Tahoe!

After being in minsitry officially now for 6 weeks, I had a chance to take a tiny break & adventure off to Tahoe for a few days this week. The occasion? Hanging out with all the DCE's in the California-Nevada-Hawaii District. Imagine the chaos & awesomeness of chillin' with 20 DCE's for 3 days! AMAZING!

Honestly, I was expecting to be welcomed right away with open arms & smiling faces, but it took everyone a little while to warm up to the "newbies". I don't care how old you are, cliques still happen & people still feel left out. It's our sinful skin that makes us this way. No excuse, though. The first day was awkward with some people who I didn't know. However, the people who did welcome me in were incredibly warm & sensitive to the new adjustments an intern makes their first year of ministry. Support, my friend, is definitely needed.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out, eating some good food, & getting to know one another. I got to see the Lake & it's just beautiful! The weather was perfect for hiking, but I didn't have a chance to do anything outdoorsyness. Sad day. However, I got the fever, so I'm definitely going to try to make it up there on my day off. Perhaps next week? We ventured off to the Nevada side of Tahoe & did some gambling. I lost money & won some money, but in the end, I basically lost it again. I didn't have a lot of money to spend, so it wasn't terrible. No pain here over lost cash.

The week went really great. Jim Bradshaw was the guest speaker & is a seasoned DCE in youth ministry. He was extremely encouraging & gave me some great advice for being a new DCE in a new church with a pastor who has never worked with a DCE before. It's been challenging, but I think I'm going to take some of the advice he gave & get myself a mentor who's an older DCE. Someone who knows the ways of the church worker-youth ministry land. I think this will help tremendously with my support & encouragement in the field. At least I hope so.

After crying several times over spiritual exhaustion, physical exhaustion & just plain frustration from having no social life with people my own age, the rest of the DCE's totally stepped up & became a great support. I already have a dinner / worship date with an amazing DCE, Sina next Saturday. Can't wait! She's super fun & she'll be out here for the worship conference at Bayside Community Church.

Overall, it was a great retreat & now I feel refreshed & ready to do some more ministry!!
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