men who were so filled with the Spirit that I wanted to just be around and hear about God working in their lives and talk about what we've gone through, but I learned that my small group that was all women made all the difference in the world. It was so rewarding because we had a common bond already that no guy friend of mine could understand and I'm sure it's the same for the guys. I look at an example of looking to Mary and Joseph for guidance. Women will learn and follow Mary and Joseph in different ways because of our connection with the two in different ways. Mary was a mother, Joseph was a father, a carpenter. Children look to their father's and mother's for different things based on their gender I think a lot of the time so it is the same with our spiritual life.
This topic is something that has been tugging on my heart since I left my interview weekend because I saw how much I loved having that Catholic Sisterhood and I wasn't focusing enough on it in my life back home. Peer ministry, no matter where you are needs to have a strong sisterhood and brotherhood before anything else. Without that, I find it really hard to really do what we are called to do. This last year I loved the women in the peer ministry program I was working in because the women were so supportive and understanding and that bond is like no other bond I could have with guys in my life.
I have watched many Peer Ministry programs change over the years and some things that I miss seeing is the brotherhood and sisterhood and Catholic Fellowship among the group, the energy and love that the programs used to be given and most of all, letting the Holy Spirit take charge of our lives in ministry and in our daily lives.
People may just be a part of a peer ministry program because it's just what's next to do to keep us busy in the program, it's fun, or it's cool, but LISTEN to where God is calling you.
Are you where God is calling you to be and do?
Praying for you all.
God Bless,
Erica Jean
I opened my Bible next and got to Sirach 6:5-17 which is a passage I have read many times before and I have notes written next to it, but none of that matter today when I was praying with it. Some things that stuck out to me were these words:
16-17 "A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself."
My Bible also had a note at the bottom that really caught my attention:14 " A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure."
I was asked yesterday if I would like to be included in a prayer chain for a retreat that will be happening in July, so I decided, why not! Today I prayed for the retreatants, peer ministers, Abbot Issac, the Youth Ministers, chaperones, and the Holy Spirit to come into every aspect of this retreat and the peer minister's lives so this could be the best retreat ever. These verses really stuck out to me though when I was praying for this retreat..."True friends are discerned not by prosperity but through the trials of adversity: distress, quarrels, sorrow and misfortune. Such friends are rare and their value is beyond estimation, a gift from God."
One word that I loved and thought was very important is "faithful". You can't just act like or be their friend for a week, you need to be there for each other and the retreatants after the weekly bowling trips, parties, and random hang outs fade. You need to be there for them once school starts and they are faced with struggles, hardships, and also great moments. You need to be a faithful friend.
I really like what I learned from some missionaries not too long ago and guess what?...we are ALL called to be missionaries!...so back to what I learned. While you are in ministry, be friends, be brothers and sisters to each other. As Peer Ministers, as Missionaries, we are called to minister to these people and to each other and I have seen a lot of relationships ruined with people because they tried to act on being in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship which effects their ministry. I learned that if this is what you think is right, God will open that door once your ministry is over in that place. We need to first learn how to be good brothers and sisters to each other and be out of ministry together before we can think about a dating relationship with those people.
Brotherhood.
Sisterhood.
I am not saying don't be friends with the opposite sex, but have a brotherhood or sisterhood as your main support. I saw how important and amazing that was on my NET interview retreat where there were these beautiful, Holy, men who were so filled with the Spirit that I wanted to just be around and hear about God working in their lives and talk about what we've gone through, but I learned that my small group that was all women made all the difference in the world. It was so rewarding because we had a common bond already that no guy friend of mine could understand and I'm sure it's the same for the guys. I look at an example of looking to Mary and Joseph for guidance. Women will learn and follow Mary and Joseph in different ways because of our connection with the two in different ways. Mary was a mother, Joseph was a father, a carpenter. Children look to their father's and mother's for different things based on their gender I think a lot of the time so it is the same with our spiritual life.
This topic is something that has been tugging on my heart since I left my interview weekend because I saw how much I loved having that Catholic Sisterhood and I wasn't focusing enough on it in my life back home. Peer ministry, no matter where you are needs to have a strong sisterhood and brotherhood before anything else. Without that, I find it really hard to really do what we are called to do. This last year I loved the women in the peer ministry program I was working in because the women were so supportive and understanding and that bond is like no other bond I could have with guys in my life.
I have watched many Peer Ministry programs change over the years and some things that I miss seeing is the brotherhood and sisterhood and Catholic Fellowship among the group, the energy and love that the programs used to be given and most of all, letting the Holy Spirit take charge of our lives in ministry and in our daily lives.
People may just be a part of a peer ministry program because it's just what's next to do to keep us busy in the program, it's fun, or it's cool, but LISTEN to where God is calling you.
Are you where God is calling you to be and do?
Praying for you all.
God Bless,
Erica Jean
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